Longleat Safari Park - Chimpanzee Does anyone have any information on the history of chimpanzee at Longleat Safari Park? I found an article saying they imported five founders named: Harold, George, Jim, Barbara and Edward. I have a vague recollection of reading about these in a different book (though from memory I thought there was at least two females mentioned). I looked in the European studbook but found no mention of the above animals...
Has there been any more DNA testing for chimps in Europe and if so can any more individuals be moved into the relevant subspecies since this thread has been going?
0,1 born in Plzen (BASK×ZEDOENJA) on 1st January. For the concerns of breeding program, she is 75% p. t. troglodytes
I don't think it's been mentioned on this particular thread yet but a tragic fire on New Years eve resulted in the death of all but two of the Chimpanzees that resided at Krefeld zoo.
Which means one chimpanzee died. Two survived and two appearendly moved prior to the fire, or so I've heard.
"The oldest" is heavily disputed by some people, who thinks there are still older chimps living in Europe
I’m not surprised. 49 doesn’t even seem that old when you consider in Australasia we have a 61 year old female and that several others in our region have reached this age.
I read somewhere recently that Jimmy at MonkeyWorld had died, which is sad news….. Also his name has disappeared from their website Bachelor Group list…. I wish parks would update their websites with news when animal pass away; it’s part of the circle and we “fans” of Zoos can handle it. I’ve noticed for years that on programmes such as eg Animal Park, the dominant male lion say, will no longer be there and a new one is, with no updates ♂️ Same with Jimmy at MW. We care and are very fond of these animals/characters…. Even a page of “obituaries” might be an idea? Your thoughts? HDB x
I don't believe she was the oldest chimpanzee even just in Spain; Achille at AAP Primadomus was (according to records given to them) in his mid-thirties when he was rehomed from a private owner in 2000, putting him in his fifties now. Elsewhere, I can think of several other chimpanzees off the top of my head who are at least fifty (three of them just in one zoo!). I don't know where the assumption came from that Judy in Verona was the oldest in Europe.
Plzen has a new male. Siri from Krakow. He was born in Dvur Kralove (Dingo x Vanda, 1987), lived some time in Ostrava and is pure tschego chimpanzee (Central African nominal subspecies troglodytes). Nový šimpanz v Plzni -
0.1 Nobby (1971) has died at Twycross Zoo: Twycross Zoo mourns death of one its first ever chimpanzees
Gypsy a male Chimp has died at Monkey World. Gypsy was 27 and passed away due to a Stomach Infection. Gypsy was the second youngest Chimp in Monkey World's Bachelor group. I don't remember if it has been mentioned but, Zoe a Chimp in Bart's group at Monkey World also passed earlier this year. Zoe was 34 and passed due to unknown causes.
Haven't been on here for a longer while. There were loads of changes here in our Chimpanzee Group. Currently the group consists of: Kume (m), Jacky (f), Xindra (f), Benga (f), Fifi (f), Kitoko (f), Garissa (f), Lazima (f), Obaye (m), Obuasi (f), Ponima (f), Qizenge (f), Sangala (f), Sabaki (m) and Tsangi (f) Tatu, Kume's father, was transferred to us in October 2019, but was found dead in the enclosure one December morning. Not sure what he died of (it was never communicated). Colebe was euthanized in November 2020. He had "blackouts" where he fainted, but no one was able to tell why. It looks like the group wanted to wake him up and he did not wake up right away - so they maybe bit him. He was injured heavily (I did not see him like this, but a friend of mine did. It must have been a horrible sight...). So they let him go. Not an easy decision. Fahamu left in October 2019. He lives now in "Dierenrijk" (https://www.dierenrijk.nl/). Fifi & Sangala last Summer Fifi gave birth to Sangala, but was not able to take care of her due to health problems (her legs were kinda paralyzed - she's getting better and better now). Luckily her half sister Kitoko was pregnant too and took over. Aparently there was a moment when her son Sabaki was born a couple of weeks later, where she wouldn't take him. But as the zoo communicated, the goup "helped" her, and now she is taking care of both (and she does a great job!) Kitoko with Sangala, Sabaki and her older son Obaye (from left to right) Sangala (left) and Sabaki (right) The young ones - who "belongs" to whom: Xindra --> Obuasi Benga --> Garissa --> Lazima --> Qizenge Fifi --> (Sangala) Kitoko --> Obaye --> Sabaki --> (Sangala) Garissa --> Ponima --> Tsangi
Remember them vaguely at Longleat. Initially they lived on the island which later became the home for gorillas(they had none when it opened). It was billed as 'man-ape island' and I can remember a garish circus-type poster featuring 'savage'(!) chimps on the island. After they got gorillas, the chimps moved to an 'artificial' island created on the nearby lakeshore by digging a semi-circular channel from the lake. They then disappeared altogether. Sadly I have no other details.
I first read about them as a kid when I read Lions of Longleat. It seemed an ancient book at the time (and indeed I see it was published 1969), but I didn’t realise it had only been published three years after the safari park was founded. By that stage they’d already welcomed several litters of lions and invested in chimpanzee, gorilla and a tapir named Joe that bit the crap out of someone. I didn’t remember the chimpanzees names, only a reference to their names reflecting their personalities, but was interested and looked them up. I was surprised to see the sex ratio was 4.1, which wouldn’t have been ideal for the lone female.
