Felids in Australasian Zoos – News, History and Discussion

That came about when we were supposed to be receiving the USA’s Sumatran tigers. They decided to continue with them needless to say and Dubbo expanded on a small scale. The most Dubbo has ever held is six Sumatran tigers in four groups.

 

It might be the case that Sumatrans could be in short supply in the near future within the region

 

At this stage I’m not too concerned. Rampant breeding in the late 2000’s has resulted in an ageing population and a lack of breeding recommendations in recent years.

Three facilities are likely to find themselves without tigers in the near future - Sydney, Ballarat and Perth; but it’s worth noting these places could easily be filled at a moments notice. Taronga’s triplets are now three years old and yet to leave home; and Australia Zoo has four young siblings aged between two and three years, only one or two of which will be retained for breeding.

In addition, Auckland Zoo are soon going to import two founders, which they’ll be aiming to produce several cubs from. There’s going to be some exciting pairings and transfers over the next few years.

 

For Lunar New Year, Mogo Wildlife Park posted on Instagram a reel of their male generic tiger, Kinwah. I didn’t realise he was still alive, but good to learn via social media that I was mistaken.

Is there a population list on the forum of generic tigers in the region? I gather only Dreamworld and Bullens are still breeding tigers other than purebreds?

 

No, there’s not currently a list of generic tigers in the region - only purebred Sumatran tigers. Feel free to make a population list for generic tigers though if you wish.

Kinwah is Mogo’s only generic tiger. He was sired by Lari, who was a purebred Sumatran tiger.

Dreamworld and Bullens are the only facilities currently breeding generic tigers. Both last bred in 2019.

 

Thanks for this info! I'll do some more research and see what I can do. Thanks again for all of your work and knowledge you share.

 

No problem. The Dreamworld tigers are listed on their website (including DOB). Their Wiki page also lists past tigers (that are now at other facilities), which may help full in some blanks.

 

I wish they and Bullens would stop curling out mutant hybrid colour morphs and focus on ex situ Sumatrans, a dire straits need.

A list would be helpful.

 

I guess being a non AZA facility, Bullens can’t receive Sumatran tigers and Dreamworld are viewing this purely from a business perspective - Sumatran tigers aren’t granted regular enough breeding recommendations for their liking and the colour morphs (especially the white tigers) are what bring in the crowds.

 

In researching Australia's historical fishing cat population, I came across a journal article titled "Introduction of Asiatic golden cat Catopuma temminckii at Taronga Conservation Society Australia"

Key takeaways:

• Taronga Zoo held 3.1 golden cats in total across the period 1992 to 2012 - males 'Hari', 'Nugi' and 'Valentin', and the female 'Mao'.
• 'Nugi' and 'Mao' were introduced for breeding between October 2001 and August 2002; however, when physically introduced, the female did not emerge from the nestbox.
• 'Valentin' and 'Mao' were introduced between July 2004 and October 2007.
• 'Mao' was transferred to New Zealand after 'Valentin' was diagnosed with aggressive bladder cancer and needed to be euthanised, where she was killed during introductions to another mate.

 

Three of those golden cats came from Melbourne Zoo:

1.0 Hari (24/01/1990) Arrived 10/12/1992 - exported 2000
1.0 Nugi (01/11/1990) Arrived 10/12/1992 - died 2002
0.1 Mao (06/01/1997) Arrived 15/08/2001 - exported 2008

Nugi died of hydrothorax.

Mao was killed at Hamilton Zoo by Hotan, who was born at Auckland Zoo in 2004 to Hari and Hoi An. Unlike his father, who was very docile, Hotan was an aggressive male. His upbringing was very hands off (due to the zoo not wanting to stress his mother); versus Melbourne who made a concerted effort to socialise their golden cat kittens from three months of age. This may have contributed to Hari’s demeanour.

 

The way Wild Cat Conservation Centre at Wilberforce (northern Sydney outskirts) mentions having their 4 Clouded Leopards, they imply that it's difficult for a zoo in our region to now acquire Clouded Leopards in terms of participating in the international breeding program for them, and mentions they were accepted based on their expertees in husbandry....
....now they are indeed a private access only felid specialising facility..but other zoos in our country have exceptional keepers who adhere to and sometimes even 'break the mould' on advancing animal husbandry and care standards practices and procedures.

So not sure if this is indeed a little flair of publicity professing for the centre and what really is the best way of describing it would be: we are the only facility in the country to house Clouded Leopards & the first and only to date to (very recently) breed them. Would like to desparately wish other potential individuals may be imported soon and find a home soon in some of our zoos.

Clouded Leopards for Perth Zoo continuation tangent here: New exotic mamal species for Perth Zoo? [Perth Zoo]

 

[QUOTE=" we are the only facility in the country to house Clouded Leopards & the first and only to date to (very recently) breed them. [/QUOTE]

Have I missed a (very recent) breeding of Cloudeds?

 

No, @steveroberts is referring to this post by ABC Melbourne:

Wild Cat Conservation Centre Director, Ben Britton, said the cubs are a part of an international breeding program for the vulnerable species.

"Our centre is the only zoological institution in Australia to be accepted as part of the international conservation program for Clouded Leopard due to our high level of expertise and specific focus on wild cats," he said.

The same post (dated May 2020) mentions the centre has two cubs who were born at the WCCC five months ago. This is incorrect and would have otherwise been achieved with the notable handicap of having no Clouded leopards to breed with at the time. The cubs were imported; followed by a further 1.1 pair.

I don’t doubt Ben Britton and his team have a wealth of experience between them; but like @steveroberts says, I also don’t doubt there’s other facilities in the region with comparable experience. The WCCC can provide the cats with off display exhibits for breeding, which is their biggest asset.

 

Aha! Thanks for that. I hadn't heard any news like this from Ben, and hadn't seen these quotes, so I felt obliged to check.

The WCCC facility is spot on for this species and I feel that it is only a matter of time before Ben has good news like this to report.

The quotes here from Ben are from 2020 and are now outdated - particularly the last paragraph.

 

No worries. I agree with the import of the young breeding pair from the US last year, they stand an excellent chance of successfully breeding their species. They’re an unrelated pair, but have been successfully introduced (which as you’re aware is no mean feat).

It’s good to know other facilities have been accepted. I look forward to seeing Hamilton Zoo and others acquire them in the not too distant future. It’s exciting to think we could soon have the beginnings of a thriving regional population.

 

@Steve Robinson

Missed your post Steve. Sorry was under the impression based on articles which saw that the second (true) pair of Clouded Leopards that were imported to WCCC had produced cubs/kittens last year sometime.

Have zero doubt that Ben Britton and his team like @Zoofan15 said are very talented and skilled experts. Just strongly hope other facilities in the region (like Hamilton which is very exciting) would find an approval from the international CL breeding and conservation program to be potential holders of individuals in the near future if they wished to be involved. Kind of got the impression from one of the statements that Clouded Leopards would be extremely difficult to obtain based on some of the articles wording (kind of reminded me of reading how difficult it seems it is for a public display animal facility to become a holder of Platypuses even in Australia, or maybe complicated to keep with adequate optimal husbandry is perhaps the more accurate message of what was meant).

@everyone
Sorry for the false alarm guys, was a misinterpretation of what had read.

 

It’s not your fault - it was the news article that was wrong re. the WCCC having bred these Clouded leopard cubs, which would have been the first cubs bred in the history of the region had that been the case.

It was true that when this article was written in 2020, they were the only facility in Australasia to have been accepted into the programme; but as @Steve Robinson mentioned, this is no longer the case three years on. Hamilton Zoo are presumably among those accepted and will hopefully import them in the next few years.

North America currently holds 129 Clouded leopard and could easily supply Australasian zoos with breeding pairs. The benefit of a large population is multiple unrelated litters are often born around the same time - and pairs can be formed while the offspring are still juveniles. This is a common strategy to avoid male aggression between unrelated pairs formed as adults.

 

@Zoofan15

That's so exciting, hope it happens fingers crossed for not only Hamilton (go Hamilton) but other zoos in Aus & NZ.

That's so cool that you know exactly how many Clouded Leopards (129) there are in Nth America. Have been curious about how to optimally bond a female-male unrelated pair and thought must obviously be to do with bonding them young..like straight after parting with mother/dam and littermate.

 

It’ll be interesting to see if Hamilton Zoo acquire a breeding pair (with off display breeding facilities) or a non breeding sibling pair. They’ve never had success breeding Fishing cat despite a decade and a half of trying.

There was a Clouded leopard population list posted yesterday, which is my source for the 129 Clouded leopard held in North American zoos: North American Clouded Leopard Population