binturong breeding-brilliant » Taronga Zoo

binturong breeding-brilliant
31-05-2007

taronga has bred the binturong, the firs time in the 57 year period the zoo has displayed them. the current pair arrived from singapore zoo in 2004/05 for Wild Asia.
go to the zoo's home page for all the info.

31-05-2007

awww... they are so damn cute too!!!!

31-05-2007

and with such a nice enclosure too! if only they had babirusa rooting around on the forest floor section.
the binturongs in this enclosure always seem active too, which is wonderful. one of the great joys of wild asia, besides its alliance with ANZ, is that its just one exhibit after another seperated only by lush tropical planting. if youre bored of the binturong, turn-around, and youll see gibbons, or tapir, or langur, or spotted deer. its wonderful

31-05-2007

Hey this is good news, always a joy to see the first breeding of an animal at a zoo. Does/has melbourne bred theirs recently?

31-05-2007

obviously tarongas binturongs are quite active during the day which is great.

melbournes are unfortunately displayed in the "small cat alley" which does them no justice and leaves them stuck in tiny cages.

they would be better appreciated in the arboreal primate section - though that means moving something else, etc.. etc...

03-06-2007

Great news! Seems like Pepper and Emas have settled down well.

03-06-2007

taronga still ahs ts originals from b4 wild asia in teh cat forest above b2b? is this tru, i thought i saw them last time i was there, but i acrnt remeber

04-06-2007

no thats not right, unless they are in the behind the creens holding area. check numbers on isis if you really want to know, but atm jungle cats holds palm squirrels, golden cats and fishing cats. (and is still one of my favourite parts of the zoo) lol

04-06-2007

oh and jay - not sure exactly what defines "recently" but melbourne have bred quite a few binturongs and i'm pretty sure there has been a birth or two in the last couple of years.

last time i saw them at least four shared one enclosure...

05-06-2007

Thanks Pat
that's pretty much what I wanted to know. Can I assume that there is no quarantine problems in importing more if a zoo needed them?

05-06-2007

don't think so - since taronga did recently. however i do believe (but might stand corrected on this) they are restricted to only being kept by A-grade zoos... so none for queensland or mogo etc.

05-06-2007

i believe adelaide filed an import recquest for binturong fairly recently, which might be how they ended up with their animal from singapore zoo? these animals are kind of long-lived and there's a good generation gap which means they are a great candidate for australian breeding programs. if all 4 major zoos in australia ended up holding between 4-6 we could maintain a relatively viable population...there is certainly a large founder base, although many are unrepresented. which zoos have binturong listed in their long-term collection plans?

03-03-2008

That is only your definition of A-Grade. Last time I checked the finances and standards at Australia Zoo were pretty high - whether you agree with how they aquire them or not. If you are talking about breeding endangered or threatened species then Mogo is the only zoo in Australia (along with Adelaide) to breed Golden Lion Tamarins, has bred 4 snow leopards in the last 8 years, more than 10 Cotton-Top tamarins, Pygmy marmosets, 3 siamang offspring and red pandas. It may be a small zoo, but given what it has had to endure over the years, the achievements are outstanding and will continue to do so.

All this without mentioning white lions (oh crap I did it). The sad fact is that as a private zoo in a remote area a drawcard is needed. The amount of people who go to Mogo because they have heard of the white lions is incredible, but the best part is that they leave with a greater knowledge of all the other animals that are there and in the end the white lions might not be their favourite. That has got to be of great benefit to the other species. And yes, they are magnificent and they are natural and unless you are part of the management of Mogo, then you do not know what the intention for these animals are for the future (exporting to South Africa or wherever or building new enclosures).

Sorry, went off on a little tangent there, but then again don't we all

03-03-2008

faraji - i said "a-grade" since thats the definition used by the DEH who issue the licenses that allow zoos to keep animals. there are different types of licenses and not all zoos are on the same one, last i checked. being privately owned, i was pretty sure mogo and australia zoo were on "b-grade" licenses which does not allow them to keep binturongs.

that at least was my understanding last time i read up on the subject. admittedly that was years ago.......so feel free to correct me.

03-03-2008

Pat - please be corrected!!! A grade, in your context, has not been used by the Government for quite some time.

Zoos [all zoos] are registered in their respective States. SOME zoos are also AQIS registered [Federal government] which gives them the capacity to receive imported animals. Thus Dreamworld, for example, was able to receive imported Sumatran Tigers, Alma Park imported Lemurs and so on.

Faraji is justified in bridling at the suggestion that any one of the smaller, privately owned zoos would be regarded as a B grade zoo by virtue of it's ownership structure or size.