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Sumatran Orang Utan, Anne

Taken in the old Gorilla House at Britsol, which adjoined the old Ape House, where the orangs were usually housed. I guess she was separated from the male because she was pregnant, perhaps with Oscar. Photo probably taken in 1972.

Sumatran Orang Utan, Anne
gentle lemur, 18 Oct 2007
    • gentle lemur
      Taken in the old Gorilla House at Britsol, which adjoined the old Ape House, where the orangs were usually housed. I guess she was separated from the male because she was pregnant, perhaps with Oscar. Photo probably taken in 1972.
    • Cat-Man
      soooooo sad
    • Pertinax
      It may make you sad but she may not be sad at all.. Orangutans have few facial muscles so their expressions which often to us appear that they are sad or bored, are in fact no indication whatsoever of their mental state and they may be perfectly content within their captive environment.
    • gentle lemur
      Anne gave the impression of being a singularly placid and contented orang. Her first infant, Oscar, was hand-raised but later reintroduced to her and she raised her other babies herself and she obviously enjoyed a very good relationship with her keepers. The housing appears very old-fashioned now - and indeed it looked old-fashioned all those years ago: but the collection of the great apes at Bristol in the early 1970s was very impressive, I suspect this was due mainly to the keepers. Unfortunately this situation changed when they tried to improve the housing.

      Alan
    • Cat-Man
      i suppose so alan
    • Pertinax
      For the record, Anne has a number of several living relatives;

      Emma & Subis at Chester are her grandchildren, so all their offspring are her greatchildren.

      Her younger daughter 'Julitta' now lives at Amneville Zoo France with her daughter 'Putri'- another grandchild of 'Anne'.

      When Bristol stopped keeping Orangutans, Anne and her 2nd mate Adam moved to Santilla Zoo in Norther Spain, where both later died. But her last daughter 'Maria' was born there and is now breeding there too. She looks quite similat to 'Anne'.
    • Cat-Man
      if they didnt want to get rid of orangs, do you think if they combined the gorilla enclosure and the orang one it would be sutible?
    • Cat-Man
      also i probs should have stressed that i was refering to the image of the Orang behind bars that was sad
    • gentle lemur
      Point taken! I posted this shot to show the way things were not so long ago.

      Alan
    • Pertinax
      I actually think it was a good thing Bristol went out of Orangutans when they did. The housing, as in so many zoos of the time, was never very good for them. This is a species that really needs specialist housing to allow proper climbing facilities, as at Chester or Paignton nowadays.

      Interestingly, I think Bristol are still listed in the Studbook as the 'owners' of either Anne's daughter or her grandaughters in Santilla in Spain, so if the new Bristol Environmental Park ever gets off the ground, we might see them return there one day.
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  • Category:
    Bristol Zoo (Closed)
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    gentle lemur
    Date:
    18 Oct 2007
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