@Abbey Hey just found an article from the Syd' Morning Herald from May 1989 about the initial announcement of the plans to build the new exhibit(s) for the Orangutans (it seems initially there was a plan for two outdoor exhibits that didn't eventuate), the article does address the fact that Orangutans are solitary by nature (although it doesn't mention the more social relationships between related females or mothers and their young, and it shows its outdatedness in terms of referring to Sumatran Orangutans and Bornean Orangutans as subspecies of the same species etc) but the initial plans may have been pitched to the state government when looking for funding as two outdoor exhibits would be better for the (at the time) zoo's eight Orangs' (six by the time the exhibit was ready).
''' Orang-utans' future a long way from home (writer not named) 20/05/1989
If the eight orang-outangs at Taronga Zoo look morose and forlorn, it is almost certainly because they are. Their health is generally fine, their diet is carefully balanced and nutritious, and their keepers clearly take great care about their welfare. The problem is their appalling accommodation. It is straight out of the dark ages of zoo-keeping: a row of bleak concrete cells that suggests nothing so much as the maximum-security wing of an old Victorian prison. Lit only by whatever sunlight manages to infiltrate two mesh barriers at their fronts, the cells seem more suited to bats than great apes. The first barrier — to keep people out of reach of long and powerful ape arms — has its wire mesh set on a diagonal slant; the second mesh barrier is set on the vertical. Even on a sunny day, the dark interior and blur of metal makes it hard for visitors to see the animals. Each cell has a small den at the rear, with an elevated platform on which the orangs were once intended to sleep. But the heating system in the dens proved too expensive to repair or replace when it broke down years ago, and the inmates now mainly use the dens as toilets. While Taronga is about to build a new home for its orang-outangs, Australia is helping to destroy their natural habitat, writes bob beale. When chill winds blow in off Sydney Harbour, they still prefer to make their shredded night-nests out in the open on the floor, wrapping hessian sacks around their shaggy coats to stay warm. It is hardly a suitable setting for tropical animals which, in the wild in their native Indonesia, spend by far the bulk of their time high in the rainforest trees of Borneo and Sumatra. The exhibit's main redeeming feature, on welfare grounds, is that it allows the orangs to remain fairly solitary. Many zoos around the world keep them in groups, contrary to their natural social inclinations, leading to stress and behavioural problems. Taronga and Perth zoos are notable exceptions to that trend. But the run-down nature of the Taronga exhibit presents potentially serious dangers to keepers, who must follow a series of strict safety procedures to avoid leaving themselves open to a test of strength by an adult orang. If the orangs only knew their strength, they could have broken out of their cells many times. So, the exhibit fails on three counts: it is largely unsuitable for the animals themselves, for visitors, and for the keepers. Zoo staff are well aware of, and many are deeply embarrassed by, this state of affairs. They have wanted for years to get the enclosure upgraded, or preferably bulldozed so a new one could be started. But until now they have had to make do with trying to make life as interesting as possible for the orangs, by giving them ropes and other climbing Hardly a home for a tropical opportunities, and playthings to generate activity. Now, at long last, there is good news: an injection of S10 million by the State Government has allowed the zoo to proceed with a number of major projects delayed by its serious financial problems. The orang exhibit tops the priority list. Taronga's board met this week and gave the go-ahead for detailed planning to proceed on the new orang exhibit, which will have an estimated cost of between $1 million and $1.5 million. "Our aim is to start building it this year," the zoo's assistant director, Dr Jack Giles, said this week. "We're going to try to make it one of the best in the world." The project can proceed so quickly because concept plans and designs have already been worked out, notes the head of the zoo's veterinary services, Dr Gary Reddacliff, who co-ordinated the planning group. The plan includes at least two large open-air areas with tall c limbing-trees. aanimal ... "Willow" in his Taronga cell ell. Food would be placed high and low around the compounds and in the trees, generating a more natural pattern of food-seeking activity, which in turn will be more entertaining and informative for visitors. Holding dens would still cater for their solitary habits. Equally important, however, will be the rainforest setting in which the exhibit is framed. "They don't lend themselves to easy exhibiting," Dr Reddacliff said. "But most zoos don't give them enough vertical space for climbing, so they do generally sit there looking bored. From a veterinary point of view, they're a lot happier and healthier if they get lots of activity and exercise. "What they have now is just adequate for their health and keeping, but it's totally inadequate for the message we want to get across to visitors: that these animals are a product of the rainforest. To protect the beasts, we've got to protect the rainforests." Wild orangs are unquestionably endangered. The greatest pressure on them earlier this century was collecting for zoos. Population numbers today are hard to establish, but official estimates suggest a minimum of 5,000 orangs left on the island of Sumatra, and 15,000 on Borneo, according to Rosemary Markham, the species co-ordinator for the 31 orangs in zoos in Australia and New Zealand. "Th'ose are the minimum estimates," Ms Markham said yesterday. "There may be more than that, but the rainforests are being destroyed at such a rate that there may be very little left by the end of the century. We won't have a problem with the animals in captivity, because they breed so readily." Taronga wants to get across the message that demand for tropical hardwood timbers in developed nations is the main threat to orangs.It s rich countries like Australia that are destroying the forests," Markham says. "You can hardly blame the Indonesians; they need the money." The wood goes to various destinations, including Japan and Europe (where some is aptly used to make coffins), but Australians are significant customers as well. "Some of the major timber companies are importing massive amounts of Indonesian hardwoods into Australia to make packing crates, garden furniture and fencing pickets," she said. Even with the go-ahead for the new exhibit, Taronga still has a problem with its orangs, one it shares with other zoos wanting to help conserve the animals through captive-breeding programs. A vigorous debate is taking place in the zoo world about which orangs should be bred. Conventionally, orangs have been divided into two sub-species, the Bornean and Sumatran. Proponents of that division say there are clear differences between the two, based on anatomical, genetic and behavioural differences. Ms Markham, who is associated with Perth Zoo, agrees with the prevailing view that the two subspecies should be bred separately, to preserve their genetic diversity. But Taronga's orangs, like those in many other zoos, are all so-called hybrids, which have no place in such a breeding program. Indeed, zoos in North America and Britain have decided to stop breeding hybrids, and insist on them being surgically sterilised before they can be exported to other countries. Such policies have stirred up strong feelings, accompanied by accusations that the zoos are "playing God" or practising a kind of eugenics on orangs. Taronga's primate section leans toward the latter view. "I accept that there is a Sumatran race, but the sub-species difference isn't necessarily as real as people like to think it is," says Dr Leong Lim, Taronga's curator of mammals. He cites a recent study suggesting that a whole range of physical differences can be observed among the wild orangs in Borneo. "The babies have been popular as pets and were traded along coastal trading routes as far back as the 1400s," Dr Lim said this week. "I can't see how subspecies can have been maintained considering all that trade in the animals." He believes the "hybrids" may actually be better long-term breeding prospects, because their mixed ancestry may increase their adaptability. "All these ideas of trying to breed purebreds is a bit ridiculous in my view. It could lead to the gene pool being isolated into small lots, rather than leaving a big, heterogenous one." Partly because "hybrids" are unpopular with other zoos, Taronga is trying to limit its orangs' breeding by administering oral contraceptive pills to its females (with mixed success), which is more difficult to manage but is reversible. Meanwhile, Gary Reddacliff suggests that the subspecies breeding debate may end up being academic: "My opinion is that we're going to be lucky to save orang-outangs, let alone two subspecies." ''''
