I know it is an individual thing, but i think you might be right with Padang. He has spent a large portion of his life surrounded by youngsters, so it is probably likely that he will interact with any future offspring in the same manner as Puluh does.
On a side-note; does anyone know what Puluh's upbringing was in regards to young Orangs around him? I seem to remember him arriving at Chester at roughly Puluh's age (and I think there were a few juveniles around then as well)
Puluh was born and grew up in Perth Zoo, Australia. When I visited there he was already at Chester but from the available housing(then, its been changed since) I'd say after he was weaned he was almost certainly kept just with one of his sisters longterm. There was then only one adult male there(not his father) and the Orangs were(then) kept in five seperate enclosures as follows; male(alone)/ Puan( Puloh's mother) with her last baby/ Puloh sister & baby/two Puloh sisters/two Puloh sisters. He has a lot of sisters! You can see there was no group situation as at Chester- in fact in their publications they supported this style of keeping by saying Orangtans are essentially solitary.
How he was kept previously isn't that relevant though, as as Sumatran males generally are usually very tolerant of their own offspring and seem genetically programmed to make good 'family guys.'
On the other hand, Bornean males (particularly full adults) are NOT like that and will sometimes kill babies. So Chester may be reluctant to risk Tuan with Sarikei and her baby unless they're sure from his behaviour e.g. through the mesh, that he will be safe with them. I think they may play for safety here.
There's a theory as to why Sumatran males are genetically more family orientated- it could be due to the need for a protective role on Sumatra, where tigers occur. Borneans in the wild seem to lack any family ties.
