I visited today and the exhibit was a circus with all the newspaper photographers, FOTZ volunteers answering guests questions and visitors trying to get a glimpse...I did but only breifly.
just a couple of years ago melbourne had a multiple female colobus monkeys with their male and his offspring. was it due to deaths or movement within the breeding program that saw them now holding only one breeding pair?
Last time I visited Melbourne there were at least six colobus. Would be good to know the answer. And are two subspecies definately bred together?
yes - guereza colobus are definitely managed at the species level in australia. and i'm pretty sure melbourne's pair represent different races.
I'm sure we covered this on another thread - originally Melbourne and Perth stocks were from different subspecies. Both have bred successfully and powers that be have decided to manage at species-level rather than go with one subspecies.
Thank heavens for Melbourne Zoo - the only decent collection of monkey species in Australia! Other Aussie zoo's monkey collections range from pathetic to almost non-existent!
ring tail lemurs ruffed lemurs slow loris (off display) brown capuchins spider monkeys cotton-top tamarin emperor tamarin golden lion tamarin pygmy marmoset squirrel monkey (off display) lion-tailed macaque (off display?) hamadryas baboon mandrill de brazza guenon guereza colobus javan langur white-cheeked gibbon siamang gibbon sumatran orang-utan western gorilla do they ever - thats 20 species!!!
So why don't the other mainstream zoos have a better representation of primates, apart from apes? Any theories? (I've got a few!)
Melbourne has a few hanger-oners from the past that once they die they won't be replaced. For instance the de brazzas, slow loris and lion-tailed macaques. And the lion-tailed macaques were on display on my last visit.
I see no reason to not have slow loris, Surely we can import them, theres seems to be a surplus with confistacated ones in Singapore, And they dont take up much room.! Please Excuse me....I am in an ARAZPA hating mood today.
"Hating" wastes energy, makes you sour and achieves nothing. Redirect that intensity into doing something constructive to change a situation that you disagree with. And when you change the ARAZPA stance on Slow Loris, we'll take a pair for the planned South-east Asian walkthrough. They won't harm the Nicobars will they???
Just clarifying I dont "Hate" ARAZPA, maybe hate was too strong of a word. Well whats done in done ...
