Bonobos » Twycross Zoo

19-03-2008

As your studying them do you think they would benefit from a larger enclosure? Its quite a large group now so i would have thought a bigger enclosure may give them more space to get away from each other and there would be space for more enrichment rather than just a tree and a pool. At the end of the day you can't argue with the breeding record there as there always seems to be youngsters in the group

19-03-2008

Not just a tree and a pool, also a fire hose cargo net loving crafted with my own hands!

But yes of course, I would love to see a larger enclosure for them - for starters something that would allow both groups access to an outdoor area throughout the day and additional climbing areas. There are plans to get the TA in to the zoo again to add additional climbing equipment for them (as their previous platform collapsed last Summer ) however there is no date for this and not sure exactly what will be constructed. As you mentioned it is important that the animals are able to seperate themselves from the group at times - the chimps and bonobos use the dry moats for this purpose regularly, but of course this is more of an issue when they are confined to their day areas (certain individuals have been known to have "quiet time" ie, spend some of the day in their bed area away from the rest of the group)

19-03-2008

Bonobos at Twycross have been very successful.

Do the two groups alternate outside on a daily or on a half-daily basis(sorry if you already mentioned this somewhere...) And is the 'two groups' system of management likely to be permanent now?

19-03-2008

The left hand group (Diatou's) have access in the morning and the right hand group (Jasongo's) get access in the afternoon (assuming the other group actually come in).

I don't see the situation changing any time soon as that would require exchanging animals to prevent inbreeding - have not heard of any plans to move Keke on, this would be less than ideal anyway as it is normal for males to stay with their birth group whilst females migrate to a new group. Even if he was moved Luo would then become a problem as he is fast approaching sexual maturity, moving Diatou (mother to both of them) would also be problematic as she is the dominant animal, the best breeder and as she is currently pregnant.

19-03-2008

Sorry, this isn't about the Bonobos, but their close cousins... do you know what the policy is generally about breeding common chimps in the UK nowadays- both at Twycross and at other zoos too?. I believe there are recommendations to breed from only certain 'known' pure races, primarily West African, but this seems an almost impossible policy to follow.

For example; are any of the Twycross common chimps still allowed to breed or are they nowadays on contraceptives?

19-03-2008

I know that at least some of the Chimps are on contraceptives (females given the pill) although the recent baby tuli mother was I think on the pill at the time of conception. I had asked if the chimps were kept as sub-species but nobody seemed to know which sub-species of chimp were at the zoo (possibly many hybrids) so at Twycross at least there is not as far as I know any effort to breed within sub-species, I will check on Sunday which animals if any are able to breed - I know the top chimp complex has a mixed group but unsure if contraception is given to all the females there or not.

As far as I am aware though, whilst the "common" chimpanzee is endangered I do not believe there is any shortage of them in captivity - this is shown pretty clearly at Monkey world that exclusively houses rescued animals and doesn't breed from their animals. I am not aware of anywhere in the UK that is actively breeding chimps for return to the wild (along the lines of howletts with their Gorillas) - Please if anyone has details of any chimp breeding going on post any info you have.

And for the record, when the hell will somebod revise the official names for the chimpanzee species, really pisses me off - there is nothing common about the more widely known species and describing bonobos as pygmy chimpanzees suggests that they are simply smaller versions of the more well known species, there is of course far more to them than that!

20-03-2008

I'm not surprised no-one at Twycross knows what races the chimps are, I think this situation exists in most Uk zoos with chimps(probably in Europe too) as many of them were bred long before anyone gave any attention to what races they came from. (Its not dissimilar to the situation with Giraffes). Some zoos, e.g. Chester, Whipsnade, perhaps others, still have chimp babies from time to time- I'm not sure if these are deliberate or accidental births but as someone else has commented, even a single infant in a group makes for a social 'completeness'(like your two Bonobo groups) and interest that is lacking otherwise.

You also mentioned 'Monkeyworld' but I think even they have had a number of babies born in their groups where the female implants haven't worked.

What is interesting is to speculate what will happen to zoo chimp populations in future if the 'mixed race' groups are prevented from breeding. . For their new exhibit I believe Edinburgh may be getting some pure-race chimps to add to their existing mixed-race group- the purebreds being allowed to breed, the others not, so eventually they will phase themselves out.. Maybe in the longterm some other zoos will take this route. (sorry I've digressed from Bonobos here but its an interesting subject...)

20-03-2008

I won't complain too much as long as you stick to apes :P

It's a difficult one, by splitting the management of Chimps in to the 4(?) sub-species you massively reduce the availble individuals, also I think you have to consider what the negative implications of breeding hybrids would be? sure it is not ideal to put hybrids back in the wild but is it really worse than crippling the captive population to an extent that population sizes may be to small to be sustainable without introducing wild caught animals? To the best of my knowledge the differences between the subspecies are limited and there may well be crossbreeding between some that appears naturally in the wild.

I must admit my personal view is that the importance of maintaining "pure" animals is overrated especially when divisions between subspecies can be blurry at best.

20-03-2008

No problem there...(I'll stay with this thread though)

I agree with your view in so much as wild chimpanzee populations are largely contiguous with each other, at least in some areas, so where do the divisions actually occur? As I said before, its a little bit like Giraffes, where it is largely a matter of different coat-patterning anyway. I hope this interest in 'races' doesn't become a reason zoos completely stop allowing their chimps to breed- I can understand the necessity when there are space or rehoming considerations though.

Now a couple of questions on the Gorillas;

1. I heard SamSam has been mating Biddy. Do you think there's any chance she could be pregnant by him? I know both are getting on in years but there's still a possibility of young and this would be excellent for SamSam in particular as his only existing relative is now his grandson' Matadi' in the other group.

2. Any more news about plans regarding the 2nd group?

21-03-2008

The divide is somewhat blurry to some, there is talk of one of the sub-species being elevated to full species status (P. t. verus) following studies of mtDNA. There is also talk of the chimpanzees from Nigeria becoming a fourth subspecies (P. t. vellerosus).

Apart from the above which at the present time isn't generally accepted there are three subspecies whose ranges historically would have met, this map gives an idea of their ranges before they became so massively fragmented in recent years:



The suggested physical differences between the species is suggested by the common names used on the map, the central western (Black faced or P. t. troglodytes) is also slightly larger than the eastern (Long haired or P. t. schweinfurthii). There are also slight differences in behaviour (likely due to ecology) such as varying range sizes, slightly differing birth intervals, varying average group sizes and slightly varied diets.

Reference: Dean Falk, Primate Diversity (2000)

I don't know a great deal about the Gorillas at Twycross as I havn't worked on that section and never had a strong interest in them (until my recent visit to Howletts and subsequently meeting all the Twycross Gorillas ) I shall ask if there is any news on the section but it just depends who is working when I am there - there is talk of getting at least a male in to the younger group, likely a black back as the zoo are keen to breed from the jeuvenile in the group in the future - no dates or further info at the moment though.

22-03-2008

Personally i don't understand why they need to seperate Keke and Luo from Diatou. I thought males usually stay in their birth group with their mothers, and also i know they have kept parent-raised sons and mothers in the same group at Milwaukee, Columbus, Cologne and Plankendael with inbreeding, as in the wild. So why is Twycross doing this?

22-03-2008

I would have to say there are a number of reasons for the split, including possible indreeding that could occur, for one Kichele is actually the product of Diatou and her father so it is known that she has in the past bred with close relatives, also there are times where the animals are in enclosed spaces that can cause friction and potential violence in the group as well as increasing the likelyhood of undesired matings. Unfortunately whilst the Bonobos are considered a "placid" ape its all relative and they have had several occurances of injuries being caused to other animals.

Redesigning the entire enclosure with larger spaces and areas for the animals to segregate themselves at times would be ideal and could make a bigger group more practical but that would cost a fortune and with improvements elsewhere in the zoo it really won't be possible for a while.

24-07-2008

Just a side note on this side note: the information on this site is wrong: Yasa is a daughter of Diatou and Kakowet II, she was mother reared by Diatou until she was moved to Leipzig in 2004.
Rumour has that Yasa is pregnant herself, but haven't heard about it recently.

24-07-2008

Having the two groups of Bonbos means they now have to alternate in using the outside enclosure with one group indoors half the day- or longer if the other group won't come in. On my last visit the same group was shut indoors all day. Presumably the zoo think it is okay to keep Bonobos under this regime in the longterm.

24-07-2008

Just one of a long line of issues that need sorting at Twycross, I know there isn't always a quick fix, but in the best interest of the Ape's wouldn't it be best to send one group to another collection?

Instead of keeping them in this inadequate arrangement