Joburg Zoo Johannesburg zoo news

You forgot about the Baby Chimpanzee

 

Dos Joburg still have Southern Mountain Reedbuck, Common Reedbuck, Cape Bushbuck, Cape Duiker, or Margay?

 

They have all of those!

 

Hello all,

Me, or anybody who knows anything relating to the zoo can post here.

I'll start it off with a not so happy tone, The Mountain Bongo Bull which the Zoo enquired from Ebeltoft Zoo in 2005, has past away.
The exhibit now keeps an ungulate I am yet to identify.

 

That is too bad .. means they no longer have the species!

The zoo used to have 1.3, a Pretoria Zoo bred bull and 3 homegrown cows.

Pretoria Zoo might have some left?

 

Pretoria does no longer keep Bongos, They use to keep them until 2011, when they seemingly disappeared.
They might have moved to Pretoria off-site breeding facility, Mokopane BCC, but for now I do not know.

 

There were no bongo at Mokopane on any of my visits there in 2017.

 

The last freely available 2012 studbook listed only one individual, the breeding male (1.0 ) born in 2002 at Singapore Zoo and residing at Pretoria since 2007. In fact, two other individuals (1.1), a mother and son (born 2009) had just passed away rather curiously enough on the very same day in early January 2012.

This would correspond with no individuals being left at Pretoria/Makopane now. It would also seem that the bongo still present in 2012 are no longer held in Joh Zoo and must the already elderly group had died sometime during the interval.


It would be interesting to know which species replaced the bongo at Johannesburg (and equally at Pretoria Zoo) when the species ceased to be held at either institution. Would have to be a good sized exhibit in both zoos, so good options for other hoofstock or rare antelope from within the region.

 

An asiatic water buffalo has been born at the zoo:

Asian Water Buffalo and Blackbuck Exhibit (Bufalus bufalis, Antilope cervicapra) by Nix posted 12 Mar 2022 at 3:22 PM

 

It appears that the bongo has not died, after my recent visit It was standing in it's enclosure without a care in the world. It might of been speedy of me to presume it was dead after 3 weeks of it not being on display and it's exhibit even being used for another species during this time.
Though the mistake, I'm happy to say that he lives to see more days!

 

Johannesburg's Zoo last male gorilla, Makokou, past away on the 28th of March 2022, Born at Willhelma Zoo, and arriving from Allwetterzoo Münster, Makokou was a city favourite but unfortunately never found a mate, He will be dearly missed!
He was sibling to allot of famous gorillas in European Zoos, including Pertinax at Paignton.

 

May 2022
-The black-crested mangabey pair recently gave birth to young.
-The former mongoose lemur enclosure, has received new residents in the form of Thick-tailed Greater bushbabies!
-After being off-display for nearly two years, The margays are up and running in the carnivore row!
-The crocodile Enclosure is currently under renovation, redoing the pool and surrounding areas.
-The Coatis are temporarily being kept in Carnivore Row, as the male puma currently occupies their enclosure.

 

So are coatis permitted to breed in SA?
Seeing they have been systematically listed as an 'invasive species' [or at least, a species with invasive potential anyways] they are not legally permitted to breed in much of Europe.

 

Coatis are legal to breed, yes. There are quite a few in the private trade and are sometimes kept as pets by the more daring folk.

 

A herd of Ankole cattle now call the Zoo home!

Joburg: Ankole

 

Three European Wild Boars were born at the zoo

 

Other 2022 News:

On February 1st, it was reported that the zoo stated that their lions and pumas never contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic after articles popped up saying they contracted the virus from zoo staff.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-af...covid-19-23da38eb-970a-475d-95e0-7032bb953980

On May 27th, the zoo announced that (0.0.3) springbok, (0.0.2) gemsbok, and a (0.0.1) plains zebra were born.

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On June 21st, it was reported that an application was filed to the High Court of South Africa by Animal Law Reform South Africa regarding the release of the zoo's 3 African bush elephants to a rewilding sanctuary.

Groundbreaking Court Case to Free Elephants from Joburg Zoo

 

Utter nonsense if you ask me.
The Zoo is currently home to three elephants as stated in the quote above, all are from captive sources.

0.1 Lammie; born 1979 at the Joburg Zoo.
0.1 Mopani; born 2000; transferred 2019
1.0 Ramadiba; born 1997, transferred 2019

The latter two joined Lammie after the old bull, Krinkel (1983-2018) passed away.
These two originate from Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve, where they were captive-managed, in other words, they are fed and often interact with visitors and rangers. Guests were taken on tours and allowed to feed and interact with the elephants, depending on your opinion, their new home at the Zoo is quite the upgrade.

The Zoo has already put so much effort into pleasing these darned activists, such as tripling the size of the enclosure by adjoining the old white and black rhino yards to the enclosure.
The Zoo certainly won't give up the current elephants either - They pride themselves in the fact that it houses each species of the big 5, and is a major visitor draw. In the end, it will just be an endless battle.

I doubt Joburg will continue breeding their Elephants, out of fear of catching more unwanted attention, and with Charlie at the Pretoria Zoo set to leave for a sanctuary soon, It seems elephants in a true zoo setting in South Africa won't be around in the future...

 

I am, unfortunately, not surprised by this at all. I was shocked by how common and intense the anti-captivity sentiment is in South Africa while I lived there -- especially given that one of the country's main industries is built on the backs of animals that despite what anyone says are very much captive/intensely managed. I learned very quickly to be cautious about how I described what I did for a living...

 

I've also noticed this rather upsetting trend.

I presume much of it has to do with the fact that wild animals are so easily seen in the country, and major game reserves lie just a few kilos outside the major cities. Even in schools, this sentiment is pushed with textbooks including poems and literature about how "depressed" captive animals are.
Despite this fact, Joburg Zoo seems to be thriving, the zoo is packed shoulder to shoulder on sunny Saturdays.


Did you manage to visit the zoo during your time spent in the country?