Taronga Orangutans. » Taronga Zoo

08-02-2007

i remember reading an article in nat geo about a male orang that died from injuries sustained in a fight...

off topic for a sec - zooish, could you enlighten us about the chimps at singapore (maybe start another thread if need be) i remember reading the zoo has has some bad publicity becuse of keeping caged baby "photo chimps" that pose for tourists but have otherwise poor lifestyles.

08-02-2007

Fully grown male Orangutans seem to be regarded very differently by different zoos. Some places they are thought very dangerous and not to be trusted, but I've also seen photos of keepers going in with them, feeding them by hand etc. Obviously it depends on the animal's own temperament and background but at one zoo in Denmark many years ago an adult male who had lived there a long time, killed his keeper....

10-02-2007

Forgot to clarify that there are only 2 fully adult males in our orang collection at the moment, one bornean and one sumatran, so they stick with their respective breeding groups. At an instance when 2 adult males of the same subspecies were present in our collection (in the past), they were separated i believe.

They juvenile males are tolerated by the dominant males though.

To answer your Qn patrick, indeed up until about 6 or 7 years ago, Singapore Zoo had photography sessions with young chimps. These were babies removed from their mothers due to medical reasons or abandonment. They were kept separate from the rest of the troop to facilitate their retrieval for photography sessions. They were eventually integrated back to the troop after they reach abt 2 to 3 years of age.

The International Primate Protection League was the organisation that raised the issue and pressured the zoo to stop the practice, which it did. Their argument was that chimps are social animals and should not be kept in isolation, a fair and valid reason which the zoo accepted. There were allegations that the baby chimps were physically abused but they remain allegations and were never proven. The chimps did not have their teeth removed nor were they chained, drugged or dressed up.

Sadly though, one of the young chimps named Ramba fell victim to her own liberation from the photo 'torture'. She had been kept separate from the group and upon the IPPL's pressure, she was hastily integrated back into the troop. It initially went well, but aggression and frustration both within her and the troop soon set in. Not long after her return to the troop, Ramba made a successful escape from her enclosure (the first time a chimp has ever escaped from that exhibit since it opened 20 yrs ago) passing over several hot wire barriers. As chimps are classified dangerous animals, she had to be darted and unfortunately the sedative took effect while she was high in a tree. She fell into the lake bordering the zoo and drowned before the keepers got to her.

It was suspected that the uneasy integration back into the troop and also her frustration of not being able to leave the enclosure (when she was a photo chimp she got to ride on her keepers' bicycles around the zoo grounds daily) led to her escape.

It was a painful lesson learnt but i'm personally glad that the photo practice has been ceased for baby chimps.

Photography with orangs still continue, but changes have been made. Visitors are no longer allowed to make physical contact with the orangs and have to keep a distance from them. The photo sessions coincide with token feeding of the free-ranging orangs. They can choose to remain in the trees if they do not feel like 'posing' for visitors. The pic of the orang group i posted in the gallery shows the feeding/photo session.

10-02-2007

thats a very sad and unfortunate story zooish, but thatnks for the info.

the singapore zoo sounds like the world's premier "free-range zoo" and with such a gorgeous-looking backdrop of tropical trees, i can't think of a better place.