Australian (and NZ) Great Ape News and Discussion
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He is a very intelligent Orangutan. His sister, Dewi, was more known for her playful nature.
Even before the exhibit closed for construction, Malu was only allowed into the other outdoor enclosure (with Gabby and Kiani). It appears the Zoo have decided the netted enclosure is to risky to have Orangutans in, as they have added Saimangs in that enclosure.
Orangutan Longevity
Auckland Zoo are celebrating two orangutan birthdays - as Charlie turned 40 yesterday; and Wanita turns 42 tommorow.
Charlie is now the second eldest male orangutan in the region; but is still behind several long lived females, including three from Puan’s line. It’d be great if one of them reached Puan’s record breaking 62 years.
Oldest orangutans in the region:
0.1 Puteri (12/06/1970) Atjeh x Puan S
0.1 Puspa (01/01/1975) Atjeh x Puan S
1.0 Santan (12/10/1977) Mias x Puppe S
0.1 Kiani (24/06/1978) Bobby x Olga H
0.1 Wanita (23/03/1979) Roy x Wendy H
0.1 Utama (19/06/1979) Atjeh x Puteri S
1.0 Charlie (21/03/1981) Zabu x Girlie B
Auckland Zoo are celebrating two orangutan birthdays - as Charlie turned 40 yesterday; and Wanita turns 42 tommorow.
Charlie is now the second eldest male orangutan in the region; but is still behind several long lived females, including three from Puan’s line. It’d be great if one of them reached Puan’s record breaking 62 years.
Oldest orangutans in the region:
0.1 Puteri (12/06/1970) Atjeh x Puan S
0.1 Puspa (01/01/1975) Atjeh x Puan S
1.0 Santan (12/10/1977) Mias x Puppe S
0.1 Kiani (24/06/1978) Bobby x Olga H
0.1 Wanita (23/03/1979) Roy x Wendy H
0.1 Utama (19/06/1979) Atjeh x Puteri S
1.0 Charlie (21/03/1981) Zabu x Girlie B
Jimmy the Chimpanzee
A recent article was published about the fascinating story of a chimpanzee that ended up stranded in Elcho Island, Northern Territory in the 1950s. Jimmy, a male chimpanzee had been used as a film animal in the movie, Dark Venture (1956). He was a wild-born animal and was later part of a performing show that toured via yatch.
Following ill-prepared preparations, the yatch was forced to sailed into Darwin Harbour in 1959. A navy ship towed the yatch to a mission community on Elcho Island for supplies. With border restrictions prohibiting Jimmy from being on Australian soil, Taronga Zoo offered to take Jimmy into care. Sir Edward Hallstrom collected him and took him to Taronga where he unsuccessfully bred. He was later shipped off to Perth Zoo in 1962. In 1968 at the age of 16 he died due to heart-related issues. His remains are now held at the West Australian Musuem.
Full story with video footage and images of Jimmy: Rare footage shows rescue of Hollywood’s Jimmy the Chimp after NT shipwreck
A recent article was published about the fascinating story of a chimpanzee that ended up stranded in Elcho Island, Northern Territory in the 1950s. Jimmy, a male chimpanzee had been used as a film animal in the movie, Dark Venture (1956). He was a wild-born animal and was later part of a performing show that toured via yatch.
Following ill-prepared preparations, the yatch was forced to sailed into Darwin Harbour in 1959. A navy ship towed the yatch to a mission community on Elcho Island for supplies. With border restrictions prohibiting Jimmy from being on Australian soil, Taronga Zoo offered to take Jimmy into care. Sir Edward Hallstrom collected him and took him to Taronga where he unsuccessfully bred. He was later shipped off to Perth Zoo in 1962. In 1968 at the age of 16 he died due to heart-related issues. His remains are now held at the West Australian Musuem.
Full story with video footage and images of Jimmy: Rare footage shows rescue of Hollywood’s Jimmy the Chimp after NT shipwreck
Jimmy’s details are as follows:
1.0 Jimmie
Born in the wild 00/00/1951
Arrived in the USA 00/00/1951
Arrived at Taronga Zoo 23/07/1959
Arrived at Perth Zoo 08/12/1962
Died at Perth Zoo 09/05/1968
It’s interesting to know they attempted to breed from him at Taronga Zoo. It was around this time that their breeding programme kicked off - with Sailor siring infants in 1957 and 1960; and an integrated colony formed - with Bobby siring infants from 1960 until his death in 1975. Sailor was also transferred to another zoo, presumably due to the challenges of integrating the males.
Jimmie’s cause of death was haemorrhagic pancreatitis, complicated by a grossly enlarged heart.
Perth Zoo had one other chimpanzee when he arrived, a female named Senguli, who was estimated to have been born 1953 in the wild. She was sent to Adelaide Zoo in 1976, where she died in 1996.
Cassius the Chimpanzee - the Early Years:
Very interesting article about Cassius the chimp, the old male at Rockhampton Zoo currently. Apparently, in 1986 Cassius was to be euthanised due to tuberculosis along with his mother (Matilda) and sibling (Octavius). A bit of a rescue mission ensued and the two chimps were moved to Rockhampton. It was unfortunately too late for Matilda who was put to sleep after they were all incorrectly diagnosed with TB according to the article. The article has photos of Cassius when he appeared in the Women's Weekly magazine in 1975.
Full article: A daring midnight run saved Cassius the chimp from death row 35 years ago
Very interesting article about Cassius the chimp, the old male at Rockhampton Zoo currently. Apparently, in 1986 Cassius was to be euthanised due to tuberculosis along with his mother (Matilda) and sibling (Octavius). A bit of a rescue mission ensued and the two chimps were moved to Rockhampton. It was unfortunately too late for Matilda who was put to sleep after they were all incorrectly diagnosed with TB according to the article. The article has photos of Cassius when he appeared in the Women's Weekly magazine in 1975.
Full article: A daring midnight run saved Cassius the chimp from death row 35 years ago
It appears Malu the orangutan has now developed impressive cheek pads!
He is now quite the spitting image of his father, Santan.
Male Orangutans in captivity have been known to not grow cheek pads until other adult males in that same zoo have been moved elsewhere; which in Malu's case, took place when his father Santan was sent to the Sydney Zoo in 2019.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXK-u2ZMhzs/
He is now quite the spitting image of his father, Santan.
Male Orangutans in captivity have been known to not grow cheek pads until other adult males in that same zoo have been moved elsewhere; which in Malu's case, took place when his father Santan was sent to the Sydney Zoo in 2019.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXK-u2ZMhzs/
Apparently the last Chimpanzeesat Perth Zoo - Monte/Monty {m} (b 31 Oct 1985), Quique {f} (b 11 Apr 1991) and Sandra {f} (b 28 Feb 1971) came to Perth Zoo from Taronga and lived in the current Hamadryas Baboon's exhibit in the Savannah area between June 1998 and November? 1999 before going to Ishikawa Zoo in Japan,
before this the last two Chimpanzees at PZ were Jamie {m} (b ?/?/1974) and Lollipop {f} (b ?/?/1973) who arrived in 1976 from Chester Zoo, UK and were sent to Hyderabad Zoo, India in 1992. They lived in the southernmost of the 1981 completed exhibits that are best known as the zoos Orangutans homes and very fortunately are now majorly improved with huge climbing structures and walkways. Tetrapod mentioned a couple of years ago that Jamie and Lollipop often threw things across their dry moat at people and would spit on the glass in the viewing bay and night dens, and that when one of the two managed the strength of putting a crack in the strong glass viewing pane it was a contributing factor in the zoo's decision to send them to another zoo. Prior to that exhibit in terms of their housing at the zoo when they arrived sometime in 1976 and between then and mid 1981 they would have lived in one of the pen enclosures or the old metal dome enclosure that use to house the Orangutans also right next door (during most of 1980s until 1999 was the zoo's Gibbon row and fortunately was bulldozed in early 2000s to become part of the female Asian Elephant's yard for Tricia and Permai).
Tetrapod also mentioned in contrast to Jamie and Lollipop that Monte, Quique and Sandra were a very easy going trio during their brief time at the zoo.
before this the last two Chimpanzees at PZ were Jamie {m} (b ?/?/1974) and Lollipop {f} (b ?/?/1973) who arrived in 1976 from Chester Zoo, UK and were sent to Hyderabad Zoo, India in 1992. They lived in the southernmost of the 1981 completed exhibits that are best known as the zoos Orangutans homes and very fortunately are now majorly improved with huge climbing structures and walkways. Tetrapod mentioned a couple of years ago that Jamie and Lollipop often threw things across their dry moat at people and would spit on the glass in the viewing bay and night dens, and that when one of the two managed the strength of putting a crack in the strong glass viewing pane it was a contributing factor in the zoo's decision to send them to another zoo. Prior to that exhibit in terms of their housing at the zoo when they arrived sometime in 1976 and between then and mid 1981 they would have lived in one of the pen enclosures or the old metal dome enclosure that use to house the Orangutans also right next door (during most of 1980s until 1999 was the zoo's Gibbon row and fortunately was bulldozed in early 2000s to become part of the female Asian Elephant's yard for Tricia and Permai).
Tetrapod also mentioned in contrast to Jamie and Lollipop that Monte, Quique and Sandra were a very easy going trio during their brief time at the zoo.
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That’s correct. Monte was born at Taronga Zoo 31/10/1985 to Jojo and Mary; and Kike was born at Taronga Zoo 11/04/1991 to Danny and Sacha.
Sandra was born at Rotterdam Zoo, arriving at Melbourne Zoo as a juvenile and then transferred to Taronga Zoo in February 1993, when Melbourne Zoo phased out their chimps.
Taronga Zoo were looking to downsize their colony (a further four chimps were exported to the Taiping Zoo the following month) and these three were obvious candidates.
The remnants of the infamous M family (including Monte) were phased out through these two exports; and young females like Kike and Chunga were approaching the dispersal age.
Sandra was an outsider within the Taronga colony. She had no family members after producing several unsurviving infants (including twins). She sadly had no better luck in Japan.
According to this (European studbook 2014 - PDF Free Download)
{f} Lollipop (b 21 June 1973 Chester Zoo) {dam: Meg |sire:unk?}
{m} Jamie (b 29 March 1974 Chester Zoo) {dam: Jeannie |sire: unk?}
both arrived Perth Zoo 13 July 1976 and sent to Hyderabad Zoo 11 March 1992
The last date for them both is 11 August 1997 saying LTF so not sure if thats the last accounting of their wherabouts or if they were transferred again on that date?
Lollipop's mother Meg was listed as Pan troglodyte verus and estimated to have been born in the wild in 1947 in Sierra Leone and arrived at Chester Zoo 16 Jan 1950 and remaining there for over
50 years until her death on 30 December 2000.
It seems Meg may have had as many as 11 surviving offspring (though many didn't live very long) during her life (inc Lollipop) and unfortunately 7 stillborn (if 18 pregnancies thats astonishing) sadly her first and last births were both stillborns with a female 17 October 1956 and an undetermined gender stillborn on 18 March 1989 (my own date of birth oddly enough) but thats a lot of pregnancies even spread over a 32.5 year period.
Meg's first surviving offspring Jeannie (b 26 October 1961 {sire: unk?} and died 9 December 1978 remaining at Chester Zoo her whole life) was the mother/dam of Jamie so Lollipop is/was Jamie's maternal aunt/half-aunt who isn't/wasn't much older than he.
{f} Lollipop (b 21 June 1973 Chester Zoo) {dam: Meg |sire:unk?}
{m} Jamie (b 29 March 1974 Chester Zoo) {dam: Jeannie |sire: unk?}
both arrived Perth Zoo 13 July 1976 and sent to Hyderabad Zoo 11 March 1992
The last date for them both is 11 August 1997 saying LTF so not sure if thats the last accounting of their wherabouts or if they were transferred again on that date?
Lollipop's mother Meg was listed as Pan troglodyte verus and estimated to have been born in the wild in 1947 in Sierra Leone and arrived at Chester Zoo 16 Jan 1950 and remaining there for over
50 years until her death on 30 December 2000.
It seems Meg may have had as many as 11 surviving offspring (though many didn't live very long) during her life (inc Lollipop) and unfortunately 7 stillborn (if 18 pregnancies thats astonishing) sadly her first and last births were both stillborns with a female 17 October 1956 and an undetermined gender stillborn on 18 March 1989 (my own date of birth oddly enough) but thats a lot of pregnancies even spread over a 32.5 year period.
Meg's first surviving offspring Jeannie (b 26 October 1961 {sire: unk?} and died 9 December 1978 remaining at Chester Zoo her whole life) was the mother/dam of Jamie so Lollipop is/was Jamie's maternal aunt/half-aunt who isn't/wasn't much older than he.
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Poor Sandra
So until February 1993 Melbourne Zoo was the Australasian zoo numero uno for great ape lovers to be able to see Chimps, Orangs and Gorillas all at the same place (and then no Zoo in Aus' until Taronga in December 1996 and currently no zoo in the region keeps all three, don't get me wrong it would be an expensive facilitation to look after at least one species or subspecies of all three at the same time but as its been done in the very recent past, although they deserve massive spatial upgrades like in acres pretty much)
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LTF (lost to follow up) would likely refer to the point the staff last checked with Hyderabad Zoo as to their whereabouts. It’s not hard to imagine the keepers regularly checking in on their apes in the first few years and then losing interest as the years went on. From a records perspective, there was no need to update details on them.
Hyderabad and other Indian zoos were effectively a dumping ground the regions surplus chimps and numerous hybrid orangutans.
In my mind, one of the greatest losses was that of the Cheena. Cheena was a young female chimpanzee, born at Taronga Zoo to Chiki in 1985. She and her two sisters were all exported during the 1990’s, leaving her mother with no female offspring to continue her family line. When their mother died at age 31 and their younger brother at age 16, the C family line died out within the colony.
While Chiki’s older sister, Cara, has enjoyed a long and happy life at Wellington Zoo (becoming a grandmother last month); Chiki endured a typical third world zoo experience. She died at age 17 in 2002 after an infection in her digestive tract was misdiagnosed by vets as pregnancy.
@Zoofan15 Hey you got me very very curious, what was the story(ies) behind the 'M' family's infamy?
p.s Wow yeah see your point about the 'C' family being lost, thats a real shame, wish they had never sent Cheena away (and or Chiki too? did she die in third world conditions at zoo in Asia or did you mean Cheena as Chiki's her mother??)
p.s Wow yeah see your point about the 'C' family being lost, thats a real shame, wish they had never sent Cheena away (and or Chiki too? did she die in third world conditions at zoo in Asia or did you mean Cheena as Chiki's her mother??)
The M family began with the import of Mary, who quickly became a high ranking female. Mary was involved in numerous incidents.
In 1983, Mary attacked Lulu’s newborn twins - injuring one so badly, it had to be euthanised; with the other dying in the following weeks. She was also seen eating the deceased newborn of another female, though it wasn’t proven whether she killed it or it was stillborn. Based on the information given, I believe she was also the adult female who seriously injured Snowy (new breeding male) when he arrived as a juvenile.
Mary had four offspring, all of which survived to adulthood. This was statistically unusual within the colony and indicates she was a highly protective mother. Many of Mary’s offspring were involved in incidents:
Mike killed Lucy’s newborn infant when they were reunited at Auckland Zoo in 1985. To be fair, this was a normal response of a male chimpanzee to the infant of an immigrant female; but as alpha, Mike was a tyrant, who was overthrown and fatally injured by his own son at Hamilton Zoo - who in turn killed an adult immigrant female in 2015.
Mervin fatally injured several infants in the Taronga troop in 1989. He was exported in 1992 to allow the introduction of the juvenile Snowy, who he otherwise would have injured/killed.
Monte reportedly had a fascination with infants, which likely stemmed from him being orphaned by Mary’s death when the was four (he had few others to interact with). He would kidnap them from their mothers and hold them against their will until their mother’s retrieved them.
Chiki remained at Taronga Zoo, where she died under anaesthetic in 2001 at the age of 31. Upon her death, her only remaining offspring was a juvenile male named Chimbuka, who died from TB as an adolescent. Had she not died prematurely, Chiki would have likely had at least one more infant.
Chimbuka had a very difficult adolescence due to not having a mother. He was a strong male, but lacked the political nous of Lubutu and was involved in numerous conflicts with him and Shabani. At the time of his death, he was heading towards a loose coalition with Lubutu against Shabani and Samaki.
Chimbuka would have benefited from one of Chiki’s daughters being retained and the region would have benefited from the genetic diversity of what has become a family line decimated by tragedy in the region (at both Taronga, Wellington and Hamilton) - if the M family were infamous; the C family were cursed!
@Zoofan15 Man Chimpanzees can be downright brutal.
Your research and the way you put it together and share it is so awesome, it really is.
Yeah its seems Mary and her descendants really have an especially violent streak in them. So I take it Mary passed away in 1989. Those poor infants and that female at Hamilton Zoo in 2015. The way Monte ended up behaving with abducting infants and holding them captive and your analysis of how losing his mother young reminds me so much of psychoanalysis of degenerate human beings and considering we share 98/99+% of our DNA with Chimps it makes total sense I think your theory is spot on. It almost comes across as Monte bordering on being pedophilic or something but thats probably a bit of a wild analysis leap on my behalf.
It really spells out Mary's mentality how she was the one who killed other female Chimp's infants but yet was very protective so her four offspring lived to adulthood. Well that's one Chimp family that was definitely better off leaving Taronga's troop and not being kept together methinks. So that Mary is the one who was imported in 1964. Seeing your point about her killing Lulu's twins in 1983 and then Mary's son Mike killing Lucy's infant at Auckland Zoo in 1985, same unpleasant incident next generation on with the offspring of the same two females from the first incident (am assuming Lucy was Lulu's daughter); glad poor Lulu got to have a long life despite losses, always have had a big soft spot for Lulu as the dignified old elder of the Taronga community. Love the 2011? Taronga episode and how it shows how much her keepers adored her and the way she allowed one of the keepers to pick her up and carry her, the way he called out to her so lovingly with the same voice I use on my cat Ruby and my brother's dog Snow lol. Obviously we all naturally expect it to just be a given that zookeepers will love the animals they care for, it was still really nice to see with Lulu, like perhaps am wrong but almost a little bit of a hint that she was a particular favourite with Taronga's Chimp' keepers maybe.
Your research and the way you put it together and share it is so awesome, it really is.
Yeah its seems Mary and her descendants really have an especially violent streak in them. So I take it Mary passed away in 1989. Those poor infants and that female at Hamilton Zoo in 2015. The way Monte ended up behaving with abducting infants and holding them captive and your analysis of how losing his mother young reminds me so much of psychoanalysis of degenerate human beings and considering we share 98/99+% of our DNA with Chimps it makes total sense I think your theory is spot on. It almost comes across as Monte bordering on being pedophilic or something but thats probably a bit of a wild analysis leap on my behalf.
It really spells out Mary's mentality how she was the one who killed other female Chimp's infants but yet was very protective so her four offspring lived to adulthood. Well that's one Chimp family that was definitely better off leaving Taronga's troop and not being kept together methinks. So that Mary is the one who was imported in 1964. Seeing your point about her killing Lulu's twins in 1983 and then Mary's son Mike killing Lucy's infant at Auckland Zoo in 1985, same unpleasant incident next generation on with the offspring of the same two females from the first incident (am assuming Lucy was Lulu's daughter); glad poor Lulu got to have a long life despite losses, always have had a big soft spot for Lulu as the dignified old elder of the Taronga community. Love the 2011? Taronga episode and how it shows how much her keepers adored her and the way she allowed one of the keepers to pick her up and carry her, the way he called out to her so lovingly with the same voice I use on my cat Ruby and my brother's dog Snow lol. Obviously we all naturally expect it to just be a given that zookeepers will love the animals they care for, it was still really nice to see with Lulu, like perhaps am wrong but almost a little bit of a hint that she was a particular favourite with Taronga's Chimp' keepers maybe.
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Thanks @steveroberts, that means a lot. I’m glad people enjoy what I post.
Yes Mary died 17/04/1989. Three days later another problem chimp, Sonny, died. The 11 year old male had been removed from the troop and plans to export him to a zoo in the USA had just fallen through.
I think a lot of young chimps have a fascination with infants due to the novelty factor. I don’t believe it’s a sexual thing like with baboons. The fascination seems heightened in juvenile males that have no younger siblings and receive limited parental attention. Sule and Fumo fell into this category, as did Monte. All three were noted as having an obsession for infants versus their peers. In juvenile females, their interest in infants is typically expressed in maternal based behaviour - in short, they’re practicing to be mothers.
Yes, Mary was imported in 1964 along with Lulu. Being two adolescent females going into an established community, you’d have thought they’d have forged a stronger relationship. Some chimp subspecies are more gregarious than others, so I’d hypothesise this exerted an influence - Spitter for example was highly gregarious and doted on the offspring of other females; while her daughter, Sally, is the same at Wellington Zoo.
Lucy and Lisa were the daughters of Lulu. They were aged eight and four respectively when Lulu gave birth to the twins and unfortunately witnessed Mary’s attack on them. Lulu wasn’t noted as being a good mother to her last infant and Lisa, who also observed this behaviour as a 10 year old, later rejected an infant herself.
I remember both Meg and Jeannie at Chester( though I didn't know they were mother and daughter). In the 'old days' the Chimps lived on two adjacent water-moated islands linked to indoor quarters in the Tropical House. Meg lived on one island with another female (or two?) and three adult males Boden, Bimbo and Prince ( and possibly a fourth too, a huge male called Elmer, but he died before I ever visited), so paternity of all those babies she had could have been various. Jeannie lived on the other island with a group including a very exuberant male 'Algy' whose frequent displays including leaping at the public viewing windows and throwing huge clods of earth and grass high in the air. Another older male in that group was 'Congola'- a very unusual-looking chimp with a distinctive black face that looked rather like a gorilla. They called him a 'choga' chimpanzee. I think one of those two were likely the father of 'Jamie'. Just a few memories...
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Bornean Orangutan Pregnancy, Auckland Zoo:
Auckland Zoo has made the announcement that Melur is pregnant and due late summer/early autumn (so likely late Feb/early Mar).
Auckland Zoo has made the announcement that Melur is pregnant and due late summer/early autumn (so likely late Feb/early Mar).
Although the chimp and orang exports to India were before my time, I met a zoo employee (records officer?; definitely not a keeper) from Mysore Zoo while at Jersey and he made mention of the fact that PZ had sent orangs to them. While the chimps and orangs may have been surplus to Australian zoos requirements at the time, the Indian zoos were very happy to obtain them.
Personally I don't know what the exhibits in the Indian zoos were like during the late 80s/early 90s. Suspect that PZ didn't ask too many questions.