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Toronto Zoo Metro Toronto Zoo Video Tour (1988)

Discussion in 'Canada' started by Sarus Crane, 10 Nov 2020.

  1. Sarus Crane

    Sarus Crane Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I used to have this on VHS when I was a kid. However, it got lost at some point and I haven't watched it until now. Thankfully I found it on YouTube where it was recently uploaded:

     
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  2. TZFan

    TZFan Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I remember this from when I was a kid. My parent's definitely still have it and a few others at their place. The one I used to watch on loop was the Zoo Babies one with Toby Styles. What trip though to watch it and see how the zoo was back in the day. Some places not much has changed like the hippos, others totally unrecognizable. Man I miss mandrills and our fur seals! And Edge of the Night! Oh I'm so sad. But then there are the stories of hope. Przewalski's horses were extinct in the wild and now there are wild herds again! Fun fact the Indian rhino on screen was our long time female Indira or Vishnu's father Vinu.
     
  3. Sarus Crane

    Sarus Crane Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I found this photo of Vinu from 1976:
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    1986:
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    He does look a lot Vishnu! I used to watch Zoo Diaries from the early 200's on Gaia Tv but checked the other day and its no longer there. When did Patrick the Indian Rhino come? He stars in several episodes along with Indira and he even goes crazy trying to get over the back wall when Indira's in heat. It's funny how they thought in the video that species would be extinct in the wild by 2000 because we know that most species other than the Scimitar Horned Oryx are doing well enough to be introduced back there like the Przwalski's Horse. I ought to upload the episode I screen recorded a long time ago. But yeah the vid is such a nostalgia machine!!! I still have clear memories of watching it back when I was like 5 or 6! Its a shame they didn't highlight the Gaurs. I'd love to go back to the zoo again sometime after the pandemic. I miss Vishnu & Ashakiran!
     
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  4. TZFan

    TZFan Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I have seen those photos of Vinu probably from the same source you did. There is a great old archive I have posted before with tons of photos of the zoo from preopening to much more recently. I like looking at the old photos of the gorilla gang as youngsters, orang Puppe who even had those soulful eyes as a juvenile, the old species, ect.

    ' toronto zoo : Images' Search Results for Toronto Public Library

    Vinu arrived from India June 28 1976 so he wasn't there at opening. He and Indira never hit it off and he left May 30 1990 for the Bronx where he sired 6 calves including our beloved Vishnu. Posthumously he has also sired 2 more calves being the first and second born via AI of which only the second as survived.

    Indira joined Vinu from India 3 years later on Apr 27 1979. As we all know she stayed on when Vinu left and as paired with Patrick for 3 calves, Nikki, Sanjay and Sanya (the later two have produced their own calves). She passed July 5 2007.

    Patrick arrived June 19 1989 from the National Zoo. He and Indira pretty quickly hit it off and Nikki arrived just over 2 years later. He left for White Oaks April 13 2006 because they felt Indira was now too old to breed since it had been 7 years since Sanya's birth and nothing more had happened. He sired another 5 calves before passing away October 12 2015.

    September 26 2006 our boy Vishnu arrived as a 3 year old.

    Asha joined the group October 16 2006 as a 2 year old.

    If anyone is interested in an expanded family tree I have one.

    You are right when looking at the video it is amazing to see the animals which were tittering on the edge of extinction and the massive effort the zoo (and others) have put in to contribute to much to a bounce back. The zoo used to be a scimitar horned oryx powerhouse breeding facility. Kind of a shame we got out of them. Though Toronto has bred a ton of Przewalski's horses none of their descendants have made it to the wild. I have traced all of them and their descendants and was super surprised at least one hasn't made it. Heck we have 2 descendants of our orangutans who have made it to the wild!

    Just think that video didn't highlight some of the zoos current pet projects like Vancouver Island marmots, black footed ferrets, loggerhead shrikes, Blanding's turtles, or Massassagua rattlesnakes which we know today the zoo loves to tout the success of. But if we take the black footed ferret for example it was thought to be extinct until 1981. Then by 1989 they were extinct in the wild, just one year after the video. Today the zoo has helped to breed back the numbers so that every year most of the kits born are released back into the wild.

    The zoo needs to do an updated video about itself showing how its changed over time. Celebrate the massive successes in saving species. Demonstrate how hard they have worked to improve things. Show off some of the cool former species at the zoo. Highlight some of the former staff who did so much for the zoo like Toby Styles, Dr Graham Crawshaw and Vanessa the gorilla keeper who I think we all have fond memories of for example.
     
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  5. Sarus Crane

    Sarus Crane Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    You should make a whole post in the TZ forums for a history of all the rhinos both Indian and White at the zoo! You can even embed my video that I filmed there back in 2017. If you want I'll make a playlist for just the Toronto Zoo's Indians on my channel.
     
  6. TZFan

    TZFan Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Is anyone else interested in me posting some of the family trees that I have worked out at the zoo? If so then it might take a while to edit my master lists for here but I can work it out for you guys. If not then Sarus Crane I'll happily share the family trees privately with you and you can do with my work what you would like.

    Just for reference I can do family trees for...
    African Elephant
    Gorilla
    Orang
    Indian Rhino
    White rhino
    Masai Giraffe
    Amur Tiger
    Sumartran Tiger
    Przewalski's Horse
    Snow Leopard
    Mandrill
    Pygmy Hippo
    River Hippo
    Polar Bear

    And maybe one or two more I just cant remember at the moment. If someone is interested in another species' family trees let me know and I can check into the possibility of doing it.
     
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  7. TheGerenuk

    TheGerenuk Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I'd be interested in seeing the giraffe and snow leopard family trees,
     
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  8. Judache

    Judache Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I'd be interested in any and all...I find them fascinating.
     
  9. Akula

    Akula Well-Known Member

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    Count me in too for the family trees
     
  10. kingoffreaks

    kingoffreaks Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I didn't know we'd had a Snakehead Turtle.