Oh dear. More problems. My sympathies with the Chough team. But I'm sure they will get there in the end.
For those unfamiliar with the (City of) Bahia, can you please elaborate where our new spectacled bear (female?) came from?
Bahia's partner is chosen, and expected to arrive in October - he's Quechua, from Emmen Zoo (Dierenpark Emmen). You heard it here first!
Not zoo news, but... We were playing 'Who Am I?' at a Christmas gathering last night. In one round, I named my husband 'Gerald Durrell' and I was shocked to find that three under 25s and one under 50 year old had no idea who he was I know I'm zoo and animal obsessive (hence logging on to Zoochat on Boxing Day morning), but I would have classed him as 'General Knowledge'. Mr Gigit was able work it out anyway.
It doesn't surprise me too much- since GD died, no more exposure through books, T.V. etc so to younger (and obviously some older ones) non-Zoo/conservation types he just wouldn't appear on their Radar. I was forbidden to use the Computer yesterday(Xmas Day) or I would probably have posted something.
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a three part series/documentary on Gerald Durrell for Christmas! The first episode is about the man himself, the second about his famous Gorillas in particular 'Jambo' and the last, is very nice from a zoonerd point of view - aye ayes!
Yup - it was a present from my parents. Got a lot of zoo/animal related presents this year including a few zoo guides, some David Attenborough books and a new camera with two lenses! Anyway back to Durrell news
It would be Gerry's 89th birthday today! I do so wish he was still here. All is fairly quiet on the news front here... although 'Jaya' has moved to La Boissiere, where he will become the breeding male. Since he left (he was becoming very frustrated/challenging to Dagu) 'Jiwa' has markedly changed in posture and appearance, and seems to have developed slight face flanges! Now that he's gone, there's real serious thought being given to assessing Gina, who is wild caught, to see if we should remove contraception. She could have her 8th baby... despite being 50 y/o, and reproductively she's tip-top. However, we need to assess her health to ensure that it's not irresponsible to allow her to give birth to a child that could require hand-rearing (not with us) if she was to die when her infant was still young. In the wild, childbirth is the single biggest (natural) cause of death for female orangutans. Also, Bahasha was knocked down and her reproductive health checked after her premature infant (that we sadly lost last year). We feared she may have had a uterine septum (she had a vaginal septum operated on years ago) that could have led to the prem. birth. As it happens, she is all fine, and contraception has been removed. Bash (Bahasha) and Kishka have been mated.... fingers crossed! We have two new baby ring-tailed lemurs, and you've probably seen the baby flamingos on Facebook! BTW, feel free to leave your tributes to Gerry on this this post, which I'm going to pass on to Lee later this week! Cheers all, Rick
Didn't Gina have a Caesarian for one of her last births? Or am I thinking of one of the other females? She is definately the smallest adult Sumatran female I have ever seen(and I've seen a few ) but it hasn't prevented a successful breeding history.
Jaya was born by caesarean section, as Gina's placenta moved at the last minute... you can see the actual delivery in Refugees of the Lost Rainforest. Here's a youtube upload. She is indeed tiny... but she's very strong, intelligent and maternal, one of the best orangutan mothers in captivity! She's also one of the last wild-caught. Still, it's not an easy decision to make, and keepers, vets and hospital staff will spend a great deal of time establishing whether it's ethical, responsible and fair to allow her to become pregnant again. It should make for an interesting story, and we're hoping that a media company will come in and follow the whole process for a film (working on that now!). R
I remember when Gina first arrived at Jersey, along with(or near enough) the younger 'Giles' who was Bornean. I have a postcard of them sitting together on a bench- the species/racial differences are very marked. Giles fathered her first baby 'Tunku' too, so it was a hybrid, as it wasn't realised he was young enough to breed. It was already planned to seperate and re-pair them with their own subspecies(Gambar & Bali) which happened soon after. It will be interesting to see the outcome about whether to breed from her again. Good to hear about Bahasha being medically okay and the matings of both her and Kishka. Some future sibling company for the latest baby would be good. Did you get to see your Cross River Gorillas?
I remember Giles, but the orang species were already separated when I arrived here in Jersey... I have dim recollections of the Anthropoid Ape Coalition and Jeremy Mallinson being mentioned in Dodo club newsletters – my how they've changed in content! It will be interesting to see how Gina is doing at her age, medically, full stop. She honestly seems as sprightly and switched-on as ever... perhaps even more so than all the others! I'm hoping we can have it documented throughout, and in talks presently with a production company about it. Agreed on the gorillas, we'd stand a much better chance of raising the funds to modernise the building too. If we do start fundraising for that, we'll be shooting for a big enough total to send funds that allow Ape Action Africa in Mefou, Cameroon to build a new enclosure from oil-rig tubing too... they have three blackbacks who won't be able to stay together much longer, and a distinct shortage of enclosures! There is a large climbing frame structure planned (and funding secured I believe) for the gorillas this year. It will hopefully encourage them to be more active, help us manage weight and keep Indigo busy! I did see (briefly) one cross river gorilla silverback... but even that took weeks of trekking through seriously difficult conditions with full-time trackers (from WCS)! They really are that elusive. Sadly, the outlook for them in Nigeria is bleak. I will soon have all my writings and images on a blog site – I'll keep you updated. We have lots and lots of film to edit too!
