Additional Information...for your entertainment
Topsy and Turvey were part of a group of wildborn Sumatran orangutans imported by Taronga Zoo in 1956. While Topsy and Turvey were sent to Auckland, following quarantine, the other three: Charlie (M), Helen (F) and Leslie (F) remained at Taronga Zoo. Helen is the grandmother of Wanita: Helen (1949-1970) > Wendy (1961-2001) > Wanita (1979).
Wanita's mother, Wendy, had four offspring. The youngest is called Willow and was born 9 May 1985. She is a hybrid like Wanita, and is the last of her family at Taronga Zoo. She and a hybrid male will be transferred next year to Orana Wildlife Park.
Auckland Zoo is the only zoo in New Zealand to have ever held orangutans. The first birth was a stillborn Sumatran orangutan in 1967; the first survivng birth was a female Bornean orangutan in 1989.
Wanita is 3/4 Bornean. Her hybrid status derives from her Sumatran grandmother. Her grandfather and father are purebred Borneans. Because she is a hybrid, Wanita has never been allowed to breed. She has had a partial hysterectomy. The Auckland Zoo males have never shown much interest in Wanita.
Dara, Horst, Indra and Charlie were intially housed together. Horst and Charlie were spearated when Horst showed aggression to the younger male as they matured. Charlie in turn, became aggressive to Isim as he matured, leading to his removal from the main group when Isim was 12.
Charlie's favourite female is Gangsa. The are not housed together due to Charlie and Isim having to be housed spearate, and due to conflict between the females.
Gangsa showed sustained aggression towards Melur, at one point seriously injuring her, leading to Gangsa being placed with the subgroup, Isim and Wanita. Isim and Gangsa then attacked Wanita, injuring her, so Wanita was placed back with Charlie, Melur and Madju. It is thought Gangsa is jealous at having to compete with other females for male attention. Wanita is dominant to Melur, who is very submissive.
Charlie is fond of Melur and dislikes being separated from her. He is indifferent to being separated from Wanita.
Melur is the most independent of the females, preferring her own company, or Madju's company. She is a very tolerant and caring mother to Madju, and not as assertive with her offspring as Indra was with Intan and Isim.
The first orangutans housed at Auckland Zoo were nameless, a practice still not uncommon in many modern day non Western zoos. Most of the group have Malay names:
Wanita - woman
Melur - jasmine
Gangsa - bronze
Madju - to progress
Isim is named after a river in Borneo. Charlie was named after Prince Charles by keepers at the Singapore Zoo in 1981.
Melur and Gangsa are paternal half-sisters. Their father, Laki, was born 16 August 1974 at London Zoo.
Auckland Zoo expressed concern Melur had never seen a mother orangutan nursing a baby, and may reject her first offspring. In fact, Melur's mother gave birth to her younger brother, Taufan in 1993, while Gangsa's mother gave birth to her daughter, Merah, in 1994. Melur was at the Hong Kong Zoo until 1995 and would have witnessed the rasing of both these infants.
Dara and Horst share a father, Karl. He was born 1961 in the wild. This means Dara and Horst's son, Datuk, was inbred, and may be why Auckland Zoo chose Charlie to breed with Dara when she had her second offspring in 2000.
Darli's birth featured on the Greenstone Production Zoo Babies episode. It covered Dara's pregnancy and birth, and the death two days later, of Dara and Darli. It incorrectly claimed Dara had an 11 year old son, Datuk, at Taronga Zoo. He had passed away two years earlier.
This necessitated the transfer of Wanita, Melur and Gangsa in 2001. Indra missed the company of Dara, and was overwhelmed by the attention of Horst and Charlie; Melur and Gangsa were without a mate, following Datuk's death.
Auckland Musuem has two stuffed orangutans. Ginger Rodgers (Died 1943) and Darli (Died 2000).
Twins run in Melur's family. Her sister, Raba (1996), gave birth to male-female twins in 2011.
Charlie's father Zabu (1961-2008) fathered 22 offspring between 1975 and 2008; Horst's father Karl (1961-2012) fathered 19 offspring between 1971 and 2006. A large proportion of Karl's offspring died prematurely. Two of Horst's offspring died young: Datuk at age 9 and Intan at age 24.
I wonder why Wellington never persisted with orangutans. I see from records Jimmy was the only one of his species. Their chimpanzee breeding programme kicked off around the start of the 1960s so maybe they decided to dedicate all space to them.
