Australasian Common Chimpanzee Population

[Zoofan15]

What percentages would we be looking at? Would our population on average be about 60% Central and 40% Western?

It’s difficult to put a percentage on it as there’s so many unknowns. However, there’s either confirmation or strong evidence to suggest the following:

- Susie at Taronga was a Central chimpanzee
- Bobby at Taronga was a Central chimpanzee
- Biddy at Taronga was a Central chimpanzee
- Lulu at Taronga was a Western chimpanzee

Many of us have suspected a Western influence on Biddy’s descendants, which is contradicted by the revelation she was likely a Central chimpanzee. I would therefore assume this influence came from Sailor (sire of Spitter), who was imported from North America (closest proximity to the two West African ports) and was likely a Western chimpanzee.

I would assume Fifi was a Central chimpanzee. She was a large, powerful female who was the alpha female for many years. Her granddaughter Kuma is similarly well built and long limbed, despite assumptions her father Snowy was a Western chimpanzee.

I would assume Mary was a Central chimpanzee. She was an aggressive, high ranking female and had large descendants. She was also stated to have been different in appearance from Lulu (which was attributed to them being of different subspecies).

Assumptions:

- Sailor at Taronga was a Western chimpanzee
- Fifi at Taronga was a Central chimpanzee
- Mary at Taronga was a Central chimpanzee
- Snowy from Wellington was a Western chimpanzee

Consequences:

If these assumptions are correct, Taronga would have two purebred Central chimpanzee: Shiba and Shabani. All other Taronga bred chimpanzee would be hybrid as they have Sailor, Lulu or Snowy as ancestors. Lubutu for example would have been 75% Western and 25% Central.

 

[Swanson02]

If these assumptions are correct, Taronga would have two purebred Central chimpanzee: Shiba and Shabani. All other Taronga bred chimpanzee would be hybrid as they have Sailor, Lulu or Snowy as ancestors. Lubutu for example would have been 75% Western and 25% Central.

Thanks again! It's amazing that we still have both purebred Western and Central chimpanzees in the region from imports prior to 2000. Do we know if it's possible to genetically test for particular chimpanzee subspecies with accuracy? It would be very cool if a genetic census was taken of the region, not only would it tell us what subspecies are present, but it would also inform the studbook coordinator on the best potential pairings going forward.
I also assume the animals Sydney received in their recent import are mixed? Mainly consisting of Western/Central hybrids?

 

[Zoofan15]

Thanks again! It's amazing that we still have both purebred Western and Central chimpanzees in the region from imports prior to 2000. Do we know if it's possible to genetically test for particular chimpanzee subspecies with accuracy? It would be very cool if a genetic census was taken of the region, not only would it tell us what subspecies are present, but it would also inform the studbook coordinator on the best potential pairings going forward.
I also assume the animals Sydney received in their recent import are mixed? Mainly consisting of Western/Central hybrids?

No problem, it was something I throughly enjoyed researching!

Genetic testing could certainly be carried out to ascertain what subspecies we have (to the details of percentages). Analysis could only be carried out of living chimpanzee (assuming no samples have been kept from deceased individuals), but that alone would allow gaps to be filled. For example, confirming Shiba was a Central chimpanzee would confirm both her parents and paternal grandparents were Central chimpanzee. I too hope this is undertaken as the results would be fascinating and likely identify some purebreds within the population as we may have done ourselves!

I would assume the Sydney chimpanzees are hybrids based on the disinterest of the European breeding programme in acquiring them. Minimal details of their background is known, though it might be worth testing just in case. Though they came from a large community, that community was likely inbred from a handful of founders.

 

[Zoofan15]

Susie (1948-1995) was a Central Chimpanzee

In researching gorillas, I came across an article detailing an expedition to French Cameroon that resulted in the capture of eight gorilla infants and three chimpanzee infants. The gorillas and one of the chimpanzees died before reaching the zoo, but two chimpanzees arrived at Fremantle 20/02/1953. These were sent on to Taronga Zoo.

According to the studbook, Taronga Zoo received a male and a female chimpanzee. 25/03/1953. The male died 26/05/1953; but the female survived and was named Susie. She lived at the zoo until her death 29/05/1995 and gave birth to nine offspring - including Shiba.

I thought this would be of interest to people as the part of Cameroon that was controlled by the French at this time is part of the range of the Central chimpanzee. Many of us have speculated that Shiba’s line contained a decent percentage of this subspecies based on physical traits of this line (large size, long limbs etc.) and this confirms Susie was indeed a Central chimpanzee.

Shiba’s sire was the son of another two founders, so her genetic make up is unconfirmed; though via her mother, she would be a minimum of 50% Central chimpanzee.

Susie killed another chimp at Taronga; and photo of Susie

As I previously reported, Susie arrived with another male chimpanzee that died two months after they arrived. Deaths of great apes following a sea voyage were nothing unusual and death from pneumonia and other causes were commonplace; but what I didn’t realise was that Susie killed him!

Though I had heard this account before, it didn’t name the chimpanzee responsible:

Chimp strangled, bear drowned - Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954) - 4 Jun 1953

Sir Edward Hallstrom, who is Taronga Park Trust chairman, said the
female chimp twisted a length of swing-rope around her mate's neck
and deliberately jumped on the swing seat, strangling him. She had tried to murder her mate several times before and had been separated from him for some days until she seemed normal again," he said. "It was the most deliberate murder of one animal by another that has ever happened at Taronga Park," he added.

Photo of Susie:

This article names the killer chimp as Susie and includes a photo of her which clearly shows her Central chimpanzee features (clear pink face etc):

Killer Now Repentant -

It appears to have been an isolated incident as Susie lived the rest of life without incident at Taronga Zoo. She was joined by Fifi, Bobby, Biddy and Bessie the following year.
Aaaa

 

[marmolady]

Wow, looking at the picture there's no doubt about it!

 

[Zoofan15]

Chimpanzee Update (Monarto Zoo)

Thanks to @Swanson02 for this information:

Galatea’s infant that died earlier this year was stillborn. Galatea is on contraception until late 2022.

Hannah has a recommendation to breed again and is off contraception. Given Hope was born February 2019, it’s likely Hannah will conceive soon if she hasn’t already.

Lani will breed in the future, but Hannah and Galatea will take priority. Lani is therefore on contraception at the moment.

The staff hope Zuri will remain at Monarto Zoo; while Hope and Zola will likely be transferred to Sydney or a zoo in New Zealand. This would be Wellington (see my posts in the Monarto thread).

 

[Zoofan15]

Females off Contraception

These females are confirmed to be off contraception:

Taronga Zoo:

0.1 Lisa (23/08/1979) Jojo x Lulu
0.1 Ceres (19/09/1990) Toto x Jenny; Imported 2015
0.1 Kuma (06/12/1991) Snowy x Ficha
0.1 Kamili (02/09/1995) Snowy x Koko
0.1 Naomi (25/01/2001) Toto x Jenny; Imported 2015

Monarto Zoo:

0.1 Hannah (28/11/1993) Andy x Annie; Imported 2015

 

[Jambo]

Some info i've found about Melbourne and Taronga's chimps

Apologies if some have been mentioned already.

Melbourne:

Their first pair were Henry and Henrietta who were imported in the 1920's.

Sometime in the mid 1930's Josephine was imported. She lived separately to the original pair.

In the early 40's, Henrietta supposedly died and Henry was paired with Josephine.

In 1946, 1.0 Jimpy was born to Henry and Josephine. He was Melbourne's first surviving chimp birth.

In 1948, 0.1 Vipi was born to Henry and Josephine.

In 1950, 1.0 Chiko was born to Henry and Josephine.

In 1970, 1.0 Ernie was born to Molly. Not sure where she came from (nor the identity of his father).

Melbourne had a male named Bobo who was born in 1967.

They also had another male (Ted) who was born in 1952. He was alive at Melbourne as of 1991 with Koko and Ernie. I believe he sired Ernie.

Koko arrived from Rotterdam in 1976. She was introduced to Bobo first and got along with him well. She also met Molly, Ernie and Ted.

Taronga:

Sailor was born at Saint Louis Zoo in 1941. He arrived to Taronga to be paired with Keefi (the region's first surviving chimp baby). I think it's a possibility Sailor's name was derived from 'Saint Louis', his birth place.

Mary died in 1989. It was interesting to read she was blind for her last six months of life, but still managed to get around extremely well.

Sonny also died in 1989, and prior to his death, he was separated with four females for export to Detroit. The move was canned following Sonny's death. @Zoofan15 may have some insight on these four females.

Lulu had seven babies throughout her lifetime and due to her representation and not caring well for her last offspring Leakey (1989). Her fallopian tubes were clamped but during an operation in 1992 they discovered she was surprisingly pregnant. Not sure what happened to this offspring, but her, Lisa and Lobo were separated for a period of a few months while she rested following the operation (not sure of the details here, surrounding what the operation was for).

 

[Zoofan15]

Some info i've found about Melbourne and Taronga's chimps

Apologies if some have been mentioned already.

Melbourne:

Their first pair were Henry and Henrietta who were imported in the 1920's.

Sometime in the mid 1930's Josephine was imported. She lived separately to the original pair.

In the early 40's, Henrietta supposedly died and Henry was paired with Josephine.

In 1946, 1.0 Jimpy was born to Henry and Josephine. He was Melbourne's first surviving chimp birth.

In 1948, 0.1 Vipi was born to Henry and Josephine.

In 1950, 1.0 Chiko was born to Henry and Josephine.

In 1970, 1.0 Ernie was born to Molly. Not sure where she came from (nor the identity of his father).

Melbourne had a male named Bobo who was born in 1967.

They also had another male (Ted) who was born in 1952. He was alive at Melbourne as of 1991 with Koko and Ernie. I believe he sired Ernie.

Melbourne Zoo (History):

Due to having a comparatively small number of chimpanzees (compared to Taronga), I’ve written a complete history of every chimpanzee held at Melbourne Zoo on Post #72 of this thread: Australasian Common Chimpanzee Population

Ted (1952) and Molly (1953) were wild born founders. They lived at Wellington Zoo before being exported to Melbourne Zoo in 1966. Molly gave birth to four offspring (all sired by Teddy), but only Ernie survived to adulthood.

Ernie was euthanised the day Koko and Sanda left for Taronga, as no other zoo could take a male. It’s a real shame as was genetically valuable, being the son of two founders. Teddy has no surviving descendants; while Molly has a great granddaughter at Rockhampton (Holly), who has a son of her own.

You may also be interested to know that Sailor and Keefi came to Melbourne Zoo. Sailor died 26/10/1966 and Keefi died three days later. The following day, the four chimpanzees from Wellington Zoo arrived.

 

[Zoofan15]

Taronga:

Sailor was born at Saint Louis Zoo in 1941. He arrived to Taronga to be paired with Keefi (the region's first surviving chimp baby). I think it's a possibility Sailor's name was derived from 'Saint Louis', his birth place.

Mary died in 1989. It was interesting to read she was blind for her last six months of life, but still managed to get around extremely well.

Sonny also died in 1989, and prior to his death, he was separated with four females for export to Detroit. The move was canned following Sonny's death. @Zoofan15 may have some insight on these four females.

Lulu had seven babies throughout her lifetime and due to her representation and not caring well for her last offspring Leakey (1989). Her fallopian tubes were clamped but during an operation in 1992 they discovered she was surprisingly pregnant. Not sure what happened to this offspring, but her, Lisa and Lobo were separated for a period of a few months while she rested following the operation (not sure of the details here, surrounding what the operation was for).

Taronga Zoo (History):

Mary struggled in her last few months, clinging to her juvenile offspring, Monte for comfort. It was a marked deterioration for what was once the community’s most ferocious female. Mary fatally injured Lulu’s twins and cannibalised another female’s infant. She was also the only female to have 100% survival rate of her offspring: Mike (1973), Melissa (1978), Mervin (1982) and Monte (1985).

Lulu gave birth to eight offspring between 1969 and 1989 (full details on Post #153 of this thread). I believe her last offspring (Leakey) was the one injured by Mary’s adolescent son, Mervin and subsequently rejected by Lulu as she was noted as not being a very good mother to her last infant. Mervin fatally injured a further two infants. That article detailing a pregnancy in 1992 has always been a great source of mystery to me as the infant isn’t in the studbook or Taronga’s records.

Re. the export to the USA, the most likely candidates (independent of their mother, young, no dependent infants) were:

0.1 Melissa (30/01/1978)
0.1 Lisa (23/08/1979)
0.1 Sacha (11/06/1980)
0.1 Shiba (22/05/1981)
0.1 Cara (10/09/1981)
0.1 Samantha (25/12/1983)

I believe the plan was to export the youngest four, as their removal would have still left their respective mothers with a daughter in the community. Melissa and Lisa were the only remaining daughters of their respective mothers and Mary was already disadvantaged by her blindness, which developed in 1988.

 

[Abbey]

Taronga Zoo (History):

Mary struggled in her last few months, clinging to her juvenile offspring, Monte for comfort. It was a marked deterioration for what was once the community’s most ferocious female. Mary fatally injured Lulu’s twins and cannibalised another female’s infant. She was also the only female to have 100% survival rate of her offspring: Mike (1973), Melissa (1978), Mervin (1982) and Monte (1985).

Lulu gave birth to eight offspring between 1969 and 1989 (full details on Post #153 of this thread). I believe her last offspring (Leakey) was the one injured by Mary’s adolescent son, Mervin and subsequently rejected by Lulu as she was noted as not being a very good mother to her last infant. Mervin fatally injured a further two infants. That article detailing a pregnancy in 1992 has always been a great source of mystery to me as the infant isn’t in the studbook or Taronga’s records.

Re. the export to the USA, the most likely candidates (independent of their mother, young, no dependent infants) were:

0.1 Melissa (30/01/1978)
0.1 Lisa (23/08/1979)
0.1 Sacha (11/06/1980)
0.1 Shiba (22/05/1981)
0.1 Cara (10/09/1981)
0.1 Samantha (25/12/1983)

I believe the plan was to export the youngest four, as their removal would have still left their respective mothers with a daughter in the community. Melissa and Lisa were the only remaining daughters of their respective mothers and Mary was already disadvantaged by her blindness, which developed in 1988.

I'm not necessarily saying this was the fate of the 1992 pregnancy; however, this is just something which I've been wondering lately - is there any record of pregnancy termination being performed on zoo great apes? I gather that it would be medically possible, given the reproductive similarities between humans and apes. At the same time, I can also see why it would be generally uncommon.

 

[Jambo]

I'm not necessarily saying this was the fate of the 1992 pregnancy; however, this is just something which I've been wondering lately - is there any record of pregnancy termination being performed on zoo great apes? I gather that it would be medically possible, given the reproductive similarities between humans and apes. At the same time, I can also see why it would be generally uncommon.

I think it’s highly likely the baby didn’t survive, due to Lulu’s fallopian tubes being clamped which was pulsar made giving birth incredibly hard.

Termination is possible I believe but from the article I read it seemed like they were willing to let her carry out her pregnancy.

 

[Zoofan15]

I'm not necessarily saying this was the fate of the 1992 pregnancy; however, this is just something which I've been wondering lately - is there any record of pregnancy termination being performed on zoo great apes? I gather that it would be medically possible, given the reproductive similarities between humans and apes. At the same time, I can also see why it would be generally uncommon.

I’ve found details of terminations carried out in great apes, but am not aware of it ever being performed within Australasia. Given gender can be determined via blood work, it may be something for zoos to consider with regards to population management (given male gorillas are so hard to place).

At this stage, it would only be carried out for medical reason’s e.g. if the mother’s health was at risk.

I think it’s highly likely the baby didn’t survive, due to Lulu’s fallopian tubes being clamped which was pulsar made giving birth incredibly hard.

Termination is possible I believe but from the article I read it seemed like they were willing to let her carry out her pregnancy.

Lulu’s fallopian tubes being being clamped would have only hindered conception (and in this case at least one had re-fused). I imagine they were happy to continue with the pregnancy given the fact they announced she was pregnant to the media (and had previously had the chance to abort the pregnancy).

One possibility is that Lulu’s health suddenly declined prior to the birth and they had no choice but to terminate the pregnancy to save her life. This would also explain why the infant isn’t recorded in the studbook and database - as it only lists pregnancies resulting in a live birth or stillbirth; not miscarriage or termination.

 

[Pertinax]

Susie killed another chimp at Taronga; and photo of Susie

As I previously reported, Susie arrived with another male chimpanzee that died two months after they arrived. Deaths of great apes following a sea voyage were nothing unusual and death from pneumonia and other causes were commonplace; but what I didn’t realise was that Susie killed him!

Though I had heard this account before, it didn’t name the chimpanzee responsible:

Chimp strangled, bear drowned - Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954) - 4 Jun 1953

Sir Edward Hallstrom, who is Taronga Park Trust chairman, said the
female chimp twisted a length of swing-rope around her mate's neck
and deliberately jumped on the swing seat, strangling him. She had tried to murder her mate several times before and had been separated from him for some days until she seemed normal again," he said. "It was the most deliberate murder of one animal by another that has ever happened at Taronga Park," he added.



It appears to have been an isolated incident as Susie lived the rest of life without incident at Taronga Zoo. She was joined by Fifi, Bobby, Biddy and Bessie the following year.
Aaaa

I find this difficult to believe. I think maybe wrapping the rope around his neck and then jumping on the seat were two unnconnected events and that the strangulation were more likely a freak accident, not a deliberate act. Even if she'd showed hostile behaviour toward him previously. Can't somehow accept this as fact...

 

[Jambo]

I find this difficult to believe. I think maybe wrapping the rope around his neck and then jumping on the seat were two unnconnected events and that the strangulation were more likely a freak accident, not a deliberate act. Even if she'd showed hostile behaviour toward him previously. Can't somehow accept this as fact...

Chimps can be quite intelligent...even if she possibly didn't try to kill him, she most likely was trying to somewhat hurt him.

 

[Zoofan15]

I find this difficult to believe. I think wrapping the rope around his neck and the strangulation were more likely a freak accident, not a deliberate act. Even if she'd showed hostile behaviour toward him previously. Can't somehow accept this as fact...

It’s possible she did it not understanding the consequences, which admittedly would have been an abstract concept for a juvenile chimp.

While she was a middle to high ranking female in her prime and capable of holding her own, I’ve never read anything to suggest she was an aggressive female (like Mary) and she lived the rest of her life without incident. She was also an excellent mother, as were her descendants - Sutu, Shiba and Samantha.

 

[Jambo]

It’s possible she did it not understanding the consequences, which admittedly would have been an abstract concept for a juvenile chimp.

While she was a middle to high ranking female in her prime and capable of holding her own, I’ve never read anything to suggest she was an aggressive female (like Mary) and she lived the rest of her life without incident. She was also an excellent mother, as were her daughters.

It's also possible the incident may have been play. Wrapping the rope around his neck and then jumping on the swing seat seems very playful, and something a juvenile would do.

 

[Pertinax]

It's also possible the incident may have been play. Wrapping the rope around his neck and then jumping on the swing seat seems very playful, and something a juvenile would do.

I think that is far more likely...knowing she could actively strangle him using a rope seems beyond even a Chimp's intelligence for me. We know young apes, (it seems to be mainly young gorillas) that have unfortunately strangled themselves while playing with ropes and I think this was possibly an extension of that?

 

[Zoofan15]

I think that is far more likely...knowing she could actively strangle him using a rope seems beyond even a Chimp's intelligence for me. We know young apes, (it seems to be mainly young gorillas) that have unfortunately strangled themselves while playing with ropes and I think this was possibly an extension of that?

That does seem likely given an adult chimpanzee has the intelligence of a four year old human and Susie wasn’t even full grown. Even adult chimpanzees have a limited understanding of death (an abstract concept) as evidenced by females carrying around deceased infants for days on end.

In addition, Susie seemed subdued in the days that followed indicating she likely wasn’t aware of the consequences of her actions when she carried them out.

 

[Pertinax]

That does seem likely given an adult chimpanzee has the intelligence of a four year old human and Susie wasn’t even full grown. Even adult chimpanzees have a limited understanding of death (an abstract concept) as evidenced by females carrying around deceased infants for days on end.

In addition, Susie seemed subdued in the days that followed indicating she likely wasn’t aware of the consequences of her actions when she carried them out.

If she was only a juvenile then the idea of a premeditated murder seems even more fanciful to me. Odd that a figure like Hallstrom should interpret it that way, but then it was another era.

Of course we know wild chimps have a 'dark' side and will sometimes co-operate in joining forces to kill one from a rival clan, but that is adults, never younger ones.