Initially the four young founders (Dara, Horst, Indra and Charlie) lived together; but as Horst entered adolescence, he became aggressive towards Charlie and they were separated. I imagine this would have been around the late 1980s. During the 1990s, one male was kept with the three females (Dara, Indra and Intan) and the infant (Isim); while the other was kept alone. The males changed over every two weeks. Following Dara's death in 2000 and the arrival of three new females in 2001; the five females (Wanita, Indra, Intan, Melur and Gangsa) and the juvenile (Isim) were again kept with one of the males, while the other was kept separate. In 2005, the chimpanzee exhibit was renovated for orangutans and Horst, Indra and Intan moved in. They would remain in this exhibit until their export to the USA in 2009. The other orangutans rotated between two groups. When Madju was born in November 2005; Isim had reached adolescence and was starting to clash with Charlie, so he was separated along with Wanita for company. After conflict between Melur and Gangsa; Gangsa was removed and paired with Isim, while Wanita was returned to Charlie, Melur and Madju's group. Isim and Gangsa moved into the old chimpanzee exhibit/second orangutan exhibit following the departure of Horst, Indra and Intan in 2009. They lived there until their export to the USA in 2015.
I've never heard of a zoo swapping males before. Do you know why they got two males to start with and why they didn't breed with two of the females from Taronga?
The males were swapped every two weeks so neither had to live in isolation. I’m honestly not sure why they started their group with 2.2 juveniles instead of 1.2. Maybe they didn’t realise back then that the males would come into conflict down the line. Infant and juvenile orangutans are highly gregarious so it’s possible Horst’s aggression to Charlie a few years later came as a surprise, as they all lived happily together during the initial years. One of the females from Taronga (Wanita) was a hybrid and was never intended for breeding. I have my doubts on whether the two Bornean females were intended for breeding as Gangsa was put on contraception from the start and Melur’s second pregnancy (with Madju) was unplanned; I don’t know whether her first pregnancy (in 2002) was planned or not.
Wanita was (at Taronga) deemed to be very close to Gangsa. To the point that the Taronga keepers didn't want them to be permanently split up. Hence why she was shipped to Auckland with Melur and Gangsa (despite being hybrid)
That's interesting. The relationship between them definitely soured after they came to Auckland. After the combination of Charlie, Melur/Madju and Gangsa didn't work out (Gangsa attacked Melur); they trialled Isim, Wanita and Gangsa; and Isim and Gangsa both attacked Wanita. The keepers thought Gangsa (who was very close to Charlie) couldn't handle sharing him with the other females and became jealous. I believe initially the females all got on well as all five females (Indra, Intan, Wanita, Melur and Gangsa) were housed together (with only minor squabbles) until 2005 when Indra and Intan moved into the vacant chimpanzee exhibit. Wanita did however get on with the juvenile Madju, with whom she enjoyed a play-based relationship. I'm guessing she once had a similar relationship with Gangsa (and possibly Melur), who arrived at Taronga Zoo as juveniles. Either that or Taronga Zoo saw an opportunity to offload a hybrid orangutan that was difficult to house with other orangutans?
Indra and Dara got on well according to The Zoo TV series, where their relationship was portrayed as a friendship. I'm not sure if this was anthropomorphism; but since they both arrived at Auckland Zoo in 1983 as juveniles, it was likely they did get on extremely well (at least initially) as juveniles are very gregarious. Indra was also close to her daughter, Intan. Indra gave birth to her second infant, Isim, when Intan was just five years old; so while Intan would have had to adjust to becoming more independent, she still remained close to Indra and they were housed together into adulthood. Indra would have been dominant to the adolescent females (Melur and Gangsa) that arrived in 2001. Wanita (an adult female) was a very dominant female, who had a relationship of tolerance and mutual respect with Indra. As the established female, Indra was the dominant female in theory; but in practice Wanita would sometimes displace her. All things considered, the five females initially got on well considering they are not a social species. As the adolescent females matured, conflicts did arise. I don’t know if this had already started when Indra and Intan moved to the other exhibit in 2005.
So between 1979 and 1987 the Sumatran Orang' Puteri (b June 1970) had 3 babies with her own Sire Atjeh (yikes), and also Bintang the Hybrid Orang' had at least one baby in '79 with Atjeh too who also Sired her with Binte the Bornean Orang'. P.S thanks ZooFan15 for the info and also an article published in '86 about PZ's Orangs I can link to anyone interested (plus a 1990 one). '
It was due to keeping Atjeh in with the breeding females plus their adolescent females. Not sure why it was done in the past, but lack of suitable enclosure space was probably to blame. Would never happen now that all adults (male and female) have their own territories/enclosures. Keeping mixed sex adults together would be done under exceptional circumstances like when Utama (who is the surviving offspring of Puteri/Atjeh) was occasionally housed with Hsing. They got on well and she would have been on the pill.
I just found out that Puan and Atjeh's son Puntjak was the sire of SDZ's female Indah. This makes Puan and Atjeh the great-grandparents of Indah's two kids Cinta and Aisha and the great-great-grandparents of Cinta's daughter Ginger. I thought it was cool that Puan and Atjeh have descendants in the US other than Negara and wanted to share. Also, would this make Ginger their only great-great-grandchild?
