Camelids in NZ Majority of pure guanaco left in NZ are at my farm, Big Ears Llama Ranch, North Canterbury. DNA testing has shown them to be pure ( ie not hybridised with alpaca/vicuna ) although in some cases back breeding to llama is evident in their phenotype. Advances in DNA analysis capabilities has allowed scientists in SA to confirm that the guanaco is in fact a wild llama and conversely that the llama is a domesticated guanaco. But the guanaco is still alive, well and being bred in NZ. Cheers Keith
Natureland now has Cottontop Tamarins (spare males from Hamilton Zoo). These are the only ones in the South Island. Natureland welcome Cotton-top Tamarins - Nelson Live
Do you have any evidence where Alpaca fit in this? Is it a domesticated form of Vicuna, or another branch/type of domesticated Guanaco?
llama/alpaca Yes, scientists in SA have determined that llama are domesticated guanaco and alpaca have the same relationship with vicuna. Two major factors which influence the phenotype of present day llama and alpaca are morphology changes which accompany the change from wild to domestic and the extent of hybridisation ( llama/alpaca ), they have estimated that up to 90% of alpaca in SA have been hybridised since the Spanish toppled the Inca and up to 50% of llama. If you are interested I can direct you towards scientific studies which support this. Cheers
a few months late with the news, but the last ruffed lemur at Willowbank was put to sleep in October due to health issues.
Wellington Zoo has a female Bongo on display - the only one in NZ. See https://wellingtonzoo.com/news/meet-our-newest-visitor-maisha-the-bongo/ She will be exported to Australia after a one-year stay in NZ, and when that happens I will move Bongo from this list (current mammals) to the list of former mammals.
Wellington now has Capybara, with 1.3 imported from the Parc Zoologique de Paris (France). The only other Capybara in NZ are at Auckland, with 1.0 from Chester Zoo (UK) and 0.2 from Adelaide Zoo (Australia). I think Auckland is expecting babies from their females soon. https://wellingtonzoo.com/news/capybaras-touch-down-at-wellington-zoo/
I thought she would be around for a few more years yet. As an item of interest, Californian Sealion is the first exotic mammal species "lost" to the country since 2014. None were lost in 2015 but that year three "new" mammals made their appearance, with capybara, gorilla and bongo.
I'm quite sad she has died, the big sealions were especially impressive in that exhibit, and the comparisons with fur seals was brilliant. If only a Hookers needing rescuing... A graph of total number of exotic species in NZ by year would be interesting....
Faith, the last hippo in New Zealand, was put to sleep yesterday due to fatal haemorrhagic respiratory disease (see the Auckland Zoo news thread).
I don't think import is currently possible into Australia or NZ, but it is supposed to be a priority... I would hope Auckland would look at instead acquiring pygmy hippo (which also cannot currently be imported), as they don't really have the space for even a small common hippo herd. But I would imagine any hippo import would take a while to occur, probably NZ will remain hippo-less for 5+ years.
Wellington have co-operatively imported twenty Nyala into the country, some of which will later be distributed to other NZ zoos and, eventually, to some Australian zoos. https://wellingtonzoo.com/news/nyala-arrive-from-south-africa-for-regional-breeding-programme/
the male tapir was put to sleep a few days ago, due to age-related issues. Farewell Mr Branco - Hamilton Zoo
because hippos aren't antelope. It doesn't matter what order they belong to, the individual import standards are for specific species or groups of species.
Ok, but the reasons, or import for hippos is simply banned for no reasons? Also is there any news that New Zealand will get koalas from the close Australia in near future?
