Taronga Zoo Recent history of Taronga and developments etc

Hey did anyone see that doco in 93/94 about the new Orangutan exhibit being made. Forgot that Crab Eating Macaques once shared the exhibit and how the late Archie kept a weather in the press water tap in the old exhibit so it ran constantly and was nicknamed his fountain by keepers. Also in the doco it shows how what i knew as Mary the Muller Gibbons island was Squirrel Monkey island for a short stage but they kept eating and or damaging the old moreton fig tree so they were removed. Always though Mary had been there for decades due to that story posted in her obituary article about the lightning storm of 1990 knocking her tree down and the poor thing stayed clinging in the tree overnight instead of escaping and obviously very happy to see someone familiar jumped into her keepers arms the next morning. But if her tree was destroyed then she must have been moved elsewhere right. Mary was such a beautiful girl and made touched many hearts over a long time hey. I remember seeing her in about 2009 and this old guy next to me said 'Good old Mary bless her shes a widower, remember her when I was a young fella not much older than you swinging around with her partner.' I imagine if shed been at Taronga since the 60s her and her partners original exhibit would have been more of that era like the great apes and other primates etc had in the day right? Was glad to see Kayak and Nelly last year as remembered them from Perth back in 2006. Had no idea that the male Silvery had died and Regina had gone to Howletts. Would love it if Taronga had space for both Silveries and White Cheeks. To be honest would love it if many other Gibbons had a home there also but thats not realistically feasbile i know. Funny enough my friend didnt want to accept the limiting of species as much as other smaller zoos like perth she said 'but Tarongas pretty big for a city, is it funding cuts or something.' But besides Mary and the other Gibbons i had wondered about that 93/94 Orang exhibit and thought id read somewhere that people were very underwhelmed by it at the time or something like it hadnt been as much as expected or so on? Perth took a long time to improve its Orangs living conditions but its seems to be doing pretty well now (considering natural vegetation and trees arent really possible right as the Orangs uproot, break, destroy quickly right?) and yeah I know Taronga only had what four (now only two) Orangs when that exhibit was made so compared to Perths 10-15 full time resident Orangs (leaving out all the successfully bred ones that have gone on to other zoos or Sumatra ) i suppose Taronga wasnt aiming for too grandiose an exhibit. But with the sharing of the exhibit were the males and females together sometimes and seperated at others i dont know much about Tarongas daily living routine with their Orangs but remember the other small inside exhibit with jungle gym, boxes, newspapers and thought maybe the males (or at least Jantan) were seperated. Archie did inhabit the big exhibit right on top of the jungle gym under the cable cars with carboard boxes or something.

 

I wonder whether there is any possibility of importing Prevost squirrels in the future, would work well with all of the Asian rainforest exhibits.

 

Pretty sure the original design of the orang exhibit was to include long tail macaques as a mixed species display, and this did last for a number of years throughout the 90s. At first glance when I saw the combined exhibit (1998), I felt it was a really interesting and novel idea. The activity of the smaller primates were off-set by the more impressive but less active apes. There was nice interaction between individuals of both species. TZ also managed to get around the vegetation-destruction problem by hot-wiring the beds around the perimeter walls (not perfect, but not bare walls either). However I think the biggest downfall with the original design was not creating a series of interconnected exhibits to manage the orangs as units, rather then as one family group. Maybe space/money was the issue. Probably also a lack of commitment to making an exhibit best for the species, over something nice for the public. Over time there were some management issues (lack of forward thinking regarding macaque behaviour?) - macaque aggression both towards orangs (individuals sitting in front of the slides preventing orangs comin in!) and also within the macaque group (eventually TZ stopped keeping a dominant male in the exhibit), and then eventually the possible Herpes disease transmission issue. Sadly and probably inevitably on my return visit (2001) the macaques were gone.

 

Squirrels are on the specifically-banned import list, as opposed to the everything-not-approved-is-banned list, so their importation is highly unlikely. I think this is due to their high invasion potential. If zoos were interested in squirrels they had Five-lined Palm Squirrels at Taronga until very recently, but I think no longer, and Perth used to house them too (and they were wild in Perth Zoo grounds for a while, unsure if this is still the case). While small, they still made a great display.

 

There are still some in private hands in Sydney, so are available if Taronga is interested.

When I was at Perth Zoo last year I saw none in the grounds, and the keepers and volunteers told me none had been seen for a year or two. They may have finally died out.



Hix

 

Sorry to go further off-topic, but Both Indian and northern palm squirrels are being bred for the pet trade (at least here in Sydney): Squirrels on sale: trendy pets or just a little nuts

 

I didn't know that Taronga kept Macaques with the Orangs, that does sound like an interesting display, but I can also imagine it not working.

 

I realise I might have been thinking of the NZ import list when mentioning squirrels, although I still doubt that any squirrels could ever be imported. I didn't realise that they were being bred as pets, and I'm rather surprised that that is permitted. Also interesting to note the second species.

While it would be great if Taronga (or any Australian zoo) added squirrels back to their collections, it seems very unlikely given the direction zoos are going in, with small mammals very rarely incorporated into new exhibit (meerkats the notable exception).

 

Taronga initially had quite a large number of orangutans (Bornean and Sumatran) and bred many hybirds (the last was Jantan in 1987 I believe), until Bornean and Sumatran were identified as separate sub species and breeding between the two prohibited. Willow and Jantan descend from this family and are both hybirds.

Taronga imported a male Bornean (Datuk) from Auckland Zoo and two females (Melur and Gangsa) from Hong Kong Zoo in the mid 90s with the intention to breed purebred Borneans. Datuk died in 1998 having sired no offspring and Taronga decided not to import a new male or continue with the breeding programme. Melur and Gangsa were sent to Auckland Zoo, along with Wanita (Willow's older sister), who was also a hybrid born at Taronga Zoo.

 

Seems like Australia is one of the hardest countries to import many exotic species into and as time goes on seems more and more restrictive. Am aware we have a good quarantine system that has probably prevented some diseases or pesty bugs getting into the place but surely we can loosen up a bit on restrictions for exotic animals. Theres no shortage of beautiful endangered creatures that need some support through captive breeding and Australian zoos are capable of providing a space for quite a few more if government and private funding was increased. But maybe just wishful thinking btw how do you move certain posts to a new thread when they are in need of shifting lol ps thanks again everyone for the posts and answers

 

Shiva and Selatan were certainly a special pair. I like how Taronga has kept the family line going all these years. They hold the studbook for the Australasian region so every movement of tigers to and from Taronga has been arranged by them. Working first hand with their tigers would obviously allow them to learn their personalities and no doubt influence decisions made.

Taronga had the decision to send either Shiva (1985) or Jambi (1988) to Wellington Zoo and retain the other for breeding with Selatan (1990). Given Jambi was closer in age to Selatan, I'd guess the decision to choose Shiva instead was based on his laid back and friendly personality, which they knew would set them in good stead for introducing him to the young tigress. Clearly a brilliant decision as they soon developed a close and lasting relationship. Jambi was sent to Wellington and actually killed his first mate (also born in 1990 like Selatan).

I don't know the personalities of Ramalon and Lari, but Juara was described as being laid back like his father so I'm guessing they again may have chosen the most placid male in the litter for breeding with the imported female, Assiqua.

Juara and Assiqua's daughter Jumilah is quite fiery I believe and unfortuantely so was her imported mate, Satu. Keepers described the introductions as challenging and said they'd never leave the pair together as they didn't trust Satu not to kill her. After years of introductions and at least one failed pregnancy, they finally had cubs in 2011.

I have no idea what their plans are for breeding, following the tiger's return next year, but I'd imagine they'll be looking to import a mate for breeding with one of the 2011 cubs. Here's hoping they chose a pair as well suited as the cub's great grandparents.

 

Melbourne and Mogo's (and Canberras?) intentions are to continue keeping Snow Leopards right? from the sounds of this new patchwork (non geo-zone) of exhibits Melbourne has planned. Surely ZAA will still invest in other endangered and or vulnerable cat species beside Sumatran Tiger and Cheetah (dont get me wrong i'm obviously 110% in favour of their conservation captive breeding focus by ZAA) just like to hear what everyone knows and thinks about Aus/NZ's future with wild big/medium cat species focus.

 

According to the website of this bird farm in semi-rural north-west Sydney, they are the only place selling Indian palm squirrels in Sydney (see top right corner): Berkshire Park Bird Farm - Birds, Pet Birds, Bird Farm, Pet Supplies

 

So if you can buy Palm Squirrels is there any chance at all of importing Prevost Squirrels? also are there Tree Shrews left in Aus at Taronga and any other zoos? have they ever escaped like the Palm Squirrels at PZ? When did Palm Squirrels first arrive at PZ and can anyone tell me when they escaped?? I remember them as far back as 1991 when i was a toddler visiting pz with my family. I take it theyd been there before that at least 30-40 years or longer.

 

I think it's a shame Taronga Zoo have apparently given up on snow leopards, and I honestly have no idea why. They're endangered, they compliment other South East Asian and Himalayan species well, not to mention their popularity with the public. As far as I know, the zoos you mentioned above have no intention of phasing them out in the immediate future. Wellington Zoo are looking to import them, possibly next year (the initial plans were to import them this year). but there will need to be rennovations done on the old sun bear terrace which is to house them.

I think Sumatran tigers will long term be the most successful and widespread breeding programme as there is a large population in Australasia, and more and more smaller zoos joining the programme. They are much easier to breed than cheetah etc. and don't require large spaces etc. meaning many of the city zoos can easily accomodate them.

There is currently a breeding programme for African Lion but many zoos including Auckland, Wellington and Perth have all female prides of 0.3, 0.3 and 0.1 respectively, which are now post reproductive. I don't know if Orana Wildlife Park are officially a part of the breeding programme and the foudners of their pride are not from accredited institutions and their lions either inbred or likely inbred.

In my opinion, I'd like to see a resurgence of big cat popuulations in the region, and the import of new species, especially leopards and jaguar. These will obviously be most successful if more than one or two of the zoos hold the species. Jaguar would be a good fit with many zoos already exhibiting South American Biomes eg. Auckland Zoo.

 

T

Totally agree with you. Good on Wellington for picking up where Taronga seems to have abandoned the creatures. Maybe sydney basin is perhaps too humid for Snow Leopards to live in comfortably and Melbourne, Canberra, Wellington are of a more typically cooler climate (have been to Mogo which still feels quite summery hot in the warmer months but perhaps a bit cooler) but even with Polar Bears on the gold coast (which i dont think i really agree with in this day and age of more awareness and consideration) theres means of keeping cold climate animals potentially satisfied with refrigerated rocks and sort of (something similar) air conditioned vents or something more like what keeps walk in cooler fridges cold or perhaps its way too expensive and out of a typical zoos budget range to maintain.

But with African Lions and a breeding program in place for them by ZAA what im curious about is is there going to be a bit more focus on subspecies concentrated breeding with what is known now compared to 30 plus (even 10-20) years ago. I know from Chlidonias's (and everyones else contributions) list that African Lions are a splurge of various importations and some descent from ex-circus Lions. Considering how the subspecies are a lot more acknowledged now I would understand if the program was a bit more focused on future imports of only say West African Lions or Gir Lions which would not be allowed to breed and be hybridsed with generic African zoo Lions. Have to acknowledge that I new practically nothing about hybrid captive animals (except Giraffes and a few others) and learning about Orangutans and also the Asian-African Lion hybrids has been very enlightening so thanks everyone who has shared information about that. Had no idea the Asian Lions I remembered at Taronga in '95 and at WP in '98 were hybrids.