Sad news about the Jaguar and Snow Leopard. They were both euthanased last week. Muana the female jaguar was diagnosed with leukaemia a few months ago (although she is about 18 years old) and was euthanased last week. Maya, the black jaguar, turns 21 in September. Nona the snow leopard has had ongoing health problems - she was about 17. Hector the bobcat died about two months ago - again a very old cat. Gregor the snow leopard has some sort of foot cancer but fortunately there are two younger animals at the zoo. The bongos (ex Adelaide) are going in the old hoofed paddock (which until recently housed KI kangaroos). There are plans for kimodo dragons (not sure when) and the four alpacas (llamas) have arrived and the plan is to walk them around the zoo.....not sure when this is happening. There are some brown headed capucins in quarantine - looking forward to them. ......don't know what's happening next to the water treatment plant.
.............aren't there always? Although the enclosure looks a bit rough, the baboons look fit and well.
I do hope so that the Baboons are moved their health looks good but their enclosure a stand out in Melbourne for it is still modernised. I'd love to see them in an exhibit like the one in Singapore.
The baboon enclosure at MZ is absolutely terrible and there is no good reason why they should be there. MZ has succesfully adapted one of the old orang pens for De-Brazza Guenon which proves their suitabilty for a smaller primate species such as Hamadryas Baboon. My gripe is not an animal welfare one; this enclosure is consciously one of the most enriched zoo environments Ive ever seen in terms of the toys, puzzles, scatter feeds etc but as one of the main points of a zoo is to educate its patrons and illicit respect then I think this jail-cell, far from being cruel is doing the zoos' projected aim an injustice. And the conditions could easily be contrasted with the other lush zoo environments and misconstrued as cruel, damaging the zoos' public image. So for heavens sake, move them. It just cracks me up that MZ has two heritage listed 19th Century enclosures which it interprets as 'old zoo' yet it keeps animals in equally bad enclosures on the other side of the zoo. One other thing about MZ and many other major zoos is the amount of money they obviously spend on sub-exhibits; you know the sort.....the glorious aviaries and other smaller exhibits placed around the edges of any major new development like Trail of the Elephants only to sit empty just a few years later. I'd like to see MZ get some birds happening back on the trail again. The elephants are the stars of the show, but as we all know the Asian forest has a cast of thousands and it would be good to see some other wildlife in there too. Thumbs up though to the Rangers Hut building where turtles, frogs, invertebrates, gecko and snake are now all on display. The death of the jaguars is sad but has been a long time coming. With the passing of Darling Downs' jaguar and these two it looks like this species is really on its way out in Australia.
...sorry, I meant Nona the clouded leopard....... ...got confused.....snow.....clouded...... Nona (the clouded leopard) died last week and Gregor (the snow leopard) has health concerns as well.....they are all old cats, though.
I really liked Nona...I got the chance to see her once(a long, long time ago) but I haven't seen her since. In a way i guess it's good to know she was still around even though i didn't see her again. On another note-Are there any couded leopards left in Australia.
In another few years there will probably only be a handful of leopards or jaguars in the entire country! What an absolute shame.
Another day, another zoo planet! I really find it sad for you Aussies that species keep being lost to ARAZPA region for good. But then whom of you over there really would like the Biosecurity laws be updated soonish (...)? It is sort of waiting for the inevitable, is it not (extinction is forever!)? If only Biosecurity where implemented for reasons of native and exotic species conservation ..... (well in this I really can not follow your perspective through ... I am afraid)!
The interesting thing will be which species will next get the backing of ARAZPA for importation. Bongo, Indian rhino, Francois langurs and Malaysian tapir were only dreams during the 80s (not that I'm suggesting that all of them have been great successes...). For example - if there are only Sumatran tigers, African lions and snow leopards as priority big cat species then I can see a time in the not too distance future where there will be a push for another species to be imported. All of the larger city zoos could easily maintain a group or pair of each of these species and feel the need to add to it. Particularly as the small cat population seems to consist mostly of servals (another species that fell out of favour because they were not 'Asian', then fell back into favour) and a smattering of fishing cats and golden cats. If Australian zoos are intending on taking on the Gondwana theme then it is only a matter of time that the big guns will look to a South American immersion exhibit.
Steve The backbones of a South American collection are already there in Australia. Primates (various tamarins, squirrel and spider monkeys), other mammals (agouti, brazilian tapir), parrots (several species of macaw and conure), herps (anaconda, boa constrictor, iguana, basilisk, cantils, poison arrow frog, cane toad), fish (too many cichlids, tetra and catfish to choose from). There are possibly some other species that I have missed that already exist. It wouldn't be hard for several major collections to suddenly get behind displaying Neotropical species in a proper exhibit and look to improve it with selected importations of other species (dare I mention the j-word, small cat, anteater, sloth, coati). I realise that this would be departing from the mainstream Australasian collection planning of Asian rainforest and African savannah (along with the various Australian zones), but I think it is realistic suggestion.
It would be great, Tetrapod; and you have thought it out well. Maned wolves are also in Australia ( five males and five females at Dubbo, and a single female at Melbourne, according to ISIS.) As far as I am aware, spectacled bears are the only species of bear never to have been displayed here, but I'm not holding my breath about them!
My neighbour breeds alpacas and gets a magazine about the Australian Alpaca industry and he knows that I'm interested in zoo's. So He lent me the magazine because there was an article about Melbourne Zoo aquiring some alpacas from a farm for it's education program (as you've heard) but what really suprised me was the fact that it said Melbourne Zoo was gonna display them alongside the Tapirs. I was really excited when I read it. And on another note-An exhibit that I think would be really cool would be Brazilian Tapirs, capybaras and muscovy ducks in a big grassy paddock with water along the front.
Inside knowledge of Australian collections! Interesting sideline - maned wolves were kept and bred at Perth Zoo from the 80s to the early 90s. The set up and number of individuals (maybe four seperate lineages) was perfect. The enclosures were nothing more than link-mesh fences. However the species didn't fall into the 'require' zoogeographical zone and so all were deleted from the collection (I think most ended up at both Melbourne and Dubbo). A real oversight, if you ask me. I did think of extra species such as maras, maned wolves, muscovys, guanacos, rhea, quaker parrot etc. but dismissed them as not being essential Neotropical rainforest. However it does show that the range of Neotropical species available in Australia is still valid to produce a reasonable display. I think there is also a good opportunity to create a good Northern hemisphere display with the available species as well - American bison, Przewalski horse, wapiti, red deer, fallow deer, American alligator, rattlesnakes, corn/king/milk snakes, gila monster, Japanese newt, axolotl, turkey, Japanese/rhesus macaque, red panda, snow leopard, Himalayan tahr, Persian onager, various pheasants, bobwhite quail, several Asiatic long-tailed parrots, Pekin robin, Mandarin and Carolina wood ducks, Mute swan, Canada geese, freshwater gar... I've seen all these species in Australia. See you'd be surprised how much is actually in the country already, without necessarily starting to introduce Brown bears, Amur leopard and Grey wolves.
