It was just a natural separation of mother and daughter, but it just got a bit nasty towards the end. Puspa is a strange individual, very much prefering her own company. She is very slender and PZ staff thought that her inability to keep weight on mucked about with her reproductive cycling. Not sure why Adelaide took her on for breeding purposes.
Do you know much about Puspa’s background? Puan’s short inter-birth intervals suggest all except her last three infants were handraised? There was enough of them to form a crèche so I’m guessing they were peer raised?
Mawas (Bornean Orangutan) Mawas (F) Born in Borneo 01/01/1941 Arrived at Perth Zoo 31/12/1968 Died at Perth Zoo Mawas gave birth to two offspring at Perth Zoo: Unnamed (F) Stillborn at Perth Zoo 06/08/1973 Sire: Bobby Majizat (M) Born at Perth Zoo 26/06/1976 Sent to Peshwae Park Zoo 08/11/1985 Sire: Atjeh Additional notes/info: The sire of Mawas' first infant (stillborn in 1973) was Bobby, a hybrid orangutan born at Taronga Zoo in 1964. Bobby lived at Perth Zoo between 1968 and 1976; before being sent to Melbourne Zoo until 1980, during which time he sired twins in 1978. Bobby returned to Perth Zoo for unknown reasons in 1980, where he lived until his export to Hyderabad Zoo in 1986. Bobby died at the Hyderabad Zoo in 1995 after being subject to 'malicious destruction.'
I remember on seeing Puspa on my visit to Perth Zoo that she did seem rather 'different' to the others..perhaps the reason Adelaide took her was because she was the one Perth offered them?
There was a history at PZ to hand-rear orangs due to strongyloides that was persistent in the colony. Only by hand-rearing were they able to innoculate the youngsters. This also helps explains the number of early deaths that were recorded. I'm not sure how much connection Puan and subsequent mums had with their offspring at this point, but there was definitely socialisation of young animals. Some individuals like Utama and Mawas have been used as older aunties, but again this has depended on personalities. The hand-rearing was dropped when the group was moved to the current exhibits. Punya was Puan's first mother-reared offspring, and she was noticeably more conservative when it came to keeper interactions. I am not aware of anything that occured to Puspa to make her 'antisocial'. Remarkably her older sister Puteri is a remarkably calm and social individual.
She did walk upright alot as did Mawas. It's possible they were housed together at some stage (although I don't know this for certain) and it was a learnt behaviour. Mawas was originally from a private zoo in Johar Bahru in Malaysia, and apparently kept in very cramped conditions which allowed upright walking!
Oh I have no doubt that PZ happily dropped Puspa off to AZ. She wasn't planned to be bred again (Sekara had already taken over that role) and they were running out of space since breeding had started up again. Just not sure why AZ took her on.
Thanks for sharing your insight @tetrapod. It's really interesting to hear about the past of Perth Zoo's colony. I think even by today's standards, the mortality rate of infants was reasonably good during the 70s and 80s. I can see in the 1980s where Perth Zoo became aware of the concept of purebreds vs hybrids and in addition to ceasing to produce hybrids; sent the younger Bornean female (Binte) to Singapore Zoo so she could be of use to their breeding programme. I guess there was little they could do with the older Bornean female (Mawas), then aged in her 40s; except let her live out her life at the zoo. I've heard people on here mention before that Taronga were initially resistant to the notion of hybrid orangutans. Considering the founders of Taronga's colony were 2.0 Borneans and 0.2 Sumatrans; I can see why Perth Zoo would have been more receptive to the concept since they at least had the opportunity to streamline their collection into a purebred Sumatran colony.
You are correct that PZ were quick to decide on separation of the two subspp and this was easily facilitated by the method of housing individuals seperately. Mawas was beyond breeding age when the Borneans were moved on so she was retained for retirement. I'm not really sure what was going on at Taronga (+ Melbourne for that matter) in regrds to hybrids, as they seemed to keep producing more well into the (?)90s. Another reason for PZ going with Sumatrans was due to the overwhelming success of Puan and Atjeh. Can't beat a winning formula.
Taronga Zoo last bred hybrids in 1987: 1.0 Paddi (born 27/06/1987) Archie x Perak 1.0 Jantan (born 11/07/1987) Perang x Judy II They were also the last orangutans born at Taronga Zoo. One thing I've never understood is why Auckland Zoo decided to import Borneans in the 1980s when the other zoos in the region (Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth) were by then focusing on Sumatrans. Perth Zoo were actively breeding and easily could have supplied them if there were none available from outside the region. And then as founders, Auckland Zoo imported two males (which soon had to be kept separately); and a female that was the half sister of the first male to reach maturity, who subsequently bred with her!
I too thought Auckland made a strange choice in getting Bornean orangs from Europe, instead of Sumatrans in line with other holders in the region. Again I suspect it may simply have been that surplus(Borneans) from Europe were easier to obtain at the time?
Taronga Zoo have bred 22 orangutans in total, all hybrids. Their founders were 2.0 Bornean orangutan and 0.2 Sumatran orangutans so from the outset they were producing hybrids. The first orangutan born at Taronga was Judy II, who was born in 1957. She in turn produced many offspring, the last of which (Jantan) was born in 1987. Jantan was also the last orangutan born at Taronga Zoo. Taronga made a half hearted attempt to join the breeding programme for Bornean orangutans in the 1990s. They imported 1.0 from Auckland Zoo and 0.2 from Hong Kong Zoo. The male sadly died young; and rather than import a new male, they sent the two females to Auckland Zoo in 2001.
So were Auckland's Borneans the first orangutans at Auckland? They've only ever bred purebred Borneans right? But are now switching to Sumatrans?
Auckland Zoo had orangutans as early as the 1920s. A male and female arrived in 1924; the male died within a month and a replacement male arrived a year later. The female died in June 1927; and the replacement male in June 1928. In 1939, Auckland Zoo imported a female Sumatran orangutan named Ginger Rodgers. Ginger Rodgers died in 1943. In 1956, Auckland Zoo imported 1.1 Sumatran orangutans named Topsey and Turvey (both born 1954 in the wild). Topsey had a stillborn infant in May 1967 and died in November 1968; Turvey died in June 1971. In 1983, Auckland Zoo imported 1.2 Bornean orangutans (Horst, Dara and Indra); and a further 1.0 in 1984 (Charlie). These orangutans produced 2.2 infants between 1989 and 2000; with a further 1.1 infants born following the import of 0.2 Bornean orangutan from Taronga Zoo in 2001. Auckland Zoo will still hold 1.1 Bornean orangutan (and a hybrid female) but any breeding will be from the future import of Sumatran orangutan. There is more info on the history of Auckland Zoo’s orangutans here (Post #102): orangutans [Auckland Zoo]
Thanks ZooFan15! Do you know what females were kept with Horst and which females were kept with Charlie?
