Its a shame Auckland has dropped off being a holder but I believe Monarto will more than make up for it. If the rhino complex is anything to go by Monarto could well become the main breeding hub for hippo’s in the region given time. With two other open range zoos at Dubbo and Werribee the future for the species is looking much brighter if they can import a handful of new animals. Also it’s possible one or more of the most progressive regional zoos could become additional holders.
It’s a sad reality that Auckland Zoo will never house this species again and a great loss to the zoo. Faith and Fudge were extremely popular with the visitors and the extended rhino exhibit (waterhole) is a poor replacement. I’m expecting great things from Monarto. Even if they don’t import, they could still build up a large pod around Brindabella, Pansy and their calves. It’ll be interesting to see which small zoos/wildlife parks enter the programme in the future. The cost of importing may make this species prohibitive; but the offspring bred from imports could produce a large surplus in years to come. The ability to import may also render members of the inbred population we have now surplus as the imports take priority in breeding - which could in turn provide the smaller zoos with non breeding hippos.
Even though Auckland may never house river hippos again I couldn’t see any reason why they could not house a pair of pygmies, they don’t take up much room are easier to handle and eat far less than the big guys
I had hoped they’d import Pygmy hippopotamus and exhibit them in the old Common hippopotamus exhibit, but they’ve never featured in the zoo’s masterplan to date. Now the zoo are considering an African forest complex, they could become a possibility if they can get a IHS to import them. They’ll have 2-3 years to arrange this given Burma’s export to the USA could easily take until 2024.
A Pygmy Hippo enclosure would be nice, especially if Auckland can manage to get a species like Gorilla to replace their elephants! Maybe a better placement of enclosures would be having the Babboons move into the lion enclosure, the Lions across to the Rhinos; the Rhinos to the elephants, and then the Gorillas into the former Baboon enclosure to create a sort of smaller African Forest Area: Gorillas, Pygmy Hippo and then another species to replace Serval..
The current baboon exhibit wouldn’t be large enough for any primate bigger than a Hamadryas baboon. I’d say it’d even be too small for the Chacma baboon it was originally built for. Your idea could still work by merging the baboon exhibit with the Serval exhibit (a small extension) and ideally taking up some of the footprint of the elephant exhibit; though the elephant house (which they would presumably repurpose for the rhino) is inconveniently adjacent to the baboons. It’d probably be best to build a gorilla exhibit on the site of the elephant exhibit, which allows for expansion from behind. This means the size of the African forest complex could be adjusted based on availability of species the zoo could acquire. Personally, I’d consider phasing Southern white rhinoceros out if I was the director. They’re not endangered, they’re not enabling/crowd pulling and they take up a considerable amount of room. The ungulates sharing their exhibit could easily be integrated with the giraffes and zebra. About the only justification for keeping them is so as not to hand Hamilton Zoo a point of difference (only holder on the North Island); but in place of this exhibit they could build a flamingo aviary or a second lion exhibit - both of which would be bigger attractions.
Common Hippopotamus Update First of all thanks to @Swanson02 for this information via his visit to Monarto Safari Park. The large hippo dam at Monarto has been completed and has been test filled with water. Everything is on track for the two cows from Werribee (Brindabella and Pansy) to transfer there in 2023. Staff estimate the initial holding capacity of Monarto will be four to six hippopotami. This may increase in the future - perhaps dependent on imports, which could see a second female line established. In the meantime, the plan is presumably to create a cohesive pod from Brindabella, Pansy and their offspring. Female offspring would be retained; while Werribee and Dubbo would surely take on a bull each if there’s still no sign of these long awaited imports. Kani from Dubbo will follow once the cows have arrived - though this could be as long as 12 months later given his age. Husbandry guidelines recommend bulls aren’t introduced for breeding prior to five years of age and they can’t afford to take any risks to his safety.
It's good to see the region having faith in Monarto; loaning them the region's only remaining bull. Obviously the facilities will be amazing, and I have hope Monarto will be able to run a successful breeding program descended from Brindabella and Pansy.
Monarto will be the focal point of the breeding programme for the foreseble given they will hold the only bull in the region and no imports appear to be on horizon. Having two females that are related may allow them to form a cohesive pod.
They'll also have the facilities to hold more hippos than Werribee or Dubbo. I think Monarto may be the designated breeding hub for the region, at least in the near future with the space they have.
Monarto will initially hold 4-6 hippos. The male calves will be in demand (assuming no imports), so this will likely allow for a few calves to bred before they reach capacity via retaining females. Whether the mother and daughter can be reunited along with their respective calves will determine the pod size, but I anticipate no issues if commonsense procedures are followed i.e. isolation of mother and newborn.
If hippos are approved within the next couple of years Monarto will have its hippo holding yards/sheds built and give any other holder time to look for animals to import I assume they are putting in the foot work now as time is running out with some of the remaining animals the clock is ticking
They could possibly hold more in the future too. I'd imagine Brindabella and Pansy will both be bred immediately; and they'll both be separated with their offspring for an original period of 6 or so months. Since they're close, i'd imagine everything will be alright. Females killing other females calves mostly only occur with females who are unrelated.
My hope for Monarto is that long term they'll be able to establish a second pod derived from a second maternal line. The focus of the import will be on bulls, but unrelated cows are equally vital.
Breeding both females parallel to each other makes sense as they'll need to be seperated for six months anyway and a six month gap would see that extended to a year. Females can kill young of related hippos, but this is usually incidents involving newborns. Faith at Auckland Zoo killed her newborn sibling when she was two years old for example. Dubbo were rightly cautious to separate Cuddles and her newborns from her previous calves.
I believe Monarto could become the main breeding centre in the region for all large animal species like rhinos giraffe and hippos among others including antelope’s. It maybe become what I always hoped the Western plains zoo would become. I believe when they cut back its planned 500 acre African safari down to its present 50 acres was a mistake
Monarto have the potential to expand and indeed are open to increasing their hippo numbers. I thought your idea of them acting as an import hub for the region was an excellent one as the quarantine infrastructure needed will be quite specialised in that each hippo will need access to a submergable water area. Monarto have the space to ensure this is provided for a large numver of hippos.
If Monarto can do what is doing now with oryx and addax with other species if could be a major supplier to zoo in the region. When I think back at how badly handled some antelope species have been it makes one wonder how it can happen like one of our zoos in the past that had greater kudu with 7 females and one bull then had the bull castrated, this did nothing to maintain the species in our collections. I believe Werribee had sable and gemsbok but now gone. Populations need to be managed better, bigger numbers need to be imported to give long term stability to different species or we are going to keep losing them as we could very well do with the Bongos in the near future. I believe Monarto can be a key player for this not to keep happening
Very true. The key is to import as many founders as they have the opportunity to do so (bearing in mind reasonable constraints such as money and space). This will lead to a viable population being established long term that can sustain the region ecen if the import gap closes.
