The five females (Indra, Intan, Wanita, Melur and Gangsa) cohabited from the arrival of the Taronga females in 2001 until 2005. It appears this was out of necessity as the separation annex (used to house the male not on rotation) was at most big enough for two orangutans. A better approach would have been to house the two adult males (Horst and Charlie) with 2-3 females each and indeed the departure of the chimpanzees freed up their exhibit for them to do this. Following Madju’s birth, the group in the main exhibit was further subdivided into Charlie, Gangsa, Melur (and Madju); and Wanita and Isim. Charlie was presumably assessed as the safer option for housing with the infant; and Wanita was provided to Isim for companionship.
On hindsight, importing Melur alone would have probably worked best. She would have deferred to Indra and a cohesive grouping may have developed long term. Taronga were clearly keen to phase out Bornean orangutans though, otherwise they could have imported Isim into replace Datuk.
That would be great to see and in the early 1990’s, was the original plan for management of orangutans within the region. New Zealand would manage Bornean orangutans; and Australia would manage Sumatran orangutans.
Orana Wildlife Park have a spacious great ape facility, but are frequently in the news with regards to financial struggles. Housing a solitary/semi-social species would appear more cost effective than gorillas or chimpanzees, which thrive in larger social groupings.
