Henry the Orangutan - toolmaker extraordinaire!

 

Henry inspects his final pumpkin of the year

35 year old Henry, the resident Sumatran Orangutan at the Cincinnati Zoo, likes to hold court for his admirers. It was an especially nice day for his final pumpkin treat of the season, when he thought of a better way to get the yummies out of his pumpkin.

Henry inspect his pumpkin,
 and figures out a better way
 to reach the treats hidden inside by the keepers

First he sniffs the pumpkin, and detects
 applesauce, peanuts and raisins inside.

The Cincinnati Zoo traditionally gives pumpkins to the animals on weekends in October, and in this case, on the last day of the Halloween celebration, on Sunday, November 1. 

                                    A little bite...

Henry thinks pumpkins are just okay for a snack, but he really likes the reward stuffed inside, some sweet treats and peanuts. The keepers cut the pumpkin stem out carefully, place the goodies inside, and then jam the stem piece back in very tightly so Henry has to break into the pumpkin. 

                    Mmmm.... Henry retrieves some peanuts inside

He takes a small bite, maybe gets some peanuts. He turns the pumpkin over, lifts it overhead and shakes it, so maybe the goodies will come out.

                             Hallo? Any goodies shaking loose? No?

Since there is a hole in the pumpkin, where he bit it, he knows he can fish around in there if only he had some sort of tool.

          Henry looks around and finds a woody stemmed plant close by. 

Henry spies what he needs right in front of him. He picks off a section of the leafy plant, and carefully peels away the branching stems, until just the one he wants remains. 

                            Clever Henry works on his eating tool

He then uses this tool he has manufactured to stick into the pumpkin to retrieve some of the applesauce.  

                                      Success, the stick works perfectly.

So he didn't just use a tool, exactly like a person would, but he actually fashioned the tool out of the materials at hand. Pretty smart!

Finally, he breaks the pumpkin open. 

Henry was born at ABQ Biopark in Albuquerque New Mexico on New Year's Day in 1991, so is 35 years old. He has lived at the Cincinnati Zoo since 2011. 

His father was the famous Tonka, father of five children, and Henry was the first. I can't discover who Henry's mother might have been. Tonka passed away at ABQ Biopark in February of 2024 at the age of 44. 

One one of my visits to ABQ,
Henry's late father Tonka at ABQ Biopark in 2022.
 He had just become a father again. 

Henry's siblings through his father Tonka are 30 year old sister Tara who lives in the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo in Indiana, 18 year old sister Reese of the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, 13 year old sister Pixel, who still lives with her mother Sarah in ABQ Biopark in Albuquerque, and 4 year old toddler brother Bulan, also with their mother Sarah in ABQ. Sarah is the mother of four of Tonka's children, but not Henry. 

Orangutan babies stay with their mothers for 8 to 10 years, while they develop the skills they need. This is longer than any of the other great apes. 

Henry's sister Pixel and baby brother Bulan in 2022,
with Sarah, mother of these two.

Big sister Pixel kisses baby brother Bulan, back in 2022
when he was a newborn.  Henry is big brother to these two.

Sadly, their father Tonka, who was also Henry's father, passed away two years ago at ABQ Biopark, due to kidney issues. 

The late Tonka, Henry's father, at ABQ Biopark, in 2022.

Henry's baby brother Bulan, in 2023, in ABQ Biopark,
at his first birthday.

 

Bulan at age one. He's baby half brother of Henry.

Orangutans, especially the Sumatran Orangutans, are well known for creating and using tools, sometimes using grass and leaves to make drinking straws, and sticks to retrieve honey.

Here is Aisha of the San Diego Zoo, with a stick to retrieve honey.

They will also imitate humans in many tasks, like doing "laundry. "

Here are Ginger and her mom Merah at the St. Louis Zoo
 doing their "laundry"

Family connection: Aisha and her baby brother Kaja are the siblings of Cinta, father of Ginger (in the laundry photo) at the St. Louis Zoo. Cinta was born at the San Diego Zoo, where Aisha and Kaja still live. 

Matilda the Hippo is turning two!

 

Matilda chases the sun.

Matilda, the Nile Hippo baby of the ABQ Biopark in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will celebrate her second birthday on July 19, 2023. 

Matilda and her glowing sun.

Matilda is the third offspring of parents Karen and Moe at the Biopark. 

Moe, Matilda and Karen at snack time.

Karen and Moe's first baby was a little girl named Boopie, now going by the name of Biopelo, who is in Dallas now and is mother of a little hippo girl named Adanna born in May of 2019, and another born October 30 2022, named Kalo.

Their second baby, born in 2015, was named Brynn, until he moved to San Antonio Zoo to be with Karen's mother Uma, who is his grandmother, and now he goes by Timothy. This young hippo is well known for carrying a torch for the famous little hippo girl in Cincinnati, Fiona, sending her cute facebook messages and sometimes even gifts, like fruit baskets.

Karen's late father Tumbo (Biopelo, Matilda and Timothy's grandfather) was featured on the cover of National Geographic in 2016 as the hippo photographed at San Antonio Zoo by Joel Santore for his well known Photo Ark.  Tumbo was 41 when he was photographed. 

I visited Matilda, Karen and Moe at the end of June in 2022, at the ABQ Biopark, and found her playing with her big green ball. She loved to roll it around, push it through the water, and try to bite it. Her mom Karen played with the ball too. 

Matilda and her mum Karen in 2022

I had the chance to catch up with the ABQ hippo family in May of this year, and found Matilda much grown, but still loving to play with balls.

                   Matilda never gets tired of playing with her ball.

There is no underwater viewing in the hippo area, but the hippos have a large pool with several beaches, and a rustic  bridge to swim and hide under.

                        The view from the bridge. This is where Matilda lives.

Karen and Matilda play with the ball under the bridge in May of 2023.                                        The green ball is still around.

Moe mostly just chills out in the water, while Matilda splashes around with her big yellow ball, and Karen likes to join in with her daughter at times.

But Moe wakes up and joins the fun when it is snack time.

Look what I just ate, says Matilda.

                  Mama Karen gets a mouthful, and Matilda waits her turn. 

                        Papa Moe, on the left, is always ready for another bite.

Snack time is at 2 p.m. every day, and the three hippos line up for a good dose of fruits and vegetables, with Moe on the left, Karen on the right, and Matilda in between, making sure she gets her share.

                                                       Matilda hoping for more.

Moe keeps his mouth open most of the time, hoping for the most treats. His cavernous mouth is a pretty easy target to throw the veggies into.

                            Matilda is in the middle, best spot.

You can get very close to the hippos if you gather along the fence, but you also get a great view of the feeding from the bridge.

                                         There is plenty for Matilda too.

                  Feeding Matilda. The keepers make sure she is not left out.

          Last of the lettuce. The keeper dumps the rest over the hippo family. 

                     Matilda wearing her lunch, after the lettuce dump.

And then it is time to play with the ball again. Matilda does not get the ball every day.  

                                        Matilda is always mouthing the ball.

Matilda likes to fit the ball into her mouth, often pressing it up against the bridge foundation or rocks. It isn't going to fit but it is still fun to try.

                                                                     Open wide. 

Matilda was not planned. Karen's birth control failed, just as with Bibi in Cincinnati, who is now mother of one year old Fritz, as well as the famous Fiona. The keepers say that there are no plans for Matilda to move. 

                             Karen joins her daughter in playing ball. 

                                      Matilda making some funny faces.

Polar bears Kiska and Koluk in the desert

Kiska in front, Koluk sleeping in back.
 I took these photos about two weeks before Koluk died.

Some people may wonder how polar bears do in a desert environment as in the ABQ Biopark in Albuquerque NM. Twin brothers Kiska and Koluk  have lived there for a quarter of a century in good spirits most of the time. 

Koluk standing atop the basin, Kiska in front.

 Sad to say, Koluk died of liver and kidney failure, common illnesses in polar bears of advanced age, a little more than a week after my visit. He was 26 years old. His twin brother Kiska carries on by himself now, and seems to be in robust health. 

I visited the brothers last summer, and they were both active and playful. This visit, Kiska was his old self, but Koluk was barely there, coming out rarely, never swimming, very slow of movements. I could tell he was not doing well. His twin brother Kiska knew this as well, I am sure, and left his ailing brother alone.

Kiska and Koluk having breakfast together in the cave area.

It seemed to me that Kiska had already moved on, that he knew his brother was dying and it was best to just let him be alone. The boys usually nibbled on their breakfast together down in the cave area, the Koluk went inside while Kiska roamed around the enclosure, doing his own thing. Kiska carried on with the business of being a polar bear, swimming and playing and pacing and sleeping. 

Koluk would occasionally come out into the lower area, and a few times he climbed to the upper area, then dozed on his favorite rock, while Kiska roam and played.

On my last day there of my four days at the zoo, I finally found a polar bear keeper and conveyed my worries about Koluk. Yes, he was slowing down, I was told, but I was assured he should be fine again. By the end of the week, the vets had done an exam of Koluk and found liver and kidney failure. It progressed rapidly and he was gone a week later.

Kiska front, Koluk back

Koluk resting his chin on a rock.

And now it is just Kiska.

Kiska killing the barrel.

If you look hard enough, over by the wolves, you can find the old small outmoded polar bear enclosure which was been abandoned when the new habitat was built a quarter of a century ago, but is still there behind a fence. The newer enclosure was finished just before Kiska and Koluk arrived in 1997. The bears have three waterfalls, a lower pool and a deep diving pool, a slide with running water (which they have been known to climb up), and air conditioned bedrooms. There is also an inside pool.

To address Kiska's pacing problem, some changes were made recently. Kiska had gotten into the habit of pacing atop the rim of the upper pool, repeating the same seven steps in one direction, then reversing and doing seven steps back. Always in the same spot. Some polar bears pace, some swim laps repetitively. It is a calming mechanism, and has been shown to lower their cortisol levels.

Kiska in his pacing routine, which is now less frequent than it was.

A plan was devised to give the polar bear brothers access to more inside space which had previously been closed off to them, and when Kiska has been pacing for a bit, a keeper will call him inside to disrupt the pattern. When he returns to the outside, Kiska usually finds something else to do. These measures have reduced his pacing considerably, but he will probably always want to do his little dance. He  sometimes will stop pacing on his own to take a dip in the pool, or play with the many toys. 

Treat time, which is when the keeper brings in a bucket of rainbow trout to throw, will vary so Kiska won't be as likely to anticipate it. Anything to break up the usual routine. Sometimes they get salmon, but their favorite is squid.

Koluk with his fish. Although he was always an avid swimmer, Koluk wanted the fish thrown to him on dry land so he didn't have to get his paws wet, during his illness in his last few weeks.

Koluk was diagnosed with a heart murmur in 2019 and after that, the keepers made sure Koluk got his fish without diving for it. In his last few weeks, Koluk didn't want to put his paws in the water, even to get fish. 

Kiska is still quite the diver.

Kiska dives for the trout.

The zoo is in the middle of some major building projects right now, the Australian area and the new elephant habitat, but there is also a tentative plan down the road to improve the polar bear enclosure. 

Since the lions Kenya and Dixie left for Abilene in March of 2023, that grassy habitat adjoining the polar bear home has been empty. It was too small for lions, but it would be quite easy to attach it to Inukshuk Bay, which is what the polar bear area is called. I don't know if the death of Koluk will affect this, or how solid is this plan.

Welcome to Inukshuk Bay.

Connecting to the old lion enclosure would greatly improve the polar bear habitat, giving the bear (or bears) more variety, a much bigger area, and grass. From talking to the docents, I got the idea that when both these bears are gone, the zoo plans to stop keeping polar bears, but this clever change might bring it up to current standards.

The old lion habitat is fronted by a moat.

Edge of polar bear habit (left) adjoins the old lion habitat.

The edge of the old lion habit, empty now.
 You can see the walls of the polar bear habitat behind.

 Of course with the death of Koluk, we now have only 39 polar bears in US zoos, so it is not a sure bet that polar bears will be available. On the bright side, Crystal and Nuka's twin boys in Toledo were added to the population, and they are only six months old.

Kiska having fun with a big barrel.

Kiska is pretty playful for a 26 year old bear.

I did see Kiska playing with a big barrel for a long time. Even though he is 26, he is very playful. 

Kiska doesn't swim for long periods,
but he often takes quick dips in the chilled deep dive pool.
There is a lovely huge underwater viewing window.

He also likes to take short swims in the deep dive pool, which gives visitors a chance to see a polar bear underwater up close.

 

Kiska in the swim. 

A wider view of the polar bear enclosure, with a lower pool and an upper deep dive pool, a waterslide, and three waterfalls.
That is Koluk on the top.

Kiska and Koluk were born in Salt Lake City in November of 1996 to Chinook and Andy. Their half brother Denali lives in Sapporo, Japan and is the father of eight cubs. Anana (mother of Buffalo Luna) of Brookfield, Cincinnati, Buffalo and Detroit was also their younger sister, and they had a half sister, Aurora of Rochester, mother of Lee (father of Kulu), Haley, Peyton and Anoki.  

And here are their cousins around the world! Their grandfather was Bruno of Memphis, who was also the father of CW and Elvis who went to Europe. Elvis was the father of the famous Chocolate Bears, or Hybrid bears, Tips and Taps. CW was the mother of Nuuk-Nordman, father of Freedom; Ilka, mother of Danish Siku, Nanu and Nuno; Manasse, father of Ranzo and Sisu; Baffin of Japan (mother of Momo-Peach), and the late Yukihime of Japan. So their cousins include Ranzo of Vienna Austria, Sisu of YWP in the UK, Kulu of Como Zoo Minnesota, Sprinter of Hanover Germany, Sesi of Mulhouse France, Taiko-Siku of La Fleche in France, Akiak of Amneville France, cubs Kaja and Skadi of Rostock Germany, and Sura of Ouwehands the Netherlands. Not to mention all of Denali's cubs and grandchildren in Japan. 

I will be watching to see what the future holds for the polar bears in the ABQ Biopark. Kiska seems to be in good health, and may live for quite some time. Maybe the expansion plan involving the lion habitat will happen. Even though some may think the desert is not a good home for these bears, Kiska and Koluk have thrived here for 25 years. I hope Kiska continues to be well and enjoy his desert paradise.