Altina Wildlife Park Altina Wildlife Park News 2022

A male Scottish Highland Cattle calf has been born. He has been named Gruffalo.

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Three Banteng have recently been born at Altina Wildlife Park. Information from their Facebook page.

 

1.0 Kei (2006) has arrived at Altina on loan from Mogo for breeding with the park's two females - Altina Wildlife Park

 

Hope he will be happy with rhino cows Mango and Tat too.

 

I was a little surprised that breeding never occurred in the time Mtoto and the cows were together. Considering females give birth to their first calf around 7-8 years, there was at least 1-2 years where breeding could have occurred.

Mtoto was small, like his parents, which may have been a factor (cows prefer larger bulls). Hopefully Kei has better luck.

 

So unlike the term ‘loan’ that is commonly banded around re. breeding programmes (to remind people these animals aren’t bought and sold), this is literally a loan.

This source states it will be around 12-18 months depending on how soon pregnancy is achieved: White rhino visiting Altina for conservation program

It’s hard to say how successful this will be, as it’s been a common scenario for one female to conceive and the other to not within Australasia’s herds - but the arrival of a new bull will hopefully stimulate both cows to cycle/remain cycling in the short term, during which they will hopefully conceive.

Otherwise all this effort could be for the conception of a single calf (hopefully to Tatu considering she’s a founder) and Mogo Zoo will be left with two bulls which can never be reintroduced.

 

It might be worth noting that Mogos bulls are already unable to be housed together and have been for some time. They only have one on display at a time and the other off display, so in terms of reduced management problems and feed costs this is really a win-win for both facilities.

 

I suspected that might have been the case. It’s what contributed to Auckland Zoo exporting Mtoto (2004-2021) to Altina, who’d previously lived in a bachelor herd with his father and older brother.

Mogo may not be in a rush to receive Kei back then, which would be beneficial to Altina in giving them time to breed. As Tatu is a founder, it’d be great if they had time to get a couple of calves from her (one born; one conceived) prior to Kei’s return.

 

As far as I am aware trying to house bull rhinos together in fraught with problems I can’t see why this is even attempted unlike elephants where its possible,Whats the idea behind it, it has not worked in a number of Regional zoos

 

It’s most useful function has been of that as a temporary solution to a problem (a surplus of bulls).

To use Auckland’s bachelor herd of 3.0 as example: when it was formed in 2007, there weren’t available female herds for these three bulls to go into. Fast forward a few years and the youngest son was sent to Australia; the father was paired with a female; and the eldest son is acting as a stimulant bull.

It’s also been useful in biding time until a bull reaches the age he’ll successfully mate with females. A three year old bull is coming a hindrance to his sire, but won’t be accepted by cows as a mate for at least five years. This was the case for Kifaru (2009), who initially lived in a bachelor herd and is now a breeding bull at Werribee.

 

I would of thought the finding of new holders would of been the first and a better option than housing them in close proximity

 

It was probably a combination of trial and error (now we know bachelor herds don’t work long term; back then there was hope) in conjunction with playing the percentages - there were no holders then; but they realised ones would come about within the time it’d take the bachelor herd to reach simmering point.

Going back 20 years, a Southern white rhinoceros birth was still very much a novelty. The first birth in a New Zealand zoo wasn’t until 1999 and Hamilton Zoo didn’t achieve regular breeding until the following decade. Like gorillas in Europe, male offspring are fast becoming difficult to place long term.

 

Unfortunately, even in the first generation breeding is far from assured.

Having said that I assume chances at Altina are good.

 

I’m hoping it’ll be successful, especially given Tatu is a founder.

Altina will have the advantage of introducing a mature bull to two unfamiliar young females. A number of the failed reproductive pairings in the region (both in founder and first generation cows) have been from rhinos introduced prior to reaching reproductive maturity.

Hopefully the novelty of a new bull will be enough to offset any issues surrounding reproductive suppression between the cows, allowing both to conceive - even if long term, one suppresses the other.

 

Altina's female Spotted Hyena, Malika, that was imported last year as part of a sibling pair has now been successfully introduced to one of their original unrelated males, Makali. This creates a valuable potential breeding pair of hyenas for the region - reported on their FB page.

 

Previously been just a reader but my cousin visited Altina and had lots of news to report back after their horse and cart tour that I thought might interest others.

Supposedly lots of babies in almost all the hoof stock exhibits. He had photos of young Rusa Deer, Hog Deer, Red Deer, Fallow Deer, Elk, Himalayan Tahr, Barbary Sheep, Addax Antelope, Indian Blackbuck, Eland, Water Buffalo and Bison. Also a photo of a group of ostrich chicks in an exhibit next to the adult ostriches.

In the walk around section they spotted a young looking Ring Tailed Lemur and a couple of very young Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies.

Also looking at their Facebook today, Common Marmoset triplets have also been born this Easter.

Very exciting was when he asked the guide if any new species were being added this year, it was confirmed that certainly one, and possibly two were well in the works for this year. Couldn't get an answer as to what they are however.

 

Thank you for the update news. They are a very progressive zoo

 

Three (2.1) Maned Wolf pups have been born at Altina. Both parents were imports so these pups are valuable for the region - the male Pepe came from Sweden and female Tepin from the United States. The park is home to almost 30 wolves and remains the stronghold for them regionally: Log into Facebook | Facebook

 

Excellent news they have been the flag carriers for the species within the region.
A very progressive zoo

 

It’s exciting news that the pups have been born to two imported wolves (founders), making them valuable additions to the regional population. Altina’s dedication to the species is admirable. It’s a great shame they don’t readily share information on their holdings as the data would make for fascinating reading.