Australasian Common Chimpanzee Population

[Zoofan15]

My friend got to Monarto today and she advised me pretty much we already were aware - they have yet to get the results for Zola and Happy's paternity. On a positive the keeper did say they were 'awaiting results' so it's possible we may learn them very soon.

The same keeper also advised her there aren't any pregnant females at the moment, but they're currently hoping Lani and Galatea conceive as they have both received a recommendation and are off contraception.

Over to Taronga, I emailed them and they apparently have more than one female pregnant at the moment. Not sure who (but Ceres is obviously one). I've emailed them again to get a confirmation on names but have been advised this could take a while for them to respond.

Thanks for the update and that’s good to know additional females are pregnant at Taronga Zoo. The information I last received was that Shiba, Sacha and Sembe are all contraception.

Naomi will soon be approaching the time where she’ll begin cycling and with the death of Cebele, they may be keen to allow her to conceive again ASAP. She has a decent ranking in the community and is in her prime, so there’s little justification to delay breeding.

Kuma and Kamili are the obvious candidates. I was told Sule guards Kamili when she has a swelling (preventing other males from mating with her), but doesn’t mate with her himself. With this in mind, Kuma would be my guess as the other pregnant female.

0.1 Sacha (1980) - on contraception
0.1 Shiba (1981) - on contraception
0.1 Ceres (1990) - confirmed pregnant
0.1 Kuma (1991) - probably pregnant
0.1 Kamili (1995) - possibly pregnant
0.1 Naomi (2001) - possibly pregnant
0.1 Sembe (2008) - on contraception

 

[Jambo]

Thanks for the update and that’s good to know additional females are pregnant at Taronga Zoo. The information I last received was that Shiba, Sacha and Sembe are all contraception.

Naomi will soon be approaching the time where she’ll begin cycling and with the death of Cebele, they may be keen to allow her to conceive again ASAP. She has a decent ranking in the community and is in her prime, so there’s little justification to delay breeding.

Kuma and Kamili are the obvious candidates. I was told Sule guards Kamili when she has a swelling (preventing other males from mating with her), but doesn’t mate with her himself. With this in mind, Kuma would be my guess as the other pregnant female.

0.1 Sacha (1980) - on contraception
0.1 Shiba (1981) - on contraception
0.1 Ceres (1990) - confirmed pregnant
0.1 Kuma (1991) - probably pregnant
0.1 Kamili (1995) - possibly pregnant
0.1 Naomi (2001) - possibly pregnant
0.1 Sembe (2008) - on contraception

My guess would be Kuma as well. A baby this year will certainly fit her timeline well as she's had her previous offspring each with ten year gaps (it's been a ten year gap again as of this year).

Kamili's a possibility as well. It would be awesome if she could finally rear an offspring, although with her age and history it seems like the chances are against her. In saying that, we saw the unlikely with Lisa so I'm very hopeful it can repeat with Kamili (if she is pregnant).

I also wouldn't rule out Naomi. It's almost been three years since Niambi's birth and females can certainly have three year age gaps. Seeing as Taronga went to the lengths of importing these girls for genetic diversity, I can't see them restricting the births of both Ceres and Naomi any further. Ceres has at least another two offspring in her (following the upcoming birth this year), and Naomi has even more time to build up a family unit.

With Sacha and Shiba probably not going to breed again, Kamili's failure with raising offspring and Kuma's next offspring likely being her last, Taronga will be in an interesting situation with only two breeding females Ceres and Naomi, one of which is entering her 30's. I assume the plan is to breed from Sembe too, but as has been mentioned, she's closely related to all males within the troop. New females will certainly be needed, but if they were to come from within the region they would still be a while away. It's really a shame that Taronga never imported five females as intended as that would've surely given them the opportunity to avoid misfortune (such as Hannah not being able to successfully assimilate with the group and therefore being sent to Monarto).

Re. Sule guarding Kamili, that sounds like a very Sule behviour. He apparently used to guard his mother, Sacha, whenever she had a swelling as an adolescent. He's one protective boy.

 

[Zoofan15]

My guess would be Kuma as well. A baby this year will certainly fit her timeline well as she's had her previous offspring each with ten year gaps (it's been a ten year gap again as of this year).

Kamili's a possibility as well. It would be awesome if she could finally rear an offspring, although with her age and history it seems like the chances are against her. In saying that, we saw the unlikely with Lisa so I'm very hopeful it can repeat with Kamili (if she is pregnant).

I also wouldn't rule out Naomi. It's almost been three years since Niambi's birth and females can certainly have three year age gaps. Seeing as Taronga went to the lengths of importing these girls for genetic diversity, I can't see them restricting the births of both Ceres and Naomi any further. Ceres has at least another two offspring in her (following the upcoming birth this year), and Naomi has even more time to build up a family unit.

With Sacha and Shiba probably not going to breed again, Kamili's failure with raising offspring and Kuma's next offspring likely being her last, Taronga will be in an interesting situation with only two breeding females Ceres and Naomi, one of which is entering her 30's. I assume the plan is to breed from Sembe too, but as has been mentioned, she's closely related to all males within the troop. New females will certainly be needed, but if they were to come from within the region they would still be a while away. It's really a shame that Taronga never imported five females as intended as that would've surely given them the opportunity to avoid misfortune (such as Hannah not being able to successfully assimilate with the group and therefore being sent to Monarto).

Re. Sule guarding Kamili, that sounds like a very Sule behviour. He apparently used to guard his mother, Sacha, whenever she had a swelling as an adolescent. He's one protective boy.

Very true. I believe the large birth interval between Furahi and her second infant was similar to the reasoning with Ceres re. establishing her place in the hierarchy. Kuma was then a low ranking female and apparently struggled with Furahi in the early years. The overrepresentation of Fifi’s line would have also been a contributing factor.

The age gap between Kuma’s first two infants was actually nine years as she had a daughter in 2012 that was either stillborn or died the day it was born. Fumo was born a year later. Sacha similarly had a daughter that was born and died in 2002. It’s interesting to contemplate how different the dynamics of the community could be had those two females survived!

I too hope they don’t artificially extend Naomi’s birth interval between Niambi and her next infant. I’ve searched some of the shortest birth intervals following a surviving infants in recent decades (1980’s to present) and come up with the following:

Spitter - 3 years and 11 months between Sally and Gombe
Lisa - 3 years and 11 months between Lobo and Lubutu
Samantha - 3 years and 11 months between Temba and Keza
Zombi - 3 years and 11 months between Enzi and Zola
Leakey - 3 years and 10 months between Capri and Mzuri
Ficha - 3 years and 8 months between Kuma and Unnamed
Zombi - 3 years and 2 months between Zuri and Enzi

With this in mind, we could see a second infant from Naomi as soon as December 2023; but April to September 2024 seems more likely.

I’m so annoyed Taronga didn’t import the two additional females from Sweden, especially when we identified them as Marie (2005) and Marit (2006). They would’ve been at the natural dispersal age and assimilated nicely into the community (like Naomi); as well as having decades of reproductive years ahead of them. Coming from a colony similar in size to Taronga, they would have been well adjusted socially.

Yes, Sule used to infuriate Shabani by blocking his efforts to mate with his mother. Shabani would try and drag him away and even resorted to beating him a few times to no avail.

 

[Zoofan15]

Taronga Zoo - Chimpanzee Breeding

Kamili is pregnant! She’s expected to deliver her fifth infant in January, which will hopefully be her first successful infant.

Kuma and Naomi are not pregnant and are now both on contraception. The current plan is for these females to conceive in 2024.

Presumably the intention here was to stagger the births - with three infants this year and two next year. As previously mentioned, Kamili was being mate guarded by Sule, which delayed her conceiving compared to Lisa and Ceres.

It’ll be interesting to see if giving birth around the same time will do anything to heal the rift between Kuma and Naomi. There will inevitably be a lot of interaction between their respective infants; though Kuma and Naomi have close relationships with Kamili and Ceres respectively, who (all going well) will have their own infants by then.

0.1 Lisa (1979) - gave birth May 2023
0.1 Ceres (1990) - due September 2023
0.1 Kamili (1995) - due January 2024
0.1 Kuma (1991) - conceive in 2024
0.1 Naomi (2001) - conceive in 2024

 

[Jambo]

Taronga Zoo - Chimpanzee Breeding

Kamili is pregnant! She’s expected to deliver her fifth infant in January, which will hopefully be her first successful infant.

Kuma and Naomi are not pregnant and are now both on contraception. The current plan is for these females to conceive in 2024.

Presumably the intention here was to stagger the births - with three infants this year and two next year. As previously mentioned, Kamili was being mate guarded by Sule, which delayed her conceiving compared to Lisa and Ceres.

It’ll be interesting to see if giving birth around the same time will do anything to heal the rift between Kuma and Naomi. There will inevitably be a lot of interaction between their respective infants; though Kuma and Naomi have close relationships with Kamili and Ceres respectively, who (all going well) will have their own infants by then.

0.1 Lisa (1979) - gave birth May 2023
0.1 Ceres (1990) - due September 2023
0.1 Kamili (1995) - due January 2024
0.1 Kuma (1991) - conceive in 2024
0.1 Naomi (2001) - conceive in 2024

Wonderful news to hear!

So it appears Kamili was indeed the other female aside from Ceres that is pregnant at the moment. Hopefully all goes well with this pregnancy and birth. A surviving infant from Kamili would be amazing!

These three infants will also be the first 'creche' of infants since the boys back in 2013/14. Hopefully this creche is predominantly female, not only for troop succession, but also as we haven't seen females grow up together in a very long time.

When Kuma and Naomi conceive, their status will surely rise too. Kuma went through a period where she became alpha for a while following Fumo's birth so I think we can expect the same to happen when she next conceives too (although my hope is for a female infant this time around!). The same goes for Naomi who's rising in the rankings. Another infant (boy or girl) would certainly boost her status even more.

 

[Zoofan15]

Wonderful news to hear!

So it appears Kamili was indeed the other female aside from Ceres that is pregnant at the moment. Hopefully all goes well with this pregnancy and birth. A surviving infant from Kamili would be amazing!

These three infants will also be the first 'creche' of infants since the boys back in 2013/14. Hopefully this creche is predominantly female, not only for troop succession, but also as we haven't seen females grow up together in a very long time.

When Kuma and Naomi conceive, their status will surely rise too. Kuma went through a period where she became alpha for a while following Fumo's birth so I think we can expect the same to happen when she next conceives too (although my hope is for a female infant this time around!). The same goes for Naomi who's rising in the rankings. Another infant (boy or girl) would certainly boost her status even more.

It’d be great for Kamili to have a surviving infant - not just for her own standing within the community; but as the only surviving offspring of her founder mother, Koko. Despite the rivalry Kamili and her mother once shared with Kuma, these two females have become close in recent years.

It’s a shame Kuma isn’t breeding before Kamili as I’d assess her as one of the few potential candidates to act as a surrogate if Kamili rejected her infant - which would ideally require her to be lactating.

Female infants from all four upcoming mothers would be nice. Naomi will definitely be the one to watch and with a second son, she’ll be near unstoppable a decade from now. She’s highly ambitious and could easily rise again in ranking following her next birth. She’s the only prime aged female breeding and has an advantage over Kuma in that she networks.

 

[Jambo]

It’d be great for Kamili to have a surviving infant - not just for her own standing within the community; but as the only surviving offspring of her founder mother, Koko. Despite the rivalry Kamili and her mother once shared with Kuma, these two females have become close in recent years.

It’s a shame Kuma isn’t breeding before Kamili as I’d assess her as one of the few potential candidates to act as a surrogate if Kamili rejected her infant - which would ideally require her to be lactating.

Female infants from all four upcoming mothers would be nice. Naomi will definitely be the one to watch and with a second son, she’ll be near unstoppable a decade from now. She’s highly ambitious and could easily rise again in ranking following her next birth. She’s the only prime aged female breeding and has an advantage over Kuma in that she networks.

If Kamili does indeed reject the offspring, I wonder if Taronga attempts to introduce the infant to one of the other females. Shona's a highly maternal female who dosen't have any offspring of her own and might be a good bet; otherwise it might also be worth trying with a younger female like Sembe who's yet to have her own offspring and might take on the experience. There's so many ways this could be trialed and as seen at Monarto with Boon and Zombi, it can be done.

Naomi definitely reminds a lot of Shiba. If she does have another son and with her being able to breed at natural intervals going forward, she could definitely develop a family like Shiba's. Taking into account she's a very ambitious female who networks, she's surely Shiba's competition long term.

 

[Zoofan15]

If Kamili does indeed reject the offspring, I wonder if Taronga attempts to introduce the infant to one of the other females. Shona's a highly maternal female who dosen't have any offspring of her own and might be a good bet; otherwise it might also be worth trying with a younger female like Sembe who's yet to have her own offspring and might take on the experience. There's so many ways this could be trialed and as seen at Monarto with Boon and Zombi, it can be done.

Naomi definitely reminds a lot of Shiba. If she does have another son and with her being able to breed at natural intervals going forward, she could definitely develop a family like Shiba's. Taking into account she's a very ambitious female who networks, she's surely Shiba's competition long term.

It’s possible, though would require the female to bring the infant to the mesh for feeding at the required intervals. For this reason, the simplest solution would be for a lactating female to adopt it and raise it as her own infant’s twin. Something similar happened at a zoo in Germany and would have likely succeeded at Monarto had Zombi had her milk coming through at that point.

I can definitely see Naomi becoming the highest ranking female. She’s younger than the other females by 1-2 decades and has the ambition. With her sons’ drop in ranking, Shiba may well be overtaken by several of the females in the future. That said, Fifi remained high ranking until the end and she has a lot of respect in the community.

 

[Zoofan15]

Size of Chimpanzee Exhibits

I came across this document today which details the size of Taronga’s chimpanzee exhibit. Apparently it’s 1910m2 - which includes the separation paddock and main paddock combined.

https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=MP08_0251!20190821T023757.759 GMT

Hamilton’s exhibit is just under 3000m2 and I would estimate Wellington’s exhibit to be around 1500m2.

Rockhampton: 1000
Wellington: 1500 estimate
Taronga: 1910
Hamilton: 2500 approx
Monarto: 3000

This really highlights how under-utilised Hamilton’s exhibit is with just four adults, a juvenile and an infant. Taronga’s exhibit is smaller, yet houses a community of chimpanzees numbering in the early 20’s.

 

[steveroberts]

@Zoofan15

Great find, really interesting reading through

 

[Zoofan15]

@Zoofan15

Great find, really interesting reading through

Cheers. I was excited to come across that document as I’d longer wondered as to the exact size of Taronga’s exhibit compared to Hamilton and Monarto.

Compared to the community at Taronga, Hamilton’s troop make poor use of their exhibit. They have a climbing structure and 99% of the time, that’s where you’ll find them. I’ve literally never seen them utilising the upper paddock. It’s not hard to imagine a large community disperse as they do at Taronga - with chimpanzees running in all directions.

The document linked above refers to plans to introduce new females to the community. It’s interesting to see this was in the plans as far back as 2009. The refurbished exhibit opened in 2011, but the three females from Europe didn’t arrive until 2015.

On hindsight, it would have been simpler to have had the new females arrive in 2012. The community would have had a year to adjust to the exhibit and it would have been a year ahead of the next cohort of births. They had two births in 2013 (one surviving) and four births in 2014 (two surviving).

 

[Zoofan15]

Birth Announcement - Taronga Zoo

Ceres (1990) has given birth! She was on exhibit today with her newborn, who appears healthy and strong.

How exciting to have a second infant just 10 weeks after Lemba!

This infant couldn’t have come at a better time for Ceres, who’s been grieving the loss of her daughter, Cebele.

I have my fingers crossed for a female infant. Unlike Naomi, Ceres will never be a high ranking female, but a daughter will provide her with companionship and a route to expanding her family unit in years to come. Ceres is an excellent mother and will surely dote on this infant as she did Cebele.

 

[Jambo]

Birth Announcement - Taronga Zoo

Ceres (1990) has given birth! She was on exhibit today with her newborn, who appears healthy and strong.

How exciting to have a second infant just 10 weeks after Lemba!

This infant couldn’t have come at a better time for Ceres, who’s been grieving the loss of her daughter, Cebele.

I have my fingers crossed for a female infant. Unlike Naomi, Ceres will never be a high ranking female, but a daughter will provide her with companionship and a route to expanding her family unit in years to come. Ceres is an excellent mother and will surely dote on this infant as she did Cebele.

Fabulous news! It's interesting to see how birth and death once again coincide so close to each other.

Hopefully everything goes well with this infant; it's important Ceres becomes represented asap as she's an unrepresented founder now approaching her mid 30's.

It would probably be best to let her breed freely, and taking into account Lisa conceived in her 40's, Ceres may very well have the opportunity to birth two more offspring after this (if everything goes right).

My bet for this little one is that it's a male but we'll have to wait and see! A male will certainly help boost her status, but then again, on the flip side a female would be beneficial as well for long term succession and building up a strong family unit.

 

[Zoofan15]

Fabulous news! It's interesting to see how birth and death once again coincide so close to each other.

Hopefully everything goes well with this infant; it's important Ceres becomes represented asap as she's an unrepresented founder now approaching her mid 30's.

It would probably be best to let her breed freely, and taking into account Lisa conceived in her 40's, Ceres may very well have the opportunity to birth two more offspring after this (if everything goes right).

My bet for this little one is that it's a male but we'll have to wait and see! A male will certainly help boost her status, but then again, on the flip side a female would be beneficial as well for long term succession and building up a strong family unit.

I’m hopeful Taronga will allow Ceres to breed at either natural birth intervals or at most artificially extend them to four years like they’re currently doing with Naomi. Ceres could have her next infant in 2027 aged 37 years and her final infant in 2031 aged 41 years.

Though a daughter likely won’t increase her ranking long term, it’ll at least stabilise her position as a middle ranking female - over the lower ranking females. A daughter would provide her with companionship; allow her family unit to expand; and offer a greater chance of her genes being passed on.

The community currently has eight reproductive aged males and competition for siring infants is high. Though they can vasectomise males, they only have so much control over which males breed versus females.

On that note, it’ll be interesting to see which males have sired the latest infants. My guess is Furahi for Lemba based on her facial pigmentation. Ceres is lower ranking, so one of the adolescents may have got lucky - perhaps Fumo.

 

[steveroberts]

@Zoofan15

Has only just 'jerried' personally that Lisa being the mum of Lemba, and Lisa being born in 1979 as learnt from you, she is one of the older mothers on record would imagine at 44.

 

[Zoofan15]

@Zoofan15

Has only just 'jerried' personally that Lisa being the mum of Lemba, and Lisa being born in 1979 as learnt from you, she is one of the older mothers on record would imagine at 44.

Lisa set the Australasian record for the oldest dam of her species when she gave birth to Lemba at 43 years and 9 months. She beat previous record holders - Koko (1972), who gave birth to a non surviving infant in 2014; and Fifi (1947), who gave birth to a stillborn infant in 1987.

The world record appears to be a female named Suzie, who lived at Sunset Zoo in Kansas. She gave birth to Siri in 2010 at a reported 56 years of age. She failed to produce enough milk and the milk lacked nutrients, so she was removed from Suzie’s care. The infant was initially handreared and then transferred to the Oklahoma City Zoo to be integrated with their troop. Siri survived to adulthood and now lives at the ABQ BioPark Zoo.

Chimpanzees can cycle into their 50’s, but the challenge appears to be sustaining the pregnancy and producing sufficient milk. Lemba is thriving in Lisa’s care, so she’s clearly getting the nutrients she needs; but I’m doubtful the zoo would attempt to break Lisa’s record anytime soon.

 

[Jambo]

On that note, it’ll be interesting to see which males have sired the latest infants. My guess is Furahi for Lemba based on her facial pigmentation. Ceres is lower ranking, so one of the adolescents may have got lucky - perhaps Fumo.

Furahi was apparently a popular candidate for Liwali (Lisa’s previous offspring) and he’s quite fond of her so I wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to sire Lemba especially as his only competition is only theoretically the two higher ranking brothers, Shikamoo and Sule who have their intentions on other females afaik. Therefore my bet for Lemba’s sire would be Furahi too.

Re. Ceres’s new infant; I’d argue it could be any of the eight potential sites. Although Ceres is low ranking, she still regularly interacts with the high ranking males from what I’ve seen so it could definitely go either way. Shabani would be the best result here; but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Shikamoo/Sule or even one of the younger males too.

 

[steveroberts]

@Zoofan15 @Jambo Oh wow those records and individual dynamics are really interesting.

This comment might belong in a general forum as about Chimpanzees in general but goes to show with Suzie having Siri at 56 and cycles into their 50s that though we share so very much dna with them us humans, they actually have a lengthier cycle period than I realised (had assumed would be early to mid 40s).

re: Lisa; fingers crossed saying this as a strong wish (well one we all share). She is a very standout individual with an impressive life story (mother of late great Lubutu just to name one, last Chimpanzee born behind archaic bars at Taronga as I learnt from you Zoofan, and as by proxy the first Chimpanzee to actually experience growing up from very very young in the Chimp' Park home); wishing her hopefully another two decades approximately, and seems really clear as she is already a very important member of the Taronga troop, that she is most certainly an iconic individual at Taronga who will get recognition again and again as time goes on and she (optimally willingly) becomes the most senior Chimpanzee of the community.

 

[Zoofan15]

@Zoofan15 @Jambo Oh wow those records and individual dynamics are really interesting.

This comment might belong in a general forum as about Chimpanzees in general but goes to show with Suzie having Siri at 56 and cycles into their 50s that though we share so very much dna with them us humans, they actually have a lengthier cycle period than I realised (had assumed would be early to mid 40s).

re: Lisa; fingers crossed saying this as a strong wish (well one we all share). She is a very standout individual with an impressive life story (mother of late great Lubutu just to name one, last Chimpanzee born behind archaic bars at Taronga as I learnt from you Zoofan, and as by proxy the first Chimpanzee to actually experience growing up from very very young in the Chimp' Park home); wishing her hopefully another two decades approximately, and seems really clear as she is already a very important member of the Taronga troop, that she is most certainly an iconic individual at Taronga who will get recognition again and again as time goes on and she (optimally willingly) becomes the most senior Chimpanzee of the community.

Lisa has certainly had a huge influence on Taronga’s chimpanzee community. Following the death of Spitter, she’s now the eldest member of their troop and the fifth eldest chimpanzee in the region (behind Cassius, Lucy, Jessie and Boyd).

Considering Lisa’s ill-fated son, Lobo, was born in 1989; that means Lisa’s years of motherhood span an incredible 34 years! Shiba isn’t far behind with Safiri born 29 years after her first offspring in 1990.

Chimpanzees can begin cycling as young as seven years of age and the region has historically seen several females give birth between at seven or eight years of age - and proved excellent mothers.

I for one don’t support the current method of delaying breeding females until their mid-teens. A chimpanzee has generally reached full size by 10-12 years and this to me appears the compromise between reaching reproductive maturity a few years earlier and delaying breeding by another 3-5 years. I’ve seen no evidence females are better prepared for motherhood by delaying breeding and arguments around extending the inter-generational gaps are largely redundant in this species.

 

[Zoofan15]

Update on Ceres’ infant:

Taronga Zoo have posted photos of Ceres’ new infant on socials. No news on gender, but the infant’s DOB was 29/07/2023.

Paternity guesses:

Spoiler: Paternity of Baby C

Paternity of Baby C:

Shiba’s infants have often had a wrinkled appearance to their face (which I also noted on Ceres and Samaki’s daughter, Cebele). These wrinkles are absent on this infant, so I’m going to discount Shabani, Samaki and Sudi as sires.

Sule is the most likely candidate, being the alpha male; but the lack of chin hairs gives me Furahi vibes (chin hairs are very prominent in Sacha’s line). Being a low ranking female, I’ll maintain my guess of adolescent male being a prime candidate - Fumo being the most likely given Liwali’s long facial structure; and that Sudi has been discounted.

Spoiler: Paternity of Lemba

Paternity of Lemba:

Looking back on old photos, Sule had distinct dark pigmentation, which was very prominent on Fumo.

It’d be interesting to see an old photo of Furahi, but personally I’d paternity test those three males re. Lemba before testing the other five candidates.

Summary:

These are the main candidates (imo):

Lemba (born May 2023):

Shabani, Samaki, Furahi, Shikamoo, Sule, Fumo, Sudi, Liwali

Baby C (born July 2023):

Shabani, Samaki, Furahi, Shikamoo, Sule, Fumo, Sudi, Liwali

Yes, you read that correctly - the same three candidates for each!