#chantek

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Orangutan

All great apes have advanced mental capabilities, and orangutans (Pongo) are no exception. These apes are excellent learners; an orangutan named Chantek became one of the first apes to learn sign language, and he even invented signs of his own. Chantek was raised by an anthropologist and learned to clean his room, use the toilet, play games and paint.

 Jami Tarris via Getty Images

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MOURNING THE LOSS OF CHANTEK

Statement from Zoo Atlanta: “August 7, 2017

The Zoo Atlanta family is saddened to announce the passing of Chantek, a 39-year-old male orangutan, on August 7, 2017. Although his cause of death is not yet known, the Zoo’s Animal Care and Veterinary Teams had been treating Chantek with a regimen of advanced medical therapy targeted at mitigating his progressive heart disease. At 39, he was one of the oldest living male orangutans within the North American population of individuals overseen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Orangutan Species Survival Plan® (SSP). Orangutans are considered geriatric after the age of about 35.

Born December 17, 1977, at the Yerkes Language Research Center, Chantek was a beloved member of the Zoo’s orangutan population for 20 years, arriving at Zoo Atlanta in 1997. He was well-known for his knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL), learned prior to his arrival at the Zoo. Although he frequently used ASL to communicate with his caregivers, with whom he developed close personal bonds throughout his years at Zoo Atlanta, he was shy about signing with individuals he did not know and often chose forms of communication which are more typical of orangutans, such as vocalizations and unique hand gestures.

“Chantek will be deeply missed by his family here at Zoo Atlanta. He had such a unique and engaging personality and special ways of relating to and communicating with those who knew him best. It has been our privilege to have had him with us for 20 years and to have been given the opportunity to offer him a naturalistic environment where he could get to know and live with his orangutan family,” said Hayley Murphy, DVM, Vice President of Animal Divisions. “Chantek’s long life is a great testament to the dedication of his care team and to the work of the Great Ape Heart Project, the combined efforts of which made it possible for us to give him the best care and quality of life the zoological community has to offer.”

Zoo Atlanta announced in September 2016 that the Animal Care and Veterinary Teams had begun a progressive medical regimen to treat Chantek’s symptoms of heart disease. Thanks to the ongoing successes of the Zoo’s positive reinforcement training program, Chantek participated in the world’s first voluntary echocardiogram (EKG) ever performed with an awake orangutan. This procedure monitors the heart’s electrical rhythms and was used to aid in the diagnosis of Chantek’s condition. Like other orangutans at Zoo Atlanta, Chantek also participated in voluntary cardiac ultrasounds, blood pressure readings and blood draws, all of which were valuable means of monitoring his health. As is often the case for human cardiac patients, Chantek was on a healthy, low-sodium diet as part of his care regimen.

In addition to forming bonds with his human caregivers, Chantek also formed close relationships with other orangutans at Zoo Atlanta. The other members of his group are 34-year-old female Madu, 2-year-old female Keju and juvenile males Dumadi, 10, and Remy, 6. Chantek particularly enjoyed play with the younger males, especially Dumadi, who could often be seen with or near him in the group’s Asian Forest habitat.

A necropsy, or the animal equivalent of an autopsy, is being performed through the Zoo’s partnership with the University of Georgia Zoo and Exotic Animal Pathology Service in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Preliminary results should be available in several weeks.

Cardiac disease (CVD) is a primary cause of mortality among great apes in zoological populations. The Great Ape Heart Project (greatapeheartproject.org) based at Zoo Atlanta is the first coordinated clinical approach to targeting and treating CVD in all four non-human great ape taxa: gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos. Of the four taxa, orangutan cardiac conditions are the least understood. Chantek’s case was regularly reviewed by Great Ape Heart Project subject matter experts, including human cardiologists, from around the U.S. These partnerships and the insights gained as part of the close monitoring of his heart health will enable Chantek to continue to make lasting contributions to the care and health of orangutans and other apes living in zoos throughout North America and beyond.

Zoo Atlanta is currently home to 11 orangutans and 21 gorillas. All four great ape taxa are endangered or critically endangered. Both Bornean orangutans and Sumatran orangutans are critically endangered in the wild, and both species are experiencing dramatic population declines as a result of habitat loss, overharvesting of timber for palm oil plantations, and human encroachment. Experts predict that Sumatran orangutans could be extinct within 10 years without targeted conservation efforts.”

A terrible loss…..😫

[fwmdks2]

Via Orangutan SSP Please take a moment to read the amazing tribute to Chantek and his keepers from Zoo Atlanta's Communications Director Rachel MacNabb Davis.   „It’s an unfortunate given in my job that the news I have to communicate isn’t always good, and it’s a worse given that sometimes the news is news of a death. While it’s never an easy thing to have to do, it’s rare that the news is about someone I can say that I knew. Anyone who knows me knows that I’ll never publicly admit to having a favorite species – I really do love them all – but anyone who knows me also knows I have a definite bias toward the great apes. I started working at the Zoo because of the gorillas, and they have a great and abiding place in my heart. But it’s the orangutans with whom I have the most personal experience, and it’s to them I have to give the most credit for what it truly means to appreciate – with reverence, with respect, with amazement and awe – what it is to know a non-human great ape, and what it means to celebrate their similarities to us, but just as much, to celebrate their otherness. I was, from the old school, one of the bottle-feeders of all of Madu’s adopted children, as well as of Pongo. That’s five babies – five babies that started with one (Bernas) and with one first foray into the incredible world of orangutans years ago. Chantek was always a Presence with a capital P to me. I was always extremely careful about disturbing him when I went in late at night to feed one or another of the kids, so I never lingered in front of his area. I did, however, always speak to him on arriving and on leaving, and on a couple of occasions he signed. I always politely apologized and told him I unfortunately didn’t understand. I’m sure he thought I was a fool of limited intellect. I’ll never forget seeing the great heap of hair that was he, snuggled in his hammock underneath his Star Wars blanket. I’ll never forget the starlight-like twinkle of obvious great intelligence – eyes that were small for such an enormous personage of an individual, but eyes that sparkled as if to say always, “Yes. I am everything you think I am, and more.” …And much more. I’ll never forget that long-call, loud enough to make the Second Coming want to cry and come back another day. And when Alan was still alive and the two would be in orang holding out-calling each other, it was enough to strike fear into every Bigfoot between here and the Pacific Northwest. And yet there was Chantek’s amazing gentleness too. The year I was feeding Dumadi, there were a couple of rats who suspiciously hung out very near him. I believe the general consensus at the time was that Chantek was feeding them or otherwise treating them with acceptance, or even with kindness. These are just the things I remember, though. What I remember doesn’t even begin to approach a fingernail’s breadth of what you know as the people who knew him best. And I know that you are grieving now. I told Jodi something similar to this when Ivan passed away, but I genuinely, truly believe that Zoo animals have been hand-picked by the universe to be here. Hand-picked for the enormously vital role of being ambassadors, in an era that needs ambassadors more than at any other time in the history of human/non-human interactions. I think this is especially true of the great apes. And it’s certainly true of Chantek, whose life story, like Ivan’s, could hardly be imagined by even the best fiction writer on Earth. If they have been hand-picked by the universe to be ambassadors for their species, it is also my humble opinion that you have been hand-picked too, because if they fulfill or have fulfilled this crucial role as ambassadors, it is you who have helped them do it. What you do is so important. There’s nowhere on Earth – or on any other planet, for that matter – where Chantek could have received a higher level of care than at Zoo Atlanta. Nowhere he could have been more loved, more enriched, more dedicated to, than he was here. In your care of him over the years, you all treated him as an individual without limiting him. You helped him be an orangutan. What a gift! And to think of what you helped him be for Dumadi and Remy. They have an example, now. Because of him, they have a sense of when it’s appropriate to be a tough guy, to bash one’s barrels about and long-call like nuts and let all the other male orangutans in the area know what’s what. Because of him, they have a sense of when it’s appropriate to sit back and listen quietly and observe. And in what is perhaps his greatest legacy to them, they know when it’s appropriate to be patient, and gentle, and nice to little ones. The scene in the first or second of the ‘Planet of the Apes’ franchise, where Maurice has all the little apes gathered around him in “class”? That will always be Chantek to me. In his years with you, he thrived and flourished – because of you. He came to be what he was meant to be – an orangutan, with all of the badass-amazing things that entails – because of his own powers as an individual, yes, but because of you too. I know you will miss him tomorrow. I know you will miss him next week. I know you will miss him next month, next year, for many years. But when those moments of missing him happen, I want you to be proud of what you did for him, proud of all that you helped him be. Proud of all the breakthroughs you achieved with his care. Proud of every success you celebrated because of a collaboration with him as a trusted friend. Proud of everything he was, and your role in helping him realize every bit of that everything. Proud that because of him, there are now countless people who may never have cared about saving orangutans, and now do care because of him and because of you. It was a great privilege to know him. And in so saying, it is a great privilege to work alongside people like you. It was Chantek’s privilege, and it is the Zoo’s great privilege to have you. It is rare that we ever truly know the impact we’ve had on another’s life. I hope you know the impact you had on his. Over the past several years I’ve managed to make a fellow orangutan nut of my husband. He was one of Chantek’s biggest fans. He and I will be making a small donation in Chantek’s memory, and I’m going to mark it as meant for primate enrichment. I wish we could give more, but what we can give, I hope will help enrich the lives of my favorite non-humans. May Chantek be well and long remembered. Thank you for all you did for him. Know that what you do lasts forever. Have peace and pride in that. You guys are in my thoughts."

[fwmdks2]

Mourning the loss of Ambassador Chantek

Poor Lyn

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Murió Chantek, uno de los primeros simios en aprender lengua de signos

Murió Chantek, uno de los primeros simios en aprender lengua de signos

Chantek, un orangután macho que aprendió a comunicarse a través de lengua de signos, murió a los 39 años.[…][…] (eltelegrafo.com.ec)

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kan aku dh ckp,aku sggup tggu dia makeup....cuma plan aku nk buat smpai dia rimas jd trbalik....hahaha...tpi aku ttp bertahan,aku mampu brtahan...ni plg kurang,sejam ja lg...xlama nih...😂😂😂 #missMonroe #chenta #chantek #wifey #kiemzielaslegacy #kiemZiela9years