Is Orana the only zoo in region with springbok? Is this a good sized herd with regular breeding? Thought this would be an ideal small African antelope to import + keep in Australasian zoos.
No; Auckland Zoo also has a few springbok but they are not breeding and are a faze-out species. Auckland is currently introducing nyala which have come from Wellington Zoo; Wellington Zoo has a large herd of nyala because there has been a very large (around 30 individuals I believe) import from South Africa recently and many of those animals will be going to various zoos in Australasia. I visited Orana in January of this year, and I saw around 5 springbok; not sure exactly how many they have currently or how many males and females but I'm sure another ZooChat member will know. I hadn't heard of any springbok breeding at Orana for a long time until a couple of days ago; and I believe the lack of springbok in Australasian zoo's is just due to the fact that there are none available to be imported or maybe they are not allowed to be imported; not quite sure.
Springbok are currently eligible to be imported to New Zealand zoos from Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa and USA.
And to my mind springbok would work well as a small antelope species to fit in with various mixed species savannah exhibits that are the norm in Australasian zoos. Makes more sense then adding blackbuck to African exhibits! I like the addition of nyala, but they aren't a like for like species, as they only keep to relatively small herds. I would also consider them a medium-sized antelope species.
All the springbok are descended from just three animals (1.2 imported in 1989) and most of the males at Orana got castrated. I don't know what the current state of their herd is but a few years ago they only had one or two breedable males. They've had a (very) few lambs since then so they may have some males from those. Auckland just has a remnant of old animals (around 17 years old). I made a little list once of how fast the numbers at Orana dropped over the last ten years but I don't know where I wrote it now.
There's currently no Import Health Standards for antelope from Europe. It's probably due to no zoo considering importing antelope from Europe since the act was introduced.
Impala and Sable Antelope were the species of interest for our major zoos a few years ago but it now appears Nyala are the pin up species for the region atm. In the past the founder base for the antelope species appears to of been quite small so much inbreeding for them from the start. The importation of more Bongos into the region would be welcome!
Nyala are becaming a major antelope in our NZ zoos and were replacing springbok.Nyala are easier to import than most other antelope species because of their captive population.Currently of the top of my head the leading Nyala zoo is Wellighton and they have about 30 Nyala some which have been recently donated to Auckland and Orana and hamilton have none.It looks as if Wellighton will be the major source for other zoos. BennettL
I think you may find there is a large captive population of many species of Antelope being bred at game farms in South Africa the Nyala are just one of those species!
springbok were never a "major antelope" for NZ. They were an Orana antelope, with surplus males at Hamilton (now gone) and some breeders at Auckland (almost gone). If anything, nyala would be "replacing" blackbuck in Australasian zoos. Nyala are no easier to import than other species available, they are just the flavour of the month right now so that is why they are being imported over other species (such as, say, bongo...). Wellington is the zoo heading the import and quarantine, so obviously that is from where other zoos in the region will be receiving their animals. It is a combined importation effort by the major zoos in Australasia.
@BennettL, do I understand you correctly that as yet only Auckland has received nyala from Wellington and that possibly Orana and Hamilton may get some too? Any idea which other zoos are destined to receive nyala ex Wellington? A propos: any other big antelope species scheduled for import from southern Africa? BTW: shame about bongo! Enough on offer both in North America and / or Europe!
@KifuruBwana,yes Auckland have already had a few imported to replace springbok (phase out species). They haven't announced yet that Orana and Hamilton will be getting some but it is a possibility that they will.As Zorro said Werribee and Monarto have already said they want some as Hamilton and Orana haven't yet. BennettL
the nyala at Auckland are Wellington's males (i.e. the three they had before the big import; all three were bred at Wellington). All four NZ main zoos will have nyala. Most of the major Australian zoos are listing for them now.
