Australasian Spider Monkey Research Thread

Jambo

Jambo

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I've recently been doing some research on the regions Spider Monkeys and would be interested to see any info you may have on the current Spider Monkeys (alongside any historic info too of course!)

The current holders are:

Australia: Banana Cabana; Billabong Koala and Wildlife Park; Crocodylus; Gorge; Halls Gap; Hunter Valley; Melbourne; Sydney; Taronga Western Plains Zoo; Wildlife HQ

New Zealand: Auckland; Hamilton; Pouakai; Wellington; Orana

All help would be greatly appreciated. :)
 
What I know of Hunter Valley's animals:

1.0 Mono
1.0 Tito (29/04/2020) Born at Hunter Valley Wildlife Park
0.1 Cara
0.1 Coco ???? x Cara (00/00/2022) Born prior to 21/08/2022, possibly born 2021

As far as I'm aware, they hold between at least five animals, but most likely more.
 
Abbey said:
What I know of Hunter Valley's animals:

1.0 Mono
1.0 Tito (29/04/2020) Born at Hunter Valley Wildlife Park
0.1 Cara
0.1 Coco ???? x Cara (00/00/2022) Born prior to 21/08/2022, possibly born 2021

As far as I'm aware, they hold between at least five animals, but most likely more.
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Here's what I found after some quick research:

As of 2020 they had the following individuals mentioned by @Riley:

1.0 Mike (1985) Dubbo
0.1 Hannah (1983) Taronga
1.0 Shane (1998) Taronga
1.0 Barda (?) formerly Mogo, and Franklin Park
0.1 Cara (?) formerly Mogo, and Franklin Park
0.1 Betty (?) NZ
0.1 Jan (?) NZ
1.0 Mono (00/10/2018) ? x Betty or Jan
1.0 Tito (29/04/2020) ? x Cara

We then know Coco was born this year too:

0.1 Coco (2022) ? x Cara

I assume the sire of the offspring is either Shane or Mike (assuming Barda's related to Cara).

It'll also be interesting to find out which NZ facility Betty and Jan came from. Potentially Auckland?
 
Jambo said:
Here's what I found after some quick research:

As of 2020 they had the following individuals mentioned by @Riley:

1.0 Mike (1985) Dubbo
0.1 Hannah (1983) Taronga
1.0 Shane (1998) Taronga
1.0 Barda (?) formerly Mogo, and Franklin Park
0.1 Cara (?) formerly Mogo, and Franklin Park
0.1 Betty (?) NZ
0.1 Jan (?) NZ
1.0 Mono (00/10/2018) ? x Betty or Jan
1.0 Tito (29/04/2020) ? x Cara

We then know Coco was born this year too:

0.1 Coco (2022) ? x Cara

I assume the sire of the offspring is either Shane or Mike (assuming Barda's related to Cara).

It'll also be interesting to find out which NZ facility Betty and Jan came from. Potentially Auckland?
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That's great. Nice to hear that Shane and Hannah are amongst the Taronga alum now at HVWP. Also pleased to hear that Cara has been able to successfully raise Coco, after Tito was handraised. I believe there were a number of updates provided on Facebook during that process, perhaps his sire might have been mentioned then?
 
Abbey said:
That's great. Nice to hear that Shane and Hannah are amongst the Taronga alum now at HVWP. Also pleased to hear that Cara has been able to successfully raise Coco, after Tito was handraised. I believe there were a number of updates provided on Facebook during that process, perhaps his sire might have been mentioned then?
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I agree; I believe Shane and Hannah were Taronga's last Spider Monkeys when they were transferred to Hunter Valley in 2015 (alongside a whole heap of Taronga's other animals too!).

I did come across a photo from the end of 2021 on their socials of potentially Coco being handraised (although it's possible it was an old photo of Tito). Considering Coco couldn't raise three prior infants, I would be surprised if she managed to raise Coco herself. It's also surprising to see how many females have to have their offspring handraised (Isobella at Melbourne being another female). Apparently these females just have no interest in their offspring whatsoever.

I did a quick scan of their socials and didn't find anything re. sire. If anything i'd assume the sire to be Shane; but could very well be Mike (despite his age!), and we can't count out Barda too who may be unrelated to Cara.
 
Jambo said:
It'll also be interesting to find out which NZ facility Betty and Jan came from. Potentially Auckland?
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Betty and Jan may have come from Auckland Zoo as they have B and J names. Auckland Zoo followed the initial’s tradition in naming their spider monkeys and the B and J families were the most prominent - with descendants still at Auckland and Hamilton Zoo today.

It’s possible Betty and Jan were renamed upon import into Australia, but I find it unlikely a zoo would choose such old fashioned names over whatever they had previously.
 
Gorge Wildlife Park have:
0.1 Aruba
1.0 Jake
1.0 Arthur (2013) Jake x Aruba
0.1 Sumara (2015) Jake x Aruba
0.1 Maya (2020) Jake x Aruba


Melbourne Zoo have:
1.0 Oren (1998?)
0.1 Isobella (2010?) from France
0.1 Estela (2011) ??? x Sunshine (grandmother was Sonja)
0.1 Elena (2018) Oren x Isobella
1.0 Izumi (2020) Oren x Isobella

Halls Gap Zoo have:
1.0 Renaldo (1983) born in Adelaide
0.1 Melchie (1991)
0.1 Heather (1992)

I'm going to be following this thread with great interest!
 
Hamilton Zoo

Hamilton Zoo currently have 1.9 spider monkey:

1.0 Salsa - 24 March 1994
0.1 Jeneill - 17 October 1984
0.1 Beulah - 29 December 1985
0.1 Becky - 4 September 1987
0.1 Jessie - 20 June 1996
0.1 Bodie - 9 September 2001
0.1 Borneo - 28 December 2002
0.1 Besede - 20 June 2004
0.1 Izarra - 14 January 2006
0.1 Belize - 17 September 2020

Salsa was imported (I don’t know where from); Jeneill, Beulah and Becky were transferred from Auckland Zoo, where they were born; Jessie was either transferred from Auckland Zoo as an infant or was one of the first infants born at Hamilton Zoo; Belize is the daughter of Bodie.
 
marmolady said:
Gorge Wildlife Park have:
0.1 Aruba
1.0 Jake
1.0 Arthur (2013) Jake x Aruba
0.1 Sumara (2015) Jake x Aruba
0.1 Maya (2020) Jake x Aruba


Melbourne Zoo have:
1.0 Oren (1998?)
0.1 Isobella (2010?) from France
0.1 Estela (2011) ??? x Sunshine (grandmother was Sonja)
0.1 Elena (2018) Oren x Isobella
1.0 Izumi (2020) Oren x Isobella

Halls Gap Zoo have:
1.0 Renaldo (1983) born in Adelaide
0.1 Melchie (1991)
0.1 Heather (1992)

I'm going to be following this thread with great interest!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm looking forward to finding out a lot about the regions spider monkeys; i'm sure there's a lot to dig up.:)

I emailed Gorge, and they just responded with the following info:

0.1 Aruba (1988)
1.0 Jake (2000)
1.0 Arthur (2012) Jake x Aruba
0.1 Sumara (2015) Jake x Aruba
0.1 Maya (2020) Jake x Aruba

Not sure where both Aruba and Jake came from.

Re. Melbourne, that looks about right. I'm assuming Oren was Melbourne born (or at least has been at Melbourne for quite some time), as he hasn't breed with Estella to date and previously didn't breed with Maya too. Potentially, Oren might even be the father of Estella as well.

That's also very intruiging to see Renaldo was from Adelaide. They haven't had Spider Monkeys in a long time!

Got the following from Halls Gap:

0.1 Heather (29/12/1992)
1.0 Renaldo (07/09/1983) from Adelaide
0.1 Melchie (10/01/1992)

Would assume Heather and Melchie were both from the same facility; potentially Melbourne?
 
Zoofan15 said:
Hamilton Zoo

Hamilton Zoo currently have 1.9 spider monkey:

1.0 Salsa - 24 March 1994
0.1 Jeneill - 17 October 1984
0.1 Beulah - 29 December 1985
0.1 Becky - 4 September 1987
0.1 Jessie - 20 June 1996
0.1 Bodie - 9 September 2001
0.1 Borneo - 28 December 2002
0.1 Besede - 20 June 2004
0.1 Izarra - 14 January 2006
0.1 Belize - 17 September 2020

Salsa was imported (I don’t know where from); Jeneill, Beulah and Becky were transferred from Auckland Zoo, where they were born; Jessie was either transferred from Auckland Zoo as an infant or was one of the first infants born at Hamilton Zoo; Belize is the daughter of Bodie.
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Thanks for that.:)

Do you know what happened to the infant born in 2016 to Jeneill? I'm assuming he was the young male mentioned a year later (named Arana)?

Looking at that, it's possible Jessie may have been transferred as infant with her 'mum' (Jeneill); assuming Jeneill's her mum. Going with the naming convention, it can then also be assumed Bodie, Borneo and Besede are then all offspring of Belulah and Becky, but we can't be sure as Jeneill's latest offspring was given a 'B' name too- Belize.
 
Jambo said:
Thanks for that.:)

Do you know what happened to the infant born in 2016 to Jeneill? I'm assuming he was the young male mentioned a year later (named Arana)?

Looking at that, it's possible Jessie may have been transferred as infant with her 'mum' (Jeneill); assuming Jeneill's her mum. Going with the naming convention, it can then also be assumed Bodie, Borneo and Besede are then all offspring of Belulah and Becky, but we can't be sure as Jeneill's latest offspring was given a 'B' name too- Belize.
Click to expand...

The infant born to Jeneill in 2016 was a male named Aranyo. He was transferred to Wellington Zoo in 2021, where he remains to this day. His sire is Salsa.

Belize was born to Bodie (not Jeneill) in 2020. The naming competition included two alternatives starting with B, so they’re clearly committed to continuing the initials tradition. Her sire is unknown, but would be Salsa or Aranyo.

I would assume Becky and Beulah were the mothers of the B infants born in the 2000’s. There was another infant named Jackie born that time, which would have been to Jeneill or Jessie. I don’t know what happened to him.
 
Sydney Zoo came back after my email and said they no longer have Spider Monkeys. I know they initially had four males from Orana. Any idea where they went?
 
Jambo said:
I agree; I believe Shane and Hannah were Taronga's last Spider Monkeys when they were transferred to Hunter Valley in 2015 (alongside a whole heap of Taronga's other animals too!).

I did come across a photo from the end of 2021 on their socials of potentially Coco being handraised (although it's possible it was an old photo of Tito). Considering Coco couldn't raise three prior infants, I would be surprised if she managed to raise Coco herself. It's also surprising to see how many females have to have their offspring handraised (Isobella at Melbourne being another female). Apparently these females just have no interest in their offspring whatsoever.

I did a quick scan of their socials and didn't find anything re. sire. If anything i'd assume the sire to be Shane; but could very well be Mike (despite his age!), and we can't count out Barda too who may be unrelated to Cara.
Click to expand...

Shane, as reported in the Taronga Zoo News 2015 thread on the first page, came from Dubbo prior to Taronga. I was personally intrigued as to his origins, as Taronga housed an all-female group for such a long time, but he was transferred to Taronga from TWPZ in late 2014, then onto Hunter Valley as you're aware.
 
Abbey said:
Shane, as reported in the Taronga Zoo News 2015 thread on the first page, came from Dubbo prior to Taronga. I was personally intrigued as to his origins, as Taronga housed an all-female group for such a long time, but he was transferred to Taronga from TWPZ in late 2014, then onto Hunter Valley as you're aware.
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Right, thanks for that! He's obviously descended from Dubbo's founder females then (Jenny and Rosa). He'd be the offspring of one of the two.

Do you know which other females where at Taronga (besides Hannah)? I believe they had at least two or three more.
 
Jambo said:
Right, thanks for that! He's obviously descended from Dubbo's founder females then (Jenny and Rosa). He'd be the offspring of one of the two.

Do you know which other females where at Taronga (besides Hannah)? I believe they had at least two or three more.
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I don't know a great deal, unfortunately. One of the other females there in the 2000s was named Lemon, I believe. As of 1992, Taronga held 0.7, including five old females and two young females (this is from the 1992 Global Captive Action Plan for Primates which has been posted in another thread a year or so back).

While the 1992 report notes that the two young females could be transferred into a breeding situation at Wellington or Ti Point, it's quite possible that Hannah (who would have been aged 9 at the time) was one of those young females.
 
tetrapod said:
Was one of two pale Black-handed spiders imported from the US to Auckland. Was the first import for the region in quite a few years.
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The other monkey must have been Tostada, who transferred to Hamilton Zoo and then onto Orana Wildlife Park in 2019.

Auckland Zoo later imported a male named Toque from Toronto Zoo in 2017, who bred at Auckland, but is no longer there, @Jambo.

Salsa and Tostada took over from Diego as breeding males at Hamilton Zoo, though only two infants were produced - Aranyo (sired by Salsa); and Belize (sired by Salsa or Aranyo).
 
Makes me wonder what the direction is for spider monkeys in the region. Seem to be barely ticking over maintaining a hybrid (at species level) Black-handed population for display only. For a charismatic and endangered primate, the region should really look to establishing a pure subspecies at some stage. Might happen if there was any real interest in zoos developing a Neotropical theme plus alot of in-situ conservation possibilities to tie into.
 
tetrapod said:
Makes me wonder what the direction is for spider monkeys in the region. Seem to be barely ticking over maintaining a hybrid (at species level) Black-handed population for display only. For a charismatic and endangered primate, the region should really look to establishing a pure subspecies at some stage. Might happen if there was any real interest in zoos developing a Neotropical theme plus alot of in-situ conservation possibilities to tie into.
Click to expand...

Breeding has been sporadic in recent years. This appears to be a species that frequently rejects its young. Like many primates, they’re pre-disposed to imprint on humans and behavioural non breeders are a common result. Females who’ve been hand raised themselves or haven’t observed the raising of infants are most likely to reject their own infants, continuing the cycle.

Auckland Zoo would have one of the most successful breeding records. Their colony was founded in the 1950’s and they’ve always held a large number of females. There’s been no shortage of opportunities for females to observe the rearing of infants and I’ve never heard of infants being rejected. Being a close knit troop (all the females are related) contributes to alloparenting.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Breeding has been sporadic in recent years. This appears to be a species that frequently rejects its young. Like many primates, they’re pre-disposed to imprint on humans and behavioural non breeders are a common result. Females who’ve been hand raised themselves or haven’t observed the raising of infants are most likely to reject their own infants, continuing the cycle.

Auckland Zoo would have one of the most successful breeding records. Their colony was founded in the 1950’s and they’ve always held a large number of females. There’s been no shortage of opportunities for females to observe the rearing of infants and I’ve never heard of infants being rejected. Being a close knit troop (all the females are related) contributes to alloparenting.
Click to expand...

It was surprising to see only a select few zoos in our region currently hold breeding groups of this species; Dubbo, Melbourne, Wildlife HQ and Hunter Valley in Australia and then Auckland, Hamilton and Orana in NZ.

Only Dubbo and Auckland have achieved reasonable success, with multiple females successfully conceiving; the other facilities relying mainly on just a single pair to breed. Orana also haven't successfully bred since 2005, but did import a new male from Hamilton three years ago.

And to add to that, Melbourne and Hunter Valley have had their breeding females reject their young. Which can be quite problematic, as I imagine it would be more of influence for the females to be kept on contraception for a while (as is the case with Isobella at the moment at Melbourne); rather than being let breed freely and the zoo having to hand-raise an infant every year.
 
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