I visited recently and felt that the gorilla troop is still feeling the loss of Harry the Silverback. The two young German gorillas are not yet with the main troop. The plan is to transfer Mayani to another zoo as she is valuable as a young breeding female and she is also less welcoming to newcomers as she is a greedy feeder. Then a new Blackback can be introduced along with the two youngsters. Sort of a fresh start. The old reptile house is to be redeveloped as an education centre, which strikes me as a good idea as they could easily rejig some of the existing enclosures for interesting smaller mammals, birds, insects etc. The weather was showery and miserable when I visited and most animals were laying low and out of sight but it was still alright as its always a nice walk. The new reptile house is well done and quite interesting with a lot of great models and educational stuff, but not much new on the live animal front. However the paying public and everybody I speak to seems to love it and my 7 year old grandson was so keen he insisted on a return visit before we left the Zoo.
That's an interesting update on the Gorillas. I thought the two young German ones were now in the group, but perhaps still not fulltime? I believe Mayani may go to Antwerp. Harry's death certainly upset the dynamics of this group longerterm but perhaps with Mayani's removal and a new male arriving, things will settle down. But they will still have the problem of introducing Lena and her latest baby to a new male, even if its quite a young one.
"Dublin Zoo is delighted to welcome a two-year-old female Amur tiger, Tundra, who was born in Kristiansand Dyrepark in Norway. Tundra joins two Amur tigers at Dublin Zoo, a male called Ussuri and a female called Zeya. Tundra has been chosen as a potential mate for Ussuri with a hope of the pair breeding in the near future!"
From the keeper talk today, Vana and Tebogo are now fully integrated into the group full time. Mayani has moved to Antwerp.
With Mayani Zoo Antwerpen is in a position to initiate breeding after all these years without any realistic hope nor options for this. This zoo truly deserves to get this bonus!
Any animal arrivals departures deaths or births. If so what is the animal concerned called what's thier age. If departed what zoo too. And if arrived what zoo to, also now Mayani the gorilla has moved what's the future like for Kambiri her daughter.
Any major zoo will always have births, deaths, and transfers - probably on a monthly basis. It is not practical to list all of them on ZooChat. Any major attractions (e.g. elephants) will likely be noted in the appropriate news thread by a local.
A new male rhino calf was born last Sunday; mother is Nyala and father is Chaka (Article here):Dublin Zoo welcomes white rhino calf
How are the gorilla troop doing I think now that Bristols female gorilla Salomie has passed away Dublin should move Kafi there as they don't have a breeding male gorilla and Kafi is od breeding age and it's. Total waste having a perfectly good breeding age female gorilla not only that but Bristols male Jock is a great specmine is apprentice and beeeding wise. It would be a shame to have a critcly endangered breeding age gorilla without a breeding male! Does anyone else agree with me?
The newest member of the herd now joins Sam, Reni, Chaka, Zanta, Nyala, Ashanti and Zuko, born at Dublin Zoo in 2016.
Kafi is showing big interest in the baby Kitoko and as she is hand reared learning from Lena is great experience. Personally with harry and kitubus deaths, mayani leaving and the stuggart orphans recently only joining full time, I think the group needs time to settle.
Visited the wild lights today. I was impressed, the trail didn't go around the African plains or elephants so took just over an hour (without the show). Most reviews are positive with criticisms being the lack of stalls and not being able to see the animals (even though that is stated before) .The event has sold out nearly every date (running 3/11-7/1). 2016 seen a 3% increase on visitor numbers so maybe 2017 will have a bigger jump. Santa has also already sold out
Pictured: The adorable new arrivals at Dublin Zoo this year For those who cant access the article I've summarized it below as it gives a nice account of 2017. Interestingly it says an okapi arrived this year? 'It's been a busy year for staff at Dubin Zoo with more than 40 new arrivals. One eastern bongo A eastern bongo calf was born in Dublin Zoo in January 2017 Born on January 5, the calf is the offspring of mother Nanyuki and father Hodari. Two Asian elephant calves Bernhardine, the herd’s matriarch, gave birth to a female calf on March 13 and just two months later on May 15, Yasmin had a male baby.This was the sixth elephant calf born at the zoo in less than three years. Three scimitar-horned oryx Between February and November, three scimitar-horned oryx were born at the zoo. One southern white rhinoceros The zoo announced the birth of a southern white rhinoceros calf on November 12. The male was born to mother Nyala and father Chaka and weighed 50kg. One amur tiger In July, the zoo welcomed a two-year-old Amur tiger called Tundra from Norway. One Sulawesi crested macaque A Sulawesi crested macaque was also born this year. Two Red Ruffed Lemurs In July, Dublin Zoo welcomed the birth of two red ruffed lemur pups. Parents Pierre and Fifi saw the brother and sister pups on April 25. One Goeldi’s monkey A Goeldi’s monkey baby was born in July at the South American House. The birth marked the third Goeldi’s monkey to be born at Dublin Zoo in the past three years. One Bornean orangutan A female Bornean orangutan joined on November 15, bringing the group’s total to five. Other new additions included two common peafowl, four star tortoises, one turquoise dwarf gecko and a white-naped mangabey. Staff also welcomed seven chilean flamingos, Bornean bloodsucker lizards, one citron-crested cockatoo, one okapi, two green tree pythons and two panther chameleons.'
I visited the zoo on Friday for the first time In a while and it was my first experience of Zoorassic world. To be honest I was desperately disappointed with it, yes the education element is great but there is a distinct lack of species and lack of improvement to the exhibits. In my opinion the only species which got an upgrade was the crocodiles and in fairness it's a nice well thought out exhibit. Also the Robert's house has never felt so large this is mainly because it is so stripped back and there is no remnant of the old brick work and the building is left in a clinical surgical like state. The Building could have been much better utilised by the zoo buy they seem to be focusing more on the visitor appeal than the collection these days
Zoo has announced the birth of a female Rothschild giraffe calf born on Tuesday February 13th. The new-born joins the rest of Dublin Zoo’s giraffes, including her mother Maeve and father Tafari.
