ZSL have never to my knowledge held Bonobos. They had a small non-breeding group of Chimpanzees for a time after going out of Orangs, but eventually the survivors of this group moved to Whipsnade.
The Soebell enclosures were not bad monkey enclosures, but always looked a bit cramped for apes. Having said that, they were in many ways an upgrade from the old Monkey House, although that building had the first UK successful breeding of an Orang -- Bulu. Edinburgh had an infant many years before, which did not survive.
They were, but they were amongst the first animals to be jettisoned out when the zoo was threatened with closure during the early 1990s-much to the anger of many Keeper staff I believe.
Jonny and Koko (the last London chimps) were transferred to Whipsnade when Gorilla Kingdom was built. Jonny was never successfully integrated into the group. However, his fate was to Koko's benefit and she continues to thrive!
AFAIK, ZSL has never kept Bonobo (although they really should!)
Thanks for the info on the Bonobos, very interesting that they have never been kept their at all.
Do you have any information on the list of species that were removed during the closure crisis? Or any reading material published at that time. Thanks for all the info guys, really useful! One last question - when was Gorilla Kingdom opened?
Edinburgh had three births in the 1940's and 50's (1942, 194? and 1952) all sired by the Sumatran male Mickey- the first two births were to one female, and after she died giving birth the 2nd time, a second female was acquired, so the last one was to a different mother. But no baby lived more than few days. Bristol I think also recorded a birth in the 1950's, but again it DNS.
Jonny and Koko (the last London chimps) were transferred to Whipsnade when Gorilla Kingdom was built. Jonny was never successfully integrated into the group. However, his fate was to Koko's benefit and she continues to thrive!
Jonny and Koko were the last two of the group of four Chimps at London. The other two females were Bella and Cherry who came from Dudley Zoo. Dudley received London's previous large group of all females in exchange. Koko was actually the daughter of Cherry and the only surviving offspring of Dudley male Pepe. Sadly Koko has not bred to perpetuate his genes.
I agree that if Jonny and Koko had not escaped at Whipsnade and Jonny had to be shot, that they would probably never have integrated them as a pair, together with the others. I don't know whether they had even tried.
They definately were. The Orangutans bred very successfully with many young being reared at London. by contrast there have been few births in the Gorillas, and quite a catalogue of failures in the past.
