National zoo » National Zoo and Aquarium

10-04-2006

i just saw on tonights episode of "the great outdoors" they went to singapore zoo. amongst the footage was that of a king cheetah.

10-04-2006

There are details about this king cheetah on the Natinoal zoos website.

11-04-2006

i would like to see more african elephants, but i dnt think it will happen, although werribee once thought of it i was told, the trouble is all the animals would have to go in to breeding programs and this is such a fuss i was told when enquiring about them at the new boddignton zoo in WA, does any1 no if its still being built

if they were to come, they would be from the wild, as a result of a culling program, which is were all elephants-african- come from. i would love to see it, mayb steve will get some when he opens africa, he has the space an would love to have a breeding program with both species.

io have designed an african exhibit with africa in mind, and its based on the concepts of open, but modern exhibits, the main savannah is 35-40 acres, and is elongated and the rest of the africa is built around it, and there is tunnels under the savannah were u will pop up in the midle of a watering hole or in an aivary. it has every african species in mind, and is bute all zoo people who have seen it love it. i should show steve, although it would be expesive to build.

african elephants
11-04-2006

a few years ago, after congo died at dubbo, i sent an email to WPZ asking them about their plans for african elephants. i was told that as the region was only just developing a plan for asian elephants - the zoo had no plans to import more african elephants in the foreseeable future.

i have only seen live african elephants once - at a zoo in colombo, sri lanka. for someone who has always thought asian elephants where gorgeous creatures - i was supprised at how blown away i was by these two young african elephants that lived at the zoo. they where spectacuarly graceful looking creatures and it was great to be able to compare the two species side by side.

however as jason said - there was a HUUUGE protest in the US against the zoos that recently imported earmarked for culling from africa. and one of these zoos was the san diego wild animal park - arguably the most famous "open range" zoo in the world with the best reputation.

considering the outcry and millions of dollars wasted in the recent campaign to import domestic-bred asian elephants into australia - i seriously doubt that PETA and co would let a bunch of wild-captured african elephants enter the country smoothly. and this wouldn't matter if they where going to dubbo or not. in fact the whole "open range" argument hardly came up with the recent fiasco - the animal rights groups where against elephants in captivity per se.

i am eternatlly dissapointed that it looks like we are going to see elephants cramped into our city zoos for at least another decade. i do want our zoos to have a breeding program for elephants - i think with our elephant-friendly climate australia had an opportunity to show the rest of the world how elephants should be kept in captivity. now i only hope that the animals do breed - that the taronga, perth and melbourne zoos run out of space
and are forced to move the elephant groups to open range zoos.

should that happen - then bring on the african elephants!

there is a 20-something year old female elephant at a circus in NZ. i have long hope dthat one day she is moved to dubbo.

11-04-2006

was tht elephant in nz circus african or asian

12-04-2006

sorry she is african. i hope ALL the circus elephants in australia end up at dubbo (or australia zoo) but the african cow obviously has potential friends of her own kind across the tasman.

13-04-2006

yea it is silly, but often with circus elephants, they are moving so much they have many diseases, some of which they would be immune to over the many years of travelling, mayb thts y they aint in oz yet

jumbo..
13-04-2006

i was only talking about one elephant - an 27ish year old african cow called "jumbo" that performs with the whirling circus in auckland. she is the only elephant in a circus in new zealand and she is one of only 3 elephants in the whole country. the circus is coming under alot of pressure and essentially, since she is not an asian elephant should she be "retired" her nearest potential companions are at dubbo. i have never read any articles that state their have ever been any plans for jumbo to move to australia - i was only commenting on it because, quite simply, unless she spends the rest of her life with the circus, where else is an african elephant in australasia going to go?!!

as for any potential virus' - i'm not sure if herpes or tuberculosis have ever been detected in elephants in australasia. unlike the US where its a constant cause of elephant deaths..

13-04-2006

well i was talkin about all the elephants in oz and nz circus' well theres still chances of picking up diseses from bovines, and still it would be difficul through quarintine

13-04-2006

yeah could be difficult.

because NZ has even stricter quarrintine laws than us though the australian government is usually okay with live imports from there. its not gonna happen anytime in the immediate future, but id'e really like to see australasia become circus elephant free. between dubbo and maybe australia zoo we could actually accomodate all of the animals now in our zoos.

13-04-2006

well yea it would be great, its just the money side, i mean for dubbo to support 6 more eles would be hard, making 11, and the possibility of 5 coming from taronga if tht dont play out well. i reakon a sepate zoo effort to buy property to support all circus aniomals, like tiger and lions aswell

13-04-2006

is that how many elephants are in circus in oz - six?

look i don't really think money is the issue here, or at least it shouldn't be! elephants are big, costly animals to keep but thats a responsibility the zoos have decided to take. they want to breed more elephants, expand the population - dubbo (in reality the zoo board of NSW) should be able to afford the upkeep of more elephants, because thats their long-range plan and the reason that was given to us when they asked for support of their elephant import plan. personally i have been somewhat dissapointed with the lack of interest that the major zoos have shown in providing homes for needy, often abused, circus elephants in australia.

anyhow enough on elephants in this thread...

14-04-2006

kk i more thin on the eles, there are 6 circus eles in nsw, the rest not sure, technically burma at dubbo is still owned by bullens, and steves are still owned by a circus, and i no its in the long range plan to have many eles, but the money thing is the inital imapct of getting more elephanst, 6 fully grown can be coslty, were as a baby or 2 will grow and funds can be dispursed as needs be

14-04-2006

the australia zoo elephants are owned by bullens (now defunct) circus. are you saying burma came from there originally too?

14-04-2006

yes she is still owned by the comapny bullens animal world, i no this so as i have seen documentation fromn the nsw zoo board animal cllection etc, and i have spent some time with her keepers and her of cousre