A cryptic comment. Could you please explain? He was one of my (many) favourites, especially the day he walked slowly along the fence looking at each visitor, then stopped in front of my friend . . . . turned and . . . . . urinated a big puddle right in front of her!
I highly doubt Toronto will be getting a new male to replace him any time soon. Ashley is getting older and Lilly and Trilly are starting to loose breeding potential (three is peak breeding age and it fails sharply after that). Toronto has rarely brought in an adult moose. Usually they bring in orphans and rear them and if they breed great. There are not a ton of moose in the AZA. A ridiculously small number considering how easy it would be to just take in orphans and not even need to breed... or use the orphans as a breeding base. There is not much of a demand so a breeding male isn't even necessary. I'm not sure what their lack of interest stems from. They are an iconic North American species. On a side note to that of the 7 calves Ashley and Elliot produced just Lilly, Trilly and Cherry (potentially) are alive. None have had very long lives. Wayne Roundtree (2009 - 2010) Oakwood (2010 - 2012) Cherry (2010 - ?) Unnamed female (2015) Saro (2012 - 2015) Lilly (2013 - ) Trilly (2013 - )
Actually in early October a long-time keeper in the Canadian Domain said they were looking for a bull-moose and there was a possibility lined up. However I forgot about that until now and have not heard any more or followed up.
Wow.......so glad to hear about all the offspring!! I only knew about Wayne, Cherry and Oakwood.....sorry to hear most have not fared well....my parents raised Elliott until he was about a year and a half and then he went to the Zoo.....I visited once and it looked like a great environment!! Thanks to all for the info..
A possible replacement is excellent to hear about Mr Wrinkly. For anyone willing to make the trek down to the domain seeing the transformation of a bull moose from spring to fall is really cool. I really thought they might wait Lilly and Trilly out and by then hopefully the Canadian Wilderness would be ready to take on orphans who in a could breed the following year. But lets face facts the Wilderness is unlikely to happen any time soon. Probably could get in brand new calves and it wont be built during their lifetime. Sad fact about moose is that they are so short lived. Even in zoos they tend to only live about 7 years which is comparable to the wild. The can max out at around 13 but that's rarer especially for males who usually make it to five. Ashley is 12 so her days are growing shorter. Lilly and Trilly at 4 are middle aged if you think of the average life expectancy.
There are a couple of records of moose living to seventeen or eighteen years old but this is most unusual.
