Lafone
Well-Known Member
I think they did but as we see from the examples etc I think that was because of the way they were held or raised so it’s compensatory ‘enrichment’ for me vs adding to an already strong quality of care.
Chimps tea party
- Thread starter Strathmorezoo
- Start date
I think they did but as we see from the examples etc I think that was because of the way they were held or raised so it’s compensatory ‘enrichment’ for me vs adding to an already strong quality of care.
I wasn't keen on the tea party at London, as it seemed that the visitors laughed at the chimps for being 'naughty'. I liked the intelligence tests at the Children's Zoo as it tended to show a positive side to chimps. I read that the parties and tests were stopped, because the chimps were taken away from their social groups and took some time to reintegrate when they returned.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
Interesting I was always under the impression that the young chimps were housed together in the children's zoo
Thank you for this information; it's interesting to know Tom has twenty eight known descendants.
Alldis referred to the chimps as Tommy, Teddy, Mickey and Jimmy (not Bobby).
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Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
Just double checked, according to the 1966 London Zoo guide the chimps were housed in the chimps den in the children's zoo ,the same young chimps did the activity/intelligence tests
In 1970, the young chimps were placed in the Sobell Pavilions, sometimes in a separate enclosure from the adults. Later they were placed with older chimps.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
The chimps den always seemed cramped to me ,perhaps that was the reason they were moved
Wellington’s males:
1.0 Tom (1950) Died 1990
1.0 Teddy (1952) Exported 1966
1.0 Mickey (1952) Died 1958
1.0 Bobby (1954) Died Unknown
Jimmy was renamed Bobby by Wellington Zoo. The zoo had a male orangutan named Jimmy when he arrived, who along with the elephant, was the zoo’s most famous resident. Bobby sired one offspring at Wellington Zoo before his death, which died the day it was born.
Tom is the third most represented of the 30 founders of Australasia’s chimpanzee population. He sired 22 offspring at Wellington Zoo, including seven to his daughter, Bebe. Three of his sons via Bebe were alpha males of their respective troops and sired several offspring each.
Wellington Zoo exported four of their chimpanzees (including Teddy) to Melbourne Zoo in 1966. Teddy had sired one offspring at that point (a female named June) and sired a further four at Melbourne - of which only one survived to adulthood (a male named Ernie). His daughter was exported to Hyderabad Zoo in 1990 and his son was euthanised in 1993, which sadly ended Teddy’s line.
It may be obvious to many, but chimps until the 1970s were usually imported as small infants sold from bushmeat trade and raised by keepers. Many were walked around by their keepers, wore clothes, ate from plates, drank from cups etc for protection from weather and hygiene. By the standard of these times, tea parties were better than average.
Zoo directors, to their credit, started changing their keeping of apes as soon as the first study of wild chimpanzees started, and as soon as they started to learn what chimps need.
Zoo directors, to their credit, started changing their keeping of apes as soon as the first study of wild chimpanzees started, and as soon as they started to learn what chimps need.
Not a tea party, but my older brother said when we were little (circa 1970) the tram tour at the Los Angeles Zoo had a chimp smoking a cigarette and riding up front with the driver.
On my visit to Auckland Zoo in 1990/1 I saw two trios of Chimps. From these dates above, one would have been the surviving trio of the 1956 import, Bobby, Janie and Josie. The 2nd trio was presumably the zooborn Suzie and Sally, together with an unknown male.
I don't think London Zoo had any 'social groups ' of Chimps in those days. Their first attempts in that direction was the establishment of a chimp 'breeding colony' in the Lubetkin old Gorilla House, some time after the tea parties had been phased out.
Auckland Zoo had eight chimpanzees in 1990, which lived in two groups:
The tea party chimps (Bobby, Janie and Josie) lived in one group in the old cages; while the hand raised females (Suzie and Sally) lived in the grassed exhibit with a young mother raised pair from Taronga Zoo (Mike and Lucy) and their infant son (Lucifer), who was born at Auckland Zoo in 1988.
Mike was imported in 1982 and integrated with Suzie and Sally in the hopes of breeding from them. They were behavioural non breeders and so Lucy was imported in 1985, which resulted in the births of Lucifer in 1988 and Luka in 1993. Suzie and Sally never bred.
I’m unsure why you only saw three chimps in the other group, but it appears they were indeed Mike, Suzie and Sally (since you didn’t see an infant); and so Lucy and her infant son must have been in the dens. They were 100% an integrated troop of five at that point. There’s some nice photos of Mike, Lucy and Lucifer from 1988 in the zoo’s history book and I found footage online a few years ago of the troop of five together in 1989 (the link is now invalid).
Thankyou. It may have been a quartet rather than a trio. I don't remember any infant. I thought they were all in the old cages but memory not so clear now. I do remember the trio in the old cages clearly though.