Anyone from Adelaide here? Would like to find out how Oscar the Siamang is doing while in transit to Orana, NZ. Miss his morning songs... He's quite a singer, and swinger too!
Yeah hes going well i saw him the other day hes living behind the zoo shop opposite the Hippo in the same complex as our Golden Cat (behind the scenes). He is quite loud and has set off our 2 groups many times, and a zoo with 8 Gibbons and Siamangs gets LOUD! (esspecially in a zoo as small as adelaide). I am going in next Sat so i will check on him then, lol
yeah, the siamangs have also been climbing on our orangs while they were sleeping, but thats not Oscar
i didn't know adelaid ewere mixing it up. whats happened to the old siamang exhibit, or do they have two families?
nice one. i'm really glad our region has decided to persue with 3 gibbon species, phasing out just two. white-cheeks in particular are a favorite of mine and i was worried for a while there they would go in favour of the javans (which i have never actually seen). i'm still wondering why melbournes white-cheeks haven't taken up residence in the old siamang island - its offers much better acrobatic opportunities for them...
well adelaide put a white cheek on an island and he escaped by falling in the moat, and swimming away, (he eventually went back in) he came from germany and was used to sturdy ropes not unpredicatable trees( a branch broke). How do melbourne keep theres?
gibbon island ... in a wire mesh exhibit that is too small for them. its a nice exhibit, just doesn't allow them as much swinging room as they deserve. the old siamang island has tall matured trees and plenty of space and is sitting empty at the present. actually, there is so much space freed up at the moment that if melbourne moved the langurs and white-cheeks to the islands in the asia section, put the ruffed lemurs next door to the ring-tails in th old siamang island and moved the colobus, lion-tailed macaques and spider monkeys to the old orangutan grottoes - they could demolish the treetop monkeys and apes exhibit!
Oscar was a joy to work with. Initially agressive towards us until we realised he simply craved for company. From then on we made a point of sitting with him for periods throughout the day and thats when we really got to know each other. He could reach us with his arms through a hole we cut for him and once we stopped flinching from his aggressive pulls and grabs; he settled down next to us quickly and simply held us around the waist and would have done so for hours had we let him. The bond the few of us formed with him over 4 months or so was unforgetable. Made difficult because of the quarantine it was the keepers he had bonded to that had to inject him for G/A's and box him for NZ. He was an amazing animal; i'd jab him down for the vets one day, and then that same afternoon he'd be back holding on to me through the hole we provided him. That was sad goodbye.........
Thrilled to bits about where he's gone to though. It was a long, drawn out journey for him but very happy we helped get him to his new mate and a better life
He's a father now. I think I read somewhere that the baby is a boy Look at Orana Park's website if you want more infomation
