Twycross Primates 1987 to 2006 - Apes » Twycross Zoo

Twycross Primates 1987 to 2006 - Apes
03-09-2008

As Sim has closed down the thread with the rest of these reports on , I have started a new thread for this last one . All details extracted from Twycross Zoo annual reports , covering period 1st January 1987 to 31st December 2006 -

Bornean orang-utan - 5 at start , 6(1) born , 6 arrived , 8 departed , leaving 2.6 (current ISIS 2.4 after 2 females went to Paris ) .
( first births in 1999 after arrival of male from Munster )

Sumatran orang-utan - 3 at start , 3 arrived , 4 departed , 2 died .
( last female went to Colchester in 1998 )

Western lowland gorilla - 6 at start , 4(1) born , 3 arrived , 3 departed , 1 died , leaving 4.6 ( current ISIS 3.4 )
( 2007 was a bad year with several deaths reported elsewhere on Zoobeat )

Chimpanzee - 25 at start , 12(1) born , 3 arrived , 3 departed , 7 died , leaving 12.17 ( current ISIS 12.18 )
( all births , apart from 1 in 2005 who died 2006 , were between 1990 and 1996 )

Bonobo - 8 arrived , 8(1) born , 4 departed , leaving 4.7 , currently same .
( first 5 arrived 1992 )

I think some of the departures and arrivals of gorillas and orangs were animals going out for mating then returning .

03-09-2008

yes, they're close but don't quite tally. The Sumatran orangs were the original pair Toby & Trudie and another female mentioned in her book that I don't think ever reached the Zoo. I only know of two(not 3) arriving; Kertawa from Bristol, for handraising- later sent to Japan, and Djambe, unless they took another baby from Bristol. They didn't breed any pure Sumatrans themselves as Toby seems to have been infertile.

Gorillas- Eva & Asante(mother & daughter) were sent to Bristol for mating in 1993. Eva got pregnant, Asante didn't. Eva gave birth at Twycross but sadly the baby was premature- it died same day. This birth is presumably shown as the (1) here, as Ndoki was born and died in 2007. Their total Gorilla births are actually 6(2) The Gorillas that departed would have been Assumbo, Mambi(to Paignton) and ??(I can't think of another)

03-09-2008

Sumatran orang-utans - 1 listed as arrived 1987 , 1 arrived and 2 departed 1989 . In 1989 1 arrived , this was Djambe from Wuppertal . 1 female died 1991 , 1 male departed 1993 , 1 male Toby died 1997 , Djambe to Colchester 1998 . Some of these could have been hybrid offspring of Trudy . I don't have an orang studbook to check these .

Gorillas - male Sekondi arrived from Edinburgh 1989 , male Mambie born 1991 , Eva and Asante departed 1993/1994 , both back 1994 , baby born 1995 d.n.s. Mambie to Paignton 1999 , Matadi born 2003 , 1.1 arrived 2006 , Mamfie died .

03-09-2008

Sumatran orangutans;
1 listed as arrived 1987. Don't know. Kertawa was born and arrived in 1988.
1 arrived and 2 departed 1989 Djambe arrived. 2 departed is still a mystery.
1 female died 1991 - Trudie
1 male departed 1993 - Kertawa
Some of these could have been hybrid offspring of Trudy- I think Trudy's hybrid offspring (2) went to France in 1978. I don't think she had any more after that as they prevented the cross mating.

Gorillas. Yes, Assumbo left before this timeframe so wouldn't appear. The d.n.s. baby(eva's) was a female sadly.

Chimps. I'm interested that the only breeding period was between 1991-96. Does that mean despite the big numbers of chimps they've always held, that they never bred any previously? Also I suspect this breeding period coincided with the 'chocolate' chimp(Coco) as I know they made a special effort to perpetuate this colourphase by inbreeding (!!) from her.

03-09-2008

Bonobos:

1992 arrival of 2,3 bonbos
(0,1 Diatou, *21.10.1977, Stuttgart, 23.03.1992 arrival from Stuttgart, daughter of Masikini and Catharine; 1,0 Kakowet II, *07.06.1980, San Diego Zoo, 31.03.1992 arrival from Leipzig, son of Kakowet and Linda; 0,1 Kichele, *19.04.1989, Stuttgart, 23.03.1992 arrival from Stuttgart, daughter of Masikini and his daughter Diatou; 0,1 Kuni, *24.02.1985, Stuttgart, 23.03.1992 arrival from Stuttgart, daughter of Masikini and Kombote; 1,0 Jasongo, *02.08.1990, Wuppertal, handreared, 23.03.1992 arrival from Wuppertal, son of Mato and Lisala)

1993 departure of 0,1 bonobo
(0,1 Kuni, transfer to San Diego Zoo, arrival on 13.05.1993)

1994 first birth
(1,0 Keke, *02.01.1994, son of Kakowet II and Diatou)

1997 second birth
(0,1 Yasa, *27.08.1997, daughter of Kakowet II and Diatou)

1998 arrival of 0,1 bonobo
(0,1 Banja, *01.02.1990, Cologne, 22.09.1998 arrival from Cologne, daughter of Clyde and Bonnie)

2000 third birth
(1,0, *14.01.2000, stillbirth, son of Kakowet II and Kichele)

2001 fourth birth
(0,1 Khaya [Kinshasa], *19.10.2001, daughter of Keke and Banja, handreared)

2002 fifth and sixth birth
(0,1 Banbo, *03.09.2002, daughter of Keke and Banja, handreared; 1,0 Luo, *01.12.2002, son of Jasongo and Diatou)

2003 seventh birth
(0,1 Bokela, *14.02.2003, daughter of Kakowet II and Banja)

2004 departure and arrival of 0,1 bonobo
(departure of 0,1 Yasa, 26.05.2004 transfer to Leipzig; arrival of Cheka, *18.03.1996, Frankfurt, 16.06.2004 arrival from Cologne, daughter of Bono and Salonga)

2005 eighth birth, departure of 0,2 bonobos
(0,1 Gemena, *07.11.2005, daughter of Kakowet II and Cheka; departure of 0,1 Khaya and Banbo, 20.04.2005 transfer to Stuttgart)

2006 arrival of 0,1 bonobo
(0,1 Maringa II, *05.05.1998, Berlin Zoo, 07.09.2006 arrival from Berlin Zoo, daughter of Simon and Yala)

04-09-2008

Thanks for all the bonobo details BjoernN . Fascinating animals , I have spent long sessions watching those at Twycross .

04-09-2008

Chimp breeding at Twycross - I am sure there were births prior to 1987 ( the start of my report period ) . I also have a 1981 report , they then only had 16 chimps .

04-09-2008

Yes, I'm sure there were some over the years. And the babies from time to time in their Chimp nursery were presumably bred there too.

Bonobos- the husbandry of the Bonobos is rather different to that of the other Apes- plenty of births, transfers and exchanges. Due to their origins within EEP zoos, no doubt.

Twycross chimps and orangs
05-09-2008

Chimps
Between 1971 and 1992 there were 18 (10.8 ) successful chimp births at Twycross as well as 7 d.n.s. Of these 18 , 5 were born to 'chocolate' chimp Coco , one the 'bald' choc. chimp Jambo the result of a mating between Coco and her first son Bobby . Bobby fathered a further 4 babies , his brother Kip fathered 1 baby and sister Charlotte had one baby . Thus 11 of the 18 were related to 'Coco' . Another son of Coco , Pippin , went to Colchester in 1992 which is probably the reason for seeing a young choc. chimp there on 'Zoo Days' . ( Source of above 1992 British Isles and Ireland Chimpanzee Regional Studbook ) .

Orang-utans
A total of 13 (7.6) orangs were born at Twycross between 1973 and 1986 . Six(2.4) were Borneans born to Jod x Twiggy , Twiggy produced a female sired by Boy at R. Park , a male was born to Kupo Kupo sired by Dodo at R. Park and a stillborn male resulted from the mating of Jod with his daughter Kibriah . A further 4(3.1) were hybrids sired by Jod with Sumatran female Trudie . I think most of these were hand-reared .

The last hybrid Scooper went to Chester in 1988 , 2 others went to La Palmyre in 1978 , the first ended up in Rangoon . Female Sumatran Julitta arrived from Bristol in 1987 and returned there in 1988 . Female Bornean Kibriah went to Jersey in 1987 and returned in 1989 along with Kupo Kupo . Male Bornean Lee Lee went to Arnhem in 1989 . Male Sumatran Kertawa arrived from Bristol in 1988 , female Bornean Thoedora arrived from Jersey in 1989 , female Sumatran Djambe arrived in 1989 . ( source 1989 Studbook for orang-utans held in the British Isles ) .

I hope this answers some questions .

05-09-2008

Quite amazing that of all the apes, Twycross has only had real success in 20 years with Bonobos, despite all that has been said on this forum about their housing conditions. On the flip side they really haven't done much with any of the other apes, including the much lauded chimps.

05-09-2008

Yes it does, thanks. I was unaware of or had forgotten about some of the Orangutan moves and they flesh out the 'movement' dates from your original reports. I didn't know they sent an Orangutan to Rangoon- I'll bet he's not alive any more!

05-09-2008

The Bonobo Housing at Twycross is perfectly okay (as against top class), or it was,- its just that with them now split into two groups, one group now has to be held indoors for some of the time as there is only one outdoor enclosure- it was really designed for a single group. Perhaps EEP will ask for one group to be moved out?

The initial stock came from EEP zoos and are not owned by themselves, and as Bonobos are a much smaller European population than other apes, this combination of factors may point to the more efficient management protocol used here with regular births combined withfrequent transfers and exchanges. Whereas the founders of their other apes were all originally owned by Twycross, and while they may now be members of EEP programmes, they still seem able to act alone- hence the lack of breeding activity particularly on the Gorilla front. Though I've been told in the past that all their apes are managed within the EEP guidelines...