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Location:

Inner Tropics Trail

Bornean Orangutan

  • Bess (F) 3/26/1979 

  • Michael (M) 3/27/1987 

  • Wgasa (M) 3/2/2006 

  • Rayma (F) 4/5/2005

Identifying Features:

History:

  • Bess was born at the Phoenix Zoo on March 26, 1979 to mom Duchess. 

  • Michael was born at the Los Angeles Zoo on March 27, 1987 and he spent time at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs and Utah’s Hogle Zoo. He arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in late 2000. 

  • Wgasa was born March 2, 2006 at the Henry Doorly Zoo and came to the Phx Zoo in May 2022.

  • Rayma was born on April 5, 2005 at the Topeka Zoo. She lived there with her mom Rudy and dad Mawas, as well as a younger brother (7 years younger). Mawas was born at the Phoenix Zoo and is a grandchild of matriarch, Duchess, so Rayma is her great granddaughter. She moved to the Milwaukee Zoo in May 2016 to be companions for Tommy. Per SSP recommendation, Rayma moved to the Phoenix Zoo in March 2019 to be a companion for Daniel.

More Information:

  • Bess is shy, sensitive and extremely intelligent. She is very adept at solving problems and puzzles and is usually the first to figure out a new enrichment item or training technique. She likes to observe people and can be very interactive with them, but only when she wants to be. She is the mother of Jiwa. (Jiwa is now at ZooMiami with his new companion, Bella.) She currently weighs 116 lbs. 

  • Michael is the father of Jiwa. He will spit water on caregivers for attention or when annoyed. As an adult male, he has the large cheek pads which serve to differentiate him from the females. He is also roughly twice their size. His arm span, from fingertip to fingertip, is nearly eight feet wide. His current weight is 223 lbs. 

  • Wgasa loves grapes and ice treats and he makes epic pillows by taking sheets and wrapping them around other bedding. He is somewhat shy, and he enjoys watching visitors and is especially interested in keepers' bare knees and wacky socks. He has a "blow" trained behavior, so if you put something on your hand and ask him to blow, he will continue to blow on it until it's gone. We see this behavior if there is a bug near him. He will blow on it until it goes away. He weighs around 260 lbs.

  • Rayma loves to reach through the fence and eat the bamboo that is in reach. She also likes water (only on her terms), she will sit with her finger in the spicket on the wall in the dayroom so the water will spray all over her and her blankets. She will play and stomp around in the water on top of the shift door when keepers are cleaning (like she is dancing).  She is on birth control until she gets a little more “mature.” Keepers describe her as goofy, that she likes to walk on all toys and spools. She loves fruits, starches, and flavored drinks (crystal light, juice, etc). She offers weird facial behaviors during training, and likes to beg by smashing her wide-open mouth against the mesh. She LOVES browse (“plants are her jam!” as Jess would say). Current weight is 140lbs.

  • Orangutan translates as "person of the forest," with orang meaning "person" and (h)utan meaning "forest."

  • Do NOT just call them 'Orangs'. The use of 'orang' to describe an orangutan is offensive to native-language speakers.


**Critically Endangered

Eleven Key messages from SSP:

https://www.orangutanssp.org/uploads/2/4/9/9/24992309/orangutan_key_messages.pdf


Orangutans learn through observation. In human care, they may learn behaviors from their keepers. Here's a fun video of Duchess*.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHO5Tma77Mc


*Duchess was one of the zoo's original inhabitants. She passed away in 2012 in her early 50's. She was mother to Bess and great-grandmother to Rayma. Check out the timeline of Duchess and her offspring inside Duchess' Bilik.

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