National Zoo and Aquarium National Zoo & Aquarium News 2015

0.1 black and white colobus born: Baby Colobus monkey welcomed at Canberra's National Zoo and Aquarium - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

That's great news on every level, but it raises the question, where did the extra Colobus monkeys come from and when? And how many do they have now?

 

Well they had a pair for ages, which presumably includes the older male mentioned in the article, and last year recieved 0.2 from Monarto (which are the mother Safi and grandmother Masika) and more recently acquired male Indi, who was born at Melbourne Zoo in ~2006 (and presumably came from there). Plus there's the newborn female, so depending on if the female from the original pair is still there means they now either have 2.3 or 2.4. Sounds like it should be a pretty busy exhibit, which will be nice. I really hope this breeding stimulates the Australian population a bit, and that some new animals are imported too.

 

I did notice only two Colobus at Melbourne earlier this year, but didn't realise that was all they had. Don't suppose they will get anymore in either. It will certainly be a good display at Canberra now.

 

A keeper at Melbourne has informed me that they are getting a new male in to keep the gene pool nice and healthy

 

I have a feeling at least some of those colobus must be off-display. When I was there a few months ago I was surprised to see only one in the exhibit (some might have been in the shelter, but I doubt that six were). Anyone know if there's any new primate stuff in the redevelopment beyond the new lemur exhibits we already have?

 

That would be good, but I'm not sure there are unrelated males in the country, so hopefully they're importing one (or two ).

 

I was were yesterday. I only seen three adults and the baby. A keeper said they have two females and a male. There may have been others off display but I'm not sure. Great zoo. The hyenas were great to see up close. Great animal. I wish there were lots more in Oz.

 

From Facebook:

 

We visited the National Zoo in the last few days of 2015, and I was impressed with the standard of the zoo and the range of animals there. A few points I did note were that there are very few bird exhibits (1 X Asian bird aviary, 1 X Australian birds, 1 X Owls and a few emus, geese & guinea fowl)
I really enjoyed the range of primates & carnivores but missed seeing the De Brazza monkeys (they were either hiding in the huge enclosure or off display)
The Zebras and Rhinos were also not on display, although 2 giraffes could be seen in the distance behind the huge Hunting Dogs enclosure.
Siamangs are set to arrive, with what I assume to be the old Brown bear enclosure being refitted for their arrival. We only saw 1 Brown bear - have the others died? Also, no signs of the puma they used to have.... have they passed on also?
The Bengal tiger and the Cheetah enclosures were swapped over going by the map - I love the way all the carnivore enclosures have an over night lodge/accommodation built into the side of them - we saw the tiger sitting close to the window observing the people inside the lodge.
We really enjoyed our visit, the kids found the aquarium to be a highlight, and I would have liked to spend longer there but we had an 8 hour drive back home ahead of us, so I was keen to keep going! I thought the entry price to be pretty steep, but being a privately owned zoo, they need to raise funds somehow, and they certainly offer a very solid zoo experience for the entry price. Well worth visiting if you are in the area.

 

Last time I was at the zoo there were two brown bears, but one may have died since then. I believe they are all quite old and I don't know what is planned for that exhibit afterwards (I imagine it would be suitable for a few things, and that waterfall is always a highlight). I haven't seen the puma for several years.

Siamangs actually have a brand new nearly-complete exhibit up behind the colobus/De Brazza's (there was a very basic chain-link dingo yard there before). The old bear exhibit now holds hyaenas.

 

Possibly there are substantial off-exhibit areas for the bears (it's next to one of the lodges), or there might just be great places to hide in that exhibit! Glad to hear they're all still around.

 

Interestingly, someone on the zoo's Facebook page posted a comment on the 23rd September (2015):

with a picture of presumably Big Fella, National Zoo and Aquarium's male European brown bear........