Two zebra foals were born at Hamilton in 2013. The first, born to Marble, was male, the second, bonr to Mirabai is gender unkown to me. I suspect the new zebra at Melbourne is the first.
Incident at the zoo: No Cookies | Herald Sun Num-Oi has been artificially inseminated, and potentially pregnant: http://www.zoo.org.au/news/possible-pachyderm-pregnancy
Melbourne Zoo (oldest zoo in Aus) turned 152 today: 152 at the Zoo | Zoos Victoria They mention that 'Lion Gorge' will open in December.
A couple of small observations from a visit on Saturday: - They have finally conceded that the "Predator Prey" name for the new complex (including enclosures for lions, hunting dogs and Philippine crocodiles) is a nonsense. It's been rebadged as "Predators". - The slow, painful gutting of the zoo's bird displays continues. The largest of the Asian-themed aviaries has been slightly expanded and turned into a binturong enclosure. The foliage remains and the front of the enclosure is under cover, so it's quite dark but with light coming in from behind the wire that you view from. It's an excellent binturong enclosure but at best a par exhibit. The binturong was of course doing what binturongs do best, sleeping in its den. - The Gorilla Ranger Station is a small education room overlooking the gorilla exhibit. I presume it's still closed on weekdays when it's being used but it was open on Saturday, the first time I've been in there. It has a handful of terraria for Fijian crested iguana, jungle carpet python, corn snakes and a green tree frog. - The themed research station overlooking the elephants has also been renovated (and dumbed down, to my mind, but anyway). There's a couple of tanks in there too, one of them housing star tortoises and one of the Asian turtle species, I forget which. Another housing stick insects and there might have been a third but I've forgotten what was in there. They've also installed a much larger glass window overlooking Bong Su's paddock. I know I often sound curmudgeonly about Melbourne Zoo but I can't help it. I tend not to like many changes I see there!
I'm glad they have relocated the binturong to the Asian rainforest area, although not at the expense of the few exotic birds they have on display. Is this the aviary that was opposite the elephant research station? Given how easy binturong are to contain, they could surely have built a cheap new exhibit somewhere in there. Sigh. Exotic birds are in short supply at Melbourne, with a tiny collection compared with Taronga and Adelaide. Its actually reminiscent of NZ zoos in many ways...
Article: http://www.zoo.org.au/news/elephant-pregnancy-confirmed Great news that Putra Mas is going to be a father!
Interesting development, which also suggests that the younger female at Perth isn't cycling. Or Perth aren't trying to get her pregnant.
Oh, they did try to get her pregnant. The bull mated her naturally and when she didn`t get pregnant, they also tried AI. This information is a few years old and now, she is way too old for a first pregnancy.
What particularly interests me is that they must have devolped a way to preserve semen to travel the distance. That was always something that was said couldn't be done.
The zoo has officially announced the opening of the new predator area which will be called lion gorge. It will open to members on December 19 and to all others the next day. Zoo pages on this here- Members exclusive preview of the new Lion Gorge | Zoos Victoria and here- Dare to enter Lion Gorge! | Zoos Victoria
"Lion Gorge"........ featuring crocodiles from a different continent . I wonder if future species will be added?
Not exactly but I saw(and photographed) the chimps on my first visit there- circa 1979. They were in one of the three 'Great Ape' grottoes at that time. They were gone by the time of my next-circa 1990.
