Giant Pandas for Adelaide » Adelaide Zoo

11-04-2008

actually nigel i wasn't so much praising what gardening teams could do, as i was sayingwhat they couldn't do.

(without meaning to insult melbournes team)

my point was that gardeners might be great at caring for plants and creating attractive gardens, but that does not necessarily make them good at understanding what it is that makes an exotic landscape so visually distinct.

disney's animal kingdom, like all the disney parks, has a team of artists at the helm. called "disney imagineers" they essentially design the landscapes like an art director would a film set. and it is because of this, that their landscapes look so good.

it just interesting that zoos are obviously striving to compete with the likes of disney, yet don't get what it is that makes them so good at it... i was looking at the pics of tarongas new GSO precinct. the style of the rockwork is the same generic style and colour that is used for melbourne's bear pit built in the 80's. you can also see it in trail of the elephants, the gorilla and mandrill exhibits, the old melbourne seal pool and no doubt every other second exhibit in the country...

11-04-2008

point taken .

But a smart zoo would have at least a gardiner that knew some basic geography and world botany , and would try to create the theme properly
like Disney does very well .......
...... even if it is leafy plants in/around enclosures whos animals come from a leafy (jungle ? ) environment , and small shrubby stuff for grassland enclosures

I feel that a gardener in the zoo should be responsible for creating the appropriate background , as well as caring to lawns and flowerbeds .
If the gardener just wants to do gardening , they should work at a botanical garden rather than a zoological one ?

11-04-2008

Rudd gives panda pledge - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

12-04-2008

As long as there are no major problems then the giant pandas are going to be a gold mine. If by some miracle the female conceives a baby then the Adelaide Zoo will have the cash to renovate half of its exhibits, and the attendance will be past the million mark.

@Nigel: you are correct in regards to the National Zoo in Washington D.C., as for many years it has been notorious for poor exhibits and numerous animal deaths. However, with a nonstop campaign of upgrades, practically unlimited amounts of cash from the U.S. government, the massive Asian set of exhibits that opened last year (all on zoolex) and the upcoming $45 million worth of elephant yards the zoo has bounced back from the doldrums. I think that you visited a decade (or even longer) ago and thus when I go there for the first time this summer I'll post an update on how the zoo appears in the modern era.

12-04-2008

The national zoo is one of my must see's if i'm ever in the U.S.

15-04-2008

Check with Snowleopard for an update on National Zoo before you go .....

It might be different now , but it was quite pathetic for a "National " Zoo title .

Even Houston Zoo was heaps better

20-05-2008

'Flying' penguins and pandas for Adelaide Zoo - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The money is rolling in for new exhibits...$19 million and change.

21-05-2008

AdelaideNow... $8m zoo funding shortfall

So the dates are now official: September 2009 for completion of the zoo entrance, perimeter fence, plaza, penguin and giant panda exhibits. October 2009 the pair of pandas arrive. Then the zoo will be ready for the enormously busy summer season!

21-05-2008

are there any links to the masterplan for the panda exhibit? Or the penguins? I have seen the virtual tour of the new entrance and i have seen the web page for the new chimp exhibit for monarto, but haven't seen the panda plans.

25-05-2008

the recent earth quakes in china, as massive a humanitarian disaster as they are also underscore the importance of ex-situ breeding programs for panda and other critically endangered taxa.
had the earthquake been any worse the bulk of the main captive breeding population could have been wiped out.
happily this isnt the case but it does strengthen the case for ex-situ programs

26-05-2008

Spreading more and more giant pandas around the globe is perhaps the answer, and that way the notoriously inconsistent breeders will have an opportunity to flourish worldwide. With 7 zoos now exhibiting pandas outside of China, and Adelaide, Edinburgh and Oakland all looking like good bets for the future, at least China is easing up on the severe restrictions of the past.

@boof: I suppose that no one has heard or seen anything about the design for the new giant panda enclosure at Adelaide. Whoever does read anything will hopefully post it here right away as we are all anxious to see the plans.

27-05-2008

The Giant Panda studbook is administered by the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base just outside Chengdu (which has been largely unaffected by the recent earthquake). An committee from the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens defines the breeding recommendations for each panda each year based on their genetics and representation - both inside and outside China. All pandas remain the ownership of the P.R. of China and the wild born ones remain inside China.

The giant pandas inside P.R. of China have already been put out in several breeding centers to spread the risk of catastrophe. Apart from the Chengdu GP Breeding Base, there is Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Base, Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding Base (where most of the sub-adult and older pandas have been sent in the last 2 years) and Ya'an Giant Panda Breeding Base. Others are on exhibit purposes at zoos around China (with Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai and Xian also being designated breeding centers).

Was the emphasis in developmental years on AI, more and more research and experience in panda ecology, biology and genetics has improved the natural mating capabilities of the species (currently 30% of all matings is by natural means and increasing).

Further panda loan agreements have been made with Japan (Shirahama, Kobe, Nagano and Tokyo Ueno), US (San Diego, Washington NZP, Atlanta and Memphis) and EU (Berlin and Madrid) and some in Chapultepec Zoo, Mexico City. These pandas all originate from captive-breeding at Wolong or Chengdu. Adelaide, Tokyo Ueno and Taiwan are all scheduled to receive pandas in the near future from either Wolong or Chengdu.

No need to further spread the "risk around" as some have suggested here. The pandas are quite safe where they are now, allthough obviously a lot of rebuilding the infrastructure is required at the Wolong Center and the surrounding panda reserves (where reserve staff have either been injured or worse still killed out right). It is better to invest in other endangered species breeding programmes that could benefit from captive-breeding and let the CAZGA and the satellite zoos outside P.R. of China - who are already providing extra technical and financial support to Wolong and their Chinese counterparts - do their bit for panda conservation in China.

The CAZGA captive-breeding programme is now at a stage with (ca. 220-230 captive pandas inside P.R. of China) to start reintroduction exercises. In 2006/7 a male was released in Wolong, allthough later killed by a territorial wild panda. The current project is 2.2, of which the intention is to release a pregnant captive-bred female in the Wolong area (the earthquake may have put the project on hold for the time being).

The in situ component of the giant panda breeding centers is research and monitoring of wild pandas and their habitats, providing funds for establishing corridors between the panda reserves (currently at 27 in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces). No detailed surveys or monitoring has yet been done to ascertain the current status of wild giant pandas after the earthquake. The first assessment is that wild pandas tend to live inconspicuous lives in shallow valleys and hence may have escaped the brunt of all these landslides and flattening of inaccessible mountainous areas. I expect in the next few weeks and once aftershocks have subsided reserve and research staff will go back into the forests to monitor the wild pandas once more.

It is worth mentioning that most reserves in Sichuan not only contain wild pandas, but equally endangered species like serow, takin, red pandas, golden monkeys and several pheasant species. It is worth mentioning that these reserves play a vital role in securing this mountain ecosystem. Both the Chengdu Giant Panda Base and to a lesser extent Wolong Center have other species like the above mentioned being bred at their centers.

For starters keep reading the San Diego updates on Wolong that come out every now and then. If you still feel uneasy, chip in and give their appeals a few bob for the Wolong Center!

27-05-2008

Sorry if this is mentioned but one of the breeding bases in china did lose something like four staff and six pandas. four have since returned. Something like that, not exactly sure of numbers

27-05-2008

by staff u mean losed 4 as in died

panda wise the actuall lost a few- as in they ran away not died, and a few have returned.

all exhibits have been damaged

28-05-2008

Read my account and you will find quite a few people died around Wolong. In Wolong - not just Hetauping BC, but as much so the reserve in all 20 people have died!

The staff quarters at Wolong have become totally inhabitable and the Dujiangyan family homes have been completely destroyed. The Wolong families have been relocated to Bifengxia BC in Ya'an as have 6 giant pandas. 8 other giant pandas have been sent to Beijing Zoo for a 6-month loan during the Olympic Games.

At Wolong at least 14 of 32 enclosures have been completely damaged beyond repair. The inhabitants have been relocated. 2 giant pandas were injured and as much as 4 went missing (2 have been recovered early on, 1 more as been captured just the other day and 1 is still out there somewhere).

The road out to Baoxing county is now open again, but the large thorough fare to Chengdu is still closed off. Communications have also been badly affected with many mobile towers damaged. The army has been brought in to help with relief efforts at Wolong and provide increased security there.