Leopards & Jaguars

05-01-2007

they are bro and sis, and where kept in a concrete cage for about 5 years, this is why oscar the male now has many physical aliments, such as serve arthritus, restrcting his movements in all joints, and a lack of teeth fro health problem incurred at a young age.

from ths fauna park, kitty and rosco also came, the 2 bengal tigers, they two were kept in a cage half the size of there pool at mogo, and from what i hear it was terribble, and the animals were confiscated due to lack of husbandry and care taken to the aniamls. the rspca help mogo house the 4 cats.

05-01-2007

and they were aquired as cubs, and grew up in those horrible conditions, for the first 5 years, and now fr there last 10, in pure luxuary

jaguars, leopards, tarsiers, okapis...
05-01-2007

i think everyone on this forum has ideas on what animals we should have, but face it, what zoo pro said isnt ground breaking, its just a bit of genetic theory up against stringent quarantine leglislation.
if our zoos are to have any exotic animals in the future its better they concentrate on breeding fewer species. slow breeding species like elephants and rhinos and hippos and great apes are ideal candidates. big cats and primates are also good, but they have less generation time.
im happy with the carnovores we have already that are thought of as viable. the only others id like to see added to that list would be the sun bear, binturong, dhole, fishing cat and golden cat. after that, i think its best if we focus on the them and the other 8 species known to be viable.
rather than be jealous of the diverse european and american zoo collections lets instead pride ourselves not only on our native animals but also being able to give fewer exotic animals more space, and the fact we dont have foot and moth outbreaks...

05-01-2007

i like that comment, and it's true, we have what no other zoo community has in the world, a diverse collection of native fauna, and whats luckier is most can be seen wild in our own backyards.

i would still like to import as many animals as possible, as we all would, but what glyn said is right, what we have is a good lot of stock, especially our rhinos, and our 70 million dollar elephants, our cats are breeding well, and we can contribute to international breeding progarms. the only thing i can comment on is what we already know, and that is the inroduction of new blood, such as the case of ringo, and maybe for now lets concentrae on species which we have and can import, and keep them going well.

though we do need those jags and okapi

05-01-2007

Nicely summarised Glyn, thanks. The region's zoos are planning on holding enough numbers of sun bear, binturong and dhole to make them viable programs, so hopefully, the imports will start to happen in the next year or so to increase the number of these species. Both Dubbo and Melbourne are planning to hold decent-sized groups of dhole.

The region is continuing to discuss fishing cat and golden cat, as zoos are interested in both species. There is very limited availability of golden cats for this region, and that makes them an unlikely candidate for a decent population here. In addition to these two species, we currently hold another 8 small felid taxa. A number of these are ear-marked for being phased out, so we can better concentrate on a few. As you said "if our zoos are to have any exotic animals in the future its better they concentrate on breeding fewer species".

05-01-2007

well taronga is continuing to try breeding sun bears isnt it, and what about perths new imports, sounds great. as well tarongas new bintorong are totally new pair from sigapore was it?

can you expand on dubbo and melbournes dhole project, this sounds great, so how many do we currently have in region, is it only tarongas 3? also adelaides masterplan still says dhole i beleive.

see things in our region isnt really that bad, i think it's pretty darn good.

yes things are good
05-01-2007

firstly ill say that more work could be done to more effectively manage species, but considering our quarantine laws and small number of zoos i think that ARAZPA's regionally managed programs are evelving fast and in many ways we are leading the international zoo industry. i mean, we had model ssp or studbooks decades before america, just out of neccesity, to manage our small zoo stock of species like hippo, giraffe and cassowary.
if you look back in time, particularly the last 15 years, our regional breeding programs have really started to work.
theres been some failures along the way , and grandicose plans for species like bongo, malayan tapir and golden lion tamarin, who all may fall by the wayside. unfortunate events or unexpected deaths may have jeapordised the viabilty of programs, again underscoring the importance of having more individuals of fewer species. think of the death of congo, our only bull african elephant, or the male pygmy hippo from hawaii who died at taronga because of a disease transmitted by rats.
there were big plans for maned wolves and asian lions, until ARAZPA and ZPB of NSW saw the sense in cooperating on just one species. weve seen species like peccary and sitatunga slip towards regional extinction, and the future of others like agouti may lie in preserving a closely inbred population. weve seen what a lack of regional coordination can result in, with once viable number sof capybarra and cavy crashing suddenly because of decisions to castrate and short generation times which leave no time to right the wrongs and get a population back on track.
weve seen quarantine laws relaxed and tightened. we continue to watch as hybrid orangs are phased out. we watch and see if mouse deer will turn up, or spotted deer from the phillipines. taronga has decided to go it alone with indian rhinos, mogo with white lions and seaworld with polar bears. all species must be managed as international programs, and whilst they hold high advocacy and education values it is perhaps the commercial imperatives associated with such high -profile species which sees zoos turning their backs on what we now know we need, well managed, cooperative programs.
having said all that, i feel that us zoo visitors have an exciting future ahead of us. our zoos will have great collections of great apes, big cats, elephants, gibbons and many lesser primates. red pandas, giraffes and meerkats. fewer species equals better exhibits and more room. and rather than looking at near identical collections at sydney, melbourne, perth and adelaide as monotonous, us zoogoers who are really interested will have the joy of comparing and contrasting exhibits in the same way as we do with melbourne and sydney for gorillas, elephants and orangs.
good on ARAZPA for the role they are playing, and lets hope stuped mistakes continue to be eliminated and zoos work even more closely together.

05-01-2007

O my god, wow thts all i can say wow. thats is like woot woot, cudos to you glyn, thats one of the most amzing things i have ever read in realtion to zoos. wow. thnx tht is like wow. thankyou.

and i agree with all of it.

05-01-2007

We have a fairly stable breeding program for Asian golden cats here in Singapore, with litters being produced every year. We've sent goldies to NZ before i believe, and perhaps Oz too (can anyone confirm?). If Oz zoos can start a breeding program too, then we could work towards a regional program that will ensure long-term viability.

05-01-2007

Correct Zooish, a number of the golden cats here are quite related to yours. Others have come from Wuppertal in Europe, and many of the world's captive golden cats are related to those animals. We've had a few successes with this species over the years, but also some failures - Melbourne has bred loads of males, and a couple of pairs have never bred. We do have a well-managed program for them though, with a planned population of around 30 animals. If only more unrelated animals were available....

It's a shame they are so few and far between, and so related, because they are a beatiful species, one of my favourites.

05-01-2007

Jaguars have one distinct advantage over leopards.. they SWIM! An underwater-viewing exhibit for Jags (something like Australia zoo's tiger temple) would be awesome, they really love the water, and are quite willing to dive.

Off-topic, sorry, but talking about underwater-viewing, i just saw photos of a German zoo (Leipzig) which has an underwater viewing gallery for ... ELEPHANTS! How amazing is that!

05-01-2007

a great idea i have wondered (i think of everything you see ) why no zoo has done this before - footage of elephants swimming underwater is facinating. did you know that elephants share a distanct common ancestor with dugongs and manatees and that their are various indications that point to a once, much more aquatic, lifestyle? their a certain elephant embryonic features that are only found aquatic mammals...

no wonder they love to swim!

05-01-2007

Will have to look to Indochina (thai, vietnam) for unrelated golden cats. Many zoos there have immensely endangered species like goldies, clouded leopards, douc langurs... but their animals are of questionable origins, perhaps wild caught or illegally traded. Not sure if its ethical to acquire animals from these places

05-01-2007

Being a CITES 1 species, they have to have be proven to have been captive-bred before we can import them. And of course, we an only deal with reputable zoological institutions (approved by DEH) overseas, so that knocks out the dodgy places!

05-01-2007

Yeah! Ever since i saw the 'Land of the Tiger' docu with elephants swimming in the Andanman sea i was totally fascinated. They're amazingly graceful underwater.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed because the idea of underwater-viewing for eles has been thrown up by the singapore zoo director... she was inspired by what she saw in Leipzig Zoo, hope it works out.