Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Interesting what you mentioned about a keeper being killed by one of these apes in Denmark. I was curious so tried to find information about it online but so far nothing has come up.
Nasty primates
- Thread starter Terry Thomas
- Start date
Interesting what you mentioned about a keeper being killed by one of these apes in Denmark. I was curious so tried to find information about it online but so far nothing has come up.
It was a very long time ago- say 1950's? I believe the Orang's name was something like 'Sultan' but don't quote me on that. I remember reading about it in a magazine. Yet I've also seen more recent photos of keepers(or zoo owners) in the enclosure with an adult male-the Sumatran male 'Major' at La Boissiere in France was one example.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I don't doubt that this happened at all , just very interested to read about it. I've heard about attacks in captivity with the species resulting in human injuries or maiming but never heard about a fatality in these kind of encounters (at least in zoos). That said , I don't doubt the ability of these apes to kill humans.
I'll see what I can find about it online but information going back as far as the 1950's is quite hard to unearth.
I've not heard of that fatal Orang attack -- I have heard of at least one person being raped by an Orang though.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I've only read annecdotal references to fatal attacks by orangutan on humans in "The Malay Archipelago" by Alfred Russell Wallace but I don't know if these are necessarily true accounts. Sure, the book was written by a phenomenal naturalist and scientist and so many of Wallace's observations about the flora and fauna and biogeography were spot on. However, you have to consider that Wallace wrote it in the Victorian age (and despite having many progressive and enlightened ideas Wallace also inescapably had the biases and prejudice of that age) for an armchair traveller readership who were looking to read about exciting adventures.
Moreover, Wallace just recorded anecdotal stories of indigenous Dayak hunters about these animals who are likely to have exaggerated or embellished their claims or even more likely based these on mythology and folk tales. I think his publishers probably tweaked things here and there to make the account more exciting , for example, one of the famous illustrations in the book depicts a group of Dayak hunters being attacked by a ferocious orangutan. This image in turn directly inspired that famous sculpture that portrays a similar scene in the Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy in Paris which then inspired Edgar Allen Poe to write his famous "The murders of the Rue morgue", a story about a serial killer orangutan.
To clarify , I don't doubt that fatal attacks by these apes did occur , of course they did, and given the historical context in the 19th century this happened probably more so than previous centuries due to increasing deforestation and changes in land use such as plantations. Also there was much more direct hunting of these animals to obtain specimens for natural history collections which would have led to more violent interactions. However, I don't think these attacks would have been as common / prevalent as Wallace and his illustrators suggested in the book.
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I've remembered now, the Orangutan's name was Tarzan, and I believe it was at Copenhagen.
I found a reference to Tarzan, he arrived with a female, (both from Rotterdam) at Copenhagen in 1952. They later bred twice and he then outlived the female and was sent to Berlin Zoo in 1979 and died there in 1991. It makes no reference to any accidents though, but its the right name, place and time period.
I know gelada males can be very aggressive towards one another, but I wonder if, in terms of behavior, they're more peaceable than the rather dangerous (towards humans) papio baboons.
There has not been a human fatality or life-threatening injury caused by a primate in a Danish zoo. However, especially chimps certainly have the potential for killing and it may have happened in a zoo in another country; there have of course also been well-documented fatal encounters with privately owned chimps in the US.
This sounds a bit like the early horror stories told about gorillas raping women. Unfortunately, for orang-utans, the opposite is rather true, with females sold to brothels.