Meerkat Pups: Adelaide Zoo welcomes new meerkats Meerkats born at Adelaide Zoo last month have taken their first steps outside. "The pups are absolutely tiny, probably tipping the scales at about 100 grams each," Adelaide Zoo keeper Jenna Hollamby said. The five pups born in late July- the zoo's first in seven years - have spent the first few weeks of their lives in burrows and are now just venturing out under the watchful eyes of their parents Miney and Swazi.
African Lion, Yizi has died at the age of 16 Adelaide Zoo's lioness Yizi dies after procedure to investigate mane growth - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Giant Panda Breeding Season Starting Soon 2017 Giant Panda breeding season imminent Spring is in the air and all signs indicate Adelaide Zoo's Giant Pandas are close to entering their annual breeding season. Adelaide Zoo’s veterinary and keeping teams are finalising preparations as physiological and behavioural signs show Wang Wang and Fu Ni are approaching their 36 hour breeding window. A Giant Panda reproductive specialist from the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda has arrived in Adelaide to help support breeding season activities. Adelaide Zoo staff are being supported by reproductive fertility scientists from Repromed who will analysing regular urine samples to determine the peak of Fu Ni’s oestrous cycle. Adelaide Zoo Senior Panda Keeper Jaimee Foote said the behaviour changes indicate Wang Wang and Fu Ni are ready for their yearly breeding season. “Over the past few days, Fu Ni and Wang Wang’s activity levels have increased and they’re displaying classic panda breeding season behaviours, including prolonged pacing, scent-marking, and tree climbing,” Jaimee said. “Fu Ni has an extremely short window of fertility, lasting approximately 36 hours a year, so we’re ready to work round the clock to maximise the chances of a positive result. “Giant Pandas have an incredibly unique reproductive biology. As a result, it can be difficult for a panda to become pregnant, and even more difficult to confirm a pregnancy and achieve a subsequent birth – but the team will be doing everything we can to give them every chance of success. “Although Wang Wang and Fu Ni arrived almost eight years ago, this year marks our fourth genuine attempt at an artificial insemination, and we are excited to be closer than ever before to achieving our ultimate goal of welcoming a Giant Panda cub to Adelaide Zoo,” Jaimee said. Adelaide Zoo Senior Veterinarian Dr Ian Smith says a natural mating is the preferred option for breeding pandas, however the team would be doing everything they could to help Wang Wang and Fu Ni on their journey to parenthood. “We were extremely pleased with last year’s artificial insemination procedures, with results again confirming that Wang Wang’s semen is of a high quality,” Ian said. “Artificial insemination has played an important role in the captive breeding of Giant Pandas around the world due to the species’ unique reproductive biology, but it doesn’t guarantee a pregnancy and subsequent birth. “There’s every chance that Fu Ni has been pregnant in the past and miscarried; their complicated reproductive biology presents a number of challenges in determining this. “What we’re undertaking at Adelaide Zoo is valuable research which will continue to improve global understanding of panda reproduction and improve our chances of success.” The Adelaide Zoo veterinary team will again be assisted by a host of external support. “At this point, reproductive specialists at Repromed are stepping in to help pinpoint the exact time of ovulation through analysing urine samples,” Ian said. “As soon as we see the peak in Fu Ni’s levels of oestrogen and an increase in progesterone levels, we’ll know that she has recently ovulated and if we don’t see a natural mating, we’ll proceed to artificial insemination.” With less than 1,864 Giant Pandas living in the wild, Wang Wang and Fu Ni are powerful ambassadors for their species and since arriving in Australia they’ve played an important part in international Giant Panda conservation and research. Adelaide Zoo’s Bamboo Forest will be closed for the next three days unless further advised to maximise the chance of success. For up to date information on the Giant Pandas, please visit the Adelaide Zoo website. Regular breeding updates will be provided on the Adelaide Zoo Facebook page.
that's a weirdly-specific number to be "less than". Their source for the number was clearly the recent media reports on how the Giant Panda has been brought down to Vulnerable from Endangered status. That number of course is an estimate from surveys, but Adelaide have added on "less than" to, I guess, make it sound even more rare. I can't see any others which say "less than" (or "fewer than"). Most of the article I see say "there are 1864" or "only 1864" or wording like that, as if they went out and counted every single panda to the last individual. Only a few articles phrase it more correctly, as "about 1864" or "at least 1864". Bizarrely, even the WWF site gives the impression of treating 1864 as an exact number. What the IUCN actually says is: The Fourth National Survey (2011-2014) produced an estimated range-wide population of 1,864 Giant Pandas, excluding dependent young <1.5 years of age (State Forestry Administration 2015). Although no formal demographic analysis is available, there are demographic data available to enable estimation of age-related population composition (Sichuan Forestry Department 2015): if the population consists of 9.6% cubs, then the total population of Pandas is approximately 2,060. Mature adults are estimated to compose 50.5% of the total population, yielding an estimate of 1,040. Although this estimate does not contain confidence intervals, clearly the lower confidence interval would fall below 1,000 mature individuals, which meets the small population size criteria (D1) for Vulnerable.
interestingly, with regards to the above meerkat babies being the first at Adelaide Zoo in seven years, I just got the Zoos SA newsletter email which (in relation to announcing two meerkat babies at Monarto) says that "As a conservation charity that exists to save species from extinction, Zoos SA is proud to have bred more than 80 Meerkats since 1993."
Also in the newsletter was the news that their 41-year-old male Aldabra Tortoise named Tati has died of septicaemea, believed to be connected to a failure of one of the heating systems in the enclosure. The zoo still has the female Aonika. There have been a few sad deaths of well-known - mostly elderly - animals at Adelaide this year: Susie the hippo, Karta the orangutan, Yizi the lioness, Kemiri the tiger, Miss C the last two-toed sloth in Australia, and Butala the last Matschie's tree kangaroo in Australia.
I wonder if that includes pups that have died prematurely? I've heard of litters as large as 7 so imagine 80 meerkats could easily be born over 15-20 litters, assuming an average of 4-5 pups per litter.
Mandrill born, first birth in 6 years at the zoo. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1764572510513377
A couple of updates from the zoo today - A pair of jabiru have gone on display in the walk through wetlands aviary. - The capybara exhibit was blocked off with a sign indicating that some babies had been born this morning. - The nocturnal has undergone a few movements. The bilbies have moved to the former sloth enclosure with a quokka now housed in 2/3 of their enclosure with the rest empty. The former quoll enclosure has potoroos and squirrel gliders with the quoll now next door in the former squirrel glider enclosure. 3 of the fish tanks have also been covered with black plastic. - A sign indicated that two new koalas will arrive before Christmas. - The main tiger exhibit has undergone renovation. The underwater viewing area was removed and the tiger can now come up to the glass with a training wall now located on the wall adjoining the orang-utan exhibit. - The former matschie's tree kangaroo exhibits are being renovated and should be ready for the goodfellow's tree kangaroos before the end of the year. - The former green anaconda exhibit is now home to Gippsland water dragons. The juvenile freshwater crocodiles have been replaced with juvenile saltwater crocodiles.
The species coordinator must have heard all our complaining on here about the lack of mandrills in recent years and decided to revitalise the breeding programme at Adelaide. Jokes aside, hopefully this birth is an indication that the region, or at least the Adelaide and Tasmania Zoos have no plans to phase out this species any time soon. Now if we can just get Altina, Darling Down's, Hunter Valley and Mogo Zoo on board, this species will be sorted. We all know Taronga will have no interest in this charismatic, colourful, endangered primate that would be the perfect addition to any African division.
You could be right maybe you could of added the Symbio wildlife Park to that list, Again it appears the smaller regional zoos may pick up the weight the big guys cant carry. What is happening to our Major zoos????
The Annual Report for 2016-17 for Zoos SA has been put online. https://www.zoossa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Zoos-SA-Annual-Report-2016-17-for-web.pdf Amongst animal news noted for Adelaide Zoo: *Births of Hamadryas Baboon, White-cheeked Gibbon, and Golden Lion Tamarin. *Departures of Golden Lion Tamarin (male to Wellington), Mandrill (male to Tasmania Zoo), Red Panda (male to Australia Zoo), Capybara (castrated male and a female to Hunter Valley, leaving only the original trio at Adelaide), Small-clawed Otter (2.1 to National Zoo), Siamang (2.1 family to Darling Downs), Serval (male to Altina), and two female Hamadryas Baboons (from Wellington; were sent to Melbourne). *Arrivals of male Golden Lion Tamarin (from Mogo), female Small-clawed Otter (from Auckland), and a male Maned Wolf in August 2016 and a female in June 2017 (both from Altina, and just for display not breeding). *Deaths of the female Two-toed Sloth, the last two African Wild Dogs, the female Dusky Langur, their Binturong, the Orangutan Karta and baby, and Sumatran Tiger Kemiri.
Yes, the group presently consists of two male and two female siblings. I find it very sad that the region isn't going to be including this species in its plans; they really are an enchanting little primate. Adelaide Zoo displays the species beautifully, and there might have been so much potential for other zoos to do the same.
I have been saying the same thing for ages. I can't believe the zoos in this country are prepared to display primates which don't look half as beautiful as dusky langurs, yet they are prepared to let this species fall by the wayside. I also think that the enclosure at Adelaide Zoo (which they share with the Malayan tapirs) is my favourite animal enclosure in the whole of Australia. Such a pity that Australian zoos are not continuing with this species....
I wish they would name animals involved in imports and exports, although I'm guessin the female otter from Auckland Zoo is the young female born a couple of years ago (2015/2016)?
See the reference above to 'saving species from extinction'. If the present trend continues, in a few years time there will only BE Meerkats.
Another sad loss for Adelaide Zoo with Tuan the tiger passing away yesterday, does this mean that the zoo doesn't have any tigers at the moment? Adelaide Zoo farewells Tuan the Sumatran Tiger
