Really sad news, especially for Num Oi, who has already been through a lot. The vets, vet nurses and staff couldn't have done more for Willow however. I'm not sure what the long term plans will be for Num Oi now. When Sanook died, Melbourne stated that it would be best for Num Oi to have another calf sooner rather than later for her emotional health. No doubt having another calf will be beneficial to her, but surely it can't be good for her physical health to have three pregnancies so close together, so I'm guessing a longer gap before she conceives for a third time.
Actually female elephants bodies are rather well adapted to being almost continuously pregnant. In fact, their reproductive health thrives on regular pregnancy. Hopefully they will AI her again within the next year or two. As much as I would love for it to be Putra-Mas again, I could also see it being Bong-Su or Gung given this calves condition, which would be genetically not near as ideal.
I believe the carpal condition is caused by the calf's position in the womb? If so its nothing to do with the father but I could see how they might still be wary of repeating that mating. I thought this poor calf would either die quickly or improve rapidly, not this long drawn-out battle resulting in its death- but that seems more to do with its inability to feed properly from its mother, resulting in lack of resistance to infections, rather than the original condition. But I'm sure they did all they could for her. Very sad situation.
I think the Whispsnade Zoo allow their females to breed continously, but they don't conceive again until the previous offspring is weaned, so maybe Melbourne Zoo will do AI on Num Oi after 1-2 years like you suggested to replicate a natural birth interval. I'm really hoping they breed with Kulab again soon. It's been 6 years since she gave birth to her first calf at the age of 10. She was apparently very maternal towards Num Oi's calf.
I think it was mentioned in one of the Vet interviews that yes, it was caused by the calf's position in the womb. I remember seeing a scan of Luk Chai at 5 months gestation and Taronga Zoo saying it wouldn't be possible to do further scans as the calf would be too large as the pregnancy progressed. Therefore, the condition was not identified prior to the birth, though I doubt much could have been done even if it had. **** Tip, towards the end of her 10 day labour with Pathi Harn, was doing headstands to try and correct the position of her calf which was breech, and upside down. I too thought it would be something that could be quickly corrected with the use of casts in a couple of weeks. I had an optimistic outlook on the situation intially, but those hopes faded when they mentioned the infection spreading to vital organs in the updates prior to her death. At that point, I think it was kinder to have let her go.
Did the calf received the vital colostrum in the first few hours? I doubt if it did, which more or less sealed it from the outset. But I suppose these calf dramas also happen in the wild and probably with a much lesser survivability chance than in captivity. BTW: I do appreciate and respect all the hard work put in by keeper staff and vet team trying to help the calf survive these critical weeks. It must be very hard on them.
In a huge blow for the Australian population, female pygmy hippo Petra has sadly died : Vale Petre | Zoos Victoria There is now a single female left in Australia, her daughter Kambiri at Taronga.
wow not a good year for hippos in the region, with both of NZ's Common Hippos also dying recently. (Also, note her name is Petre, not Petra as commonly mis-spelled)
This is a very big loss for the zoo and region. Hopefully the zoos will now move to import new animals, I wouldn't think Melbourne would want the second hippo exhibit empty for long.
Wow, that is a big loss to the region. I wasn't aware there were so few pygmy hippos left in Australia. I proposed a while back, the possibility of Auckland Zoo acquiring them, not realising there were only two females at the time, now just one, in the region! So Petre is the mother of Monifa (deceased), Kambiri and Obi. What was her other calf called, and when was it born? Are Fergus and Felix related? I'm guessing their mother had an F name if they're brothers?
Felix and Fergus are brothers; their mother was named Fluffy and their father was Kumbe. Fluffy and Kumbe had the same father and that male was the brother of Petre's father. So all of them were closely related. The other two remaining animals in Australia, Kambiri and Obi, are Petre's offspring.
Thanks for that information Chlidonias, I've just found the studbook, which I was surprised to see was online, which said Petre's fourth offspring was an unnamed male that was born in August 2009 and died 5 days later. I'm not surprised to hear that there's already been inbreeding. If no imports can be secured like Auckland Zoo will be attempting to do (for Common Hippopatamus or otherwise), I'm guessing there will be no qualms against breeding female offspring of Kambiri with Felix or Obi down the line. Though obviously not ideal, there might not be an alternative if Australia want to continue curating this species.
It would seem to me that it would make sense to exchange individuals in both hippos and pygmies and import / export individuals overseas. That would entail getting the veterinary authorities on board for a special case for hippos (like with rhinos ... I believe)!
Odd-toed ungulates can still be imported (mostly for the sake of the horse racing industry) but even-toed ungulates are another story and need to enter via New Zealand if they're to enter at all. I think this is why rhinos and zebras have been imported in recent years.
Pygmy hippopotamus shot during Northern Territory hunting trip Would this have been an unrecorded female that was bred at TP Station? The studbook records four individuals (Frank, Fluffy, Diana and Kumbe) that were sent to TP Station in 1992, but all were relocated to Mareeba (Cairns Wildlife Safari) December 17 2003. There is no records in the studbook of any births at TP Station in the 11 years they held Pygmy Hippos.
my information is that it was a female bred at Tipperary but I'm not sure how firm that is. The records for Tipperary are simple in and out, there was no internal information from them I don't think. The hippo was apparently living wild there for a considerable time before being shot.
That would make sense. It's shame there's no record of births at Tipperary, and that other zoos didn't jump at the chance to acquire any offspring born there to establish more pairs (most likely because they didn't know more existed). I read on another article it had been living wild for 6 years. It's unlikely but possible there are more out there. Auckland Zoo sent them a female hippopotamus (born 1987), named Solucky. Does anyone know what happened to her? Did she die at Tipperary, get relocated, or go bush like the pygmy hippo?
Moving back to news about Melbourne Zoo, the Siamang pair have again relocated, this time from the extensive islands near the train gate entrance to the much smaller island in the Japanese Garden pond. I saw some construction here on my last visit, but certainly didn't expect it to become home to the siamangs. It is a small island, so I hope this is only a temporary measure. The move frees up more of the area that will become the second phase of Predators for impending construction.
