It’s official! Darling Downs Zoo have welcomed their first ever Giraffe calf to female Tulip. The calf has been confirmed as female and has been named Iris. She is now on-display and I certainly look forward to seeing her on my next visit. This birth is also significant because this means that Australia Zoo’s very successful breeding bull, Forrest is now a grandfather as well. Log into Facebook | Facebook
This calves’ maternal line in the region extends back to the import of these two giraffes by Taronga Zoo: 1.0 Jan Smuts (born 1943 at Johannesburg Zoo) - purebred South African (Giraffe G. c. giraffe). 0.1 Clara (born 1950 at the Smithsonian National Zoo) - purebred Nubian Giraffe (G. c. camelopardalis). Their line produced Ricky (1987-2007) and Tisa (1990-2017) - the parents of Rukiya, who gave birth to Forrest in 2007 at Auckland Zoo.
Like every other Giraffe in the Australasian region unfortunately (besides a few possible remaining Rothschild’s I believe).
It’s disappointing as North America runs such successful breeding programmes for purebred Masai and Reticulated giraffes; meaning if it were not for the lack of support/initiative from zoos, these would be easily available to us. I’ve heard contrasting accounts of whether Orana’s herd was founded with purebred Rothschild’s stock; but either way, these have all now become amalgamated with the hybrid population. The last two purebred pairs in the region (Harold and Tunu at Orana; and Makulu and Twiga at Melbourne) are now deceased; and Orana has just imported a hybrid bull to breed with Harold’s daughter, Harriet (2012). Of his many offspring, she is the only surviving female.
The AZA / North American reticulated giraffe have been admixed with Rothschild's and a few other (sub-)species allthough at very much the lower end of representation in their gene pool. The AZA has made the choice not to discontinue this state of affairs and continue breeding from crossbreeds (which invariably have no conservation value unfortunately). Only the North America Masai giraffe population is of any pure-bred stocks, I am afraid.
The AZA currently only has a purebred Masai program sadly. The generic program is a mix of both Reticulated and Rothschild's, although there are still a handful of known and suspected Rothschild's left here and there. I've heard rumblings of the newer head of the giraffe TAG working to identify any and all purebred animals left in the US but we'll have to wait and see what happens there. I know she and the AZA are not happy with the prior decision to hybridize the two taxa. ~Thylo
It appears the zoos Cape Porcupine Morticia now has her sister Ophelia living with her, theres a nice little video of them on the zoos Facebook site!
Visit to Darling Downs Zoo– 27/12/2020: It had been approaching six months since I last visited Darling Downs Zoo so I decided to visit today. I always seem to coincide my visits after a good amount of rainfall so the zoo was looking great. Some observations from my trip today (brace yourselves there is quite a bit of news): *the zoo recently received a male Sumatran Tiger - Auckland-born Jalur - from Tasmania Zoo. He was in with their resident female Rani all day and they seemed to be interacting positively. The tigers are currently in the enclosure that the maned wolves lived in for a while (future leopard exhibit). I only caught a brief glimpse of the tigers during the keeper talk. On the topic of felids, the new lion (Mal) is gradually being introduced to two tawny females. They currently have visual contact but are still separated. One of the other tawny females is also now living in the enclosure next door with their original white lion (Shaka). Up the hill, their pair of Cheetah were sharing the one enclosure. *two young Dingoes are now on display in the former tiger enclosure. They made for a very active exhibit with all their antics and play fighting. They almost looked like dholes for a split second to me with their reddish colouration and the lush backdrop of their enclosure. Dingo Pups by WhistlingKite24 posted 27 Dec 2020 at 6:23 PM *a new set of enclosures has been constructed near the guanaco/llama enclosure and behind the cheetah complex, up the hill. The map indicates that it’s the new home for the maned wolves. *Capybara is back at the zoo! I saw a lone individual in with the mara and tapir sitting in a shady spot. Nearby, the Radiated Tortoises are now on-display which is truly excellent news. They live in a new fenced enclosure constructed next to the tapirs. It’s nice and shady with a good coverage of trees. I counted seven Radiated Tortoises and three Aldabra Giant Tortoises sharing the space. New Tortoise Enclosure by WhistlingKite24 posted 27 Dec 2020 at 6:48 PM *a Common Ringtail Possum is on display in the bustard/frogmouth/kookaburra aviary near the entrance. A Lace Monitor is now where a Perentie once lived. Also, there was also no sign of any squirrel monkeys today and their signage didn’t seem to be up. Common Ringtail Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) by WhistlingKite24 posted 27 Dec 2020 at 6:25 PM *birds, birds and more birds today. There has been a bit of reshuffling with some of the species – Bush Budgerigars and Cockatiels are now in the aviary near the dingoes, Ruddy Shelduck moved into the main waterbird aviary and Noisy Pitta are now in at least three aviaries which is fantastic. Two new species are also now in the Australian bird aviary near the entrance - Australasian Figbird and a species I heard a visitor call “tree penguins.” I had to think about that one. They turned out to be a pair of White-breasted Woodswallows. The avian highlight of the day however was watching a male Regent Bowerbird in full colour using the birdbath -a wonderful spectacle to watch. Regent Bowerbird having a Bath by WhistlingKite24 posted 27 Dec 2020 at 6:34 PM *the recent zebra foal and giraffe calf were out and about with their respective groups; they were clearly very much crowd favourites with the general public. I have seen quite a few giraffe calves in my time but there is something special about seeing a privately-owned zoo experience their first ever breeding success with giraffe. I also counted twelve addax in with the giraffe and noted a very young calf. Giraffe Calf by WhistlingKite24 posted 27 Dec 2020 at 6:50 PM *finally, the juvenile Komodo Dragon was in full view in the small reptile house where the Green Iguanas formerly lived. It was nice to see such a relatively small Komodo and it will be great to see him grow into the huge animal he will become. The last Yellow Anaconda is still hanging on and was very active as usual. Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) by WhistlingKite24 posted 27 Dec 2020 at 6:38 PM I will be writing a full species list for Darling Downs Zoo in the coming day or so. More photos of the new arrivals and exhibits can be seen here:Darling Downs Zoo - ZooChat
Wow so much progress at the Darling Downs zoo. Good to know they received some needed rain. The bird collection is becoming a real highlight of the zoo with some interesting new species. Glad to hear the new Tortoises have a new out door enclosure with some nice shady trees being planted for them. I believe part of that land near the Cheetah enclosure was also for the collection of Giant Tortoises that was mentioned some time ago at one of the keeper talks. I can feel a visit coming up soon with all the new adds and babies there now! I really want to see those Tree Penguins
