Any news of Koko the Chimp at Whipsnade? » Whipsnade Zoo

Any news of Koko the Chimp at Whipsnade?
22-10-2008

Just wondering if anyone has been to Whipsnade recently and knows about Koko the ex London Zoo female chimp. She is around 35 now. She moved from London about 2006 with Johnny. I was there a few months ago and she was in with a young male but not sure if she has integrated into the main group or not?

Any news would be great.

Cheers

22-10-2008

All the chimps are together now, and have been for a few months.
They seem to be doing well.

22-10-2008

Hi ashley-h,

Thanks so much for the reply, I am so delighted to hear that, after her and Johnny being together for so long, I was very concerned that she would not be able to integrate into the established group. She was such a character at London and I on more than one occassion came away with chimp poo over me, just for the pleasure of me standing there. Last time I was there she was still spitting, I could have got a complex really!!

So great news, any news of the group there would be great, it is a little tricky for me to get to.

Many thanks.

22-10-2008

i would love to hear how many are in the group .... dose anyone know the indi names and characters , family history

thnx a lot

much appreciated

22-10-2008

I think there are 7, not sure though, most of whom are male.

22-10-2008

off the top of my head..

Nicky, Grant, Phil, Zephyr, and little Elvis all males

Bonnie and Koko females.

At least i think that is the group make-up.

22-10-2008

I think if the pair had never escaped, they may have remained seperate from the group permanently because of the difficulty of introducing them. But the death of Jonny meant they had a single female alone and her integration was probably easier.

22-10-2008

Hi Pertinax,

Yes maybe, they never would have gone into a group. I so miss the days of the large group at London. Still mourning Johnny, he was a dear friend for many years, a great character, difficult, with a great toothy pant-face. Pleased Koko has settled in though that is a big relief.

Any news of Kumi and Joema, did you know them? I have a thread trying to find them. I heard that they went to Rostov in Russia, but difficult to get news, would love to know how they are?

22-10-2008

The irony is that all London's females went to Dudley where they now live without any males, though nobody seems to know why. I actually think it is a pity they didn't go to Whipsnade instead as they could have a really big group now with a proper social sex ratio.

Interestingly KOKO at Whipsnade is the only living offspring of Dudley's original male 'Pepe' but sadly I don't think she has ever bred- there could still be time now though.

I don't know the others you mention. If they are in a Russian Zoo I maybe wouldn't want to hear too many details about their living conditions though.

22-10-2008

Whipsnade have stopped breeding their chimps now, as they're "mongrals" so to speak.

22-10-2008

Well I think you are sadly probably right, so want to know and don't want to know! I was very saddenned that they were sent there in the first place, but then perhaps an all male group was not recognised, although there was one then in Planckendael (bad spelling!!), anyhow very disappointed that ZSL sent them there and permanently, they are not on loan. They were still quite young so perhaps the chances of creating a group of youngsters was possible but the space at Whipsnade then was limited, they have opened things up alot more now.

I must take a hike to Dudley, don't know there at all. Is it just the London females in the group? What a weird thing, yes would love to know what promted that decision. Chimps sadly don't get the same treatment as gorillas, mostly! Can't understand why the group was so split up, although it was in the old cramped enclosures it was thriving. Koko was always a bit of her own woman really, not sure she will ever breed!

22-10-2008

I'm sure this is correct, I used to give the chimp talk at Whipsnade about ten years ago. I'm guessing Daisy the wild caught female, who was previously at London and Wally the male have passed away. Nicky and Wally were always tying for dominance. I was very wary turning my back on them to give the talk, as already stated, the faeces could fly! Its a shame that all the offspring of late have been male (Elvis was born after I left). Koko apparently was integrated very easily after the unfortunate incident with Jonnie.

22-10-2008

You are right about Whipsnade- when London got rid of their chimpanzee group Whipsnade's enclosure (both inside and out) was very small and probably couldn't have taken the large extra number. Its a pity as its plenty big enough now.

What happened was the London group(about 7, all female & I don't know what happened to the last breeding male at ZSL or his name?)) all went to Dudley where they were joined by Dudley's own male Pepe. Pepe's two original females Bella & Cherry went to London by return, where they made a group of four with Jonny & Koko. (Koko is the daughter of Pepe x Cherry and was born at Dudley so she was reunited with her own mother when this move took place)

At Dudley 'Pepe' lived with the ZSL females for some years in their new enclosure. There was talk about allowing the group to expand up to 30 animals but in fact there was no breeding at all (Pepe, formerly a typical lively dominant male, seemed intimidated by the closely united female group when I saw them) Since Pepe died some years ago the females have just remained without any males- I think this could possibly be due to more recent recommendations not to breed from xbred chimps but its a very unnatural group now.

19-03-2009

whats happend to zephyr the chimp ? he no longer in the group ?