Melbourne Zoo Developments » Melbourne Zoo

07-12-2006

in the wild, is it not often the females that move on to join different groups to avoid inbreeding? bambuti grew up in the same troop as ya kwanza at melbourne zoo, so it is possible he has no sexual interest in her for that reason. maybe he sees her more as a little sister?

the idea of moataba forming a batchelor group with his sons sees somewhat odd - both are still very small and i assume somewhat psychologically dependent on their mothers!!

interestingly, melbourne's isis records have never accounted for rigo - they have consistantly recorded 3.5 when they indeed have motaba, rigo and yakini and junamantano (sp?)! - i have no idea why!!!

i agree that it seems strange to have kept rigo alone for so long. whilst i can understand that, taking into account his past relationships, it may have been unwise to send him overseas only to find another failure, you still would have thought that every effort would have been made to at least attempt introductions with any of our surplus females before we sent them OS..

if all the walls are demolished between the ape grottoes and the ground is better graded to avoid so many steep slopes (a safety issue for when the inevitable fights break out), then it would surfice as a reasonable short-term habitat for another gorilla troop.

however, i would suggest they demolish and fill the grottoes and re-landscape the entire area as a new gorilla exhibit and entry into the african rainforest zone.

best of all i would love to have seen a recreation of a "bai" with wet moats being used in conjunction with the "borrowed landscape" technique to simulate the gorillas sharing the same habitat as a small group of congo buffalo and bongo or sitatunga.

07-12-2006

from what i saw of the exhibit, i thought it was great and needed no new exhibit for them, maybe just a change in interpretive, and a new pygmy hippo, i thought the exhbit was great. great view pioints, overall much better than tarongas i beleibve, (THOU TARONGA HAD TO WORK WITH CONFINED SPACE)

07-12-2006

Sorry to be picky Patrick, but Rigo has always been listed on Melbourne's ISIS records. The ISIS web site currently shows 4.5 gorillas at Melbourne if you do a detailed search, although 3.5 on the public side of the site. I'm guessing there's 1.0 on loan from Jersey in there.

07-12-2006

re-reading pat, i do like the idea of a borrowed landscape, souds kool that is what i have used in my own designs, and co-incidently, on goriilas, though mine had borrowed lanscapes into an elephant habitat, and it had an underground bunker, with otter and hippo, with situtunga and otehr antleope at fore shore, with gorrillas picking for aquatic plants in abckground, with a heard of elephant heading backinto the rainforest.

if you are intersted in thte bai concept go here
Exhibit

it is a gorrilla exhibit based on this bai concept, very kool mate

07-12-2006

other bai links - i also like this idea heaps, using bai's in zoos

Langoue Bai
Field Trip Earth
Field Trip Earth

Elephants of Cameroon: Media Gallery

the last link has many kool pics from an ele expedition, and many kool pics of bais

some nice pics

07-12-2006

Zoo_Boy i was talking about updating the old ape grottoes into a second gorilla exhibit, not demolishing the existing one - which i agree is still fantastic (and rumoured to be one of the best in the world)..

thanks for that zoopro, obviously your record keeping skills are much better than mine i have only ever looked at the public records section, in fact i had never noticed there was anything but...
motaba must be on loan from jersey.

thanks for the links zooboy, its always interesting to see the real landscapes versus a re-creation at a zoo. whilst i think louisville zoo has done a great job, it reminds me how lucky we are in australia that we can grow real tropical foliage.

gorillas
08-12-2006

Bambuti(or Bahasha as she's called at Jersey) was born the year after Ya Kwana/Mzuri went to Jersey- so they didn't know each other before she came to Jersey. He only breeds with one female -Kahilli, who bonded with him when he first arrived as they were similar age. The other two older females(mother & daughter) have never shown interest in him either- something isn't right...

Motaba- would almost certainly be on loan to Melbourne. I think the plan of putting Motaba and the two sons together will happen soon according to the official info. I got. I agree six years is a bit young for males to leave the natal group but they probably have a housing problem otherwise.

A 'bai' enclosure for gorillas would be great. Perhaps next time they need a total rebuild? Frankfurt in Germany are building something partly along these lines at present. Melbourne's existing enclosure is very good. Taronga's is a bit small for the size of the group though.(needed to be same size as their chimpanzee one which is about the best I've seen anywhere)

Re Rigo's past. Here's a short story- in France there's a fine male gorilla called Yaounde- he was born in Holland in 1983- the zoo later closed and he was split from his group after being mother-reared. He spent a number of years in several different zoos where he acquired a reputation as aggressive/impossible to keep with females. Ended up in the Tenerife batchelor group. Some years later, he was moved again- finally put with three females in a new Primate park in France. He bred with all three, has about seven children and nowadays is described as a 'perfect troop leader'. So even difficult males can adapt to decent circumstances. Young males often bully or tease females resulting in their removal/hopeless situation. I think that was Rigo's problem. Older males much calmer(example- Buluman) which is why I think Rigo will be okay this time in a group situation. I hope the females will like him and that he will mate- that's the unknown part...

Please post any developments. How are the new Elephants doing?

gorillas extra.
08-12-2006

I nearly forgot- the two young males at Melbourne are usually listed as Yakini & Ganyeka while Julia's daughter is Jumata(or some similar spelling) but for some reason all of the six gorillas born at Melbourne seem to have ended up with more than one name... Anyone know why?

Incidentally, Ganyeka & Jumata are both valuable for future breeding as both have mothers which are under-represented in the captive population-Ganyeka's (G.Anne) has few, if any, relatives still alive, and Jumata is (so far) the only offspring of wild-caught Julia. Obviously too young yet though...

08-12-2006

sorry, pat i mis-understood you, by all means yea a new gorrilla exhibit, maybe even chimps or something, and satrt a rotation facility, is there enogh room there to build such a large bai enclousre with situtunga etc?

also isnt tht earmarked for a new shopping precint, i personally was thinking not, my view is, it is so close to the main precint, entry etc, why here, why not now convert the old zoo shop, and build a new restuarant etc is the space next to it, in place of the baboons, and bulldoze all those other animal exhibit, ie red pandas, tree roos, mara, and incorporate those into the new complex, all these aniamls behind glass from inside restuarant, and covered veiws from outside. what does everyone think of this idea, i thought it would be kool, cause all these aniamls are reall odd and sods.

08-12-2006

Hi Everyone,

I have just joined this forum and am so excited to have found it! As my name suggests, I am mad about gorillas and came across this site after doing a search whilst looking for info on Rigo. I have read about some of the planned developments for the gorilla troupe at Melbourne, which answer some questions I posed in an unanswered email to the zoo a month or so ago. It is great to hear that there seems to be a plan in place for Rigo's future, as it saddens me to see how he currently lives (and has for far too long). I had an interaction of sorts with him on my last zoo visit, whereby I called out to him by name while he was in his cave, and ever so slowly he peered out with that magnificent head of his and gazed over at me for a little while - sounds like nothing but it made my day! Ever since then though I haven't been able to stop thinking about him and his living conditions - he must be so lonely so I am pleased to hear that this may be changing, sooner rather than later I hope as he has lived this way for far too long. I hope he has a bright and happy future, spending his older years the way he deserves to. After the visit I sent an email to the zoo enquiring about any future plans for him, but sadly did not warrant a reply..... which made me assume I must admit that there we no plans for him, so finding this website has been a relief of sort for me. I only have computer access whilst at work, so must go for now, but consider yourselves added to my "favourites" hehehe - I'll be back later on! Bye for now, GG

08-12-2006

grant - most of the gorillas at melbourne have alternate "secret" names used by the keepers. this is to avoid the sort of scenarios that (with no offence to you gorilla girl) is mentioned in the previous post - the public shouting out the animals name to get their attention. the melbourne-born gorillas have always had alias that reflect the first letter of their maternal parent's name. ie, yuska's children are yakini and ya kwanza, g-anne's child is ganyeka, julia's is junamantano, betsy had bambuti etc..

melbourne doesn't have a great deal of room surrounding the african rainforest section, especially not if they intend on expanding the asian rainforest in its direction. there is however enough room to create a smaller second gorilla troop exhibit if they redevelop the ape grottoes. i was told some years ago that the zoo board was keen on a shopping precinct in this area, and there were some media reports here about the zoo developing a 24hr shopping precinct.... clearly it was a load of rubbish
as nobody would ever go to the zoo just to shop, let alone at midnight!

melbourne used to have chimpanzees Zoo_Boy, the ape grottoes once housed all three great ape genera (other than ourselves of couurse). however they eventually gave them to taronga after bulluman and betsy were moved to melbourne to join rigo and yuska. in those days zoos had very little success with breeding gorillas, so since the apee grottoes at the time were considered "state-of-the-art" the gorilla collection was consolidated here. of course buluman turend out to be sterile and rigo didn't get along with the girls, hence mzuri was born in a world first artificial insemination..

Zoo_Boy, if melbourne wants to display more gorillas, then a chimp exhibit is just not practical. ther simply isn't the space for the enclosure or the dens in the ape house to house them.

i have no idea about elephants grant, issume all is well, but i haven't visited zoo since after they first arrived and unfortunately i'm the only forum member from melbourne.....

08-12-2006

thanks Patrick now I feel bad! Actually I felt on the day of my "encounter" that I shouldn't have called out to him, but couldn't help myself, and I guess my reasoning at the time was to break the monotony of Rigo's boring day by interacting a little with him.... I only did it because I care! It is a dream of mine to be a primate keeper (join the queue right?!) and I reckon that is about the closest I will ever get to my dream... Point taken though...

The elephants seem to be settling in well from what I saw, but I must say I did feel that their enclosure is too small. Am I the only one that thinks this? It seems to me that since the redevelopment there is so much space wasted (in my opinion) on the village theme, and the surrounding tracks, gardens etc. and this space would have been better suited to creating more room for the elephants.....

08-12-2006

dont feel bad gg, i talk to all the animals at wht ever zoo i go to, like at mogo all the aniamls now know me lol

and the chimp thing was jsut an idea so yea

08-12-2006

well the movement is a drawn-out affair then??? its been like that since january. i thought it was to give the baboons more room. who knows where theyll end up (or do we? did i miss something?)

08-12-2006

yea u missed it, they are going to werribee, to create an african desert theme at zoo, it will be backdropped by the camels etc. it will be one exhibit for 2 troops, and maybe with anteleop not sure.