Escape artsist Malu has turned 12: Escapee orangutan Malu celebrates 12th birthday at Melbourne Zoo - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
A Subantarctic fur seal has been released after treatment at Melbourne Zoo for injuries to its chest: Melbourne Zoo seals furry rescue
With Num-Oi's pregnancy progressing, does anyone know if there are any breeding plans for the rest of the herd?
A new collaborative feeding mechanism has been implemented in the African hunting dog enclosure: New feeder shows families that hunt together, eat together
0.1 hamadryas baboon born. From Facebook: EDIT: She was hand-reared for 8 to 10 weeks and then re-introduced to her mother: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-...on-juju-makes-debut-after-rough-start/6751216
Dokkoon (1993) already has Mali (2010) and Manjai (2013) so I would assume she will be bred only once more. Kulab (2000) has a son, Ongard (2010). Kulab was young when she had her first calf, so Melbourne Zoo has time on their side for breeding her again, however given the age of Ongard, it is likely Kulab will be the next female to breed from. If she conceived today, the calf wouldn't be born until 2017 (a seven year gap between calves). Apart from Numoi, who is already pregnant, this just leaves Mali. As far as I am aware, it is Melbourne's policy to keep female calves with their mothers to replicate the wild situation, so I am confident Mali will remain at Melbourne as a future breeding female. She's only five and a half, so I doubt we'd see a calf from her until at least 2020. I'm sure their will be friendly competition over who will produce the first second generation elephant calf: Tukta (Taronga) or Mali (Melbourne) as both young females were born the same year, and are the first birth/first female birth for their respective zoos.
Interesting that a Melbourne Zoo-bred mute swan has been purposely released into Western Australia(?): Rare fluffy swan Faith found up river near Northam in WA after breaking away from local colony - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Disastrous news for Melbourne Zoo - fox kills 15 little penguins overnight. Story here: Penguin Loss | Zoos Victoria
Another article about the penguin-killing : Fox breaks into exhibit and kills 14 penguins in Melbourne zoo | World news | The Guardian
The 15 surviving little penguins have returned to their exhibit. The fox believed to be responsible for the killings was euthanized on the 8th of November: http://www.zoo.org.au/news/penguins-return
An Australian fur seal has been rehabilitated and released after a harpoon injury: Seal lucky to survive harpoon injury | Zoos Victoria
Just to note that Melbourne bred Superb Fairywrens (Malurus cyaneus) in November. Maybe of little interest to Australians...but not so to those of us who live in Malurus-free zones.
As a final piece of news for the year, Melbourne Zoo this year celebrated the anniversaries of the arrivals of their Aldabran tortoises:
