Monarto Safari Park Monarto Safari Park News 2024

No need to worry about land acquisition, the zoo itself is 1,500 hectares. It is legit larger then game parks in Africa.

 

All the accredited zoos in Australia can fit inside monarto and there's still a bit of room. Problem is the land is kinda dry, and need water pumped to it constantly.

 

The new ponds in wild Africa will help to change that, I wonder if they have any dams on site. The recent La Niña has been kind to the Murray darling basin and its tributaries. They have had plenty of water.

 

No dams, but we're getting some water lines put in to help fill the water holes



Permai, Putra Mas, Pak Boon, and Tang Mo will have at least one deep water hole to splash in. Water isn't cheap though, hope we don't go broke haha. Can't wait for the ellies to join us.

 

There’s an article about Monarto’s water supply here, which may be of interest:

10 million litres of water flow into Monarto Safari Park's waterholes to enhance animal habitat

Monarto Safari Park’s largest waterhole stores up to 15 million litres of water and has been purpose-built for the hippos, with a maximum depth of three metres, enabling them to swim.

 

At least the ponds are large, it will be interesting to see how they hold up in the next drought. Or whether the zoo will need to rely on the pip work being put in.

 

Elephant profiles:

Monarto have posted an elephant profile/intro for Pak Boon (as they have done for the three previous elephants).

Pak Boon’s dominant personality is noted and it certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see her emerge as matriarch following the introduction of her and Tang Mo to Burma and Permai.

From socials:

Introducing Pak Boon!

Pak Boon is Thai for ‘Morning Glory’ flower, and she was born in 1992. Keepers describe Pak Boon as talkative and energetic and note she enjoys her daily baths. She has a dominant personality and is the top of the hierarchy.

We can't wait to welcome Pak Boon from Taronga Zoo Sydney to the park in mid-2025!

 

I just hope burma or permai don't try to become matriarch over each other too soon, and then pak boon comes in a couple of weeks later, and there's fights. I'm sure they've got this, but that is a point of concern.

 

It will certainly be a challenge for Monarto’s keepers given they’re mixing four elephants from three different herds. While I don’t work with any of the elephants and can only go off what I know, I think there’s a very strong likelihood of Pak Boon emerging as the matriarch. Burma became the martriach by default when Anjalee joined her as an adolescent, but never really demonstrated a drive to dominate in the way Pak Boon has/does. She’s quick to put Tang Mo in her place by all accounts. As for Permai, I imagine she’d assimilate well into the herd as she’s not a dominant personality nor has she ever been a matriarch. Of course there’s no gurantees here.

Ultimately the herd will take a very different tracjectory to Werribee’s herd in that Monarto will only have one reproductively viable cow. They’ll surely hope for daughters to generate some level of succession. Long term, the herd will derive solely from one matriline; though we hope Tang Mo will be with us for many decades to come (and of course Burma and Permai for a while yet).

 

With 5 different paddocks, I wouldnt be surprised to see Burma and permai kept in one and park boon and tang mo kept in another. At least for the short to medium term to enable them to settle and get used to each other presence. That way they can gradually assimilate the two groupings together over time once familiarity occurs. And that way Burma and permai can build up a bond with each other. The last thing they would want is three forming a cohesive herd and one being excluded.

 

Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if the introductions happen quickly. Bear in mind that pregnancy hormones can affect a cow’s behaviour and that they’ll want to avoid introductions during that period; as well as when they have a newborn in the herd. Let it go on any longer and the calf will soon be at weaning age (when they want to avoid exposing the herd to stress due to EEHV concerns).

In any case, bonds can take years to build up - as evidenced by the pairs held by Auckland Zoo over the years. Isolating Burma and Permai wouldn’t achieve much in that regard.

 

Sad to see no mention of her having previous calves

nor mentioning the desire to breed from her in the future. Have Monarto even confirmed they intend to breed elephants yet?

 

I agree. It’d be nice if Tukta (2010-2018) and Jai Dee (2017-2021) had been mentioned in acknowledging her life in Australia to date.

Yes, they have confirmed breeding via their FAQ’s:

The initial two female elephants that could come to Monarto Safari Park are past breeding age. As we move to expand our herd we will work with the Asian Elephant Regional Breeding Program to increase our breeding capacity.

Pak Boon and Tang Mo were obviously accepted as the two on offer; but it’s my opinion a second reproductively viable elephant (ideally Thong Dee) would have been a good addition. Putra Mas and Pak Boon will take a while to build up numbers (2-3 calves over the next decade).

 

I dare say that's intentional.
Lets face it, if our regional program was serious about building up numbers. There would have been more calves born at Dubbo and taronga by now. Especially with the numbers of calves lost out of the program so far.

ETA western plains zoo has more then enough space to accomodate increased elephant breeding and capacity. The zoo is far larger then Werribee, with just about as many species.

 

I think we probably are overthinking it, there are very few cases where Asian elephant cows as socially experienced as these 4 have not integrated well. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has thrown close to a dozen circus cows together over the years without any major social issues. Impressive considering circus elephants tend to be more socially stunted than these 4 cows who have all lived in some form of natural hierarchy. Asians in the wild live in a more fission-fusion setup anyway hence integrating with strange elephants is nowhere near as hard for them as it is for Africans.

IMO Monarto will likely integrate them ASAP, if Pak Boon does get a little too pushy they will probs separate them before attempting a second introduction. In no way can I see Pak Boon getting maliciously violent. The only elephant I worry about is Burma, she seems to enjoy her alone time so might be distant from the other three. Whereas Permai seems much more reliant on other elephants for guidance and communication.

 

Yes, I get the impression Monarto are happy to build up their numbers slowly versus Werribee, which have a larger complex and are already planning for a second cohort of calves.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Putra Mas sire 2-3 calves and then as his daughters are approaching reproductive age, transfer to Werribee. It’s at this point Monarto could receive a bull from Werribee, Dubbo or Sydney to establish the next generation around Pak Boon’s daughters.

 

What's Tang Mo's history?

 

Born 1999 in Thailand. Imported 2006. Very fond of Gung in the early days, dominated him; but he preferred the smaller/less confident Thong Dee.

As Gung matured, he showed interest in Tang Mo, but she would pull away and not let him complete the mating. It was noted Tang Mo has a narrow reproductive tract, which may have made mating uncomfortable. A positive pregnancy test was achieved following AI, but the pregnancy didn’t progress. Tang Mo is now 25 years old and considered a non-viable breeder.

 

Yeah was never going to be one or the other with Tang Mo and Pak. They would be devastated without each other. Had to go together. I think clearly they just didn't want to give away thong dee, and clearly aren't that serious about breeding. However, maybe in the future thong dee will make the trip.

It may well be that Thong Dee is planned down the line, and perhaps a male import too. But currently it seems they're just focused on getting the current group settled before adding more imo. The Monarto elephant exhibit under construction right now is just phase 1, there are more expansions planned in the future for a larger herd, so maybe we'll see some imports from thailand or Werribie or TWPZ. I don't think just having pak boon breeding in the future is a viable option, needs to be more, for such a large site.

 

At least by Monarto receiving Pak Boon and Tang Mo, who have lived together for many years, that’s the hierarchy partially resolved. I’m not saying Thong Dee would have disrupted things (she’s not a dominant personality), but it would have been an additional complication. Thong Dee last gave birth 2016, so unless she conceives in the next two years, it’s unlikely she’ll be able to conceive again. She’s well represented via her eldest son, so I think they’re accepting of that being her fate.

I don’t believe Monarto will acquire more elephants in the future as once the herd is settled, they’ll be a reluctance to rock the boat. If Pak Boon fails to produce a daughter/daughters, it may become a necessity, but I’m of the opinion it’s their intention going forward to form a herd around Pak Boon. Even globally, she’s a genetically valuable female and Putra Mas is the region’s most genetically valuable bull. Three calves from them is no bad thing, with even a bull calf having more applications than any Melbourne/Werribee bull calf such as Roi-Yim.