Perth Zoo Perth Zoo video 1991

steveroberts

steveroberts

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
5+ year member
Hey guys, because we only have two days left before a new news thread (Perth Zoo News 2023) is established, thought because only a fleeting amount of time left would be ok to put this ytube video here (also PZ doesn't have a historical thread tmk, was thinking of asking to change the title of a thread that personally started 6 years ago about the African Savannah precinct to be retitld a history thread for PZ).

Anywho here's video footage of Perth Zoo in 1991:

some individuals in video who I can identify

Tricia the Elephant <3 (1957-2022), still on her lonseome at the time (fortunately not for much longer)
Alistair the Lion (1986-2007) in the old Lion exhibit now the eastern most Sumatran Tiger enclosure
Delores the Tigress (died 1998 after being at the zoo since 1978 so 20+ years old)
Claudius the Cheetah
Mungo the Serval (1983-2003, born Taronga but at PZ since 1985)
Barney & Missy the sibling Syrian Brown Bears (born Adelaide Zoo 1980, at PZ since 1981, went to Nth Qld late 2003, Missy sadly died of cancer in 2008 but Barney survived a few more years)
Boss the Mandrill (died 1994)
Horace the Hoolock Gibbon (died 1993)
Philip & Robyn the Nth White-Cheeked Gibbons (Philip still alive at about 50 years old, surely a record, and at PZ still, Racquel would give birth to daughter Robyn soon after this and sadly pass away only a few years later in '94)

(wish could identify the Orangutans in the video by name)
(for some reason, all the footage did enjoy but for some reason really found the Hamadryas Baboons grooming each-other really charismatic and cute)

some other animals in video (in memory of their
appearance order)

Pelican,
Meerkat (in old exhibit 1991-1999 in an African themed sunken viewing bunker opposite a viewing window for Memphis the Rhino (sadly no footage of him), the bunker was 'sunken' because path leading there went down a slight slope with the outdoor viewing area to see Memphis being on the west side of the path, now all of it is part of Memphis and his son's much larger exhibit/daytime-yard)
African Hunting Dog (as they were called by PZ at the time, the African Painted Dog naming came with the new African Dogs when they arrived in 2005)
GL Tamarin & Pygmy Marmosets & CT Tamarin
White-Fronted Lemur & B+W Ruffed Lemur & Ringtailed Lemur
Orangutans (as mentioned wish could identify individually. The exhibit setup the pre 15m climbing towers, foliage and public elevated walkway)
SC Otters being very playful in their old exhibit with glass front water viewing one side and looking over barrier viewing on the other (footage shows glass underwater viewing twice)
Sulawesi Crested Mac in old 'Baboon/Macaque row'
White-Handed Gibbons (as PZ called them instead of Lar) seen in old 'Gibbon row' along with Horace & Philip & Racquel
a cute Turtle (not sure what species, I dont think Western Swamp Turtle because think they are smaller, this exhibit is near where the 'rainforest hut' is now)
cute Quokka
cute Guinea Pigs drinking from their waterbowl outside 'Harmony Farm'
three sleeping Pig(lets I think) asleep on the straw in their pen in the 'Harmony Farm' barn
Kangaroos and Koala in the old setup where the Aus' Bushwalk is now, but the setup prior to that (ie less rugged and Australian 'bushy')
cute Ducks
Swans I think in the waterpond where the 'Australian Wetlands' would later be built

 
steveroberts said:
Hey guys, because we only have two days left before a new news thread (Perth Zoo News 2023) is established, thought because only a fleeting amount of time left would be ok to put this ytube video here (also PZ doesn't have a historical thread tmk, was thinking of asking to change the title of a thread that personally started 6 years ago about the African Savannah precinct to be retitld a history thread for PZ).

Anywho here's video footage of Perth Zoo in 1991:

some individuals in video who I can identify

Tricia the Elephant <3 (1957-2022), still on her lonseome at the time (fortunately not for much longer)
Alistair the Lion (1986-2007) in the old Lion exhibit now the eastern most Sumatran Tiger enclosure
Delores the Tigress (died 1998 after being at the zoo since 1978 so 20+ years old)
Claudius the Cheetah
Mungo the Serval (1983-2003, born Taronga but at PZ since 1985)
Barney & Missy the sibling Syrian Brown Bears (born Adelaide Zoo 1980, at PZ since 1981, went to Nth Qld late 2003, Missy sadly died of cancer in 2008 but Barney survived a few more years)
Boss the Mandrill (died 1994)
Horace the Hoolock Gibbon (died 1993)
Philip & Robyn the Nth White-Cheeked Gibbons (Philip still alive at about 50 years old, surely a record, and at PZ still, Racquel would give birth to daughter Robyn soon after this and sadly pass away only a few years later in '94)

(wish could identify the Orangutans in the video by name)
(for some reason, all the footage did enjoy but for some reason really found the Hamadryas Baboons grooming each-other really charismatic and cute)

some other animals in video (in memory of their
appearance order)

Pelican,
Meerkat (in old exhibit 1991-1999 in an African themed sunken viewing bunker opposite a viewing window for Memphis the Rhino (sadly no footage of him), the bunker was 'sunken' because path leading there went down a slight slope with the outdoor viewing area to see Memphis being on the west side of the path, now all of it is part of Memphis and his son's much larger exhibit/daytime-yard)
African Hunting Dog (as they were called by PZ at the time, the African Painted Dog naming came with the new African Dogs when they arrived in 2005)
GL Tamarin & Pygmy Marmosets & CT Tamarin
White-Fronted Lemur & B+W Ruffed Lemur & Ringtailed Lemur
Orangutans (as mentioned wish could identify individually. The exhibit setup the pre 15m climbing towers, foliage and public elevated walkway)
SC Otters being very playful in their old exhibit with glass front water viewing one side and looking over barrier viewing on the other (footage shows glass underwater viewing twice)
Sulawesi Crested Mac in old 'Baboon/Macaque row'
White-Handed Gibbons (as PZ called them instead of Lar) seen in old 'Gibbon row' along with Horace & Philip & Racquel
a cute Turtle (not sure what species, I dont think Western Swamp Turtle because think they are smaller, this exhibit is near where the 'rainforest hut' is now)
cute Quokka
cute Guinea Pigs drinking from their waterbowl outside 'Harmony Farm'
three sleeping Pig(lets I think) asleep on the straw in their pen in the 'Harmony Farm' barn
Kangaroos and Koala in the old setup where the Aus' Bushwalk is now, but the setup prior to that (ie less rugged and Australian 'bushy')
cute Ducks
Swans I think in the waterpond where the 'Australian Wetlands' would later be built

Click to expand...

The orangutan at 4.30 looks about three or four years old. Puluh and Udara were both born in 1987 and were the only orangutans around this age at the time. If the video was taken after 07/09/1991, we can confirm it was Puluh as Udara sadly died on this day:

0.1 Udara
Born at Perth Zoo 06/02/1987
Died at Perth Zoo 07/09/1991
Sire: Atjeh; Dam: Puteri

1.0 Puluh
Born at Perth Zoo 23/09/1987
Sent to Chester Zoo 15/12/1996
Sire: Atjeh; Dam: Puan

The female walking bipedal looks like Puan; and the reclining adolescent male with cheek pads growing in is Hsing Hsing as he would have been the only adolescent male in the colony at that time.
 
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@Zoofan15

I think it was October 1991 so think must be Puluh (the African Savannah was opened in mid-late September 1991).

Thanks so much for your post btw, poor little Udara )-: (considering Atjeh was the father/sire of Puteri too Udara had inbred genetic-makeup to deal with, though her older full sister Utama has been much more fortunate and managed to still be alive to this day at over 43 yrs old).

Its good then to see Hsing Hsing (rest in peace) a little bit more up close because my memories of him in years that followed was him usually sleeping on top of his climbing frame often with a box over his head and his long beautiful shaggy hair dangling down, he had to contend with diabetes and there was a sign near the railing of his exhibit explaining to visitors about this.
 
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steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

I think it was October 1991 so think must be Puluh (the African Savannah was opened in mid-late September 1991).

Thanks so much for your post btw, poor little Udara )-: (considering Atjeh was the father/sire of Puteri too Udara had inbred genetic-makeup to deal with, though her older full sister Utama has been much more fortunate and managed to still be alive to this day at over 43 yrs old).

Its good then to see Hsing Hsing (rest in peace) a little bit more up close because my memories of him in years that followed was him usually sleeping on top of his climbing frame often with a box over his head and his long beautiful shaggy hair dangling down, he had to contend with diabetes and there was a sign near the railing of his exhibit explaining to visitors about this.
Click to expand...

Puteri’s first four offspring were inbred - three were sired by her father; one was sired by her brother. It wasn’t until Hsing Hsing arrived, that there was an unrelated male for the first generation females to breed with.

Hsing Hsing subsequently sired Sekara (1990), Temara (1992) and Negara (1993); followed by Teliti (2009) and Lestari (2012) over a decade later. The control on breeding was evident compared to pre-1990’s, with each of the four females breeding once with Hsing Hsing bar Puteri, who bred twice.

I’m looking forward to seeing breeding resume when the renovations to their complex are complete. They’ll have four potential females to breed with - currently aged 10 to 32 years of age.
 
@Zoofan15

Yeah, I couldn't really make sense of with Hsing Hsing arriving as an 8 year old in 1983 but he didn't sire until he was 15-14 in 1990 I'm surprised he didn't start a couple of years earlier around the time Atjeh sired Udara with his Puteri, would of thought PZ would of wanted to avoid inbreeding by that period of time.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

Yeah, I couldn't really make sense of with Hsing Hsing arriving as an 8 year old in 1983 but he didn't sire until he was 15-14 in 1990 I'm surprised he didn't start a couple of years earlier around the time Atjeh sired Udara with his Puteri, would of thought PZ would of wanted to avoid inbreeding by that period of time.
Click to expand...

You’re right. Hsing Hsing would have been 12 years old in 1987 when Udara was born and I can think of little reason they’d choose to inbreed Puteri with her father when there was an unrelated male. They were housed separately, so this wasn’t an accidental mating/contraception failure.

As a fully flanged male, Atjeh would have been more attractive to the females but males Hsing Hsing’s age can (and have) sired offspring in adolescence. Horst at Auckland Zoo sired his first two offspring at the age of 10 years old for example.
 
@Zoofan15

Am trying to find out what the Orangutan communities' groupings (or in some cases solo) were amongst the four (initially, then five come early 1992 when Chimp' pair left for Hyderabad) enclosures. Obviously Puteri still had some contact with her father Atjeh until at least 1987.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

Am trying to find out what the Orangutan communities' groupings (or in some cases solo) were amongst the four (initially, then five come early 1992 when Chimp' pair left for Hyderabad) enclosures. Obviously Puteri still had some contact with her father Atjeh until at least 1987.
Click to expand...

I believe the zoo replicated the wild social order where mature males lived alone; as did adult females, except those with dependent offspring. In some cases, females had two offspring - a juvenile and an infant at any one time.

In addition to the five outdoor exhibits, the zoo had 10 dens, which meant the adults could be housed separately (males and females were only introduced for breeding). Since there was more than four groupings, this meant they rotated use of the outdoor exhibit and the indoor dens on a daily basis.

Perth Zoo were very much ahead of the times in recognising orangutans aren’t a social species when most zoos in the region were still holding them in medium to large groups.
 
@Zoofan15

Yeah that paper/article by the late Rosemary Markham is very good with details on the replicating and respecting of their natural social behaviour.

One thing that she mentioned in another article about treating their strongyloides problem in the old enclosures was that three of the Orangutans (think might of been Binar, Indah and Bingkis) were never moved to the new exhibits and stayed behind in the old for a few years before their exports to India.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

Yeah that paper/article by the late Rosemary Markham is very good with details on the replicating and respecting of their natural social behaviour.

One thing that she mentioned in another article about treating their strongyloides problem in the old enclosures was that three of the Orangutans (think might of been Binar, Indah and Bingkis) were never moved to the new exhibits and stayed behind in the old for a few years before their exports to India.
Click to expand...

Perth Zoo exported eight orangutans. A purebred Bornean female was exported to Singapore Zoo for breeding in 1983; and then seven hybrids were exported to India in 1985 and 1986.

The transfer to the new exhibit was in 1981, so I’d assume the three left behind were juveniles Binar, Bini and Majizat due to their age; with the handraised infants Indah and Bingkis going into the nursery group in the new complex.

Orangutan Exports

1983:

0.1 Binte (01/01/1958) Wild x Wild - exported 29/06/1983 (Singapore)

1985:

0.1 Bini (09/12/1975) Atjeh x Binte - exported 08/11/1985 (India)
1.0 Majizat (26/06/1976) Atjeh x Mawas - exported 08/11/1985 (India)
0.1 Indah (25/01/1979) Atjeh x Bintang - exported 29/11/1985 (India)
1.0 Bingkis (09/10/1979) Atjeh x Binte - exported 29/11/1985 (India)

1986:

0.1 Bintang (09/10/1970) Atjeh x Binte - exported 21/03/1986 (India)
0.1 Binar (02/05/1974) Atjeh x Binte - exported 21/03/1986 (India)
1.0 Bobby (07/09/1964) Rufus x Helen - exported 24/03/1986 (India)
 
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