North American Bonobo Population

Who are the 5.5 currently there? I have 4.4 on my own document currently.

This is who I currently have:
1.0, Kevin - Kakowet x Linda
1.0, Victor - Vernon x Loretta
0.1, Lucy I - Vernon x Lisa
0.1, Malela - Akili x Connie-Lenore
0.1, Johari* - Maiko x Kuni
1.0, Andy - Toby x Lucy I
1.0, Kabili - Kevin x Lucy I

I have these three listed underneath, so maybe they were going to be transferred there and I didn't mark it down?
1.0, Makola - Kevin x Malela
0.1, Asali - Andy x Mchumba
0.1, Mchumba - Maiko x Lolita

Mchumba has been at Fort Worth for 10 years or so. Makolo and Asali were both born and still live at Fort Worth, as can be seen from the parentage you’ve written above.
 
Loretta will be 50 years old on Jan 22, 2024! She was born in 1974 to wild born Linda and Kakowet at the San Diego Zoo. Linda and Kakowet had 10 offspring between 1966 and 1980. Five are still living -Lorel in Jacksonville Florida, Louise in Japan, Loretta in San Diego, Kevin in Fort Worth, and Lana in Cincinnati. Loretta is mother to Victor in Fort Worth, Lina in Twycross, England, Erin in San Diego, Makasi in San Diego, and Kalli in San Diego. She is Grandmother to six and Great- Grandmother to four. She is the second oldest bonobo in the United States and the eighth oldest in the world. Words can not describe how special she is. She leads her troop with love, compassion, playfulness, and tolerance. She is adored by her many fans and will sometimes reward us nods and gestures.
 
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A recent USDA Inspection Report for Memphis Zoo includes the following citation:

"The enrichment plan for nonhuman primates does not address special considerations for infants and young juveniles, animals showing signs of psychological distress, individually housed primates that are unable to see and hear other primates of their own or compatible species, and great apes."

Is this related to Memphis getting rid of bonobos?
 
A recent USDA Inspection Report for Memphis Zoo includes the following citation:

"The enrichment plan for nonhuman primates does not address special considerations for infants and young juveniles, animals showing signs of psychological distress, individually housed primates that are unable to see and hear other primates of their own or compatible species, and great apes."

Is this related to Memphis getting rid of bonobos?

From what I understand, it means that the enrichment plan they have in place for their primates do not have any sort of instructions or regulations to address infants and young juveniles, animals showing signs of psychological distress, individually housed primates that are unable to see and her other primates of their own or compatible species, and great apes.

So they are required to add infant/juvenile enrichment plans, enrichment plans for animals showing psychological distress, enrichment plans for individually housed primates, and enrichment plans for great apes.

It is more of a formality to meet the USDA requirements. I am sure they have enrichment plans for the great apes, they may just not be written in a way that complies with what the USDA is requiring.
 
As the European population seems to be flourishing, the North American population seems stagnant. Does anyone know if any facilities plan on adding bonobos? Or if facilities that current have bonobos plan on expanding their space to house more individuals?

Columbus is renovating their bonobo exhibit, so hopefully they will be able to house more individuals.

Milwaukee’s new master plan should be released sometime soon, so we will see if the plans for new outdoor enclosures (and potentially new indoor enclosures) are coming.

When it was revealed that the SSP was integrating with Europe’s EEP, the document stated that seven of the eight joined. Does anyone know who this facility was and if they have joined? It would be a shame to lose any facility here.

Ideally, Fort Worth and Memphis would expand and be able to house more. I know Tampa planned on exhibiting them, does anyone know if they still want to add them at some point?
 
As the European population seems to be flourishing, the North American population seems stagnant. Does anyone know if any facilities plan on adding bonobos? Or if facilities that current have bonobos plan on expanding their space to house more individuals?

Columbus is renovating their bonobo exhibit, so hopefully they will be able to house more individuals.

Milwaukee’s new master plan should be released sometime soon, so we will see if the plans for new outdoor enclosures (and potentially new indoor enclosures) are coming.

When it was revealed that the SSP was integrating with Europe’s EEP, the document stated that seven of the eight joined. Does anyone know who this facility was and if they have joined? It would be a shame to lose any facility here.

Ideally, Fort Worth and Memphis would expand and be able to house more. I know Tampa planned on exhibiting them, does anyone know if they still want to add them at some point?

From facility staff and volunteers:

AZA changed their requirements for SSPs and the bonobo SSP no longer meets the requirements. Seven of the eight US bonobo facilities voted to join the EEP, instead of forming a consortium. EAZA denied their request to join the Bonobo EEP. Then, the seven facilities and a sanctuary in Japan formed a consortium (now called the Bonobo Management Partnership on facebook) - excluding the other SSP facility (ACCI) from the new partnership.

Milwaukee, Columbus, and Jacksonville have had outstanding breeding recommendations for years - indicating limited space and animals that do not get along as the reasons for not breeding. Two young females from Columbus are set to leave, one likely to Milwaukee.

Jacksonville and ACCI are well under their stated capacity. San Diego, Memphis, and Cincinnati are also all under their stated capacities. Fort Worth is over their stated capacity. There have been two births in the last five years in the US population (one has since passed away).

Tampa does not plan to add bonobos - this fell through years ago, with little to no information about it. Memphis apparently plans to get rid of their bonobos. Columbus' team is reporting that they will take in some/all of the Memphis bonobos. No news that any other facility plans to expand to house more bonobos.

EAZA is apparently moving away from keeping an international studbook. It seems that many of the EEP facilities are openly breeding, regardless of lineages.

Surprised and worried that there is nothing available online about how the US population is being managed.
 
From facility staff and volunteers:

AZA changed their requirements for SSPs and the bonobo SSP no longer meets the requirements. Seven of the eight US bonobo facilities voted to join the EEP, instead of forming a consortium. EAZA denied their request to join the Bonobo EEP. Then, the seven facilities and a sanctuary in Japan formed a consortium (now called the Bonobo Management Partnership on facebook) - excluding the other SSP facility (ACCI) from the new partnership.

Milwaukee, Columbus, and Jacksonville have had outstanding breeding recommendations for years - indicating limited space and animals that do not get along as the reasons for not breeding. Two young females from Columbus are set to leave, one likely to Milwaukee.

Jacksonville and ACCI are well under their stated capacity. San Diego, Memphis, and Cincinnati are also all under their stated capacities. Fort Worth is over their stated capacity. There have been two births in the last five years in the US population (one has since passed away).

Tampa does not plan to add bonobos - this fell through years ago, with little to no information about it. Memphis apparently plans to get rid of their bonobos. Columbus' team is reporting that they will take in some/all of the Memphis bonobos. No news that any other facility plans to expand to house more bonobos.

EAZA is apparently moving away from keeping an international studbook. It seems that many of the EEP facilities are openly breeding, regardless of lineages.

Surprised and worried that there is nothing available online about how the US population is being managed.
Which of the many EEP facilities are openly breeding, regardless of lineages??
 
As mentioned on the Columbus thread, their indoor Bonobo habitat is nearing completion.
I had the pleasure of viewing it yesterday and it's decently well done. It's not very naturalistic, which isn't my personal cup of tea, but it is loads better than their previous recylced playground equipment. The animals were playful and engaging in all aspects of their exhibit in the 10 or so minutes I was there, which was amazing to see.

I do have to say that I am a bit disappointed with the execution of the exhibit design however. I was hopeful Columbus would've opted to make the entire space an indoor building rather than an outdoor walk-by (as before). The viewing experience is mediocre at best, with the views into the exhibit being narrow and drastically limited by glare (something the zoo is trying to correct). The Congo could've used another year-round building and it's unfortunate that we didn't get that, especially for a species so scarcely found in zoos.
 
From facility staff and volunteers:

AZA changed their requirements for SSPs and the bonobo SSP no longer meets the requirements. Seven of the eight US bonobo facilities voted to join the EEP, instead of forming a consortium. EAZA denied their request to join the Bonobo EEP. Then, the seven facilities and a sanctuary in Japan formed a consortium (now called the Bonobo Management Partnership on facebook) - excluding the other SSP facility (ACCI) from the new partnership.

Milwaukee, Columbus, and Jacksonville have had outstanding breeding recommendations for years - indicating limited space and animals that do not get along as the reasons for not breeding. Two young females from Columbus are set to leave, one likely to Milwaukee.

Jacksonville and ACCI are well under their stated capacity. San Diego, Memphis, and Cincinnati are also all under their stated capacities. Fort Worth is over their stated capacity. There have been two births in the last five years in the US population (one has since passed away).

Tampa does not plan to add bonobos - this fell through years ago, with little to no information about it. Memphis apparently plans to get rid of their bonobos. Columbus' team is reporting that they will take in some/all of the Memphis bonobos. No news that any other facility plans to expand to house more bonobos.

EAZA is apparently moving away from keeping an international studbook. It seems that many of the EEP facilities are openly breeding, regardless of lineages.

Surprised and worried that there is nothing available online about how the US population is being managed.
I would assume that the EAZA/EEP Committee may have denied the request - if this is indeed the case - on the grounds of practicality and staff time managing the US population next to the European one. I think that would be a monumental task given that there are issues particular to the US population not present in the European population management-wise.

I am a bit surprised at your personal observation:
QUOTE
"EAZA is apparently moving away from keeping an international studbook. It seems that many of the EEP facilities are openly breeding, regardless of lineages."
UNQUOTE
That EAZA/EEP management is breeding irrespective of bloodlines or lineages (and particularly the 2nd part of your personal observation). I think that is a bit much ... TBH and would think it is rather a personal conviction than that it is borne out by actual concrete information on the ground from the powers that be ... on this side of our Atlantic pond. I would appreciate if you would be able to substantiate this personally held conviction or what it was borne out of ...?


TBH: I would much prefer AZA to revoke its decision and to reinstate the US population as a Signature program under the new guidelines even if its individual membership is quite small compared to the Chimpanzee SSP. It would seem that for EAZA/EEP a major stumbling block may also have been the fact that AZA/SSP gave up its species management program for Bonobo in the first place. Most if not all globally managed species programs have active running programs within the individual zoogeographical regions with populations of a designated species population on the ground. This topped with a species management board assembled from its constituents across all regions under the WAZA banner.
 
TBH: I would much prefer AZA to revoke its decision and to reinstate the US population as a Signature program under the new guidelines even if its individual membership is quite small compared to the Chimpanzee SSP.
The AZA has set very strict guidelines about what is needed to become a signature SSP or a provisional SSP. Bonobos don't come anywhere close to reaching those guidelines (falling well short of the fifteen holders requirement, for example). Granted, we can debate whether or not the guidelines that were set make sense, but determining what is or isn't an SSP isn't as flexible a choice for each TAG anymore.

Granted, most TAGs acknowledge that programs can still be valuable even if they don't qualify as an SSP, so not being an SSP doesn't mean that the interested zoos can't continue to breed and manage bonobos on their own. In many cases (including debatably the bonobo), species were SSPs when they probably would've been better off being managed directly by the small number of holding institutions. It was ridiculous to have an SSP for something like American burying beetles, which can be managed just as successfully individually by the small number of zoos (three or four) working with them.
 
As mentioned on the Columbus thread, their indoor Bonobo habitat is nearing completion.
I had the pleasure of viewing it yesterday and it's decently well done. It's not very naturalistic, which isn't my personal cup of tea, but it is loads better than their previous recylced playground equipment. The animals were playful and engaging in all aspects of their exhibit in the 10 or so minutes I was there, which was amazing to see.

I do have to say that I am a bit disappointed with the execution of the exhibit design however. I was hopeful Columbus would've opted to make the entire space an indoor building rather than an outdoor walk-by (as before). The viewing experience is mediocre at best, with the views into the exhibit being narrow and drastically limited by glare (something the zoo is trying to correct). The Congo could've used another year-round building and it's unfortunate that we didn't get that, especially for a species so scarcely found in zoos.
Do you know if the new exhibit change how many bonobos Columbus Zoo is capable of housing?
 
Does anybody have birth or death dates/years for the bonobos Congo and Lavern?

I have Congo as:
1.0, Congo - Kabongo x Wamba
father to: 1.0, Zuri - 1998 - Congo x Lolita (Milwaukee Zoo)

I have Lavern as:
0.1, Lavern - ? x Lana

the only trace I can find of them online is in this article which is a study conducted at the San Diego Zoo by UCSD. I am unsure if they lived at any facilities other than the SD Zoo.
 
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