The decision to move the elephants on is both surprising, and not. I suspect the last nail in the coffin for eles at PZ was the change of WA government and with it the vague promise of the open range facility. The space, while larger with the extension for the females, was never going to be large enough to accomodate breeding. City zoos with elephants need to invest alot of space and PZ was not going to be able to provide more. Added to that was the highest number of keepers per individual animals at the zoo. It will be a sad day when the eles are moved on but it will be a necessary evil (London, Edinburgh and Adelaide have moved on from keeping them). It will be very interesting to see what PZ has planned for the not unsubstantial space. Will it be subsumed into the savannah area to give more room to giraffe + rhino, or will the zoo prioritise space for sun bears and tigers within the Asian rainforest? Obviously new species might also be on the agenda. Indian rhino could be an option, rather than maintaining the whites.
I'm glad they've finally accepted the failure of their breeding program and that Putra Mas's valuable genes will be put to some use. Terrible waste in the case of Permai. If they're going to maintain the space for their South East Asian collection, I'd personally love to see them working with some small carnivores from that region.
Actually I don't think it was ever PZ's plan to breed eles, when they introduced the three young individuals to Tricia in the late 80s/early 90s. Yes PZ would have been ecstatic to breed eles, but the original exhibit in the rainforest was to house all 4 together. It wasn't until they grew too big and then the testosterone kicked in with Permai, that changes needed to made to the setup. It was also very unfortunate that one of the young females needed to be euthanased due to a chronic health problem. Need to remember that nobody had bred eles in Australia until the more recent imports to Taronga + Melbourne. It has only been during the last decade that most people felt that Permai's genes would be better utilised at one of the other zoos. While I agree that it would be nice for PZ to concentrate on small carnivores, one needs to be realistic about which species might be imported into Australia and which would suit a breeding program in Australia. The only group (of those likely to be imported) that are not represented already at the zoo - currently they have SC otters + binturong, would be a small felid. Fishing cats were kept for a small time previously. Maybe give some more space for sun bears in order to breed them again? This was one argument for the open range facility. Another possibility given the size of the exhibit might be something impressive like banteng. Relatively easy to obtain, fits into the Asian rainforest theme and is an endangered species. PZ also kept the spp up until the 80s. Wouldn't even need to take up the whole exhibit. I would also like to see more reptiles and birds being added to PZ's Asian rainforest, which is mostly mammal-based with the addition of a Komodo dragon. Lets face it with the amount of space available they could conceivably do all of the above!
Clearly this is an indication that the keeping and care of elephants wasn't very well thought through and the relevant research wasn't carried out. Hence my belief that the programme was mismanaged from the start. Certainly I agree that small cats from SE Asia would be nice, but I'd personally love to see other viverrids or perhaps prionodonts which would be a coup for the region. The thought of linsangs would be very exciting indeed. As for birds, well that's never going to happen unless they source available species from other Australian states.
Linsangs - yep I'm onboard! Really doubt that any other viverrids are likely to be imported beyond binturongs. The only other potential spp could be Owston's Palm civets, however they would be a poor display. Birds - yes I was referring to spp already within Australia. There is a definite potential to make a good display with pigeons, parakeets, pheasants and finches to fit into the Asian theme.
I was told at Perth zoo in 2000 by one of the elephant keepers the bull was going to be shipped out to the USA to (Fort Worth). I have pics of the steel crate inside the exhibit at Perth so yes I believe they never had any plans to breed them
Female African lions, Zuri and Makeba have arrived from Taronga Western plains zoo: https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/an...-home-in-new-breeding-facility-ng-b881017314z They will live alongside Shinyanga until two male’s arrive from North America in 2019.
A meerkitten was born a month ago. In other news, 3 people were charged with stealing said meerkitten: https://www.usnews.com/news/offbeat...erkat-case-solved-with-3-charged-in-australia
A baby Meerkat is not called a "meerkitten". Apparently this idiotic word was popularised by (possibly created in) the book "Life of Pi".
If I’m understanding this correctly, in the early 2000s, the Perth Zoo had plans to relocate 1.0 Putra Mas to the United States for breeding as the Perth Zoo never had intentions to breed Asian elephants. However, for unknown reasons, the relocation plans fell through and the Perth Zoo decided to attempt breeding with 1.0 Putra Mas and 0.1 Permai. Is it true that Putra Mas was going to be relocated to the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas? Why was Putra Mas never relocated to the United States?
Simmo, the zoo’s 70 year old Saltwater crocodile has passed away. https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/animals/perth-zoos-saltwater-crocodile-simmo-dies-ng-b881035475z
A bit late but Perth Zoo have recieved a pair of red pandas (these individuals came from Taronga Zoo and the National Zoo and Aquarium). Perth Zoo
