you might be thinking of Tambo who was meant to go to Orana from Melbourne, but went to Monarto instead. Orana's male Harold (the 1994 import) died in 2012 incidentally, and was replaced with a male Fanana from Melbourne in 2013.
What improvements (if any) have been made in transporting giraffes? Is it still necessary to do it before the age of 12-18 months like it was a decade ago?
Yes it is necessary to fly them before they reach a certain height. They can be moved by Air but the problem is usually the height of the planes cargo doors. Most animal transport companies design and built flight crates for Giraffes with a roof that can be lowered to get them in and out of the plane and the raised again during the flight. But its still a huge (and expensive) operation to move a Giraffe by air. Not to mention risky Its no longer an issue for New Zealand anyway given that they won't allow the import of Giraffes (except from Australia) anymore
Thanks for your reply, that makes sense. I'm not sure if any of the new Dreamliner planes have larger cargo doors, they possibly might, though I doubt planes are designed with transportation of giraffe in mind. There are relatively few matches that would be considered acceptable to prevent inbreeding in NZ so if Orana or Wellington desired to import a male, Australia would be the only other option. I'm not sure of the capacity of Orana and Wellington but with five and three adult females respectively, I'd say they'd be pretty close to it. Tisa and Zahara are either unrelated or only very distantly related to Makulu, Masamba, Jabari, Ndale and Dume at Hamilton Zoo. On Tisa (1990)'s passing, they may send the young female, Zuri (who is related to all those males) to Orana and import one of the males to breed with Zahara (2004). I'm not sure what limitations road travel still poses for giraffe, but they may be able to negotiate something.
Historical info on Wellington Zoo's breeding pair of giraffe. Their current herd (all female) consist of Tisa, Zahara and Zuri (daughter of Rukiya) Wellington Zoo Giraffe Ricky (M) Born 19 September 1987 at Taronga Zoo Arrived at Wellington Zoo 4 November 1988 Died at Wellington Zoo 15 November 2009 Tisa (F) Born 18 October 1990 at Melbourne Zoo Arrived at Wellington Zoo 25 May 1991 Still at Wellington Zoo Offspring: Zawadi (F) Born 25 January 1995 at Wellington Zoo Sent to Werribee Open Range Zoo 19 December 1995 Unnamed (F) Born 15 September 1996 at Wellington Zoo Died at Wellington Zoo 16 September 1996 Ndoki (M) Born 22 May 1998 at Wellington Zoo Sent to Hamilton Zoo 3 March 1999 Unnamed (F) Born 2 June 2000 at Wellington Zoo Died at Wellington Zoo 9 June 2000 Rukiya (F) Born 23 September 2001 at Wellington Zoo Sent to Auckland Zoo 16 September 2002 Zahara (F) Born 17 March 2004 at Wellington Zoo Still at Wellington Zoo
Article on the deaths of giraffe at Auckland Zoo. I have identified the giraffe mentioned in the article below: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6482001_Mortality_of_captive_giraffe_Giraffa_camelopardalis_associated_with_serous_fat_atrophy_A_review_of_five_cases_at_Auckland_Zoo A - Tsavo Male (1980 – 1993) B - Manuel Male (1991 -1994) C -Kendall Female (1992 -1994) D - Kinshasa Female (1980 – 2000) E - Manyara Female (1983 – 2001) F - Kiri Female (1984 – 2003) G - Kay Female (1986 – 2007)
Tisa (1990) at Wellington Zoo underwent a successful medical procedure last week: Tisa the Giraffe undergoes successful medical procedure Tisa, who turns 27 this year and is the oldest giraffe in New Zealand, must be the oldest giraffe on record for a New Zealand zoo or Australian zoo? Does anyone know if the female calf at Auckland has been named yet?
As mentioned in the Auckland Zoo thread this week, their breeding bull, Zabulu (1998), passed away this week which leaves all New Zealand zoos with single sex giraffe herds and Auckland Zoo, Wellington Zoo and Orana Wildlife Park all need to import a new bull if they wish to breed naturally. Does anyone know how effective AI has been in giraffes? I assume that male giraffes that are unrelated to the females in the New Zealand Zoos in Australia are limited, but there must be a few viable options. Auckland and Wellington both have hybrids females so clearly maintaining the Rothchild's line has not been a priority,
The Singapore zoo holds a pure-bred Rothschild's giraffe male (ex Arnhem - Burgers' Zoo) I believe. It would not be mega hard to get him over to Australia / New Zealand I am sure. In Europe, there is a real surplus of males in the Rothschild's (which also is true for females). And potentially thru import thru third country (e.g. Singapore or Hongkong ... whatever) it should be possible to get around the import restrictions in the ZAA region.
um, no, because as already stated (I think on this thread), giraffe imports are a closed circle with Australia and New Zealand. None can be imported from anywhere else until there have been new legislations drawn up. Whenever that may be.
Orana Park Giraffe: I didn't realise this until recently, but another female giraffe was imported from Melbourne Zoo in 1988. She was called Mandy and was born in 1987. Mandy did not conceive prior to Jaffa's death in 1991 (at four years of age she could have potentially conceived that year) and she did not get another oppotunity to breed until Harold arrived in 1994. Harold had four females to breed with initially: Celeste, Sarita, Nathalie and Nathalie. Mandy died on the 3rd January 2000, her first and only calf was stillborn that same day. Makes me wonder if New Year's Eve 1999 played any role in this given the affect fireworks have on giraffe.
the giraffes are kept inside their house at night and Orana is, in any case, a long way outside the city.
I remember seeing Mandy being crate trained at the Melbourne zoo! I would have had a photo of her at one stage too. I don't know why the name Mandy has stayed with me all these years, but its probably because its a name I could pronounce as a young kid!
She must have been quite young when you saw her as she was born in 1987 and came to Orana Wildlife Park in 1988. It's a shame that the breeding bull at the time died in 1991 as the two youngest females, Mandy and Nathalie (born 1988), were approaching breeding age and did not have a chance to breed until Harold arrived and matured. His first calf was born in late 1997 to Nathalie, who then had six more calves with Harold. Mandy, as mentioned above, only had the calf which was stillborn the day she died in January 2000. I'll be interested to see if Orana Wildlife Park import a new male for breeding. I assumed they wouldn't given they've just acquired two young females, therefore increasing the herd to five adult females however, I didn't take into account that one female is 20 years old this year, and the other in her teens so their reproductive years will be limited, especially if they import a young bull which will take time to mature, as they often do. Realistically, they could only have three breeding females which has been surpassed in the late 1990s when Orana had Celeste, Sarita, Mandy and Nathalie all of reproductive age.
Auckland Zoo Giraffe History Auckland Zoo’s first breeding pair of giraffe were named John and Anita: John Born at London Zoo 04/08/1958 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 24/08/1960 Died at Auckland Zoo 03/07/1976 Anita Born at London Zoo 15/08/1960 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 03/08/1963 Died at Auckland Zoo 01/08/1970 Anita gave birth to three calves: Peter (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 01/02/1965 Died at Auckland Zoo 17/07/1975 Joanne (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 12/12/1966 Died at Auckland Zoo 03/08/1968 Kris (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 30/05/1970 Died at Auckland Zoo 31/05/1970 After Anita’s death, a new female was imported named Willoughby: Willoughby Born at Taronga Zoo 19/09/1960 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 19/11/1973 Died at Auckland Zoo 05/05/1980 Willoughby gave birth to three calves: Unnamed (M) Stillborn at Auckland Zoo 14/06/1974 Kahiroa (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 12/12/1975 Died at Auckland Zoo 22/06/1986 Kris (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 30/07/1977 Died at Auckland Zoo 03/02/1978 After Willoughby’s death, a herd was established with Kahiroa joined by two new males named Lo Cecil and Tsavo and two new females named Kinshasa and Manyara: Lo Cecil Born at Honolulu Zoo 27/05/1980 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 24/02/1981 Died at Auckland Zoo 05/11/1981 Tsavo Born at Honolulu Zoo 13/06/1980 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 24/02/1981 Died at Auckland Zoo 30/08/1993 Kinshasa Born at Honolulu Zoo 24/06/1980 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 24/02/1981 Died at Auckland Zoo 07/07/2000 Manyara (F) Born at Honolulu Zoo 19/04/1983 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 22/11/1983 Died at Auckland Zoo 04/07/2001 Kinshasa gave birth to six calves: Kiri (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 22/09/1984 Died at Auckland Zoo 19/05/2003 Kay (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 19/09/1986 Died at Auckland Zoo 08/06/2008 Unnamed (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 05/08/1988 Died at Auckland Zoo 05/08/1988 Unnamed (M) Stillborn at Auckland Zoo 08/01/1990 Unnamed (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 12/05/1991 Died at Auckland Zoo 13/05/1991 Unnamed (M) Stillborn at Auckland Zoo 06/12/1992 Manyara gave birth to four calves: Miombo (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 28/01/1989 Died during transit 10/11/1989 Unnamed (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 06/08/1990 Died at Auckland Zoo 06/08/1990 Mussa (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 06/08/1990 Died at Auckland Zoo 10/08/1990 Manuel (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 11/12/1991 Died at Auckland Zoo 10/07/1994 Kiri gave birth to three calves: Kenjo (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 06/05/1989 Died at Auckland Zoo 29/09/1989 Khan (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 22/12/1990 Sent to Hamilton Zoo 02/10/1991 Kendall (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 26/11/1992 Died at Auckland Zoo 23/07/1994 Kay gave birth to two calves: Kampala (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 26/04/1991 Sent to Hamilton Zoo 02/10/1991 Oskar (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 23/03/1994 Sent to Werribee Zoo 06/12/1994 After the death of the last male, Tsavo, a new male was imported named Zabulu: Zabulu (M) Born at Orana Wildlife Park 07/01/1998 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 06/12/1998 Died at Auckland Zoo 19/04/2017 Kiri gave birth to one calf: Masamba (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 27/11/2002 Sent to Hamilton Zoo 21/04/2004 Kay gave birth to four calves: Jabari (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 02/12/2002 Sent to Hamilton Zoo 22/04/2004 Ndale (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 04/08/2004 Sent to Hamilton Zoo 27/09/2005 Dume (M) Born at Auckland Zoo 04/01/2006 Sent to Hamilton Zoo 28/02/2007 Ntombi (F) Born at Auckland Zoo 25/07/2007 Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 26/11/2008 Additional information: This family line of giraffe at Auckland Zoo started with the import of John in 1960 and ended 48 years later with the export of his great grandaughter, Ntombi, in 2008. John sired five offspring, of which Kahiroa was the only one to survive to adulthood and produce offspring. Kahiroa sired two offspring, Kiri and Kay, both of which survived to adulthood and produced offspring. Prior to arriving at Auckland Zoo at the age of thirteen years, Willoughby had given birth to six calves, five of which had died in infancy. Willoughby was in calf when she died at the age of nineteen years in 1980. The father was her four year old son, Kahiroa. Tsavo and Kinshasa had the same father. Kinshasa and Manyara had the same mother. Lo Cecil was euthanised after injuring himself by running into a fence. He had been spooked by explosive fireworks at a public display at Western Springs. Tsavo sired thirteen offspring, of which only one, Oskar, survived to adulthood. Oskar sired no offspring and died in 2002. Manyara gave birth to the first set of giraffe twins born at Auckland Zoo in 1990. Kiri was euthanised after injuring her leg, following a fright with an electric fence. Ntombi is the only member of the third generation to breed to date, with her three surviving brothers and one surviving half brother all in the bachelor herd at Hamilton Zoo. Ntombi has given birth to males Fanana (born 21/08/2012) and Nkosi (born 03/08/2014) and female Nyah (born 01/01/2016) at Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Auckland Zoo's current herd consist of three females named Rukiya, Kiraka and Kabili: Rukiya Born at Wellington Zoo 23/09/2001 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 16/09/2002 Still at Auckland Zoo 13/07/2017 Kiraka Born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo 20/11/2009 Arrived at Auckland Zoo 05/10/2011 Still at Auckland Zoo 13/07/2017 Kabili Born at Auckland Zoo 31/12/2016 Still at Auckland Zoo 13/07/2017 Kiraka gave birth to the second set of giraffe twins born at Auckland Zoo in 2016.
I was not aware that Hamilton Zoo received two giraffe (Khan and Kampala) from Auckland in 1991. They are not there now, and must have left/died before Ndoki's arrival in 1998, as he was the only giraffe present at the time. I had thought Ndoki was Hamilton Zoo's first giraffe. Do you have any idea what happened to Khan and Kampala? Did they definitely go to Hamilton? Also, where was Miombo heading when she died in transit?
Kahn and Kampala both died in January 1992, three months after they arrived at Hamilton Zoo. Kahn died first 02/01/1992 and then Kampala just three weeks later 26/01/1992. They were the first giraffe at Hamilton Zoo. A visitor told me many years ago they died after eating contaminated grass. I don't know the full details i.e. if this was provided to them as browse or if they managed to reach it from their enclosure. Hamilton Zoo was then without giraffe until Ndoki arrived 03/03/1999. I'm not sure where Miombo was heading for. I'm guessing Australia as complications can be high for giraffes when being transported by plane (as oppose to by road or by ship) and it's unlikely she would have been required outside of the region.
