as noted by zooboy28 in the Wellington Zoo news thread, Wellington no longer has otters. Of their elderly pair, one has just died and the other was sent to Brooklands Zoo this week to join their elderly pair. The zoos in NZ with otters will therefore be Auckland (with breeding animals), Brooklands (with elderly animals), Orana (with all males) and Willowbank (with breeding animals).
Natureland now has pigmy marmosets and agoutis from Wellington Zoo, as noted by Nisha here: http://www.zoochat.com/17/natureland-zoo-news-350498/ I'm pretty sure Natureland had agoutis in the past (a long time ago) but this is the first time they have had pigmy marmosets.
Does anyone here know when Chinchillas first became illegal to own in Southland? I am asking because of this: Happiness is meeting a chinchilla | Stuff.co.nz
I actually phrased it badly in my list. They are illegal to breed and sell in Southland. They can be kept if a permit is obtained from Environment Southland and the animals are incapable of breeding (i.e. neutered).
Auckland Zoo now has Capybaras, the first in the country since the early 1990s. See http://www.zoochat.com/17/auckland-zoo-news-2015-a-397589/index2.html Also, Hamilton now has a female Fishing Cat (previously just a male, after the last female died in 2012). See http://www.zoochat.com/17/hamilton-zoo-news-2015-a-398452/
One of the UK livestock transport companies (they do a lot of zoo animal transports) has posted a photo on there Facebook, of 1.1 Crested Porcupines who passed through Heathrow on there way to New Zealand recently - no named collections (other than it appears they've come from somewhere in the UK) but possibly going to Orana?
the photo is here for anyone who wants to see it: https://www.facebook.com/jcslivesto...08942760116/10155417914480117/?type=1&theater I suspect they are going to Wellington.
I wonder if, in say 2020, the new species will equal or outnumber the losses? Highly unlikely, as there are a few odds and ends that will drop off soon (there are several species now represented by single elderly females), but I think we can expect a few new species too, with Orana's Gorillas another species expected this year.
Wellington now has otters again (the above post was from November 2014), with a bachelor group of five males imported from Perth Zoo.
So I just randomly spotted this article about Auckland Zoo's capybara, which obviously didn't include any original research, but does quote one of the Auckland keepers as saying: "Hamilton had one 20 or so years ago, and to our knowledge it escaped and no one ever found it again", which is somewhat interesting. Whole article below. Full article here: Capybaras Are The Best | TVShows | 3 News
I like David Farrier, he's a quirky guy. Plus he undertook an expedition in 2009 to try and find the Mongolian Death Worm. Any evidence of capybara escape from Hamilton would be in MAF files from the early/mid-1990s and probably not on the internet in any form.
Anjalee, Auckland Zoo's second Asian elephant, arrived in the country today after her quarantine period in Niue. http://www.zoochat.com/17/new-elephant-anjalee-403650/#post883828
The gorillas have arrived at Orana Park and are out of quarantine. See this thread: http://www.zoochat.com/17/gorillas-arrive-new-zealand-419626/ These are the first Gorillas ever in NZ, and are the first "new" species brought into the country by Orana since Common Waterbuck in 2004. ("New" as in not currently in the country at the time). Prior "new" species imported by Orana were North and South African Porcupines in 1995, and before that Addra and Sable Antelope in 1990.
Hamilton has imported eight female Blackbuck earlier this month from Altina in Australia, bringing some sorely-needed new blood into the country. See in this thread: http://www.zoochat.com/17/hamilton-zoo-news-2015-a-398452/index3.html
that porcupine pair were indeed destined for Wellington Zoo. In other changes (which I forgot to mention previously) the last female Sable and Red Kangaroo at Orana apparently died last year, and they were the last of their respective species in the country.
Our very first export! What an awesome experience in our new QT area! Hamilton were a pleasure to work with throughout the entire process and the 8 gorgeous 1yr old females consisted of 3 different bloodlines which will hopefully give them a fair bit of playing room for breeding in the years to come!
