A Bornean orangutan was born this morning (17/6) in Borås, Sweden to Sabine and Bako and It's their sixth baby together. Total lives five orangutans in Borås (1:3:1).
It is a little bit worrying that the number of orangutans in Europe is stable or slightly decreasing, compared to data from 2008 (EAZA paper), after which there were around 367 orangutans in Europe. I suspect this is not the case with the Western lowland gorilla, a more wanted species. I think small zoos should get orangutans, whenever they want/whenever is possible, once they provide an adequate enclosures in order for this species to increase in number in Europe.
I think that part of the problem may be that orangs are so difficult to house. They must have plenty of opportunities to climb, there must be an enclosure for each adult as they may need to be separated for long periods, and everything must be very strongly built to make sure it is escape-proof (and orangs are notorious for finding weak spots and patiently working at them). They must be one of the most expensive species to house. In addition there can be a very long interval between births for some females, so even if things are going well the population can only grow slowly.
It has traditionally always been easier to accomodate for a socially structured species that requires group housing like gorillas with their harem structure as opposed to a species that tensds to remain rather solitary like orang utan (and where by consequence a diversely shaped separate indoor and outdoor housing is required which enable both group holdings and maintaining various group individuals in solitary (e.g. male only, female with another female or female with baby). I do deplore that lately various zoos with orang groups have decided to transfer these out (all zoos with a long term history with the species) due to space constraints and and where other great ape species were on site. Whereas some have been rehoused within EAZA and Europe a number have also gone out to overseas US zoos. A further concern to me is how this will affect the long term viabiity of maintaining both viable Sumateran and Bornean orang populations within EAZA zoos. It would be equally nice if the current - and unfortunately still substantial number of hybrid orangs - did no longer compete for hard to come by spaces ...!!!
The baby has been confirmed as a boy. A naming competition is being run on Facebook with options being 'Basuki', 'Budi' and 'Olbert'. This now brings Twycross up to 2:3:1
Monkey World - I visited yesterday and female Bornean 'Loren' who arrived from Moscow in May is being referred to as 'Mimi'. She's now in the Nursery group with Rieke and Bulu Mata.
Thank you for letting me know Gigit, I'll go with Mimi from now on. I've seen her called Loren, Mimi and a mixture of the 2 as Mimi-Loren.
The baby has been named 'Hujan'. He is expected to be reintroduced to the group with the next 7-8 months. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1215149145263756
Cahaya at Zoo Zurich gave birth to a female baby on the 12th of June. The father is Djarius and the baby has been named 'Riang' meaning happy.
Wilhelma's Sumatran male Moritz passed away on the 17th of July aged 24. He died due to Lung disease. The zoo confirmed ob Facebook that the 2 female orangs will be staying at Wilhelma.
'Kembali' and 'Indah' the 2 Sumatran orangs have been transferred to Frankfurt from Amneville and Chester respectively. They are currently being quarantined and are due to be moved in with females 'Djambi' and 'Rosa' and young male 'Sayang'
