Wellington Zoo Wellington Zoo's Sun Bear enclosure, in photos

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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I was looking through the Wellington Zoo gallery and saw various photos representing the zoo's former and current Sun Bear enclosures through the years. I thought it would be interesting to follow them through as a series.

This first post is for the current Sun Bear enclosure. I'll put some photos of the previous enclosure in the second post.


Plan for the new enclosure (April 2011) by @Chlidonias. I can't completely connect the layout of the plan to the layout of the finished enclosure because it seems to be in a different orientation. At the bottom of the plan is the original giraffe platform (the brown square at the end of a path) which is still used as a viewing platform for the bear enclosure.

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The site in April 2011 by @Chlidonias, with the photo taken from roughly the point where the red marker is on the plan above. This area was previously the giraffe paddock.

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The finished enclosure in February 2013 by @zooboy28 with the photo taken from the front of the exhibit.

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The same view in November 2015 by @Gigit.

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And October 2017 by @Zooish. The vegetation has improved in each shot.

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The top views of the enclosure, from the original giraffe viewing platform (visible in the background of the front-view photos above). Looking to the left when on the platform, from February 2013 by @zooboy28.

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And the current view by @Chlidonias as it is now (December 2017), with the planting much improved over time.

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Another angle from February 2013 by @zooboy28, looking to the right when on the viewing platform, when the enclosure was divided in half and (being new) was very bare.

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And the current view by @Chlidonias as it is now (January 2018), with the fence removed and the planting improved.

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A quick summary of the most recent line of Sun Bears at the Wellington Zoo (others were kept prior to these). The current two Sun Bears at the zoo are Sean and Sasa. (Edit: Sean was euthanised in December 2018 due to health issues)


1992: female Chomel and male Bakti imported from San Diego Zoo (USA). They were originally named Spot (Chomel) and Stanley (Bakti). They were both born at San Diego, in 1988 and 1989 respectively.

1997: twin cubs died after birth in May. Another cub also died after birth in December.

1999: twin male cubs Madu and Arataki born in April and reared.

2001: Madu died during an operation in May before being transferred to the National Zoo in Canberra (Australia). Arataki was sent instead (I don't know the month). Breeding male Bakti died in August.

2004: male Sean was imported in September from Perth Zoo (Australia) where he had been since January 1998 (having been rescued in Cambodia in February 1997). He was originally named Suki.

2006: female Sasa born in October to Sean and Chomel.

2009: Chomel died in September after a suspected stroke.

(Later edit) 2018: Sean euthanised in December due to health issues.



Below are some photos of the old bear enclosure, now disused and partly-obscured by a bamboo fence but still viewable (the proposed plan is for it to be turned into a Snow Leopard enclosure). Originally it was steep-walled bear pits, as can be seen here in a photo from the 1930s: Polar bear enclosure – Zoos and aquariums – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand


The following two photos by @Chlidonias are from c.1988 when the old enclosure was divided in half. The dividing wall was removed when the redevelopment was done for Sun Bears, but the remnants of it can still be seen today. The animal in the photos is an American Black Bear. At this time the bear pits could be viewed not only from the front (as today) but also from a visitor path along the top as can be seen in the second photo.

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The following photo by @Chlidonias is probably from 2001 (showing the former breeding female Chomel, and probably Arataki her son, born in 1999):

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This one below (of the female Chomel) is from October 2002, by @Chlidonias. At this time Chomel was the only Sun Bear at the zoo (Arataki had gone to the National Zoo in Canberra, and the breeding male Bakti had died in August 2001).

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And the next two from 2008, both by @Chlidonias. At this time there were three Sun Bears at the zoo: Chomel the breeding female who had been imported from the San Diego Zoo in 1992 (along with male Bakti, who died in 2001), Sean the breeding male who had been imported in 2004 from Perth Zoo (see this article for more information: Sean the Sun Bear rescued 20 years ago today), and Sasa their female offspring who was born in 2006.

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And a photo by @JigerofLemuria labelled as c.2010 (the EXIF data on the photo says August 2011). There is a considerable difference (for the worse) in the vegetation from the above 2008 photos. The blocky-looking rockwork coming out of the rear wall is where the dividing wall used to be, when the enclosure was divided in two prior to being redeveloped for the Sun Bears. The bear in the foreground of the photo is female Sasa, and her father Sean is at top left in the background (these are the only two bears currently at the zoo). The breeding female Chomel died in September 2009.

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Below are some photos of how the enclosure looks currently (March 2018, all by @Chlidonias). It has been empty since the bears moved out in 2012.

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Fantastic pictures @Chlidonias. What a great record. The picture c.2002 would have been in early 2001. The sun bear in the middle is Chomel. She is identifiable by the black spots on her 'sun' marking. Her original name was 'Spot' but the Wellington Zoo renamed her Chomel as they felt a Malaysian name was more suitable (I agree).

The smaller bear would be her son, Arataki. His twin, Madu, died in May 2001 during an operation ahead of his transfer to Australia. Arataki was sent shortly after as a replacement.
 
It should be 2001 then, but not "early" 2001. I can't find any date for when Arataki went to Canberra, only that he was "due to be sent there" because Madu had died (in May), but obviously this photo was taken before he left.

Just as an aside, Wellington's breeding male at the time, Bakti, died in August 2001.

I've also added in a new photo to the sequence, of Chomel in October 2002.
 
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Thanks for taking the time to post all of this information and there is a lot of historical context in the photos and text. It would be interesting to do the same thing with another zoo that has an exhibit that has undergone dramatic transformations over the years.
 
In the last photo c.2010 by @JigerofLemuria, did you notice the second bear in the photo @Chlidonias ?

Sasa is in the foreground (identifiable by her samller, sleek appearance), while the male Sean (identifiable by his stockier build and wrinkled brow) can be seen in the distance (top right on the enclosure) :D

*smaller
 
Zoofan15 said:
In the last photo c.2010 by @JigerofLemuria, did you notice the second bear in the photo @Chlidonias ?

Sasa is in the foreground (identifiable by her samller, sleek appearance), while the male Sean (identifiable by his stockier build and wrinkled brow) can be seen in the distance (top right on the enclosure) :D

*smaller
Click to expand...
Top left? Nope, I didn't notice him there at all. I'll modify the caption above the photo.
 
Does anyone know why the previous breeding male, Bakti, died in 2001? He was almost 12 years old so was by no means an old animal, considering they can live up their early/mid 30s.

For those that don't know, he was born at the San Diego Zoo in 1989 and was originally named Stanley:

THE SAN DIEGO ZOO CELEBRATES ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY

A male sun bear cub was born on Sept. 17, 1989. His birth was only the second birth of a sun bear in a zoo. The cub, named Stanley, weighed one pound at birth. His mother was protective of him and would curl around him and growl whenever she sensed a threat.

Sun bear mothers teach their cubs carefully. They are also strict disciplinarians. They don't hesitate to swat their cub if it's doing something dangerous or isn't paying attention.
 
A photo of the warning sign at the Sun Bear enclosure is below. I also just added a new photo to the initial post in the thread (the last photo on the post).

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Thank you for this brilliant virtual tour through this splendid habitat. I love the look of the new enclosure, much less of a grotto feel than old one.
 
Wow. I can definitely understand the need for the first sign, as parents really seem to have a thing for sitting their kids on fences. But the second one - is people throwing things at animals really such a common problem? Vile if so. I hope they get marched out and publicly humiliated and banned from ever coming back.
 
beccasunbear said:
Wow. I can definitely understand the need for the first sign, as parents really seem to have a thing for sitting their kids on fences. But the second one - is people throwing things at animals really such a common problem? Vile if so. I hope they get marched out and publicly humiliated and banned from ever coming back.
Click to expand...

I personally have seen very few cases of people throwing things at animals in NZ zoos. In all likelyhood, the most common thing thrown at chimpanzees is food. Lucy at Hamilton Zoo will often hold out her hand expectantly if she sees someone in the crowd eating a banana, a behaivour no doubt reinforced by visitors relenting and surrendering their food. Aside from the danger/risk of injury to the animal, the greater risk is an animal like a chimpanzee picking up the rock, bottle etc. and hurling it back at the visitors. That's possbily the reason they have this sign on the chimpanzee exhibit (as oppose to an animal not prone to hurling things).
 
Chlidonias said:
A quick summary of the most recent line of Sun Bears at the Wellington Zoo (others were kept prior to these). The current two Sun Bears at the zoo are Sean and Sasa. (Edit: Sean was euthanised in December 2018 due to health issues)

1992: female Chomel and male Bakti imported from San Diego Zoo (USA). They were originally named Spot (Chomel) and Stanley (Bakti). They were both born at San Diego, in 1988 and 1989 respectively.

1997: twin cubs died after birth in May. Another cub also died after birth in December.

1999: twin male cubs Madu and Arataki born in April and reared.

2001: Madu died during an operation in May before being transferred to the National Zoo in Canberra (Australia). Arataki was sent instead (I don't know the month). Breeding male Bakti died in August.

2004: male Sean was imported in September from Perth Zoo (Australia) where he had been since January 1998 (having been rescued in Cambodia in February 1997). He was originally named Suki.

2006: female Sasa born in October to Sean and Chomel.

2009: Chomel died in September after a suspected stroke.

(Later edit) 2018: Sean euthanised in December due to health issues.
Click to expand...

I was researching Chomel for my Iconic Animals of Australasia thread and thought you might be interested in the dates of her cubs:

Litter One:

0.0.1 Unnamed (20/01/1996) Died < 5 days (Eaten by dam)

Litter Two:

1.0 Unnamed (06/05/1997) Stillborn
0.0.1 Unnamed (06/05/1997) Died < 1 day (Eaten by dam)

~ Maternity annex opened September 1997

Litter Three:

0.0.1 Unnamed (11/12/1997) Died < 1 day (Crushed/Eaten by dam)*

~ Breeding pair separated for six months (reintroduced August 1998)

Litter Four:

0.0.1 Unnamed (11/12/1998) Died < 8 days (Eaten by dam)

Litter Five:

1.0 Arataki (10/04/1999) Living - National Zoo
1.0 Madu (10/04/1999) Died May 2001

~ New breeding male

Litter Six:

0.1 Sasa (22/09/2006) Living - Wellington Zoo

*Surveillance footage was inconclusive if this litter was a twin birth

Zoofan15’s Guide to Iconic Australasian Zoo Animals
Ssffs
 
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