Taronga Zoo Chimpanzee Troop

Just came across another journal article on Taronga Zoo's chimpanzee. It is similar to the 2005 journal article already posted on this thread. This article has data current as of 1985 but may be of historical interest to those who are interested in Taronga's chimpanzees.

Post-partum amenorrhoea, birth intervals and reproductive potential in captive chimpanzees

In 1985...

Bessie is 35 years old has had at least 14 pregnancies, including several miscarriages. She has not had a surviving infant in 10 years and has recently been sterilised to prevent further pregnancies.

Spitter is 25 years old has had six pregnancies, all of which have resulted in live births. Two of those six offspring, Sacha and Sally, have survived. Spitter will give birth to her final offspring three years later, a son named Gombe.

Mary is 25 years old and has had three pregnancies, all successful. She is heavily pregnant with her fourth offspring. Mary will die young, but all four of her offspring will survive to adulthood.

Sutu is 10 years old and has a young daughter, Samantha. Sutu will give birth to two more daughters, including Shona, before being exported in 1992. Samantha will be exported that same year to Wellington Zoo and become one of their most successful reproducing chimpanzee.

Belle is 10 years old has had two unsuccessful pregnancies, she will give birth to her son Bart, the following year.

Lucy is 9 years old and has just given birth to her first offspring, a daughter named Loanda. Loanda will be killed that same year but Lucy will go on to have two sons, Lucifer and Luka, who are still alive today.
 
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The Curse of Bessie’s Line

Just did some research to find out what happened to Cheena, who was born 15/08/1985 at Taronga Zoo to Chiki.

Cheena was exported 16/10/1992 to Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, India, before she was then sent to the Prince of Wales Zoo in Lucknow, India in 1999 to form a pair with their male chimpanzee, Sunny.

Initially the pair fought, and had to be separated but were later reintroduced. Their conflict had been blamed on boredom, but the introduction of mirrors in their cage redirected their attention as they attempted to communicate with their reflections and check themselves out.

Cheena unfortunately died 02/02/2002 of a severe intestinal infection. The infection was mistaken for pregnancy, as it caused extreme swelling of the stomach. The staff blamed the misdiagnosis on their lack of access to an ultrasound machine. By the time of Cheena’s death, her and Sunny had become close, despite never producing offspring and Sunny passed away shortly after due to depression over Cheena's death, which caused him to stop eating.

Sad to hear of yet another premature death in this family, which has experienced so many tragedies over the years.

Cheena
15th August 1985 - 2nd February 2002​
 
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Melissa

What happened to Melissa?

Melissa was born 30/01/1978 at Taronga Zoo to Mary. She had four offspring while at Taronga Zoo:

1) Unnamed (03/11/1988) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 03/11/1988)

2) Unnamed (17/12/1989) F (Died at Taronga Zoo 17/12/1989)

3) Mali (06/02/1991) M (Sent to Taiping Zoo 30/07/1998)

4) Mitumba (09/09/1996) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 27/10/1996)

Melissa was sent to Taiping Zoo 30/07/1998, along with her 7 year old son Mali and two other females, Ficha and Chunga.

I’ve just done some research and Melissa is still alive and living at the Taiping Zoo, where she gave birth to her eighth offspring 16/09/2014 at the age of 36 years. It’s mentioned on the birth of this latest baby that her previous three offspring are aged 4, 5 and 10 years.

There is a picture of Melissa in the link below, with two of her offspring.

Melissa’s family is survived in the region by her nephews, Lucifer and Luka, and her great niece, Chiku, at Hamilton Zoo.

New births at Taiping Zoo
 
ShonenJake13 said:
So who's in Lubutu's and who's in Furahi's?
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Last I heard it was:

Lubutu: Samaki, Shona, Ceres, Hannah, Lani, Naomi and Sembe

Furahi: Shabani, Shikamoo, Sule, Spitter, Koko, Lisa (and Liwali), Sacha, Shiba (and Sudi), Kuma (and Fumo) and Kamili.

Maybe one of our more regular visitors @tdierikx or @tigersam can confirm if this is still the case?
 
I may be going to Taronga on Friday... see if my sore foot is feeling better (breaking in new work boots, and it's not fun... grrr!)

T.
 
soona said:
What a find!
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Yeah, I couldn't believe it! Of all the chimpanzees in the exhibit, they chose to film the future alpha male. It was interesting to see Lisa as a young chimpanzee. She's 15 years old in the video (the same age as her daughter is now). Her plucked arms indicate she had a comfortable ranking at the time (she was being groomed reguarly by the other chimps). Off camera, would be her older son Lobo (aged 5 years), who drowned the following year.
 
soona said:
That is terribly sad. I wish they'd do away with the moat completely- not worth the risk in my view.
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Following Lobo's death in 1996, the alpha male Snowy also drowned in the same moat in 1999. He was pushed in by the beta male, Gombe.

Makes me wonder if two lessons were learnt by the community when Lobo drowned:

1) If you go in the moat, there will be fatal results for you
2) If your rival goes in the moat, there will be fatal results for them
 
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Hix said:
I don't know where you heard that but that's not what happened at all.

:p

Hix
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I heard it from a friend who was informed by Taronga Zoo staff. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of this information.

I have come accross another account of the event that said the two males were fighting and effectively rolled down a hill towards the moat. Snowy was unable to stop in time.

Assuming you didn't witness the event, what have you heard then @Hix?
 
An altercation had occurred and it resulted in several females banding together and standing up to Snowy. So, as any alpha male with ego does in this situation, ran around like a md thing (like chimps do), hair on end, jumping, swinging, ground thumping, screaming like banshee, and generally running around the yard a lot. And at one stage, while running towards the moat, he jumped. Whether it was to avoid some of the chimps that got in his way, or whether he was making a leap for the public walkway and fell short, I don't know.

The moat is shallow near the rocks on the enclosure side so if Gombe had pushed him, or they had rolled in, they would have been able to climb out.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
And at one stage, while running towards the moat, he jumped. Whether it was to avoid some of the chimps that got in his way, or whether he was making a leap for the public walkway and fell short, I don't know.

:p
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When hard pressed Apes will sometimes do unusual things. That scenario sounds virtually identical to one some years ago at Burger's zoo in Holland, where one of the adult males was being pursued by an angry group during an altercation. It appeared in trying to evade them he made a sudden jump for the far side of the moat and fell short. He drowned...

I also saw film footage of a newly introduced young female Gorilla in Los Angeles Zoo do similar after being attacked by the adult male- she took a flying leap at the public barrier and fell short- fortunately it was a dry moat that time.
 
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Hix said:
An altercation had occurred and it resulted in several females banding together and standing up to Snowy. So, as any alpha male with ego does in this situation, ran around like a md thing (like chimps do), hair on end, jumping, swinging, ground thumping, screaming like banshee, and generally running around the yard a lot. And at one stage, while running towards the moat, he jumped. Whether it was to avoid some of the chimps that got in his way, or whether he was making a leap for the public walkway and fell short, I don't know.

The moat is shallow near the rocks on the enclosure side so if Gombe had pushed him, or they had rolled in, they would have been able to climb out.

:p

Hix
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I've heard the high muscle density of chimps means they essentially sink when they land in deep water.

Interesting to hear it wasn't just Gombe but him and a band of females. 10 years previously, Spitter had successfully helped Sonny overthrow the previous alpha male, Danny, by forming a coalition with several other females so I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd decided to emloyee the same tactics to help her son Gombe rise to the alpha position. As a lone male chimp without a family for support, I think Snowy's days as alpha were limited from the start with Gombe (Spitter), Mali (Melissa), Lubutu (Lisa), Shabani (Shiba), Chimbuka (Chiki) and Sandali (Spitter/Sacha) all coming through.

You seem to know a lot about the chimps of Taronga @Hix, do you know anything about the death of Lulu's son, Lewis, in 1996?
 
I don't think it was a political attack, I think Snowy did something the girls thought was unfair and they just stood up to him at that point. His social skills were a bit lacking.

1996 was before my (short time) in the African Division. I don't know anything about his life or death. However, Lulu was a sweetie.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
I don't think it was a political attack, I think Snowy did something the girls thought was unfair and they just stood up to him at that point. His social skills were a bit lacking.

1996 was before my (short time) in the African Division. I don't know anything about his life or death. However, Lulu was a sweetie.

:p

Hix
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Was you working there when Chiki died in 2001?

Snowy was mother raised from memory, but his mother was a tea party chimpanzee so it's possible she was quite humanised and did well to raise her offspring herself, even though some her behaivour traits would have rubbed off on them. Snowy's young age at export wouldn't have helped either. He was only gfive years old when he left Wellington and was kept separate from the adult males at Taronga for his safety, which meant he probably didn't receive a lot of discipline.
 
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