Dangerous animals: Chimpanzees

Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Chimps living in monogamous pairs , lol :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah Taronga Zoo initially kept their chimps in pairs before amalgamating them into colony; as did Melbourne Zoo. If the chimps were sufficiently socialised, keeping them in 1.1 pairs was no barrier to reproduction (like it is with gorillas); but on the other hand, it wasn’t natural and led to issues in it’s own right.

Auckland Zoo effectively did the same by forming a troop of 1.3 (with 0.2 hand raised females) in the 1980’s. The mother raised pair of 1.1 produced two sons and most viewed them as a family unit; whereas in the chimp world, Lucy (the mother) and her two sons were the family unit.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Yeah Taronga Zoo initially kept their chimps in pairs before amalgamating them into colony; as did Melbourne Zoo. If the chimps were sufficiently socialised, keeping them in 1.1 pairs was no barrier to reproduction (like it is with gorillas); but on the other hand, it wasn’t natural and led to issues in it’s own right.

Auckland Zoo effectively did the same by forming a troop of 1.3 (with 0.2 hand raised females) in the 1980’s. The mother raised pair of 1.1 produced two sons and most viewed them as a family unit; whereas in the chimp world, Lucy (the mother) and her two sons were the family unit.
Click to expand...

So the husbandry practices seem to have been modelled on this misconception and breeding occurring in pairs just lead to confirmation bias until field studies / science proved otherwise.
 
Jude T said:
If that’s the case, what are your thoughts on bonobos?
Click to expand...
Bonobos can be just as excitable and aggressive as 'common' chimps, although it is unusual for them to be so. I once visited a zoo where the whole group was in turmoil for some reason.They were running around, chasing each other, although I couldn't tell which individuals were the aggressors and which ones might be targetted. All of them were making high-pitched screams at the same time (bonobos are all sopranos, unlike their relatives) which seemed to make things worse. The tension and danger were palpable, even to someone like myself who rarely sees bonobos. I know that I'm not exaggerating because half a dozen keepers were watching silently with grim faces. But of course there was nothing they could do.
When things calmed down a little, I decided to move on to see the other animals, but there were three or four more outbreaks of screaming through the day, which were almost as frightening as the first one I saw, but I don't think anything terrible had actually happened before I left.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
So the husbandry practices seem to have been modelled on this misconception and breeding occurring in pairs just lead to confirmation bias until field studies / science proved otherwise.
Click to expand...

Partly yes. Probably more by coincidence, breeding in the Australasian region really kicked off around the same time as Jane Goodall’s studies. Taronga Zoo for example had a pair named Sailor and Biddy, who produced a son in 1957; and a daughter in 1960 (the year Jane Goodall began her studies). They subsequently merged all the females of their colony into one, with a single male (Bobby) siring all infants. Sailor (the older and more aggressive male) was transferred to Melbourne Zoo, presumably because he couldn’t be safely integrated with Bobby when the colony was formed.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Well I don't buy the sort of utopian / hippy / "better angels of our nature" myth that has been popularized by many people who have never studied the bonobo in the wild and clearly have a new age / polyamory agenda / ideology.

Of course bonobos are not quite as violent as chimps but there are numerous reports of infanticide, violence and pedophilia (something that the hippies seem to consistently overlook) occurring within bonobo social interaction.
Click to expand...
Once saw the baby bonobo at the Fort Worth Zoo have intercourse with his mother. I have since been scarred for life, but I don’t think he was producing sperm yet so it should be fine.
 
ChIkEn NuGrEt said:
Once saw the baby bonobo at the Fort Worth Zoo have intercourse with his mother. I have since been scarred for life, but I don’t think he was producing sperm yet so it should be fine.
Click to expand...

That’s nothing unusual! At Auckland Zoo, Madju the Bornean orangutan used to mate with his mother, Melur, well before he reached reproductive age. She was on contraception and he’s since moved to a zoo in the USA where he put those skills to better use on an unrelated female. :p

Common chimpanzees are supposed to avoid mating with their close relatives but at Taronga Zoo, Lubutu sired his mother’s daughter, Lani; and would also mate with his grandmother, Lulu. Similarly, Shiba has been seen mating with her adult sons.
 
ChIkEn NuGrEt said:
Once saw the baby bonobo at the Fort Worth Zoo have intercourse with his mother. I have since been scarred for life, but I don’t think he was producing sperm yet so it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Disturbing but doesn't suprise me with bonobos.

As I said before these sorts of behaviours are conveniently ignored by the hippy bonobotopians out there.
 
Last edited:
gentle lemur said:
Bonobos can be just as excitable and aggressive as 'common' chimps, although it is unusual for them to be so. I once visited a zoo where the whole group was in turmoil for some reason.They were running around, chasing each other, although I couldn't tell which individuals were the aggressors and which ones might be targetted. All of them were making high-pitched screams at the same time (bonobos are all sopranos, unlike their relatives) which seemed to make things worse. The tension and danger were palpable, even to someone like myself who rarely sees bonobos. I know that I'm not exaggerating because half a dozen keepers were watching silently with grim faces. But of course there was nothing they could do.
When things calmed down a little, I decided to move on to see the other animals, but there were three or four more outbreaks of screaming through the day, which were almost as frightening as the first one I saw, but I don't think anything terrible had actually happened before I left.
Click to expand...

I always think Bonobos sound like seagulls...I remember one visit to Twycross when there was a lot of excitement in the group- I later discovered it was due to a daytime birth- which I missed.
 
Zoofan15 said:
That’s nothing unusual! At Auckland Zoo, Madju the Bornean orangutan used to mate with his mother, Melur, well before he reached reproductive age.
Click to expand...

I certainly know of at least one incestous mating between mother/son that resulted in offspring in both Gorilla and Orangutan, as well as Chimpanzee. There are probably some others too.
 
Pertinax said:
I certainly know of at least one incestous mating between mother/son that resulted in offspring in both Gorilla and Orangutan, as well as Chimpanzee. There are probably some others too.
Click to expand...

Outside of great apes it appears to have been a problem in zoos that were unable to obtain new bloodlines / stock with founding populations of Old World monkeys.

The case that comes to mind is that of "Billy" a Nilgiri langur that was the product of one of these matings and that was kept at Erfurt zoo in Germany.
 
Pertinax said:
I certainly know of at least one incestous mating between mother/son that resulted in offspring in both Gorilla and Orangutan, as well as Chimpanzee. There are probably some others too.
Click to expand...

Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Outside of great apes it appears to have been a problem in zoos that were unable to obtain new bloodlines / stock with founding populations of Old World monkeys.
Click to expand...

There’s been many examples within Australasia’s Common chimpanzee population. At Wellington Zoo, Tom sired seven offspring to his daughter, Bebe including Boyd (1978), Snowy (1983) and Marty (1987). Boyd and Marty bred with their aunts; as well as three unrelated females, to produce the next generation. Due to circumstantial reasons, very few of their offspring have survived.

Taronga Zoo have been inbreeding for decades. When the alpha male died in 1975, his son took over and bred with all females, including his mother. In 1986, an unrelated male was sourced with his own offspring breeding with his half sibling and half aunts throughout the 2000’s; with his own sons siring infants to related females throughout the 2010’s.

Hamilton Zoo’s troop was founded by Mike and Lucy (half brother and half sister), who produced two sons at Auckland Zoo in 1988 and 1993; though Hamilton Zoo took the initiative to import two unrelated and genetically valuable females in 2008.
 
German Zoo World said:
Was there ever a fatal great ape Attack at a Zoo?
Click to expand...

I think that @Pertinax mentioned a while back about an orangutang killing a keeper at a Scandinavian zoo. I can't remember the country where it happened though.

If I remember correctly this happened a long time ago , perhaps in the 1950's ?

There have been several serious attacks by great apes on keepers and members of the public though and particularly with chimpanzees.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top