does anyone know which Japanese zoo the original pair of Francois langurs at Taronga came from in 2004? The 2010 pair came from Beijing Zoo, but all I could find for the 2004 pair was "a zoo in Japan" or "they came from Japan" with nothing actually named.
I think they came from Nagoya Zoo (which I guess would make sense since Sydney and Nagoya are sister cities and Taronga sent them a male gorilla in 2007 in return which from what I have heard wasn't exactly part of the EEP plan).
...and with the addition of the word Nagoya to my search terms I instantly got a hit! Zoos Celebrate Sister City Relationship | Taronga
Higashiyama Zoo received a pair of wombats from Taronga Zoo in return for the langurs Hanoi and Saigon. I think it was really lucky the langurs could leave Higashiyama; most of the exhibits there are horrible, and the primate exhibits are the worst of the worst... By the way, are Elke and Bobo still off exhibit? Any changes in the other group after Nuoc's death?
they have 3.4 at the moment. Just out of interest, does anyone know what the Beijing pair were swapped for (if they were swapped)? Beijing Zoo has an Australian section so it could have been wallabies or something like that.
It appears that Saigon has been sent elsewhere and a new female called 'Noelle' has replaced her, with Hanoi intended to be replaced by Bobo. Read her for more information: https://www.flickr.com/photos/55369298@N00/15053867828/
I never imagined all these changes would take place so soon... I must visit Taronga in the near future. Thank you both for the information.
interesting. It actually says "new females" plural (and mentions two). And the 3.4 I said originally implies that the original male Hanoi has already gone if there are two bred male young and Bobo as well). All confusing. How great would it be if all the zoos kept updates of their animals on their websites! Difficult to keep up with changes to this sort of thing: first they are a priority, then they're phase out, then they're going to send them to Mogo, then they are importing new females again.....
I've been trying to get a handle on all the Francois Langur operations at Taronga. There's a few pieces missing. Francois Langurs at Taronga: 2004: one pair imported from Nagoya Zoo (Japan): male Hanoi and female Saigon. So 1.1 total at the zoo. March 2009: female Elke born (first offspring at the zoo), making 1.2 total. April 2010: male Gan Ju born, died about 3 weeks later. So still 1.2 total. 2010: a second pair imported from Beijing Zoo (China): male Bobo and female Meili. (Meili was placed with the original pair; Bobo was paired with Elke). So now 2.3 total. Jan 2011: male Keo-co born (to Hanoi and Saigon), making 3.3 total. August 2011: male Tam Dao born (to Hanoi and Meili), making 4.3 total. *The census for the end of 2012 says 4.4, which means a female must have been born or imported during 2012 but I haven't been able to find anything on that. June 2013: female Nuoc born, died one month later. So still 4.4 total. *The census for the end of 2013 says 3.4, which means that a male has died or left the zoo (perhaps Hanoi left in 2013?). *The comment on Flickr (see the previous post) says that in May this year (2014) the original female Saigon had left the zoo (which would take them down to 3.3) but two new females had arrived (from where?), which would take them up to 3.5?
Reading the flickr comments I got the impression that this person probably did know about the addition of a new female in 2012, and Noelle and the other new female were the ‘two new females’ to this person since he or she did not know that Saigon had left. That makes the number of females correct – Meili, Elke, Noelle and the other one. Regarding the males, I have no idea which one of Hanoi, Keo-co or Tam Dao left, but I wouldn’t imagine the zoo would keep two juvenile males at this point. Saigon’s son Keo-co might be kept because Elke is the only female related to him, but if Meili keeps producing offspring, then keeping Tam Dao may not be a good choice… I just don’t know.
It is a bigger shame that Taronga has not collaborated with other zoos to import various groups into the region!
The taronga animals are managed as part of the EEP, with animals transferring between the two populations
The issue is that one zoo is holding the entire captive population of a species in the region, common (but unfortunate) in doing so! Instead of being able to manage different langur species at the same time there are Francois only at Taronga while dusky only at Adelaide. I don't understand why various zoos cannot hold different species while still being effectively maintained in the region (or even holding different species at the same location, I wish!).
Male Hanoi left on 17/04/2013 to Belfast, but died there on 7/2/2014. Female Noel arrived on 12/11/12 from Rotterdam Female Saigon left on 30/04/2014 to Howletts Sydney now has Elke, Meili, Keo-co, Tam-Dao, Noel and Bobo I do not know anything about two new females.
Thank you for sorting this out, persimon. By the way, do you know what the cause of the death of Hanoi was?
Maybe he became ill after he reached Belfast...? Hanoi's death must have been really unexpected; he was still 13 or 14 and his years at Taronga proved his fertility.
thanks persimon. So the current total is 3.3 at Taronga, as follows: Francois Langurs at Taronga: 2004: one pair imported from Nagoya Zoo (Japan): male Hanoi and female Saigon. So 1.1 total at the zoo. March 2009: female Elke born (first offspring at the zoo), making 1.2 total. April 2010: male Gan Ju born, died about 3 weeks later. So still 1.2 total. 2010: a second pair imported from Beijing Zoo (China): male Bobo and female Meili. (Meili was placed with the original pair; Bobo was paired with Elke). So now 2.3 total. Jan 2011: male Keo-co born (to Hanoi and Saigon), making 3.3 total. August 2011: male Tam Dao born (to Hanoi and Meili), making 4.3 total. November 2012: female Noel imported from Blijdorp Zoo (Netherlands), making 4.4 total. April 2013: original male Hanoi exported to Belfast Zoo (Ireland), making 3.4 total. June 2013: female Nuoc born, died one month later. So still 3.4 total. April 2014: original female Saigon exported to Howletts Wild Animal Park (UK), making 3.3 total.
