In my opinion, the best housing is like Auckland Zoo - where the orangutans share a space, but have room to escape each other. Auckland Zoo's orangutan exhibit is based around a central exhibit; but the high ropes will allow multiple configurations around the zoo meaning the colony can easily be separated into subgroups. Auckland Zoo have two females - Wanita (1979) and Melur (1988), who tolerate each other; and a male - Charlie (1981). They're preparing to import a mother and her adolescent daughter next year, so they may choose to integrate all four females; or if it doesn't work out - run two groups of 0.2 with Charlie rotating between them. One of the reasons Auckland Zoo imported the three females from Sydney in 2001, was that the death of Dara has reduced their colony to a single adult female - Indra; and she was resenting the constant attention from the males; so in some cases, being housed with other females (unrelated or not) has benefits. Perth Zoo have around five/six exhibits - their colony are currently housed in five groups: Group 1: 0.1 Puteri (1970) 0.1 Teliti (2009) *also starting to spend time on her own Group 2: 0.1 Utama (1979) Group 3: 1.0 Dinar (1987) Group 4: 0.1 Sekara (1990) 1.0 Sungai (2011) *also starting to spend time on his own Group 5: 0.1 Pulang (1993) 0.1 Lestari (2012)
I had thought that Sun bears were being phased out?, I cant seem to follow any more what is being phased out or in anymore
@Zorro Yeah i wouldnt be surprised in PZ phased out Sun Bears the rate Australasian Zoos go with phasing out great species. But from the rough map of what the upgraded Asian precinct might look like they are still marked in their current exhibit but could be an oversight. I certainly hope and pray they keep their Sun Bears. @Zoofan15 Oh in regards to Orangutans again thats the thing i forgot too, learning that even Bornean females are less sociable than Sumatrans, so my last comments were very Sumatran-centric (having only ever really had any Orang experience with Perth and Taronga as my comparisons I have always leaned very heavily on Perth's approach due to their breeding success), however before the early 2000s I always said that Taronga's '93 built exhibit was the best i'd seen and Perth's old four/five Orang enclosures were undersized eyesores. I should probably say exhibits plural with Taronga (past tense now unfortunately). As I sometimes fail to mention the adjacent indoor facility they had. The thing I will say as to Perth's old Orang exhibits was I did appreciate the close proximity us guests could view them through the glass whether as Taronga's '93 exhibit had a low lying electric perimeter near the glass so there was always an approximately 5m distance between us and the Orangs (normally more as the Orangs seemed to avoid that boundary area of the exhibit understandably). But the heights access at Perth (and clearly Auckland from your photos) is brilliant. Btw if Pulang was born at Perth in '93 then she's i'm guessing the baby I remember from that time period and the rest of the mid '90s, was very very cute. I know theyre were a significant number of births at Perth but very clearly remember around 93-94 my Aunt and cousin getting all excited about us going to see the new baby Orangutan.
According to the masterplan, the sun bears will rotate use of inter-connected exhibits with the Sumatran tiger etc. Sun bears, Jamran (2000) and Bopha (2002), can be expected to live for at least another 5-10 years, so the 2020-2023 masterplan needs to accommodate them; with the option of utilising the space they occupy for tigers. Sadly, I agree the species will be phased out after that due to a lack of support within the region. No cubs have been bred for a decade now.
Yep, or also could have been Sekara (1990), Temara (1992) or Negara (1993): Perth Zoo Orangutan Family Tree Sign Board (2016) by Zoofan15 posted 11 Apr 2020 at 11:37 AM
@Zoofan15 Hey thanks for uploading the image of the map btw. Yeah its good that Jamran and Bopha will get more space too and the rotating idea is cool (im embaressed i didnt see the Sun Bear link lines to two of the rotating exhibits). At the moment they have 1,075 sq m of outdoor space from split enclosures (511 sq m and 564 sq m). ZooLex Exhibit - Sun Bear Exhibit But I really wish PZ would look to more Sun Bears in the future too (considering the current Bear rescue works in Asia need all the facility help possible).
Yes, agreed. Australia could be through sun bear ex situ program be the linking pin for rescue work on Borneo, Sumatra or mainland SE Asia. By having the financial clout and funding capacity for in situ it can work both ways. A win win for all: with non-releasable sun bear being integrated into the captive breeding programmes! I love the design plan Perth Zoo made public. Very ambitious and certainly looks nice on the plan as it is! A game changer is the interconnectivity between habitats of different species!
With elephants fast vacating city zoos (I don't see Taronga holing out much longer), species like sun bears are EXACTLY the sort of species we should be focusing on in urban zoos. For all the reasons stated above, Australia has every opportunity and should, take a lead and start putting a bit more innovation and I dare say, logic into breeding these more challenging species. It's also worth pointing out that if not sun bears... then what bears? Its certainly not going to be polar bears or pandas.
I do remember some that were happy to see the last brown bears pass away within our zoos so the sun Bears could be the standout bear species for the regional zoos, So now the Sun bears appear to be in decline within the region where to now?
@toothlessjaws, along with that probably some more Inso-Malayan species of conservation concern. Gibbon, langur, tapir (even these allthough Australia pretty much bungled up their first attempts by exhibition in full sunlight), anoa, babirusa ..., clouded leopard (in stead of snow leopard - think ... not polar bear) some of the smaller felids (marbled car?, flat-headed cat?, linsang, other viverids). Could be quite the interesting list! Further some of the more elusive, wonderful and fascinating bird species from the Australasian region (away from your usual cockatoo, parrot and macaw gangs) as well as more emphasis on rarer reptiles, amphibians and fish. Herparium and Aquarium would work very well for the city zoos (something which is quite a lot harder to do in the open range zoo concept). Tie that in with more in situ conservation support programs, more funding support for in situ would be a win win overall for Australian ZAA zoos. On top, a 2-tier ticket with the open range zoo combine - to promote visitors going out into the "outback" and visiting the sister zoo location. I do believe that the city zoo and open range zoo should and would complement each other and make for a stronger zoo community. The city zoo for the more delicate, smaller .. yet fascinating natural world and an introduction to the rarer Australian wildlife and the open range zoo for Asian and African savannahs and Australian outback reserve area!
@Kifaru Bwana. Yes I very much agree that this vision you outline is the future of zoos. Unfortunately, its taken short-sighted zoo CEO's ta long tome to realise this. Its been particularly frustrating watching zoos such as Melbourne make major stumbles (like building a new elephant exhibit) when they actually OWN a safari park 30mins drive away. Nonetheless, logic is finally starting to take hold.
I believe you are right on the money with this. I had said from the start putting a herd of imported elephants into two city zoos was not a good move and the CEO,s should of had better foresight with this. Not to mention the amount of money spend building a new exhibits at both at Taronga and Melbourne zoo, added the now cost of building another updated larger exhibit at Werribee and enlarged enclosures at Dubbo where I believe they should of went in the first place.
The strangest part regarding sun bears, is that they a focal conservation species, individuals have an interesting rescue story, bears are a charismatic 'zoo animal' and they fit into the region's emphasis on SE Asian rainforests. The only drawbacks are that they need space (admittedly less than alot of other carnivores) and have proven to be difficult to breed (mostly a lack of quiet denning space). And now zoos are going out of them because they cannot be bothered... If only everything bred as easily as meerkats.
@tetrapod Quiet off-display enclosure with den for females. On display enclosure for males. Between each enclosure is a sizeable "shared territory" enclosure where the animals have rotated access to when not together for breeding. this would mimic the wild situation on a smaller scale and still allow an animal to be on display. An even better approach would be to build a supersized version of this, at an open range zoo like Werribee or Dubbo. The enclosures could be entirely off-display, a few acres in size, heavily vegetated, cheaply constructed and designed to be suitable for multiple large carnivore species like big cats and bears. You could even have multiple enclosures coming off the large shared territory space, allowing for more than one male and a bit of competition and choice. Animals from around the country could be sent here for pairing and breeding, then sent back to city zoos for display until needed. This ten allows for a new pair or even species to move in to use the breeding facility for a couple of years. I imagine it would only take one or two of these facilities, perhaps just one each at the main open range zoos, to provide all the breeding the region needs for a number of large carnivore species. It's all rather logical and obvious in my opinion.
You're doing this all wrong. Hype up the importance of the species to regional collection planning. Get behind in-situ conservation program. Import one male and one female. Fail to breed. One individual dies. Zoo gives up because no other zoo comes on board. Export other individual to private zoo that is unlikely to import. Go out of species. Quote problems. Give up on funding in-situ because visitors cannot connect when there is no live animal. Wait a bit while another zoo shows interest... That's how it works! (Actually I do like your idea!). In the end, particularly for Australia and NZ zoos, you need multiple collections get behind a species program. This is why the maned wolf situation is a breath of fresh air, amongst so many failures. One took hold of it (where Perth and Dubbo had done okay, but then gave up) and others rallied around. Shouldn't be rocket science.
This video is currently on Perth's website, along with artist impressions (stills from the video) regarding the current masterplan: A Future Vision For Perth Zoo The orangutan exhibits look very impressive, albeit from the limited view given. As the African savannah expansion most likely can't progress until Permai and Putra Mas leave the zoo, then the orangutan development may be next. The plans in the masterplan document for the primate precinct are the least clear to me, in terms of how many exhibits will be constructed, for which species, and how they will link to each other. Chester Zoo, for one, mixes orangs and Javan Gibbons, so possibly that could happen at Perth as well.
I’m very excited for the upgrades to the orangutan exhibit. The end result will be a world class exhibit that brings them closer than ever before to the visitors. Like Auckland’s exhibit, they’ll have aerial pathways, which will be highly enriching for them. It appears the circular o-rings will create an enclosed pathway over the visitor pathways, with the free form/open ropes being over enclosed spaces - to prevent anything dropping down on to the public below. Orangutan breeding is on hiatus until the upgrade is complete, but this will still be some way off.
There will be no mixing of orangs and gibbons. Silveries are too endangered to risk it and carry Hep B. I'd imagine the vagueness of the plans is due to PZ being uncertain about the plans until closer to the time. Will probably depend partly on the timing of eles leaving.
I'd assume that while the gibbons have seperate habitats from the orangutans, there will be a shared aerial pathway that they rotate use of. This works well at Auckland Zoo with their Bornen orangutan and Siamang. I agree mixing the two is too risky. There's been multiple incidents with great apes when mixed with gibbons or monkeys; with the risk outweighing what benefit they may receive from the interaction.
