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ik-Nik is the name of the little cute brown bear cub that arrived at the Cikini Zoo, Jakarta, in 1963. Along with Panjang the crocodile and Miss Ulla von Mengden, they seem to be the only living remnants of the old Jakarta Zoo, before its relocation in 1964 to its present location in Ragunan, South Jakarta.

Conny a 63-year-old chimpanzee, which also came from Cikini, died at the Schmutzer Primate Center in 2008 as the world’s oldest chimpanzee. Nik-Nik has just reached the ripe old age of almost 50 years, making her the oldest living bear in known history.

How the tropics, especially the polluted city of Jakarta, could become the place to reach this spectacular age for a European Brown Bear is a mystery! Bears can live longer in captivity than in the wild but 50 years is by far the oldest known instance for any kind of bear. The oldest Grizzly bear was 32 years old and there was a polar bear that reached 42 and one brown bear that reached the ripe old age of 47 — all in captivity. But Nik-Nik has outlived them all!

Ulla von Mengden, who moved Nik-Nik from Cikini to Ragunan Zoo tells the following story:

“When Nik-Nik arrived with me in Ragunan she was still a cub, perhaps one-year-old. I remember how she sat on my lap and I would take her for walks on a chain through the zoo that was still partly under construction. Then one day in 1964, after having taken Nik-Nik on one of our walks I got a panic call — Nik-Nik had escaped and was walking free on the main zoo road, scaring visitors! So I jumped up and walked toward Nik-Nik to bring her to her cage, but then to my sudden surprise at two meters’ distance, the bear rose up to a huge height growling at me. I quickly stepped back realizing this was NOT Nik-Nik!! I should have checked first, of course, Nik-Nik being in her cage where she belonged.”

By the end of 2012 Nik-Nik will be 49-years-old and Ragunan is preparing for her 50th birthday in 2013. She still has a thick fur and cute fuzzy ears.

Many of her molars are gone but the imposing canines in the front of her long snout still manage to impress visitors. Her claws are very long and she cannot walk that smoothly or that far anymore but she will still strike her paws at any stranger coming too close to her bars! Nik-Nik still has a very good appetite and when Ulla von Mengden arrives twice daily she eagerly comes for the meat and honey drenched bread treats.

Obviously something must be right here in the tropics for the bears. The zoo also has Sri Lankan bears and the smallest of the bears the Malayan Sun Bear.

Willie Smits
Founder, Schmutzer Primate Center
Jakarta