There is an older postcard from La Boissiere in France showing the owner(?) handfeeding an adult male Orangutan. I'm presumng this is the Sumatran 'Major' who has since died after reaching some sort of longevity record(50?) I think he came there originally from Duisburg. The interesting thing is the card is labelled 'Orangutan of Tapanuli '. 'Sumatra' in French is still 'Sumatra' (as against Tapanuli), so I am wondering why they made this distinction. The card would have pre-dated the discovery of the new species though.
To be clear, although the species was described in 2017 and the currently-known population was "rediscovered" in 1997, orangutans have been known from this range since the 1800s. They went largely unrecorded for most of the 20th century but obviously were still there. That this postcard specifically noted the orangutan as being from Tapanuli is certainly interesting! If a capture-origin could be determined with certainty, then a number of Zoochatters could potentially be adding a new species to their life-lists!
And there will be quite a lot of species-hybrid orangutan knocking about which aren't the "usual" mix, too as I believe "Major" has a fair few descendants. Either way, it would be VERY interesting if @Pertinax could attach a scan/image of said postcard to a post in this thread, in order to see if it sheds any light on the matter in terms of the appearance of the animal in question.
Not sure I can do that but will try. He just looks like a typical Sumatran though- but then Tapanuli orangs do, don't they.. More to the point is why the word 'Tapanuli' appears on the postcard which was printed some decades ago now I think. And yes, Major has quite a lot of descendents I believe.
Unfortunately I don't know as I don't have the card. I'll look in to it though. Maybe its not Major but a previous adult male- though not sure they had one before him...the studbook is needed methinks.
Pretty sure the studbooks would simply have the island (i.e. "Sumatra" or "Borneo") as locations for wild-obtained orangutans.
I agree. Perhaps Tapanuli was referring to that region of Sumatra, rather than the specific animal but its a strange word to use. Its typical that I cannot now find the postcard on the websites I use ( it was there yesterday...) but if you type in 'La Boissiere Orangutan Images' there are pics of Major at 50 and 44 being fed cake by the zoo manager. Its pretty unusual to go in with an adult male Orang like that- most are extremely untrustworthy/dangerous. Anyway, the postcard I am referring to, which mentioned Tapanuli, features a younger version of the same man, with an adult male Orang which I presume was also Major.
Translocation of a male Tapanuli orangutan : Tapanuli orangutan released after entering village in search of food
Thats good, this species could probably die down in a few decades, their numbers are decreasing according to the International Union for conservation of nature.
