With the announcement of the import of Bornean female Niu Li and male Wan Wan, I was wondering if anyone knows the make-up of Singapore's large orangutan colony. Most of what I've found has been directly from the studbook, so may be quite out of date. I'm fascinated by how they manage so many males! Do many co-exist in a shared enclosure? Sumatran Charlie (m, 1977) Chomel (F, 1996) Satria (M, 1996) Galdikas (M, 2000) Ishta/Ah Meng (F, 2011) Bino (M, 2011) Endah (F, 2012) Putra (M, 2015) Bornean Jojo (M, 1960) Girlie (F, 1967) Binte (F, 1984) Miri (F, 1993) Suria (M, 1997) Labu (M, 1998) Gunta (M, 2002) Bento (M, 2006) Ah Seng (M, 2008) Ah Meng Jr (F, 2008) Joko (M, 2013) Natu (M, 2013) Adi (M, 2016) Khansa (F,???) I believe Binte had another infant around 2019, but can't find any details Hybrid Medan (f, 1980) Riau (M-n, 1991) Budi (M, 2002) If anyone's able to put some faces to names, I'd be very interested as well. I'll be visiting for the first time in September, and I always find it more enjoyable to know 'who's who' when observing.
I know the orangutans are housed in multiple groupings, which rotate across to the ropes. This allows multiple males to be kept seperate from each other. I will tag @Lankey Kong as I doubt anyone on ZooChat knows their orangutan population better and can offer some insight into what groups they’re current kept in. Some are also mixed with Pileated gibbon. This photo was taken by @Casuarius_casuarius:
This was from 2015, so would be out of date (I’d expect Satria to have decent sized cheek pads by now for example), but I thought I’d include it for interest and to let you know we’d love to see photos of these sort of signage boards if you get an opportunity (they’ll surely have some up to date ones). Photo by @Gigit
Current holding at the Zoo: Sumatran - 5.2 Bornean - 5.5 Hybrid - 2.1 I'm not familiar with the individual orang utans, but know that Khansa was born in 2017 to Anita (F,1984; deceased). There are up to 3 different groups on display on any day; 2 males (Charlie and Riau) in the fully enclosed glass-fronted exhibit; adult female(s) with a few Bornean/Sumatran juveniles at the free-ranging area; large group (either mixed bachelors or Borneans) on the island exhibit mixed with pileated gibbons and small-clawed otters.
Do you know if any infants have been born since Khansa? I'm assuming the Sumatran females are Chomel (1996) and Ah Meng/Ishta (2011) and that Endah (2012) has been exported? The males would be Charlie (1977), Satria (1996), Galdikas (2000), Bino (2011) and Putra (2015). I have nine Bornean males listed! The females I assume are Girlie (1967), Binte (1984), Miri (1993), Ah Meng Jr (2008), Khansa (2017).
Binte II (1984) has given birth to four offspring: 1.0 Gunta (2002) 1.0 Bento (2006) Deceased 0.1 Saloma (2009) 1.0 Adi (2016) Saloma and Adi were sired by Suria (1997), who is the son of Girlie (1967). Another of her offspring is Charlie (1981) at Auckland Zoo.
Adi was born in 2016 according to the studbook. Do you know when Bento died and if any other individuals have died since the 2015/2016 studbook was written? Interesting to see that the colony has several connections to the Australasian population (Hsing-Hsing and Charlie having been born there, and Pusung siring several infants).
This is Satria nowadays, he's grown a lot since the last pictures which haven't even been updated on the website yet.
I've never been there so I'm not too aware of who's kept where, but I know Satria, Budi, Bino, and maybe Veera are kept together. Budi and Riau are both adult males with no cheek pads, (and no beard in Budi's case, possibly because they're both inbred it may have caused development problems, not too sure), so Budi is still friends with Satria (who is fully grown). There's this YouTube channel which has many videos of that group, it's very entertaining. I've never seen a single picture of Galdikas, which I'd love to see if anyone has any. Just curious to see what he looks like because his son Bino looks so much like his grandfather Charly. & if Jojo is still alive, wouldn't he be the oldest ever male orangutan and possibly the oldest orangutan overall? It'd be nice to hear more about them all from the zoo.
Sayang died a good few years back, Ah Meng (2) was adopted and raised by Chomel who also took on Khansa. I’m sure I read somewhere that Veera had been moved on to another zoo, and that his mother was Miri.
Jojo, Girlie, Bento, Ah Seng and Endah have passed away. Gunta is currently in Negara Zoo. Ah Meng Jr (also called Atina) is at Mysuru Zoo.
Jojo passed away awhile back. Veera is in Taiping Zoo. Satria, Budi, Bino and Saloma are currently kept in the same group. I visit Singapore Zoo quite often, I’ve never seen Galdikas in person before. I believe he’s kept in the breeding yard. Here’s a pic of Galdikas from the zoo’s Instagram page. This is the only pic that I can find of him in Singapore.
Current Orangutans in Singapore Zoo: Sumatran males: 1) Charlie 2) Satria 3) Galdikas 4) Bino 5)Putra Sumatran females: 1) Chomel 2) Ishta (New Ah Meng) Bornean males: 1) Suria 2) Labu 3) Joko 4) Natu 5) Adi Bornean females: 1) Binte II 2) Miri 3) Saloma 4) Khansa Hybrid males: 1) Riau 2) Budi Hybrid females: 1) Medan I’ve not added Nuili and Wan Wan yet as I’m not sure when they’ll arrive in sg. Orangutan groups: Group 1 (Island in the middle of moat) Satria, Budi, Bino and Saloma. Plus a few otters and 2 gibbons. Group 2 (free ranging area 1) Binte II, Joko, Natu and Adi. Group 3 (free ranging area 2) Chomel, Ishta (Ah Meng Jr), Putra and Khansa. Group 4 (Sumatran enclosure) Charlie and Riau. Group 5 (occasional appearance on island) Suria and Medan Group 6 (in the breeding dens not accessible for visitors) Labu and Miri Group 7 ( in the breeding dens not accessible for visitors) Galdikas, sometimes with Chomel
Thank you so much for all that great information, Lankey Kong! It's nice to see Galdikas. Do you have any pictures of Saloma? All I can find is an old one of her at six months. How sad that they've lost several at quite young ages.
You’re welcome Yup I hope I can one day see Galdikas in person too. He looks really impressive. He really resembles his sire Charly. The orangutan in this video is Saloma
Fabulous, thank you! If you have video links to footage of other individuals, could you please message me links?
I put together images of the current orangutans at the zoo using @Lankey Kong 's info, there's 19 total, some pics might be outdated though. I might have got some incorrect as I've never visited, hopefully this is accurate though. (Linking it here as I can't upload media)
