@Pertinax I am only too aware that Silverbacks can murder any unrelated babies. Kesho who was ironically born at Dublin, murderd Tiny Majukku’s 7 month old son when he was introduced to London Zoo’s Gorillas! Jock is a different case however as he is much calmer and friendlier than Kesho. If you remember in 2008 Jock welcomed with open arms an unrelated orphan Gorilla called Kera into his family. If anything Kera was more at risk to death than Kafi and Vana’s babies would be,this is because they both have their Mum’s whereas Kera didn’t have her Mum to protect her during the introductions. If you remember Harry Kesho’s now deceased dad at Dublin who had the same character as Jock welcomed 3 separate orphan Gorillas into his family. These three babies were Mayani who arrived from Stuttgart aged 4,Kafi who arrived from Stuttgart aged 3,Vana who arrived from Stuttgart aged approximately 1.5/2 years old and finally Tebogo who also arrived from Stuttgart at approximately 1.5/2 years of age.
None of the young gorillas you mention were as young as the current babies at Dublin. Vana and Tebogo were not integrated into the main group for a long time after their arrival, possibly not until after Harry's death. Introducing single young orphans to a new group gradually over time is a very different process to attempting to introduce a female carrying a young infant. The only zoo I know of that actually tried it was London where it ended in death of the baby.
Female Bornean orangutan, Sari, has moved to Vienna Schonbrunn. She was born in Barcelona on 21 November 2008 and moved to Dublin on 15 November 2017. I think she is related to Dublin's male, Sibu, so maybe her move there was intended to be temporary??
Sibu is Sari's grandfather - her father Karl is Sibu's son, Karl was moved to Barcelona on 12 July 2005.
The latest annual report for the Zoological Society of Ireland can be viewed here: https://www.dublinzoo.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Dublin-Zoo-Annual-Report-2019_sml.pdf
page 8 of the zoo's 2019 report: Meanwhile significant work was undertaken to place Kavi and Ashoka, the five-year old 1500kg Asian elephant bulls, in Sydney Zoo, a new zoo in Australia where the animals will be kept in protected contact. Due to strict quarantine arrangements, Knowsley Safari Park in Britain agreed to keep the bulls in the three-month quarantine required by the Australian authorities before shipment to Australia; quarantine at Dublin Zoo was not an option. Elephant expert, Alan Roocroft, assisted with the transport plan. The move to Britain took place on schedule in January 2020 ... https://www.dublinzoo.ie/wp-content/upl ... 19_sml.pdf Apparently in the future Dublin Zoo are looking to split thier Asian Elephant herd into 2. One half will move on too new pastures. I have a feeling that half of the herd may be sent to Chester Zoo to join the Hi-Way herd of Asian elephants. I have no evidence to support the Elephants moving to Chester but it does seem to be a sensible and likely option.
That would be terrible. Elephant families need to be kept apart from other, unrelated matriachal groups. Unrelated matriarchial groups do not get along long-term. There are too many examples for that to list them!
I am surprised to see that Dublin Zoo really has very little species on exhibit and the mammals are the most numerous (38/70) and the other groups are few bird, reptile and invert species!
It's definitely a consistent complaint of mine about zoos, lol. To be fair though Dublin do have those intriguing West African crocodiles which is a plus.
Oh it looks like a good zoo I agree, that is beyond doubt. Dublin is in fact an excellent zoo in some ways (and from what I've read it has really transformed itself into one through hard work in a very short period of time) but it just isn't my kind of zoo or one with the kind of conservation metrics that I would admire.
I think the okapi birth at Dublin for me was much more impressive somehow but I agree there are strong points to the zoo its just I wish they would get over the large mammal bias and get into smaller taxa too and species that actually really need to be there.
I am not sure what their plans actually are with West African crocodiles?! They are adults as far as I know, allthough purportedly related. I wish more zoos would invest in captive-breeding of this taxon and an EEP is surely something that must be forthcoming (given its status both in the wild and captivity)!
I don't know what their plans are for these either or even if there are any plans as they seem to have been there forever and nothing is really being done with them although of course they are brilliant in educational terms and to have.
It's very much a large mammal abc zoo which isn't for everyone but I like it. It inspires people to love nature and build a connection with the natural world with mostly spacious and well designed enclosures which is a vital part of the remit of a zoo in my opinion. It's a pleasure to walk around and the layout makes it easy to find your way around and see everything. My ex, who isn't a zoo person said it was his favourite zoo other than the two in Berlin.
Who else agrees that the relocated Dublin Asian Elephants will move to Chester and join Maya, the Hi-Way’s and Aung-Bo?
