Largest collection of chimps?

[GillP]

Next time I'm around for one of the regular 'chimp talks', I'll see if I can get someone to confirm who (they think) Tekita's father is. If it is Pippin, and she's then bred with him to produce Tumba and Talia, I don't suppose it's a topic they want to elaborate on particularly in front of all the kids !!

 

[Pertinax]

If it is Pippin, and she's then bred with him to produce Tumba and Talia, I don't suppose it's a topic they want to elaborate on particularly in front of all the kids !!

Exactly right- not tasteful...
I was puzzled by how they produced the chocolate chimp without the genes coming from both parents, however this would explain it.

 

[mazfc]

Unfortunately there are now 2 bald 'chocolate' Chimps at Twycross . I do not remember Mongo having the problem on previous visits , Jambo did not develop it until he was adult also . There was a certain amount of in-breeding used to produce further chocolate Chimps - I think the original Coco , still there , was mated with one of her sons .

The signage says that mongo developed his condition at the same age as jambo.

Someone I spoke to a few months ago said that the chimps would not be bred for the chocolate gene. It might have been something that was done it the past. I was aski g them if the chocolate gene was linked to alopecia.

 

[Pertinax]

Someone I spoke to a few months ago said that the chimps would not be bred for the chocolate gene. It might have been something that was done it the past. I was aski g them if the chocolate gene was linked to alopecia.

If the colour and the condition are linked, then Colchester could have a bald chimpanzee too, in years to come.

 

[GillP]

I cornered a poor woman in Chimp World yesterday who turned out to be an education officer, not a keeper, and asked if she knew who Tekita's father was. She said she thought it was Pippin, but then seemed a bit embarrassed when I pointed out this meant that Tekita would have bred with her father for Tumba and Talia, and mumbled 'um yes, I think there was some 1st generation inbreeding'.

Potentially, Pippin could also be the father of Kora who was born to Billyjoe in 1999. She's the chimp who seems to be balding, though I have no idea if the balding gene is recessive or not.

Another aspect to the Colchester chimp family tree is that Tombe, the dominant male, is listed as Tekita's half brother. Yet the tree shows Tara's only offspring as Tekita ..... indicating that the 'half' relationship between Tekita and Tombe must be via their father. So ..... if Pippin is Tekita's father, that'd also mean he was Tombe's father via a different female chimp (no longer at Colchester ?)

 

[Pertinax]

I would think Pippin fathered both Tumba and Talia, so both of them have the chocolate gene, though Talia is black.

I think you'll find the total baldness(alopecia?) on their bodies which the two chocolate males at Twycross suffer from (and which Tumba might in future?), is not related to the gradual baldness/hair loss etc on head, shoulders, arms etc which a lot of older zoo chimps exhibit.

 

[Goretex]

Well folks I hope I can put your minds at rest!!! Pippin defineately isn't Tekita's father. her father along with Kora and Tombe is Bobby the alpha male before Pippin who died in around 2003. I have a photograph of him somewhere (at least I think its him)??

Before anyone asks I don't know where he came from or when he arrived or was born at Colchester?

 

[Pertinax]

Well folks I hope I can put your minds at rest!!! Pippin defineately isn't Tekita's father. her father along with Kora and Tombe is Bobby the alpha male before Pippin who died in around 2003.

1. How do they know that if more than one male is living in the group. Is it going on dates and ages of the males at the time, or have they DNA tested them?

2. If (as I believe) the chocolate gene is recessive, then how was a chocolate baby produced there without both(not just one) parents having the gene?

 

[Devi]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but researching the chocolate chip thing today and this unanswered thread is bothering me.
Tekita was born to Tara and Bobby at colchester. Bobby was also a son of Coco and Oscar at twycross, Pippin was a son of Coco and Benjie, so half brothers and both chocolate gene carriers. This makes Tumba both grandson and great grandson of Coco, with Tekita breeding with her uncle. It's better than her dad I guess, but still not great.
This info was on another thread by someone with access to the studbook.