After a little search here's a little information that I found regarding the animals in the National zoo of Cuba. Total land area is 340 hectares with 130 species they were donations from a number of African counties including Namibia.
Do you mean Twiga (1996) - the female Rothschild’s giraffe that Melbourne Zoo imported from the Netherlands in 1997? In 1981, Auckland Zoo imported 2.1 generic giraffes from the Honolulu Zoo - Tsavo (1980), Lo Cecil (1980) and Kinshasa (1980); and a further generic female in 1983 - Mayara (1983); while Taronga Zoo imported a male from Honolulu Zoo in 1983 - Charity (1983). These five giraffes were all closely related to each other and Kinshasa and Charity still have descendants in the region today.
Harold (imported by Orana Wildlife Park in 1994) and Twiga were the last imports ahead of the import ban that came into effect around the late 1990’s due to the BSE outbreak. They were imported to continue the region’s “Rothschild’s” breeding programme - but had other zoos had the foresight to import around this time before the curtain closed, the regional population would be in a much better shape.
This is a thing which I tend to struggle with a bit, With all the TAG meetings and people involved in different species management how some of the time they appear to be not on the same page.
Monarto Safari Park – Annual Report 2021-2022: The latest annual report is now available: https://www.zoossa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ZSA_2021-annual-report.pdf Some of the highlights include: New species within this time period included the arrival of Radiated and Aldabra Giant Tortoises from Adelaide Zoo which have now been added to a purpose-built tortoise breeding facility within the lemur walkthrough. Another new species for the park – 52 Plains Rats have been collected from the wild to commence another breed-for-release programme similar to their Greater Stick-nest Rats and Mitchell’s Hopping Mice. 22 stick-nest rats and 150+ hopping mice were released into Mallee Cliffs National Park. The park has notably bred their first ever Plains Wanderer chick with hopes to expand this population throughout 2022/2023. Multiple clutches of Western Swamp Turtles were produced at Monarto with six hatching at Adelaide Zoo. Four Greater Bilbies were born at Monarto and two Black-footed Rock-Wallabies were being reared by keepers. This was the first year the park didn’t have any Tasmanian Devil joeys. Their facilities were full so they only attempted two pairings with ageing females. Now that a succession of interstate transfers have occured, they will resume breeding during the next season. 20 Scimitar-horned Oryx were born in total at Monarto! Two litters of Cheetah cubs were actually produced with a 1.1 successful litter and a pair of cubs comprising of a stillborn and one that had to be removed via caesarean. 7.0 Ring-tailed Lemurs were imported from New Zealand and nine (5.4) more from the United States. They will introduce some to their existing group and look to start a second group in the new walkthrough exhibit. Two new male Nyala were imported from New Zealand (as reported) but also four Nyala calves were born at Monarto as well. Their zebra breeding group grew to 12 individuals with four foals produced during the reporting period. The park has 99 Blackbuck with 23 births occurring. Two American Bison calves were born and 16 Ostrich chicks hatched, moving to other zoos in the region. Major losses included the ageing giraffe Tambo and Kinky, rhino Eshe, Galatea the chimp’s first offspring who had birth defects and a Przewalski’s Horse that was born at Monarto in 1988. Deaths among the African Wild Dogs included two males due to complications from anaesthetics and a litter of pups produced by a subordinate female. Wild Africa Update: The 78-room hotel continues to be constructed. It will be operated by a private investor which will operate the luxury resort and glamping facilities. Visitors will be able to experience a Wild Africa safari at the park from mid-2023. Etosha (phase one) is largely completed with the next sections Samburu and Chobe half complete in terms of fencing. A new giraffe shed and holding yards has been completed adjacent to Etosha. Next to this they are building rhino and ungulate holding facilities. Along with the two other tortoise species, Leopard Tortoises are mentioned as a third species to be housed in the custom-made breeding tortoise facility which has access to large outdoor enclosures. Aquatic plants have been added to the eight waterholes with the assistance of volunteers. The waterholes will also be potentially used to house threatened small-bodied native fish.
This is amazing I love that ZoosSA does these. 20 Scimitar Oryx births are absolutely amazing. This must be an international record for the species. It is also very sad about the cheetah and Wild Dog litters. I suspect the wild dog one may have been a result of brothers/sisters mating from their most recent litter, so the pups may have been put down anyway, due to a high level of inbreeding.
I’m assuming they arrived from Hamilton. The group in the walkthrough exhibit will probably be a bachelor or non breeding group too.
The Scimitar-horned oryx births would be unmatched by any zoo in the region. Orana rarely reached double figures - though Monarto’s herd is massive. Mary River Station would of course breed larger numbers given they have over 500 oryx. That sounds likely re. the African wild dogs. Perth Zoo similarly lost a litter born to a subordinate female - though that was uncertainty around the hierarchy when a new pack was formed. Wellington Zoo had the same when they founded their pack in 2003 and both females bred.
The recent litter weren’t inbred; their current group consists of three males from Perth and two Monarto born females. The males that passed must’ve been some of those from Perth (I believe they bred eleven in that litter so it’s likely more than three males initially arrived from Perth). Penda’s the subordinate female so we can assume the litter was her’s. Her sister Bulu is the dominant female and produced a litter in 2020 of 8, with two dying soon after birth and the other last year.
Monartos size and climate could turn out to be an antelope paradise what a sight this is going to become. Referring to Mary river station, I would really like to know what they still have running around up there!
The current pack was founded with four males born 2017 at Perth Zoo (Baraka, Zuberi, Kamali and Onika) and two females born 2016 at Monarto (Bulu and Penda). A litter of eight pups was born in April 2021 to Baraka and Bulu. The 2.4 surviving pups were named Masikio (Swahili for ears), Jasiri (Swahili for brave), Sanaa (Swahili for artwork), Amani (Swahili for trustworthy), Liyana (Zulu for ‘it’s raining’) and Ajani (Yoruba for ‘one who wins’). Since the website omits two of these twelve dogs (Kamali and Jasiri), we can assume these are the two males who died.
Update on Ring-tailed lemurs: The four pups were born to Blossum, Debbie and Lilo: Six-year-old Blossom and three-year-old Debbie each gave birth to a pup in September, while super-mum, three-year-old Lilo, welcomed tiny twins just three weeks ago. Voting is now open on names: Help us name the Lemur pups - Monarto Safari Park Mamy (sweet) Mino (believe) Nofy (dream) Ravo (happy) Toky (trust or confidence) Sahala (alike or the same) Zo (power or spiritual leader) Lova (heritage) Hira (chanting or singing) Lalaina (loved, dear) Maharo (protecting)
Carrie, a female Southern White Rhino recently arrived from Australia Zoo. She is currently in quarantine but will soon be introduced to their females - announced in their newsletter.
That’ll still be some time away. Orana Wildlife Park are receiving the first 15 around mid-2023 and following a 12 month quarantine, some will be distributed to Monarto and Dubbo in mid 2024; with more to follow around mid-2025 and mid-2026 all going to plan. In the meantime, Carrie needed to be transferred out.
Spotted hyena cub update: From socials: The hyena cub is in good health following a recent check up - weighing 7.01kg. A small skin DNA sample was taken and has been sent to the Serengeti Hyena Research Group in Berlin to determine its gender. The zoo are fundraising for a new birthing den and cubbing box, indicating an intention to breed more hyena in the future.
