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It is a cool winter morning and we are in Al Ain Zoo. Gul, the nine year - old Bornean orangutan is in his elements, vying for our attention as we saunter past. Right across his enclosure, two baby jaguars jostle each other at play, getting even more excited as they are brought out of their exercise pen to be photographed.
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In another section, Suzy, the little chimpanzee emerges into the sunshine clinging shyly onto her keeper’s hand, attempting to conceal herself behind his legs while she pops a grape in and out of her mouth, behaving almost like a self-conscious human child.
An Arabian tahr kid stumbles out of his den, blinks in confusion just for a second or two, eyes us curiously, and then approaches to nuzzle us with affection. His black horns have assumed an unusual green hue as a result of persistent rubbing against fodder provided in his den. Quite in contrast to the tahr, a nilgai fawn panics at the sight of us, so we beat a hasty retreat. A little later, we get to witness Rocky, the year old tiger, leap with joy as he views Dr. Azhar Abbas, curator, Al Ain Zoo. When we had first met him six months ago, Rocky was just a baby snuggling up to Dr. Abbas. He has now grown and toughened, as he mingles comfortably with his own ilk – his sister, Lulu and his parents. But he obviously hasn’t forgotten those who brought him up.
This is an experience to warm the cockles of the heart. Furry and cuddly cute, all the animals we have encountered, are hand reared by humans because their own mothers have, for one reason or another, not been able to do so. Earthsense is acquainted with them ‘behind the scenes,’ where they live under the watchful eye of Dr. Abbas and his team. They are not yet ready for re-introduction to ‘their own kind,’ and still look upon their human keepers as their mothers. We also meet adults that have, after being hand reared, happily integrated with their own families. So much so that we can’t really tell them apart, except when they break away from the group to welcome the men who have nurtured them.
“So far we have had 100 % success in hand rearing,” says Dr. Abbas as he tells us interesting animal tales. “When one is dealing with rare and endangered species it is vital to keep their progeny alive and healthy. When we found that in Al Ain Zoo, some species were reducing in number on account of rearing problems by their mothers, we started a hand rearing project, not separately, but as part of our routine work.” The idea originated from Dr. Nael Abuzeid, technical director, Al Ain Zoo and received the full backing of zoo manager, Abdulrahman Al Dusari.
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It began with Gul, the Bornean orangutan. When he was born in 1992, it was observed that his mother was distant and uncaring. Initially they thought that she was having problems milking and this would sort itself out But when the baby started crying and she began to roll him on the ground, they were alerted that she was going to kill him. So they sedated her and took Gul away. He was hand reared over a six month period, bottle fed, made to wear pampers (because he’d wander about in the kitchen, always ready for a nibble and a prank), nursed, massaged with olive oil so that his skin didn’t crack in the heat, and cared for in every way. You’ve got to see Gul today, bouncy and boisterous, enthusiastically posing for visitors. He has a brother and sister too, both also hand reared.
With wild animals, as a general rule, if a mother hasn’t raised the first child, she won’t accept others that follow. So Dr. Abbas hadn’t hesitated to take Gul’s siblings away.
The law of the jungle dictates that if an animal is unable to care for her baby (mother has no milk, maybe she has faced some problem during pregnancy, or any other), she will kill the baby - carnivores will even consume their own babies - rather than desert it and flee, or see it being taken by another animal. This happens in the wild; but in captivity, “we have to keep our eyes open and, when we see trouble, take care of it. That is the difference. We hand rear any animal that faces neglect by its mother, regardless of the specie’s importance,” explains Dr. Abbas.
After Gul, there have been a series of hand rearing successes - Nubian giraffe, for instance. Al Ain Zoo has the largest breeding stock of the species. When a female giraffe was born in 1993, and the mother would turn away every time the baby wanted to suckle, the baby was removed and hand reared for six months. Even at birth she was as tall as Dr. Abbas is! Reaching up to feed her, they first needed a stool, then a bigger stool and finally, a ladder; and for milk, a 2.5 litre Pepsi bottle! Now the hand reared giraffe is well, and herself breeding.
The gray kangaroo is another interesting case. After a kangaroo gives birth, the baby gets into the mother’s pouch where it feeds and grows till its body hair develops. Then, by instinct, it emerges and gradually acclimatises to the outside world. At one time, a female kangaroo in the zoo threw her baby out of the pouch for some inexplicable reason. The baby was rescued and hand reared.
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The tiger cubs, Lulu and Rocky, came in good time. There was just a single adult tigress left in the zoo in 1999 (she was already over 10 years old) together with five males. It was important that they breed to maintain the zoo’s tiger population. Yet, to make this happen with tigers, in particular, isn’t easy because they get easily bored - if a male and female are kept together for a long time they are unlikely to breed. So the zookeepers had to keep changing the males. Success at last; a cub came. And then despair; it didn’t survive. It died of starvation on the sixth day, having gone without milk for the last 24 hours as the mother’s milk had finished. But then, the same year, Lulu and then, Rocky, was born. Not taking any chances, Dr. Abbas took them both in for hand rearing.
He tells us the story of how scared the two cubs were, initially, when they were moved in with the other tigers; how they wouldn’t eat till he’d fed them with his own hands; and how, when Lulu got sore paws, she lay down and displayed these to him one by one, crying like a child, till he dressed them for her.
Jaguars, capuchin monkeys, black leopards, red deer and Arabian oryx; these are among the other species that have been hand reared in the zoo. It is a highly technical process, requiring knowledge of an animal’s behaviour, feeding habits, and housing requirements. Besides, because the animal is being mothered and completely dependent on humans, it needs constant monitoring. And the most important aspect of rearing is the animal’s reintroduction to other members of the same family – recognising them and getting used to their sight and smell. After all, that’s the place where they belong.
Of course, the ultimate goal is releasing endangered animals into natural habitats. As far as reintroduction into the UAE wilderness is concerned, ungulates (these are Al Ain Zoo’s specialisation and they have successful breeding herds) have the potential. Gazelles and Arabian oryx have been released in the extensive forest protected areas under consistent supervision and monitoring.
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WHAT ON EARTH CAN WE DO?
When we visit a zoo, we shouldn’t tease animals or try to provoke them by unkind acts like throwing things at them, trying to prod them with a stick….This is being cruel to the animals. We shouldn’t feed them either as our food will damage their health.
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