Taronga Zoo Chimpanzee Troop

At Taronga Zoo we have 17 Chimpanzees:


Lubutu (M – DOB: 05/06/1993) Alpha Male. Lulu’s grandson and Lisa’s son
Shabani (M – DOB: 14/09/1994) Beta Male – Shiba’s son
Lisa (F – DOB: 23/08/1979) Lubutu’s mother
Spitter (F – DOB: 01/06/1960)
Sasha (F – DOB: 11/06/1980)
Shiba (F – DOB: 22/05/1981)
Koko (F – DOB: 06/05/1979)
Kuma (F – DOB: 06/12/1991)
Kamili (F – DOB: 02/09/1995)
Shona (F – DOB: 09/10/1987) Lowest ranking adult
Samaki (M – DOB: 27/11/2001) Shiba’s son
Lani (F – DOB: 26/05/2002)
Furahi (M – DOB: 28/02/2003)
Shikamoo (M – DOB: 25/07/2003)
Sembe (F – DOB: 27/02/2008)
Sule (M – DOB: 04/04/2008)
Fumo (M – D.O.B: 17/10/2013) Kuma’s son
and Shiba's son (M – D.O.B: 09/08/2014)

Taronga’s Chimpanzee community can trace its history back through eight decades.

In 1947, when Australia’s entire population was equal to the current NSW population, the first of the Chimpanzees in our family tree was born.
 
Taronga has 19 chimps on display...

Spitter 01-06-60
Koko 06-05-79
Lisa 23-08-79
Sasha 11-06-80
Shiba 22-05-81
Shona 09-10-87
Kuma 06-12-91
Kamili 02-09-95
Lani 26-05-02
Sembe 27-02-08

Lubutu 05-06-93
Shabani 14-09-94
Samaki 27-11-01
Shikamoo 25-07-03
Furahi 28-02-03
Sule 04-04-08
Fumo 16-10-13
Sudi 09-08-14
Liwali 22-09-14

... and the 3 new females off display... Ceres, Naomi, and Hannah

... and hopefully 2 more new females coming... *grin*

T.
 
Taronga Zoo's chimpanzee profiles are embarrassingly out of date. Lani is no longer the "only female infant," she is an adult female, and has since been joined by another female infant, Sembe, who is now an adolescent. Kuma is no longer struggling to raise her son Furahi, due to a lack of family support. Kuma is now one of the highest ranking females, with the support of her adult son, and is now a mother of two. Sule and Sembe are adolescents. Fumo, Sudi and Liwali have been born and are turning 2/3 years old this year.

I wish they'd update them, with the new arrivals, and update the family tree (Furahi is listed as a female!!!)
 
As listed in my records above, Mary died at the young age of 33 years in 1989, leaving behind an adolescent daughter aged 11 years (Melissa) and two juvenile males aged 7 (Mervin) and 3.5 years (Monte). Makes me wonder what would have happened to these offspring. Melissa, almost an adult and expecting her second offspring would have been relatively unaffected but I'm guessing Mervin would have been in a similar situation to Chimbuka when his mother died. The idea of a chimpanzee orphaned at 3.5 years of age is almost unthinkable, given how Fumo (only 9 months younger at present) is still so dependent on his mother.

Makes me wonder if Monte latched onto Shiba in the way Sule has to Kuma/Fumo. Shiba, aged 8 years in 1989, gave birth to her first offspring that year, and may have been more nuturing than any of the older females who would have already had multiple offspring, and have been unlikely to show interest or even tolerance of another female's offspring. We know that 5 years later, Monte fathered Shiba's second offspring, not the older alpha male.
 
Lulu

Lulu was estimated to have been born 01/01/1952 in the wild. She arrived at Taronga Zoo 31/03/1965.

Lulu gave birth seven times to eight offspring:

1) Pongo (29/05/1969) F (Sent to Ridgeways Circus 07/06/1972)

2) Alfie (13/06/1973) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 11/07/1973)

3) Lucy (24/11/1975) F (Sent to Auckland Zoo 23/10/1985)

4) Lisa (23/08/1979) F (Still at Taronga Zoo)

5) Unnamed (09/04/1983) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 22/04/1983)
5) Unnamed (09/04/1983) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 17/05/1983)

6) Lewis (12/12/1985) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 08/12/1996)

7) Leakey (14/08/1989) F (Died at Taronga Zoo 16/09/1989)

Lulu died 02/05/2014 at Taronga Zoo.

Lucy gave birth once:

1) Loanda (06/08/1985) F (Sent to Auckland Zoo 23/10/1985)

Lisa has given birth four times:

1) Lobo (26/06/1989) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 28/11/1996)

2) Lubutu (05/06/1993) M (Still at Taronga Zoo)

3) Lani (25/05/2002) F (Still at Taronga Zoo)

4) Liwali (22/09/2014) M (Still at Taronga Zoo)


Additional notes/info:

Lulu was the longest living chimpanzee at Taronga Zoo at the time of her death in 2014.

Her offspring Lewis and Leakey are named after primatologist Louis Leakey, who was a mentor to Jane Goodall and renowned for his studies on chimpanzees.

Lobo drowned in the exhibit moat when he was seven years old. He is now displayed in the education rooms at the zoo.
 
Last edited:
Updates on our Chimpanzee Community

Taronga Zoo’s Chimpanzee community is internationally recognised as one of the most natural in terms of social cohesion, behaviour and breeding. To ensure the success of this group into the future, we are in the process of introducing three new females to our Chimpanzee community. Chimps are highly social animals with complex and dynamic relations, so great care must be taken when planning and implementing introductions to minimise tension within our current chimp families.

1. Why are we getting new female chimps?
The introduction of these new chimps is vital to the continuing success of Taronga’s community. Taronga identified the new females in three European Zoos. Their additional genetic input will ensure continued diversity within Taronga’s community for the next 50 to 100 years.

2. Is this normal?
In the wild Chimpanzees live in fission-fusion societies, where females will move in and out of neighbouring communities. Taronga has not introduced new Chimpanzees to the community for over 20 years. To facilitate the introductions of new females, the recently redeveloped chimpanzee sanctuary enables keepers to manage two separate groups and to move Chimpanzees between two groups during a fission-fusion style introductory period, allowing keepers to mimic what would happen in the wild.

3. Where are they from?
Two females have arrived from Givskud Zoo, Denmark, and one from Warsaw Zoo, Poland.

4. Have they been here long?
The incoming chimpanzees arrived late last year. After a period of quarantine the new chimps moved to an off-exhibit part of the Orang-utan exhibit so they could create bonds between the three females and gradually build relationships with Keepers.

5. Where are the Orang-utans?
To help with these introductions, our much-loved Orang-utans, Jantan and Willow, moved to a large facility not in the public areas of the Zoo while the new female chimps get to know one another. The former Orang-utan exhibit has been important neutral territory during the introduction process. The Orang-utans continue to receive daily enrichment and training sessions with the Keepers.

6. How long until the new females are integrated into the new group?
The introduction process can take months and up to a year until the groups are fully integrated and the introductions to Taronga’s group will be gradual. The duration and success of introductions will depend partly on the chimpanzees themselves. While the Keepers’ management strategies are a very important part of this process, the chimp’s individual personalities and interactions will play a big part.

These new individuals have to form friendships and alliances within smaller groups before being accepted by the entire community. The females will first be introduced to our alpha-male Lubutu then to other key members of the chimp community behind-the-scenes before being slowly introduced to the outside exhibit.

7. Why can’t I see any Chimps?
Introductions may be taking place behind-the-scenes so we appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

Regular daily routines may be disrupted due to the introduction of new females into the group. The intricate social dynamics of chimp groups means it is necessary for slow introductions over an extended period of time. You might want to return when the Keeper talk is on, as you’re more likely to see chimps then.

8. Will they get along?
Keepers anticipate the male chimps will be ecstatic at the arrival of new breeding females, however there‘s likely to be hostility from the incumbent senior females in the group, who may perceive the new females as competition. It’s anticipated that developing the proper social cohesion and integration could take some time.

The repertoire of chimp behaviour ranges from incredible tenderness to serious violence. Taronga has consulted Zoos around the world that are experienced in introducing new chimps to an existing community, and designed meticulous step-by-step plans, including contingency options, however, there may still be fighting and attacking behaviour observed during this period.
 
Taronga zoo visit today.

The new chimps are separated by green mesh. Hopefully will be removed in the coming weeks. Them they will be able to see each other fully. They are able to go into the yard next to the main yard. But are yet to go out.
 
Just my luck, it so happens that they are given outdoor access the day after I visit! But it seems I didn't miss much since they didn't go outside. :D
 
Very interested to hear the developments! Scary times ahead for those tasked with undertaking the introductions, I hope it all goes smoothly. I was under the impression that another two females were to be brought to Taronga, will this not be the case after all?

Also, to my knowledge Lucy is the mother of Luka and Lucifer (currently at Hamilton Zoo), and so also grandmother of baby Chiku. How terribly sad about Lobo; I despise water moats in ape exhibits, there have been far too many senseless deaths. :( I was very disappointed that Taronga kept the moat when they recently upgraded the chimpanzee exhibit.
 
Very interested to hear the developments! Scary times ahead for those tasked with undertaking the introductions, I hope it all goes smoothly. I was under the impression that another two females were to be brought to Taronga, will this not be the case after all?

Also, to my knowledge Lucy is the mother of Luka and Lucifer (currently at Hamilton Zoo), and so also grandmother of baby Chiku. How terribly sad about Lobo; I despise water moats in ape exhibits, there have been far too many senseless deaths. :( I was very disappointed that Taronga kept the moat when they recently upgraded the chimpanzee exhibit.

Lucy is indeed the mother of Lucifer (1988) and Luka (1993). These were her second and third offspring, and were born at Auckland Zoo. I purposely only mentioned her first offspring, Loanda (1985) in my thread on Lulu, as she was Lucy's only offspring born at Taronga Zoo. In all my threads on the chimpanzees of Taronga Zoo, I only record the events that occurred at Taronga Zoo, if the animal died a month after it was sent to another zoo, or gave birth to more offspring, I chose not to include it.

I use the statement, "(Name) gave birth to (Number of) offspring" if the chimpanzee has died, been exported or can no longer breed, as it will be obvious there will be no more births.

I use the statement, "(Name) has given birth to (Number of) offspring" if the chimpanzee is still at Taronga, and can potentially produce offspring.

Melissa, who is mentioned on my thread on Mary(2) is another example of a chimpanzee who went on to have offspring at another zoo.




With regards to new chimpanzee, yes the Q and A posted by Tigersam, detailed two more chimpanzee that were scheduled to arrive from Sweden in early 2016. This has obviously not materialised, and that detail has since been removed. You can still see evidence of it in the Q and A, where Taronga state new females had been identified in THREE European zoos.

The original plan was to merge all 5 new females together for bonding before introductions to the main troop. The fact introductions are now progressing without the two from Sweden, combined with the removal of their mention from the site suggests they are either not coming, or are at least another year away.

I can't see the point in introducing five new females. Kuma is still of prime breeding age, and I would have confidence in Shiba successfully raising another infant if she is bred from in the immediate future. Breeding from these two females, combined with breeding Ceres, Hannah and Naomi at least twice will be more than enough expansion to the group, without the need to bring in another two females for breeding.
 
Also, fully agree with you Soona, regarding the death of Lobo. The water moat offers no enrichment or purpose to the chimpanzees, it is merely an aesthetic and potentially deadly feature. Two chimpanzees have drowned in it to date.

Though not through drowning, the death of Loanda after she was sent to Auckland Zoo with her mother Lucy, was just as senseless. I'm sure lessons have been learnt from this however and would this would not have occurred this day and age.
 
That makes sense, I was sure you wouldn't have forgotten Luka and Lucifer! I thought it might be worth noting as they remain in the region.

What happened to Loanda? I must have missed that.
 
That makes sense, I was sure you wouldn't have forgotten Luka and Lucifer! I thought it might be worth noting as they remain in the region.

What happened to Loanda? I must have missed that.

No I definately didn't forget them. They were the first chimpanzees in Australasia I learnt about after watching the Zoo TV Series (1998-2009) which was based at Auckland Zoo. Luka was just five years old when the first series was aired. I saw them many times at Auckland Zoo, and at Hamilton Zoo since their move in 2004.

In the 1980s, Auckland Zoo decided it wanted to start breeding chimpanzee. Their male Bobby, by then in his 30s, had never bred with the four females, Janie (1952), Josie (1954), Suzie (1964) and Sally (1970), so they imported a new male from Taronga Zoo, Mike (1973) in 1982. Mike never bred with any of these four tea party/handraised females, so they were sent a mother raised chimpanzee from Taronga Zoo, Lucy (1975). Lucy was a 10 year old female and had just given birth to her first baby, a daughter named Loanda, who was sent with her to Auckland Zoo. After a month of introductions to the Auckland Zoo troop through the bars, they were allowed into the same enclosure. Loanda was pulled off Lucy and killed within seconds.
 
I despise water moats in ape exhibits, there have been far too many senseless deaths. :( I was very disappointed that Taronga kept the moat when they recently upgraded the chimpanzee exhibit.

I do too- they are so much wasted space for the Apes, as well as the danger aspect. Unfortunately many zoos still prefer to incorporate them in new designs, presumably because they allow unrestricted viewing for the public and so remove any potential complaints about bars or cages. It also means the animals are usually seen from further way, though zoos may also feel that is a good thing to reduce stress etc. These considerations do seem to take priority in planning exhibits, over the dangers involved or available space for the Apes.:(
 
It bugs me to no end that people assume that mesh/caging = cruel, but open, moated islands are an improvement. It's all for aesthetics, not for the animals. It's all well and good for zoos to say that they put the animals first, but countless relatively new exhibits seem to contradict this. The chimpanzee SSP specifically recommends against the use of water moats; the fact that respected zoos keep ignoring the risk bothers me greatly.
 
The chimpanzee SSP specifically recommends against the use of water moats; the fact that respected zoos keep ignoring the risk bothers me greatly.

It is amazing isn't it? It begs the lie that the 'animals come first'- they don't- the visiting public do...:(
 
It's a fine line, isn't it?

The visiting public wants to be able to see the animals with as unobstructed a view as possible... and for some reason they also expect every animal to be doing something interesting at any time they may be passing by an exhibit.

Then you have the animal rights media campaigns advocating "natural" habitats and behaviours from animals that will never ever be released to the wild, and little actual contact with the animals from their keepers. This is a farce IMHO.

And finally, you have the keepers that are tasked with achieving all the external expectations from people who really have no actual clue as to individual animal needs. Rock and a hard place anyone?

Let's face it, zoos are NOT natural environments for ANY animal, but they are the only place you will be able to see many species now and in the future... as the actual natural habitats of these species are disappearing at a rate of knots to satisfy human needs. Even if we were to be breeding to repopulate the wild, where the hell would we be able to release them?

T.
 
It's a fine line, isn't it?

The visiting public wants to be able to see the animals with as unobstructed a view as possible... and for some reason they also expect every animal to be doing something interesting at any time they may be passing by an exhibit.

Then you have the animal rights media campaigns advocating "natural" habitats and behaviours from animals that will never ever be released to the wild, and little actual contact with the animals from their keepers. This is a farce IMHO.

And finally, you have the keepers that are tasked with achieving all the external expectations from people who really have no actual clue as to individual animal needs. Rock and a hard place anyone?

Let's face it, zoos are NOT natural environments for ANY animal, but they are the only place you will be able to see many species now and in the future... as the actual natural habitats of these species are disappearing at a rate of knots to satisfy human needs. Even if we were to be breeding to repopulate the wild, where the hell would we be able to release them?

T.

It is a difficult balancing act. In addition to the moat, I'm assuming there's some kind of secondary barrier (ie. an electric fence), in case the chimpanzee found their way across for whatever reason? Maybe changes have been made to the water level since the two deaths in the 1990s in case another chimpanzee falls in and drowns. Apparently the reason chimpanzees drown, is their extremely high muscle density, which causes them to immediately sink.

Interestingly, Lobo's drowning in 1996 was a tragic accident; Snowy's drowning in 1999 was as a result of him being pushed in to the moat by the beta male, Gombe. Bearing in mind how intelligent these animals are, it's possible Lobo's death served as a warning to the troop to excercise caution around the hazard, while later inspiring Gombe to overthrow the alpha male. It's just as well Lubutu is relatively popular.
 
Last edited:
Koko

Koko was estimated to have been born 01/01/1972 in the wild. She arrived at Taronga Zoo 23/02/1993.

Koko has given birth five times:

1) Unnamed (10/08/1994) F (Died at Taronga Zoo 10/08/1994)

2) Kamili (02/09/1995) F (Still at Taronga Zoo)

3) Unnamed (03/06/1999) F (Died at Taronga Zoo 03/06/1999)

4) Unnamed (08/02/2003) F (Died at Taronga Zoo 08/02/2003)

5) Unnamed (03/09/2014) U (Died at Taronga Zoo 03/09/2014)

Kamili has given birth three times:

1) Unnamed (02/07/2005) U (Died at Taronga Zoo 02/07/2005)

2) Unnamed (26/03/2013) M (Died at Taronga Zoo 26/03/2013)

3) Unnamed (29/06/2014) U (Died at Taronga Zoo 29/06/2014)


Additional notes/info:

Koko was transferred to Melbourne Zoo 16/10/1976, prior to arriving at Taronga Zoo. She never bred there. There is debate over Koko's DOB. Other sources list her DOB as 06/04/1974 and 06/05/1979. Even Taronga Zoo seem confused, listing her year of birth as 1979 in the chimpanzee profiles, and 1974 in the corresponding family tree. If she arrived at Melbourne Zoo in 1976, her year of birth is obviously not 1979.

Kamili was handraised for a few days following her birth, and then handed back to Koko to raise. The pair are supportive of each other but are two of the lowest ranking females in the troop, along with Shona.
 
Back
Top