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. 

Famous Gorilla Gladys is mom to one year old Mboka Jo

 

One year old Mboka Jo and a birthday treat

Miracle baby Gladys was raised by keepers and then a surrogate gorilla mom after her mother rejected her. Some had questioned whether Gladys would know how to be a good mother, but those fears faded away as 13 year old Gladys seemed to know exactly how to be the best mother to her son Mboka Jo, right from the beginning, when she had her first baby in September of 2025.

                                              Mboka Jo in June

 Mboka Jo just celebrated his first birthday at the Cincinnati Zoo with an elaborate party, well attended by his fans and friends.

Mboka Jo has a cupcake at his party, Gladys looks on.

Gladys was born in the Gladys Porter Zoo in Texas on January 29, 2013, to first time mother Kiazi, who showed no interest in taking care of her baby. 

In February of 2013 Gladys was brought to the Cincinnati Zoo, where there were four potential surrogate gorilla mothers who could help raise the infant. A ground-breaking method of "gorillafication" for the baby included the human keepers wearing specially designed fake fur vests so Gladys could hang onto her caretaker just as she would a gorilla mother. The mothering job was divided among a number of keepers, but they all wore the gorilla fur vests and spoke to Gladys in what you might call gorilla language. Her caretakers crawled around, ate bananas, and did what they could to teach Gladys how to be a gorilla. 

Baby Gladys in 2013, hangs onto one of her human caretakers,
 before she bonded with surrogate mom Mlinzi

 This eased the transition when Mlinzi, one of the potential surrogate mothers, stepped in to raise Gladys, although the baby still had to be brought to the bars to drink her special gorilla milk formula from a bottle. It worked so well with Gladys that, ever since, the gorilla fake fur vests are commonly used when a baby gorilla needs keeper care.

Head Primate Keeper Ron Evans at the time,
with Baby Gladys

Mara, the late Samantha and Chewie eventually joined the mothering group as Mlinzi cared for baby Gladys.

As Gladys grew, Silverback Jomo was in the picture, and other babies were born. Gladys could observe as baby Mondika "Mona," born in 2014 to Asha,  and Elle, born in 2015 to Anju,  were cared for by their mothers and other females in the troop, as well as father Jomo. This provided a good foundation for Gladys when she eventually became a mother. She had some good role models to follow.

Daddy Jomo with the kids.

  

Gladys and Mboka Jo when he was about a month old. 

Gladys and her baby.

Mboka Jo in June, 2026

The First Birthday party for Mboka Jo was held on September 20, with much fanfare, for it was also celebrating World Gorilla Day which was later that week. 

Riding on his mom's back, Mboka Jo sees his birthday cake

At the party, the family,
Father Mbeli, Mother Gladys and Baby Mboka Jo.

There were banners galore, special frozen treats, coconuts, some special gorilla cupcakes, and a very fancy and fruity layer cake made of frozen juices.

Elle had some blue "world" treats

Gladys and Mboka Jo looked for treats in the blue raffia

Chewie and Elle celebrate

The Birthday Cake. Elle wants some. MBeli thinks it is his cake

                                 Mboka Jo schemes how to get some of his cake

                                             while his dad Mbeli is guarding it

                                                             The prize

                                                      My Birthday Cake!

                                                                  Mboka Jo gets a taste

                                             

                       Elle finally gets some cake, and what does she do? 

                       

                       She picks it up and tosses it straight into the moat!

                                        Chewie munches on a frozen flower treat.

                                   Chewie is expecting her first baby this winter.

                                              Mboka Jo will have a playmate.

        Baby gorillas like Mboka Jo have a white spot on their tails,

                     so troop members can easily identify a baby.

                                     It fades as they get older.

                            Even with the cake tossed into the moat, 

                             there are plenty more party goodies for all.

                  All the humans who came to the party were given a gift 

                     of a souvenir pin with a photo of the birthday boy. 

                             Happy First Birthday to Mboka Jo

                                    and Happy World Gorilla Day

End of an Era - Princess Schottzie retires to Florida

Schottzie on her last morning in Cincinnati, Tuesday, Sept. 10

                                               Schottzie at Halloween, 2022

                                         

 

             Jati and Schottzie in the new Cincinnati Zoo Elephant Trek, 

                      late August, just a few weeks before their departure.

                                            

Several generations of Cincinnati families have grown up with visit to the famous Schottzie the elephant at the Cincinnati Zoo. She was always there with her two friends, Mai Thai and Jati, the three Golden Girls, plus sometimes Sabu, the male, but he usually lived in the back paddock, behind the magnificent historic Elephant House. More recently, people could visit them in the vast new Elephant Trek on the back side of the zoo.  

                            Schottzie and our beloved Zoo Santa

                          in the days of free contact, Christmas 2014.

On Tuesday, September 10, Schottzie and Jati left the Cincinnati Zoo for an overnight journey to Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida. I was at the zoo with a friend, and we watched Anak and the two boys play in the yard by the Asian Otters. Separated from the others by a gate, Schottzie and Jati munched on leaves and branches in the main yard. 

 

The historic old Elephant House at the Cincinnati Zoo.

 Schottzie's home for nearly half a century, the elegant Indian inspired elephant house of the Cincinnati Zoo was designed by architect James W. McLaughlin. It was originally named the Herbivora House and held rhinos, hippos, tapirs, and elephants. 

                          Another view of the historic Elephant House

For the past hundred years or so, the elephants of the Cincinnati Zoo have lived in the historic elephant house designed to look like the Taj Mahal. The all-concrete structure was built in 1906 on the highest point of the zoo at a cost of $50,000. In the early days, when the building was known as the Herbivora House, the elephants sometimes shared space with kangaroos, bison, rhinos and hippos. In the 1930's there was even a rare Pygmy Elephant from Africa, named Gimpy. The building is 150 feet long, 75 feet high, and was intended for Asian elephants. African elephants would be too large and too strong for the design. In 1975 the remarkable building was  listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Since the Cincinnati elephants moved to the new Elephant Trek several years ago, the empty elephant house is now being converted to a home for giraffes.

Now demolished to make room for the new Giant Panda habitat,
this is the Copenhagen Zoo Elephant House where Schottzie was born
 in 1975. A new elephant house was built,
 and Schottzie's relatives still live there.  Photo from my 2013 visit.

Schottzie was born to royalty in Copenhagen in on December 15, 1975.  Her father Chieng Mai and her mother Buag Hah were royal gifts to the King and Queen of Denmark from the King of Thailand upon their visit. 

                                                   Chieng Mai, 

                                       father of Schottzie in Copenhagen.

Schottzie's brother Chang, born in 1981, fathered 20 children,  died in 2020. I visited him and took this photo of Chang in 2019 in the Copenhagen Zoo.

History posted at the new elephant house at Copenhagen Zoo

Among other offspring (ten in total), her parents had previously produced another daughter five years before named Irma, who went to live in Rotterdam. Irma's progeny would later encounter Schottzie in Cincinnati.

Schottzie's original name was Irma Boon Ma (another Irma). When she was almost three years old, it was arranged that she should fly to the United States, and her fare was paid by wealthy and eccentric zoo patron Marge Schott, who was owner of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. Marge had the idea of bringing Schottzie to the games, and to the Opening Day Parade.  She insisted on changing the young elephant's name to Princess Schottzie II (The first Princess Schottzie had passed away).  

The young elephant flew to Chicago, but there was some sort of transportation mix up, so Schottzie spent several days at the Brookfield Zoo before making it to her final destination of Cincinnati, where she met one of her lifelong companions, Mai Thai, who was only a few years older. There was also an African elephant named Gretchen, who was famously featured on post cards, and visitors were allowed to feed her peanuts through the fence. 

I have been told that Schottzie still remembers and obeys commands in Danish, but has long since also learned English commands. As they say, an elephant never forgets. 

                      Schottzie and Jati celebrate Christmas in 2014.

Schottzie moved to the Fort Worth Zoo when she was 11 years old, where she stayed for several years, then back to Cincinnati, and then briefly in the Dickerson Park Zoo with Mai Thai, before returning to Cincinnati with her friend, where Schottzie would stay until just this week.

  

In 1991, Malaysian wildborn Jati arrived in Cincinnati. She was 12 years younger than Schottzie. And she is the companion moving to Florida with her.

                                            Jati and Schottzie in 2016

Cincinnati Zoo elephant keeper Cecil Jackson Jr. has just retired in August. He and Schottzie have shared most of the their lives at the zoo together.

              Elephant keeper Cecil Jackson and his three ladies (and Santa)

                             Mai Thai, Schottzie, Jati at Christmas in 2014.

Mai Thai and Schottzie at Easter, 2018, having an Easter Egg Hunt. 

Schottzie's life changed two years ago, when she was moved from the historic Elephant House to the Cincinnati Zoo's new Elephant Trek, along with Mai Thai, Jati and Sabu. Already living in the Elephant Trek were four younger elephants: Schottzie's late sister Irma's daughter SheRa (Yasmin) (36), born in Rotterdam, SheRa's daughter Anak (23) also born in Rotterdam, SheRa's young son Kabir (9), and Anak's young son Sanjay (8), both boys born in Dublin with the same father. 

Schottzie never did accept her sister's offspring as part of the herd, and has been kept separate, along with her friend Jati. Elephant Trek has two main yards, a side yard and a spacious elephant barn, so it wasn't too hard to give her space. But maybe there were tensions. In any case, it was decided to move Schottzie and Jati to another zoo. 

                  Elephant Bull Sabu and longtime keeper Cecil Jackson 

                at the old Cincinnati Zoo elephant house backyard.  

Elephant bull Sabu had spent several years in the Columbus Zoo while the new Elephant Trek was being built, and the result was two calves born there last year. 

So far, the Cincinnati Zoo has not had much luck in breeding Sabu with SheRa and Anak, the two fertile lady elephants who recently arrived from Europe. It is hoped that having Schottzie and Jati moved to a new home will ease tensions and the female elephants will bond with Sabu and possibly produce babies. 

Retirement to Florida

A move to Busch Gardens in Tampa, a combination amusement park and zoo, is not without controversy. Carina, a 54-year-old geriatric Asian elephant, was euthanized in July 2026 after a sudden decline in health. Rosie, another 54-year-old Asian elephant, had collapsed during a park fireworks show in 2022, and could not stand for over five hours. She never fully recovered, and was euthanized in November of 2024. 

The remaining elephants are Carina's daughter 36 year old Karnaudi, the 58 year old matriarch Simba, and 57 year old Tina.

The habitat has a big pool, and it looks like they give their elephants lots of enrichment. 

I have not visited Bush Gardens, but I did look at a map of the park. While most of the animals at Busch Gardens live in habitats a little removed from the amusement park, the elephants live right next to coasters and other rides, noisy construction of a new coaster, and there are also fireworks shows, which are controversial regarding the elephants, who would probably prefer peace and quiet. 

Florida, as a warmer weather state, may be more comfortable for the aging elephants during the winter. 

I hope Schottzie and Jati adjust to their new home, and make friends with the three older lady elephants already there.