Snowy’s Introduction/Hyderabad Export (1992)
Article:
Imported from Wellington Zoo in 1986, Snowy’s task was to dethrone Taronga's then dominant male chimp, a 12-year-old named Danny. Since the dominant male has priority mating rights to females in the colony, Snowy would start a new bloodline in the group, which had been inbred for 30 years.
At first only young chimps who appeared friendly were allowed through a small hole in the mesh. But one powerful fighter called Lulu managed to squeeze her way through to chase her playful infant. In the ensuing fight, Snowy nearly lost his forearm to Lulu's teeth. In another encounter, the frustrated leader karate-kicked a high-ranking female called Fifi, knocking out her teeth. Within 10 minutes, however, the two were hugging, their initial hostilities apparently forgotten.
While Snowy's introduction to Danny and to his next-in-command, Mervin, went off without a hitch, Danny and Mervin proved troublesome when the trio got together. So the pair along with four other potential bullies, are now to be sent to an Indian zoo which wants to start its own breeding colony.
While Snowy will not be sexually mature for another two years, he is not one to pass up opportunities. He goes through the motions of mating with any soliciting females, including Fifi, who is now 45, despite his lack of sperm to inseminate them. "It's quite good really. We don't want any more babies for a while," says Mr Davies.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Thursday, April 11, 1991).
Discussion:
Despite the comment about Snowy being pre-reproductive at eight years old, males as young as six or seven years have sired offspring (including Bobby at Taronga Zoo). Snowy’s first offspring (Kuma) was born December 1991, so would have been conceived circa April 1991 (the month this article was published)! Snowy’s son Lubutu in turn sired his first infant the year he turned eight.
Danny (alpha male) and Mervin (beta male) were apparently introduced to Snowy individually without issue; but when together, they teamed up against him. I hadn’t realised an integration with Danny (an adult male) had even been attempted. While the presence of Mervin was a supporting factor in Danny’s aggression; even without him, Danny had the support of a number of females in the troop who would have been unlikely to side with an adolescent male like Snowy for many years.
Danny and Mervin were indeed exported to Hyderabad Zoo on 16/10/1992 along with an adult female, an adolescent female and an infant female:
1.0 Danny (22/07/1974)
0.1 Sutu (28/12/1974)
1.0 Mervin (01/02/1982)
0.1 Cheena (15/08/1985)
0.1 Sumu (18/05/1991)
The article refers to plans to export Danny and Mervin, along with ‘four potential bullies’, which is interesting:
One of these would certainly have been Sutu, who was described as an ambitious female. She was an influential female, who along with Spitter, supported Sonny in overthrowing Danny. With Sonny removed/deceased, she undoubtedly would have supported the reinstated alpha male Danny in order to advance her position in the hierarchy. Her dependent infant went with her for obvious reasons; and may have been factored into export plans considering she was born a month later in May 1991.
The other three candidates are less clear, but these are my guesses:
Lulu (1960) and Lewis (1985). Lewis was the greatest remaining threat to Snowy’s leadership, a precocious young male two years his junior and backed by his high ranking mother.
Spitter (1960) and Gombe (1988). Spitter was the second highest ranking female after Fifi; and like Lewis, Gombe was an obvious future threat to Snowy’s leadership (succeeding him as alpha upon his death).
Melissa (1978). Melissa was named as one of Danny’s allies in Sonny’s successful takeover bid.
Cara (1981) and Samantha (1983). Cara had been described in at least two articles as a troublemaker in the community; while Samantha was the adolescent daughter of Sutu.
It was around this time that Wellington Zoo began construction on their new chimpanzee exhibit and a second option arose to transfer out three females. Wellington already had an established troop and would have wanted adolescent females for ease of assimilation and future value to the troop. Cara, Samantha, Cheena and Sally were the only adolescent females without offspring in 1992 and dropping one of Chiki’s daughters in selecting three maximised genetic diversity - leaving Cheena an ideal candidate for export to Hyderabad (Taronga were wanting to reduce their number of breeding females).
It’s likely the presentation of another option for export may have influenced the decision not to export any of the aforementioned candidates; along with the 18 months that followed (until the export to Hyderabad in October 1992) allowing time for any potential issues to have been smoothed out e.g. hostile female becoming more accepting of Snowy during that time.
