She would do. And so she was built up, not purposely built up into a sort of a star, but she became a star. And she’d met Michael Jackson, Björn Borg. Bo Derek used to come and drop off in Singapore, take a taxi up to the zoo, see Ah… Read More
And basically, she was just a mega star. Read More
I mean, okay, to get the things in the context, Singapore decreed in the late sixties that nobody is allowed to own an orangutan as a pet. Now, there were a lot of orangutans coming in as pets on ships from Borneo and Sumatra and being sold in the pet… Read More
And so we actually had like, I don’t know, I can’t remember now, but I mean at least 15 young orangutans all at once. So they were handled, they were managed, they were kept as a social group. And that’s why we were able to keep a quite a big… Read More
And then when Susie got pregnant, when she was about nine or something, we took her down to the gynecologist because she was suffering from what we suspected was some kind of pregnancy toxemia. We took her down to a gynecologist and actually just hilarious, just sitting in the waiting… Read More
I mean, you could see. Look at her. Look at her in the enclosures, her hair standing up.” Was just looking at her. Ah, it’s okay. And then one day, she was out on a mountain taking photographs. I mean, let’s go and say hello to her. I said, “I… Read More
We will go over and say hello to her.” And he goes up to her and she’s just all her hair standing up, and she’s like looking at him. And I said, “I don’t think you should go and touch her ’cause she’s gonna bite you.” And he said, “Really?”… Read More
Okay, this is a story. Every Tuesday and every Thursday of the week, he would come and visit the zoo and we’d sit on a tram and we’d go around the zoo. And he would ask for Ah Meng to be with us. And we would sit on both sides. Read More
And Ah Meng is a very famous orangutan. She’s movie star. I mean, she’s appeared. Everybody in Singapore knows who Ah Meng is. So the president of Singapore once came to meet Ah Meng and he said… Apart from Lee Kuan Yew who is our founding prime minister, Ah Meng… Read More
I mean, she’s like treated like gold. So she’s sitting there, her handler is sitting behind her. And we do this for years. It’s twice a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays on the tram treats, looking around. And then one day, Dr. Ong said, “I don’t wanna see Ah Meng today.” I… Read More
Singapore Zoo before you?… Read More
Why’d you think you could do it?… Read More
Oh, well, because I was pretty early on. I was a pretty pioneer. Actually, I didn’t know I could do it. But I’m the kind of person who if I… I don’t think anything is impossible. So I think if you put yourself, your mind to it, you can do… Read More
Sorry, say that again?… Read More
Why had no one tried to bring more people to the zoo- Singapore Zoo. Read More
And is that what you tried to do at Singapore?… Read More
Yeah, but it’s a tough thing. I mean, you’ve got to really have total control. Yes, we try to do it Night Safari, we tried to do it. And I’d say Night Safari is probably one of the best examples that one has in the zoo, yeah, because you totally… Read More
Why did you think you could get more people to the zoo and why hadn’t anybody done it before you?… Read More
Okay. Actually, it wasn’t judgment; it’s suspended disbelief. So suspended or suspension of disbelief is it’s a theme park. It’s a theme park thing. So let’s say you’re walking in a zoo and you’re walking through a forest and you turn the corner and there you have a group of… Read More
And you know you are not in Uganda. You know that you’re in the middle of New York City or wherever it is, but you are willing to suspend your disbelief because of the realism of the situation. And so the natural or the school of naturalism in zoo design,… Read More