giraffes going to Australia » Auckland Zoo

giraffes going to Australia
20-11-2008

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4767213a26642.html

20-11-2008

Childonis thank you for this news. Austalia Zoo are really diversifying now, tigers, elephants, cheetah, rhino and now giraffe.

21-11-2008

Thanks for the news I was really excited when they firsty got the Rhinos, now Giraffees!

21-11-2008

Is Forest going to be the alpha male in a new herd..? Or is he joining an established herd..?

21-11-2008

Forest is still too young to breed but I'm not sure what the make-up of the AZ herd is. Perhaps he will be joining a juvenile group. He will be missed as he was a really nice animal. Hopefully we will have the patter of not so tiny feet again at Auckland soon.

21-11-2008

I don't think that Australia Zoo has any other giraffes yet, Mark could probably confirm this.

21-11-2008

Good point, I should have checked their site. Perhaps then little Forest will become their alpha male.

21-11-2008

Monarto Zoo in South Australia has probably about 20 giraffes, and so if Australia Zoo is searching for that species then they don't have to look overseas for stock.

21-11-2008

As far as I know Jay they don't have any at this point

21-11-2008

The Monarto herd is quite closely related to the Dubbo herd, the other large herd in Australia. The herd in New Zealand is a bit more remotely related, that's why, when I herd() that the Australia Zoo was getting a male from NZ, I thought they might get their females from Monarto - less inbreeding.

21-11-2008

Good plan, for the future, how many giraffees have been born in Australia?

21-11-2008

The issue of genetic diversity is the thing that dictates where you source breeding stock from. With giraffes in particular there is the additional issue of preventing hybridisation. The sub-region has a detailed breeding programme and stock is moved around in order to maximise this diversity whilst also maximising the purety of the species of giraffe each institution holds.

21-11-2008

how many of the nine subspecies does Australia have? I just know we have Rothschild's

22-11-2008

giraffes in australia arent managed at a sub-species level, are they? there are critically few founders for giraffes in Australia, most are descended from an original two imported to taronga in the early 20th century.
a female rothschild giraffe imported to Melbourne Zoo in the 1990s joined rothschilds at Perth (also sourced from other regions) but offspring from this program has been subsumed into the wider hybrid herds managed by ZOOS SA, ZPB of NSW as well as smaller holders such as Mogo and the National Zoo in an effort to reduce inbreeding. Taronga's previous breeding male was also an import, but was a hybrid.
the pure Melbourne and Perth populations see some form of exchange but there is verly little breeding activity; most of the giraffe breeding in this country occurs at TWPZ or Monarto, which maintain the hybrid populations but also hold some pure rothschilds which came into the program to add genetic diversity.
the two giraffes being imported to Australia would have to represent some newish bloodline to the Australian population; as hybrids the cost of their import would otherwise not be justified. in the past New Zealand has acquired giraffe from North America and other regions who's genes can hopefully be integrated into the Aussie herd.
either way, the giraffe in Australia is not managed so much as to maintain genetic diversity; more so to prevent serious inbreeding.

fluctuations in Australia's quarantine policy towards giraffes have led to fluctuations in exactly what zoos in this country were doing with the species. logically, in spite of all the hassle of importing pure rothschilds, the region as a whole now breeds giraffes for display only and cooperatively the zoos seek to integrate as wide a gene pool as they can by breeding hybrids.
AI woul be so much easier...but I guess no where near as exciting as giraffes blocking sydney traffic

22-11-2008

These two giraffes were born at Auckland from hybrid mothers and a genetically pure Rothschild father. The father came from Orana which keep a pure rothschild herd. The rothschilds at Perth also came from Orana, the four females are two sisters and the daughters of one. The father of one of the younger females at Perth is Anthony, who is now at Werribee. He is also the father of the breeding male at Melbourne zoo. So really all the rothschilds in the region have sprung from the Orana herd. Which I think only had four founders.
The breeding males at Monarto, Dubbo, Auckland and hopefully soon Wellington are all pure blood rothschilds descned from the Orana herd. Now that they are being integrated with the hybrid herd soon the zoos will once again face the problem of finding unrelated males as breeders.