Karamat, the female Indian rhinoceros has been confirmed as pregnant and due at the end of this year. If successful, would this be the first of Whipsnade's wild born females calves to reproduce?
A newspaper "discovered" that Planckendael put down a Scimitar-horned oryx male which was surplus and no other zoo was willing to take and fed it to the carnivores. The news caused great attention in Belgium but Planckendael gave out a press-release in which it explained why it was done and that it wasn't a light dissicion.
According to two Dutch sources (a newspaper website and Planckendael's own website), the situation of the newborn elephant is critical, although there seem to be positive signs, and they remain optimistic. The elephant who gave birth is 10-year old female May Tagu, a first time mother, and the lack of experience is proving to be a problem. Keepers (and presumably the vet) have had to intervene and temporarily separate the newborn baby elephant (which is male) in a treatment box to allow it to gain strength. It has been given fluids and they are trying to let it drink. The baby remains in contact with the mother. They are planning to release the baby back into the stable as soon as possible. Pasgeboren baby-olifant in Planckendael in kritieke toestand - HLN.be Kai-Mook grote zus! | Planckendael
According to the most recent updates, the situation is still critical, and a happy-end is not yet in sight. While there seems to be a little improvement, as 'Baby Q' has been able to set a few steps. The baby seems strong enough for the next phase, which is re-introducing him to mother May Tagu and Yu Yu Yin. There is still a lot of potential for trouble. They are doing everything to get Baby Q to drink from May Tagu, as apparently, baby elephants fed exclusively on formula milk, don't survive long. There are a lot of uncertainties, but they are trying their best to reunite Baby Q with his family. Translates/paraphrased from Dutch source: Kai-Mook grote zus! | Planckendael I think that, while there seems to be a little hope, it still doesn't look very good. I'm not getting my hopes up for this baby elephant.
3 year old Giraffe, Ndale has died from heart failure. He was being loaded into a trailer for transport to a bachelor herd in France when he collapsed and didn't recover Tragische dood van giraf Ndale | Planckendael On a different note - The young elephant calf (baby Q) is continuing to be handreared. However he isn't thriving and has had several medical issues to contend with since his birth. More tests are due to be carried out in the near future. The zoo are now updating a blog with his progress Kai-Mook is tante en straks ook grote zus! | Planckendael
Unfortunately, the young elephant 'Baby Q' has died. His condition remained critical - there was no real improvement and there were a lot of complications, including jaundice, liver problems/liver failure, some kind of growth in the abdominal reagon, abnormal blood values, weakness and underweight/weight loss. Mother May Tagu also never allowed him to drink and couldn't take care of him like she should, and the keepers had On Wednessday May 20th, 'Baby Q' was sedated for a thorough internal examination by Planckendael's vet and specialists from Ghent University. They found that the liver failure was incurable, and that there was no chance of improvement or survival. It was decided to not let 'Baby Q' wake up, and he was euthanized. The people at Planckendael of course are very sad and are mourning. It has been an absolutely awful week for Planckendael. News sources in Dutch: http://www.planckendael.be/nl/nieuws/baby-q-gestorven-planckendael-rouw Baby Q gestorven, Planckendael in rouw | Planckendael Planckendael liet Baby Q inslapen na leverfalen - HLN.be News source in English: Baby elephant 'Baby Q' has passed away This is very unfortunate and sad, although not unexpected news - things never did look good for 'Baby Q', especially after the complications started showing up.
Some better news for the elephant herd - a new calf was born in the early hours of this morning to Phyo Phyo. This time things appear to be going much smoother than they did with baby Q Baby-olifant Qiyo is geboren! | Planckendael
A new species for the collection - Dusky Pademelon have arrived are mixed with the Koalas. They haven't said where from, but I'm thinking Antwerp is the most likely source?
Dusky Pademelons were exhibited for a while in the Egyptian Temple building at Antwerp Zoo (the building that also holds the elephants and the giraffes). Earlier this year when construction work on the new savannah area started at Antwerp Zoo, they were moved behind the scenes, as the stables in which they were kept are going to be used for hoofed mammals, possibly zebras, in the future (like they were in the past). During my recent visit to Planckendael, there was some small-scale construction work happening in the koala house - new trees, new soil, new plants, a bit of cleaning, things like that. It seems likely that the Dusky Pademelons are the ones from Antwerp. Very pleasant new addition, I'd say.
