NEWS! Adelaide Zoo will be welcoming a new Sumatran Orangutan in the coming weeks. 'Kluet' the male Orangutan will be arriving from Taronga Park Zoo. Thats all i know!
thats interesting. this will leave taronga with hybrids only as last i checked kluet was their only purebred sumatran orangutan. whats the long-range plan with adelaide? obviously they have the facilities to house more than one male, but will they be aquiring any sumatran females soon for breeding?
i am guessing tarong amay now take a backep reeding and house hybrids, i mean, adelaide and melb and perth all have the new fantastic exhibits, which lacks at taronga
That's good news. I know Kluet. He was born at Jersey Zoo UK. (parents Gambar(dead) and Gina(still alive there) I couldn't understand why he was sent all the way to Taronga Park where there are no Sumatran partners for him. Maybe Adelaide will expand their Sumatran Orangutans now- they really need another female other than Karta the baby-killer...
i actually think they should give karta another go... we have had a discussion about kluet being alone at taronga before. apparently taronga thought it could find a home for its hybrids (i think mareeba was an option) but it never did and thus had no room for another additional sumatran. primates are a largely social group of animals. the general belief is that orangs are solitary more because of necessity than choice (scarcity of food). i believe thats why in captivity they seem to live very effectively in social groupings. nonetheless, i think the key to a good orang habitat is having numerous exhibits for a bigger range of management opportunities. taronga have just one public outdoor exhibit and one indoor from memory. i'm sure when they build a new orang exhibit they might factor in the ongoing care of a non-breeding group of hybrid animals and manage build more additional enclosures for the apes. i still think they could do something great for orangs with the current gorilla exhibit and a few additional enclosures...
Animals of species that are managed regionally (such as orangs) are recommended for transfer and/or pairing by the relevant species coordinators. They almost never move between ARAZPA member institutions on loan, but rather, the regional population is considered as one large collection.
gotya doc, i was only guessing...about whether kluet had left for adelaide permanently or was being 'loaned' until taronga, and the species coordinator, recomended his transfer back to taronga or another institution...
Re The Sumatran Orangutans living in the Australian region- I believe there are currently only Six animals which can be regarded as unrelated founders in your zoos; Perth- f.Puan and m.Hsing Hsing Melbourne. f. Maimunah. m.Santan. Adelaide.f. Karta. Sydney. m. Kluet. The others(such as at Perth) are offspring of the above or the deceased Perth male Atjeh. So 'Kluet' is an important animal in your region.
dinar, a male sumatran orang was imported in 2005, or 2004 from canada and has already sired one offspring.
Yes, you're right of course... I've looked it up and he arrived 2004 and fathered a baby by 2005, maybe more by now. He obviously was brought in to replace the diabetic 'Hsing Hsing' as the new breeding male at Perth. That makes seven unrelated Sumatran founders in your region- Kluett being one of them.
but because kluett hasnt bred yet he's still technically not a founder, as he hasnt 'founded' yet. ive got an excellent australian geo article on perth zoo's orang colony, detailing the family tree etc, so here goes... atjeh, mawas, puan and binte were all born in the wild and captured, and taken to perth zoo in 1968. a fifth animal, a young male named bobby, came from taronga zoo. atjeh sired at least 19 babies in twenty years.
melbourne's santan came from the canada too if memory serves correct - toronto.... i had no idea australia has such a low degree of founder orangs. i would like to see karta get another chance to raise young. with new facilities and enclosure - how many orangs can adelaide now hold?
i guess the small founder base is so easily overlooked because zoos in the region have been breeding them for so long, you get the impression this species is 'stable/safe'. in the same category as lions, and chimps, meerkats, etc. i guess orangs are safe in a way, and theyre slow to mature and breed and free to import, and held by all major zoos, so not such a problem really. perth zoos colony was prevented from breeding for close to twelve years because it had swamped the world gene pool. now that dinar has arrived breeding has restarted. but if were going to self moderate, by rights this should be in the perth forum, lol
Yes ok, to be accurate Kluett is a 'potential' founder at present. Re the Perth stock- I believe Mawas(whom I'm told was Bornean) and Binte(species?) did not breed, or at least they have no representatives in the current population? Atjeh and Puan were the productive pair and I believe Perth's other females are all related to them. After Atjeh's death, HsingHsing arrived from Singapore as breeding male, but I'm not sure at present how many young, if any, he has sired at Perth. Dinar was brought in from Canada as replacement breeding male, perhaps after Hsing developed his diabetes. As Pat said, 'Santan' is from Toronto- I'm checking to see if Dinar is any relation to him or came from somewhere else in Canada. Any further info on Perth's family tree e.g. young produced would be very weldcome at this site....
I don't quite understand this- the only Perth-bred Orangutan I know of that has gone overseas is at a certain zoo in the North of England... (There may have been others moved to Singapore too.) Any more info on Perth's family tree/breeding should go on the Perth Orang thread, not here, as you said... It seems Karta at Adelaide will only successfully produce offspring if the young is removed from her immediately it is born and handraised...
