New year, new thread. First news is the birth of two Cassowary chicks on New Years Eve, the first at the zoo since 1954! Cute photos accompany story here: Raising cassowary – it’s men’s work | Perth Zoo I had no idea the species was this endangered, although it appears to occur in greater numbers in New Guinea. Wish we had some in NZ.
I think I also remember reading that two juvenile American Alligators have gone on display in the new entrance area, I believe from either Australia Zoo or Australian Reptile Park.
It was three, from Australia Zoo, which was posted on the old news thread: http://www.zoochat.com/24/perth-zoo-news-222266/index7.html
Does anyone know how the Western swamp turtle breeding programm is doing and is Perth Zoo still the only zoo with this species ? I somewhere also that there is a species of Blue-tongued skink living only in the neighbourhood of Perth and was only re-discovered for some years. Does anyone know more about this species and is it also kept at Perth Zoo ?
There's also a western swamp turtle in SA. I can't remember now whether it was at Adelaide Zoo or Cleland WP. I think the zoo. It could have died, I guess, but I definitely saw one on my July 2011 trip there. The blue tongue species you're thinking of is probably the Pygmy blue-tongue which lives in a small area outside Adelaide, not Perth. The Adelaide Zoo also had someof these when I was there but I wasn't fortunate enough to spot them.
On Zooborns Perth Zoo provides some information and some nice pictures of a Pygmy Rock Wallabie or ´Nabarlek´. It was found in the pouch of a road-kill several months ago and it seems to be the only Pygmy Rock Wallabie in captivity worldwide !
Brilliant! A good reason to return to Perth. He is already on show in the nocturnal house. Norbert the Nabarlek: Pint-sized Ambassador | Perth Zoo
This Banded Knob-tailed Gecko hatched off-display on 4 March at Perth Zoo. Found in the Pilbara region of West Australia, this is the fifth Gecko of its kind to hatch at Perth Zoo since 2010. The Gecko weighed 2.18g when it hatched. The youngster’s older siblings can be seen in the zoo's Nocturnal House. epickoala123
can you please start adding links when putting news on threads, instead of just copying an isolated fragment of the article.
sorry, I'll keep it in mind for the future Could You Be Spending 50 Cents On Car Insurance? - ZooBorns
BERNAMA - Perth Zoo To Release Organutan Into Wild In Sumatra I can't cut and paste from the site, but the story is about a third orangutan from Perth Zoo being released into the wild in Sumatra.
Nice to hear that orangutans from zoos are released into the wild but I guess the few spots were this would be possible, would be used better for the countless orphans in the rehab-centres on Sumatra and the same is true for Borneo ofcourse ! The zoo-animals should be used - at least in mine opinion - for zoo-breeding programms and education of the fate of this marvelous species !
that is true to a large extent. Releasing one or two zoo orangutans (or gibbons, or whatever) to the wild may seem inconsequential, especially when there are large numbers in the rehab centres there: however it can be introducing new genes to that local population, and also it does play an important role in experimentation. Zoos crow all the time about how they are conserving species and how those species will eventually be reintroduced to the wild. Actually doing so with animals not needed for the overall zoo populations helps show what does and doesn't work.
I agree; scarily, the day might come when conservationists need to fall back on whatever knowledge is gained through this program as they restore or start new wild populations. For rehab animals that cannot be released, it would be good to see their genes brought into the global ex-situ program.
Komodo dragon now at Perth Zoo: Perth Zoo's first dragons See also this thread: http://www.zoochat.com/24/juvenile-komodo-dragons-308582/
Perth is a bit of a special case as they have bred a large number of Orangutans over the years and are in a position where they have surplus animals for such a reintroduction scheme. I think within Australia both Adelaide and Melbourne have sufficient animals of their own anyway(Adelaide have had Perth-born animals in the past) so it may not be that easy distributing more offspring from Perth in zoos further afield anyway. Their genes are already in Europe through the male Puluh(born at Perth) breeding at Chester and his eldest son and daughter who are now breeding in European Zoos too. So I think Perth represents a situation where such a reintroduction scheme is a very logical and worthwhile outcome, and as others have pointed out, much valuable experience can be gained from this.