Taronga Zoo Chimpanzee Troop

Trip to the zoo today. Lisa, (No Liwali) Larni and Koko, were in with the three new girls today. Noami new girl was beaten up by koko and will be seeing the vet. Lubootu, who is being a lovely chimp and is looking after the new girls. He was comforting Noami after she was hurt. The new trop was given access to the whole two enclosures today. The others were locked in side the night den. They were allowed out late in the afternoon. In the second enclosure there is eight chimps. Koko, Lisa, Larni, Sharbami, Ceres, Hannah and Noami.

Will upload new photos shortly.
 
tigersam said:
Trip to the zoo today. Lisa, (No Liwali) Larni and Koko, were in with the three new girls today. Noami new girl was beaten up by koko and will be seeing the vet. Lubootu, who is being a lovely chimp and is looking after the new girls. He was comforting Noami after she was hurt. The new trop was given access to the whole two enclosures today. The others were locked in side the night den. They were allowed out late in the afternoon. In the second enclosure there is eight chimps. Koko, Lisa, Larni, Sharbami, Ceres, Hannah and Noami.

Will upload new photos shortly.
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Where was Liwali?
 
I think someone has their chimp identification in need of checking... no way would They leave Liwali alone... if Boots, Lani, and Lisa were all together.

More likely the 3 original females in with the new ones were Koko, Kamili, and Lani... and makes sense to have Koko and Kamili together, yes?

T.
 
tdierikx said:
I think someone has their chimp identification in need of checking... no way would They leave Liwali alone... if Boots, Lani, and Lisa were all together.

More likely the 3 original females in with the new ones were Koko, Kamili, and Lani... and makes sense to have Koko and Kamili together, yes?

T.
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That would make more sense, and correspond with what Taronga have been posting in their updates (ie not having introduced Lisa yet). An easy mistake to make though, given Lisa and Koko are similar in appearance.

Liwali is 23 months old and a separation from Lisa would be unnatural and traumatic for both of them. The only situation I could see this happening is if Liwali was left with either Lubutu or Lani (and separated from the troop), but even this seems unlikely.

I get the impression from Taronga's updates that once a chimp is introduced into the 'new group', it is not removed (ie. put back into the main group), unless there was a serious issue. Is this how everyone else interprets it?

One thing I'm wondering, is if Lubutu, Shabani and Samaki have been removed, and are out of the main group for this time, this will promote Furahi to the alpha position. I wonder if this will have an effect on the troop? Will the females remaining in the group have a taste of Furahi as the alpha and decide they like it, and then support him over Lubutu when they are reintroduced? Sacha isn't fond of Lubutu, and Kuma would love being the mother of the alpha male. Will Kuma (even temporarily) promote herself to the highest ranking female, now Lisa and Shiba have no adult sons in the main group?
 
I'm thinking that the remaining females would support Shikamoo over Furahi for alpha if Boots is out of action... not as volatile emotionally, and he is the father of 2 of the current babies... *grin*

Kuma already acts as though she's the top female, and has done ever since Fumo was born... and I've witnessed Shiba defering to Kuma on more than one occasion... even though she has 2 adult sons who would be ripe for the alpha male position.

I'm pretty sure that the keepers are confident that Furahi and Shikamoo aren't likely to try to make a play for alpha position during these introductions... especially as the original troop keeps getting smaller as they are slowly integrating them in with the new girls.

I think the most volatile introduction is going to be when they finally bring Kuma, Furahi, and Fumo over to the new group. Kuma is easily a match for any of the males in the group, and she can be pretty fiery when she thinks she or her sons are being threatened in any way. I've seen her go beat on Lubutu for telling off Furahi for some indescretion... she can be scary as!

T.
 
tdierikx said:
I'm thinking that the remaining females would support Shikamoo over Furahi for alpha if Boots is out of action... not as volatile emotionally, and he is the father of 2 of the current babies... *grin*

Kuma already acts as though she's the top female, and has done ever since Fumo was born... and I've witnessed Shiba defering to Kuma on more than one occasion... even though she has 2 adult sons who would be ripe for the alpha male position.

I'm pretty sure that the keepers are confident that Furahi and Shikamoo aren't likely to try to make a play for alpha position during these introductions... especially as the original troop keeps getting smaller as they are slowly integrating them in with the new girls.

I think the most volatile introduction is going to be when they finally bring Kuma, Furahi, and Fumo over to the new group. Kuma is easily a match for any of the males in the group, and she can be pretty fiery when she thinks she or her sons are being threatened in any way. I've seen her go beat on Lubutu for telling off Furahi for some indescretion... she can be scary as!

T.
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It sounds like Shikamoo is very popular with the ladies, but probably not assertive enough to ever be the alpha. He's the lowest ranking of the adult males isn't he? At least he's still above Sule. I think Lubutu's position is probably safe for now. Like you say, the 'main' group grows smaller with each introduction. I suppose the new females could sway the power balance if they decide they prefer another male, but from what Tigersam said, he's been nice to the new females, making them feel welcome. :D

Wow, Kuma got Shiba to defer to her! That is impressive. How do her and Lisa interact? I think Kuma's life has been quite similar to Shiba's. Shiba lost her mother when she was 14 years old, which would have been quite a disadvantage as the other females, Chiki, Lisa, Sacha, Ficha etc. all would have had theirs. Her only source of family support in rasing her 1 year old son would have been Shona, and I understand their is little relationship between Shiba/Shona to the point where they might as well be from separate families. The birth of Shiba's second surviving offspring at 20 years of age would have increased her status like Fumo's birth did for Kuma, and I think she's breezed through raising Sembe and Sudi, with the family support she now has. Interesting how these two females, Shiba and Kuma, are the most formidable, almost like their difficult start to raising a family has toughened them up. So different from Sacha!

Kuma is such a good mother. I agree she'll be one of the most challenging to introduce to the new females, though I doubt Shiba will be going easy on them either. It'll be interesting to see how her sons will react as Taronga Zoo have indicated they're very fond of the new females for obvious reasons. Samaki won't know what to do if his mum takes against them #she'smygirlfriend
 
Shabani is actually the lowest ranked adult male... poor bugger!

Kuma and Lisa have a fairly good relationship happening... they don't do anything to tick each other off though. I reckon that if Lisa were to adminish Fumo harshly, Kuma might step up and let her know about it... errr!

Shiba is an interesting one... I think if push came to shove, she'd defend her littlest, but the others are big enough to take care of themselves - and Sembe needs to toughen up... lol!

Sembe will likely be a target for the unsettled new female, and then we'll see what happens with Shiba, yes?

No mention of when Shona will be introduced yet either... I'd have moved her in with the first batch myself...

T.
 
tdierikx said:
Shabani is actually the lowest ranked adult male... poor bugger!

Kuma and Lisa have a fairly good relationship happening... they don't do anything to tick each other off though. I reckon that if Lisa were to adminish Fumo harshly, Kuma might step up and let her know about it... errr!

Shiba is an interesting one... I think if push came to shove, she'd defend her littlest, but the others are big enough to take care of themselves - and Sembe needs to toughen up... lol!

Sembe will likely be a target for the unsettled new female, and then we'll see what happens with Shiba, yes?

No mention of when Shona will be introduced yet either... I'd have moved her in with the first batch myself...

T.
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Wow! How/when did that happen? A few years ago, he was the beta male and a possible contender for the alpha role! Now even Shikamoo is ahead of him!

Yes, that will be interesting to see how Shiba reacts. I definitely think she'd defend Sembe against the new girls. I heard Shona and Sembe had an altercation when Sudi was a newborn. Lubutu intervened and laid into Sembe. Shiba didn't intervene but after Lubutu was done, she (holding Sudi) went and vocalised aggressively at Shona.

Do you know who the unsettled new female is? I assumed it was Hannah, but Tigersam described Naomi being attacked by Koko, and on the TZ website, they made reference to a similar altercation so I'm wondering if it's her?

It'll be interesting to see where the new females fit in. I'm guessing they'd stand a chance at least of being higher ranking than Shona, but where they stand with Sembe will depend a lot on Shiba like you say. She's only eight, so hopefully Shiba won't stand by and let her be bullied. I can't see that happening.
 
See photos in gallery. Sorry about the quality of some photos the glare was shocking. They were given access to both small and large enclosures last weekend. Lot a grooming going on.
 
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tigersam said:
Look at the http://alouattasen.weebly.com/uploads/8/9/5/6/8956452/2012_studbook-b146c47a.pdf 2012 NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL CHIMPANZEE STUDBOOK (Pan troglodytes) There is information on Bessie, Fifi and Bobby (7/8/1975) They are on pages 123 and 124. Births transfers and death dates. If anyone is interested.
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It's great the public have access to the North America Studbook for Chimpanzee. There is no longer access to the European Studbook online.

Have you seen my posts on the family histories of Bessie and Fifi? They're in this thread and include more info on their DOBs/transfer dates/offspring.

:D
 
tigersam said:
See photos in gallery. Sorry about the quality of some photos the glare was shocking. They were given access to both small and large enclosures last weekend. Lot a grooming going on.
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Good photos, you can easily tell which chimp is who if you know them well. I'm having trouble identifying one (I'm guessing one of the new girls as it's a young female and I don't think it's Lani) but she's a very pretty chimpanzee. Reminds me of a young Sacha (1980) or Sally (1985).
 
Latest update on the chimpanzee introductions. Koko has been removed from the new group due to aggression; Shiba, Sembe and Sudi have been introduced, so far successfully. 11 chimpanzees remain in the original group to be introduced.

31 August

The last update I gave a couple of weeks ago was we had a group of 9 animals together in the new group and were fairly happy with the progress of how it was forming and bonding. A few days later we started to see some quite sustained aggression from one of the original Taronga females towards one of the new chimps. While this was not unexpected, the new female was becoming run down and our close observations over some days led us to take a different approach, returning the Taronga female back to her traditional group, meaning that the new group was reduced to 8 animals.

We then decided to give the new group more time for the targeted chimp to build strength and for more friendships to be formed. This proved to be a great exercise with improvements seen each day and no more targeted aggression seen.

Yesterday morning we were happy to continue with more introductions and brought across one of our dominant females Shiba (35 yrs old), her 8 yr old daughter and 2 year old son. Once again introductions were fairly calm and non eventful initially. Shiba is a strong confident animal but appeared to be scared at first to see the males again. She was very protective of her infant which we expected. There have been a few small spats between individuals but the three new girls have behaved well and we are starting to see friendships forming amongst the new group. Males are also regularly mating new females which is a positive sign.

This last step brings our group numbers to 11 animals in the new group and 11 remaining animals to introduce. Yesterday’s introduction was fairly significant as it was the first of our really dominant females and the first with a very young infant. We are happy with the results and will continue to watch things very closely.
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Updates posted here: https://taronga.org.au/news/2016-08-19/progress-report-female-chimp-introductions
 
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Upon reflection, it makes sense to introduce Shiba and the 2 young ones now... while she is large and fairly confident, she's not usually one to start a fight or rise to confrontation.

Sasha would be most likely to be running about screaming, as she's the most flighty female... and Kuma is just scary when pushed.

Will be interesting to see how Sembe is coping, as she's come a long way from her tantrum days, and is quite good with her little brother. Shabani and Samaki are also quite protective of their little brother, so he stands the least chance of being targetted by any of the new females.

Interestingly, that leaves Shikamoo and Furahi as the only adult males in the old group... and I'm tipping that Shikamoo is most likely to be the one assuming the alpha role there, as he will have the most support from the remaining females... Furahi is still a bit too fiery for the girls to allow him to be top male... *grin*

T.
 
tdierikx said:
Upon reflection, it makes sense to introduce Shiba and the 2 young ones now... while she is large and fairly confident, she's not usually one to start a fight or rise to confrontation.

Sasha would be most likely to be running about screaming, as she's the most flighty female... and Kuma is just scary when pushed.

Will be interesting to see how Sembe is coping, as she's come a long way from her tantrum days, and is quite good with her little brother. Shabani and Samaki are also quite protective of their little brother, so he stands the least chance of being targetted by any of the new females.

Interestingly, that leaves Shikamoo and Furahi as the only adult males in the old group... and I'm tipping that Shikamoo is most likely to be the one assuming the alpha role there, as he will have the most support from the remaining females... Furahi is still a bit too fiery for the girls to allow him to be top male... *grin*

T.
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That's a good point about Sacha, while not necessarily aggressive, the hype that would come from her hysterics could excite the Taronga troop, or intimidate the new females, leading to an aggressive fear response from them.

I have few concerns for Sudi, Shiba is fiercly protective and has the physical size to back herself up in confronatation. Not to mention the added protection of two adult sons and an adolscent daughter. Same for Kuma, she is also large and combined with her personality, ranking, and an adult son, is a formidible force. I'm sure Fumo will be fine.

I'm not especially surprised Koko has been causing problems. I was surprised her initial introduction was so smooth tbh. She seems to be quite aggressive and often causes confrontations. As low ranking females, I'm sure her and Kamili are looking for oppotunities to move up in the hierachy, and the addition of new females means she has competition. Lisa, Shiba and Kuma are all safe in their postitions, and so too is Spitter, Sacha, but competition to not be last is no doubt going to be rife amongst the other females.

I wish they'd gone into more detail about Sembe and her reactions during the introductions but I'm really impressed with how fantastic Taronga have been in keeping us all up to date through their website. It is much appreciated and throughly interesting. They have such an amazing group.

I was a bit confused over their description of Shiba being scared to see the males again. Since two of the three males she was reintroduced to include her two adult sons, I'm guessing they were refering to Lubutu??? Shiba enjoys a close relationship with her offspring and her sons are very protective of her and Sudi.
 
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Shiba may have been getting used to the quiet companionship offered by the father of her youngest? *grin*

The new group will definitely be a lot more volatile and shifting in alliances, and I suppose that Shiba may just be a little more sensitive than we think... ?

T.
 
tdierikx said:
Shiba may have been getting used to the quiet companionship offered by the father of her youngest? *grin*

The new group will definitely be a lot more volatile and shifting in alliances, and I suppose that Shiba may just be a little more sensitive than we think... ?

T.
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Good point, it must be quite a change for them all with Furahi and Shikamoo now in charge. I wonder how they'll feel about returning to the main group.

Shiba acts tough but I think a lot of that is front. She's very maternal towards her offspring. I think her position as a high ranking female is safe, with their support. I wonder if Shiba will be allowed to have one more offspring next year. It's getting towards the end of her reproductive years so if it's in the plans, it should really happen asap.
 
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