Frankfurt has no space for a new hippo house. Good news from the new great ape house - after the sad death of the newborn gorilla and its mother Ruby, bonobo female Kutu (ex Plankendahl) gave birth to a healthy daugther a few weeks ago, and Sumatran orang utan female Rosa (from the Hagenbeck line) had a son. Father of the orang utan infant is the oldest male orang utan in captivity, Charly, who is 50 or even 51 years old, I am not sure at the moment.
Bonobo female "Kutu" came from Stuttgart Wilhelma, she is not ex-Planckendael. The offspring, born at July 16th, got the name "Pangi". Sire: "Ludwig" (ex-Planckendael), perhaps "Heri" (8 years old). Orang-Utan "Charly" is definetely the oldest male in europe and he is 52 years old. The offspring, born at September 13th, got the name "Pandai". Sire: "Charly" or "Galdikas", "Rosas" first son (born 2000), who is still at Frankfurt Zoo.
Frankfurt zoo are returning 5 hawksbill turtles to the Seychelles after hatching them at the zoo from eggs illegally imported into Germany. Germany flies five turtles by holiday jet to the beach : Nature Environment
honestly, I find 20 cm still pretty small to return them to the wild. predation risk is still rather big at such a size.
I agree with you that size seems too small I would say at least 30cm or more would be better or they could end up as fish food
my guess would be "not enough space" frankfurt aquarium isn't big, neither are the tanks. and these guys really like a good swim. but why not put them temporarily on display in a zoo that can house them. Rotterdam and arnhem housed bigger ones before they were returned and they are far from the only ones with experience with marine turtles as well as the space to house them.
The zoos have no space for keeping sea turtles, giving back to the wild is the best option for them, maybe they will keep them in a rescue center for a while, before they release them to the wild. But by the Way, in the wild, the baby tutles have noone who is protecting them, and just one or two from hundreds really grows up to adult size. But I can't imagine, they release them immediately.
I am well aware that there is a lot of predation on young seaturtles. and since all are protected by law, I would think it wise to keep them untill they are of reasonable size to keep predation to a minimum. if you release them small, chances are none will survive. rather useless to do all the incubation and stuff then he?
I've looked on the Zoos webside, they have send the turtles to a botanical garden in Mahe. No Info, how long they will stay there.
The second Aye-Aye was born a couple of weeks ago, the zoo has now published the offical press release. The first pup was born last year,but it lived only five days. Yesterday, the second pub left the sleeping box for the first time.
Thank you Tarsius... This seems to be the only breeding pair in Europe at the moment. Do you know the history of the pair?
The male was born at jersey, the female was born and handraised at Bristol, but it seems, she's a very good mother by herself ! The first male Frankfurt got passed away a few years ago.
Lovely to hear that she's doing so well. I remember watching parts of her handrearing on a documentry series that was filmed at Bristol during that time (2005ish)
That is excellent news, especially because there is a problem breeding from captive-born males, most of whom don't seem to know what to do.
Tarsius do you happen to know if the original Frankfurt male Aye-Aye was also from Jersey? (I know this is the wrong thread but) can you also tell me the origin of the Berlin animal/s? Thanks
According to zoochat the Berlin animal is a male that was born at Antananarivo Zoo and came directly from them in 2007. I'm pretty sure that is what was reported by Berlin Zoo in 2007...
@Dicerorhinus. The original Male "Astaroth" was born June 1996 at Paris Zoo and arrived at Frankfurt in December 2001, he was the first Aye-Aye in Germany since 1918. @Pygathrix. I never heared about problems to breed with captive born Aye-Aye males. Paris and Jersey have bred with captive born males, and so far as I know,also San Francisco and Denver with males, which were born at the Duke University.
Thank you Tarsius and Jwer. Anyone know why Jersey have not sent a female to be paired with the Berlin animal? Pygathrix, I agree with Tarsius I spent a week at Duke and in that time never heard of any problems with captive born males. Do you have a source (not saying I doubt you just I would be very interested to read anything published on this)?
This is the article I was referring to, from Duke, about the initial difficulties of breeding from captive-born males. It is from 2006, I didn't realise that it was so long ago. It would seem that the problem has now been surmounted. Angelique the Aye Aye, a Primate Center Triumph
