I went to Adelaide Zoo today (30/9/09) and I thought I would list a couple of changes that have happened (in the last 10 weeks) to my knowledge of things. Progress of the panda exhibit is looking good and the new fence is up but it doesn't look like it could keep things out. A male plum-headed parakeet (could be more) and a channel-billed cuckoo have moved into the Asian Rainforest walkthrough aviary. The aviary with the gouldian finches has been extended into the aviary next to it and the male crimson chat has moved into it. The Port Lincoln parrot is not on display. The zoo has moved a pair of budgerigars into the scrub aviary and also a pair of cockatiel have moved into that aviary. The aviary on the right of it has been emptied. Three Namaqua doves (one male, two female) have moved into the red bishop aviary. The female Siamese crested fireback is not on display (may have died because it is not listed on isis). In the Australian Rainforest Walk-through aviary the three wandering whistling-ducks have moved into it from the wetland aviary. The red lories have moved into the jewels of Asia area. One of the female red junglefowl has passed away only leaving one female. Hopefully they can get a male and more females from Taronga. Now only the golden pheasant are able to breed because the others have no females and the female boobook owl has passed away. Also there was a small baby bird that was sitting on one of the perches in the gouldian finch aviary. and i could not recognise what it was s Reptiles: Another female veiled chameleon has been acquired and the eyelash palm pitvipers have moved into the reptile house. Also Macquarie turtles and eastern long-necked turtles have moved into the old otter exhibit next to the seals. Also if anyone knows how the population of star finches dropped from 50 to around 6 it would be nice to know why. Also same with the gol-shouldered parrots which population at the zoo dropped from 7 to just 2. Also if anyone wants to add news about Adelaide Zoo in any form can. Thankyou, Eclectus Parrot.
Good report Ecky - always interested to hear about Adelaide Zoo, because I haven't been there for a few years now. Last time I was there they had the best display of pheasants of any Australian zoo; quite a number of different species. What's it like now? Sounds like it's gone downhill a bit. Siamese firebacks are on the way out in Australia - very inbred. What other species have they got? And are that old pair of hippos still going strong? Despite everyone raving about hippos at Werribee and Dubbo, Adelaide is my favourite place to see them, because you can get really close and photograph them with a background of papyrus.
I think the hippos are doing fine but the pygmy hippo was in the animal hospital for a while, unsure if it is out. The hippo area has been blocked off due to the panda's exhibit construction. Adelaide has 1.0 Nepal kalij, 1.0 Siamese crested fireback, 1.0 Lady Amherst's pheasant and 2.1 golden pheasant so breeding has really stopped. They definately need to acquire some females.
actually ara, i have since been doing some detective work and (fortunately) it turns out this is not true. there are a limited number of breeders who are actually having quite decent results and seem pretty serious about preserving them with some DNA testing being done to identify different lineages. seems planted aviaries, plenty of privacy and a good diet does wonders!
Glad to be corrected about that, phoenix - it's good to know. I know they are about ten times the price of any other pheasants available in Australia. DNA testing is a wonderful tool for breeding endangered animals. I read also that Govt. authorities somewhere ( not sure which Aussie state) had brought a successful prosecution against some guy for trapping king parrots and trying to pass them off as captive bred. It seems that DNA testing proved that they were totally unrelated to his legally acquired pair which he claimed were their parents.
Don't think it's been posted yet, but i thought some may be interested to know that in November, the 43yo female common hippopotamus at AZ gave birth unexpectedly to a male calf. Sadly, but not surprisingly, it died soon after birth.
what?!!! hold on. how can this be true? - whilst particularly in the case of hippo the australian zoos are far, far too quick to write them off as post reproductive ......isn't the adelaide bull castrated?!!!
Wellthat got lost in all the hoo ha over a dead, not dead elephant calf, but I'm with Phoenix, I thought the male at Adelaide was castrated as well.
the info on the zoos website says the pair HAVR bred in the past but are now too old. the information that was posted here in the past regarding castration must have been incorrect. does anyone know if this pair have living offspring in australia?
As far as I'm aware the Adelaide bull is not castrated. (It's in New Zealand that the geniuses castrated the only male in the country.) I'm sorry to hear about this breeding failure. Adelaide's hippos were obtained as young animals from Ashton's Lion Safari, Bacchus Marsh, Victoria in 1975. The female has given birth several times over the years since but as far as I'm aware has never successfully raised a calf. A loss to the "Australian herd".
then they should pair the male with a young cow and at lest gain one additional bloodline. wait a sec - they should have done that 5, 10, 15 years ago! why is it that the zoos are so appallingly bad at managing the bloodlines of the hippos species?!!
perhaps because they were never really valued as a species in Aust. zoos? They are not elephants after all.
It depresses me that a hippo can give birth to several calves over the years yet not raise one of them. Is she just a "bad" mother? Or is the enclosure unsuitable for breeding? It might have been better if they had been removed to Monarto, although over the years and in many countries hippos have been successfully bred and reared time after time in enclosures not much bigger than your lounge room. Is the bull removed before she gives birth? Different things should have been tried - the situation should not have just been accepted the way it was.
Wow! - are you sure? I mean, that's wonderful news if it's true, and I'm glad to be corrected, but are you certain, or just speculating? If so, where are the calves now? Adelaide only has the original pair, and there are none at Monarto.
I was able to get some information from one of the Adelaide Zoo keepers while I was there recently. The female hippopotamus (Suzie) has raised 14 calves at her time at Adelaide Zoo. The male hippopotamus (Brutus) has fathered them all.
