An exact arrival date for the males from the US- 29th November 1994. My notes state 0.1 Masina Pongo, 0.1 Kalungwizi and 0.1 Dongajumu were the only females left from the 1993 import as of 2013.
The six surviving females were all still alive in 2000: 0.1 Musina Pongo (~1983) 0.1 Chitundumusere (~1986) 0.1 Kalungwizi (~1987) 0.1 Dongajumu (~1989) 0.1 Pepe Kalle (~1989) 0.1 Utahwedande (~1989) Five were still alive by 2009: 0.1 Musina Pongo (~1983) 0.1 Chitundumusere (~1986) 0.1 Kalungwizi (~1987) 0.1 Dongajumu (~1989) 0.1 Pepe Kalle (~1989) Three were still alive by 2013: 0.1 Musina Pongo (~1983) 0.1 Kalungwizi (~1987) 0.1 Dongajumu (~1989) All are now deceased.
At this point in time much now will depend on how successful Monarto zoo is in obtaining and future breeding. If another second breeding group of a different bloodline can be established it will go a long way for maintaining the species in the longer term.
Further notes on the early black rhinoceros at Dubbo: 0.1 Taronga (23/08/1958) was an Eastern black rhinoceros (D. b. michaeli). She arrived at Dubbo in October 1991 and was still alive in 2000. She died later that decade. At this time, the zoo also had a bull of this subspecies from the Cincinnati Zoo named Mwaniki. As noted by @akasha, he arrived in November 1994 and was also deceased by the end of the 2000’s. It was mentioned the subspecies were to be maintained separately from the South-central black rhinoceros with regards to breeding, so presumably Mwaniki was imported with the intention of breeding with this female. Sadly, she was 34 years old upon his arrival and hadn’t bred in over a decade likely making her non viable.
Given how difficult it will be to source South-central black rhinoceros (especially females) from the USA etc. I hope they’re considering an import from South Africa/Zimbabwe. It potentially could follow on from the Southern white rhinoceros import (which will be wrapped up in less than five years) using the same infrastructure to quarantine them etc. It would be easy to import males in the same shipment and any surplus (should they breed to those levels) would be in high demand from other regions within the captive population.
I do think it would take both Dubbo and Monarto together, to organise a mass import from eg. South Africa. Monarto can’t do it alone, and Dubbo are in need of some new genetics as well. In the future Werribee may possibly get involved as well. A Rhino Retreat is planned; and it’s not simply named ‘White Rhino Retreat’ - and the description seems to allude to multiple rhino species (possibly even Indian Rhinos too).
It would be in all holders interest to have more animals within the region a problem which has occurred with a number of other species held in our region. Even if Monarto could get two new females would be a good start. Yes a third holder like Werribee would be ideal.
It’d be good to see all three open range zoos come on board with both Indian and South-central black rhinoceros. Both are represented by only two holders each, which isn’t sustainable in the long term without ongoing imports. Werribee could work in support of Melbourne to accomodate a breeding herd of Indian rhinoceros with an additional (surplus) bull held at Melbourne to be swapped in when required. The larger the founder base, the more contingencies for under-performing pairs.
All true but I sometimes get the impression that said zoo wants to have lots of points of difference with others major zoo by having the only ones of the species in the region which might appear to be a feather in their cap but does nothing when there could be a better working relationship with other zoos in the region
That’s true and regionally speaking, Zoos Victoria may prefer for Indian rhinoceros to be Melbourne’s drawcard rather than Werribee holding them as well in order to encourage visitation of both facilities. The difference between the two rhino species is that Indian rhinoceros are widely available through the captive population; South-central are not. With that in mind, Dubbo would surely appreciate the support of any other holders in importing from South Africa/Zimbabwe.
I think a rhino species would be a great replacement for Melbourne’s elephants. Melbourne haven’t had rhinos for ages; although I believe they may have received a pair of White Rhinos in 1981 (which were sent to Werribee the year after). Indian Rhinos are a good draw card and also well suited to city zoos.
Since the Southern white rhinoceros can be kept in small to medium sized herds, it makes perfect sense to keep them at Werribee. They’re also able to be integrated with smaller ungulate species and aren’t liable to ram any vehicles passing through the exhibit. I think Indian rhinoceros could be good for Werribee too (ideally housed with the Indian antelope etc to create an Indian Plains exhibit); though given the space vacated by the elephants, they’ll be room to achieve this at Melbourne. It would be an exciting drawcard to replace their much loved elephant herd.
Mwaniki was exported in November 2002 to Port Lympne. This article from the local newspaper is dated the 14th, so it was sometime shortly before them. I tracked it down as I recalled from @jay's ozzoos website about the export of the male Eastern rhino. This was the news item from News for November 2002: "Western Plains Zoo has a breeding groupo of Southern black rhino and until recently a male eastern. Mwaniki has now been sent to Port Lympne in Great Britain to join their breeding group. He was not needed in Australia as the zoos do not interbreed the two subspecies." I'd infer from that paragraph that Mwaniki was the last of his subspecies at WPZ, meaning that Taronga had died before then, ie sometime in 2001/2002. According to page 6 of this thread Port Lympne black rhino, Mwaniki died late 2005, but not before fathering two female calves. So, even though he was never able to breed at Western Plains, the legacy of this once-Dubbo rhino lived on.
Thanks for sharing @Abbey. I’m glad Mwaniki was able to contribute to his species given he never had a chance to do that at Dubbo. I too would assume Taronga had passed by 2002 (she would have been 44 years old by then); however if she was still alive, then after eight years together, it would have been obvious no calves were to follow. She’d have last reproduced over two decades ago and no longer be viable. It’s good to see them make a call for the good of his species, similar to how Perth Zoo sent their middle aged Bornean orangutan to Singapore Zoo in the 1980’s, when there was still time for her to breed.
Flight of the Rhinos (1993) I thought people would be interested to watch this documentary that covers the capture of the black rhinoceros from Zimbabwe and their import into Australia in February 1993. Some notes of interest: The rhinos were captured and taken to Bomas to adjust to a life in captivity prior to export. Their horns were blunted to limit the damage they could do (to each other and their surrounding). Kalungwizi (the first female to give birth to a calf at Dubbo), was captured along with her infant male calf in 1992. The calf unfortunately died prior to export of a twisted intestine. Chitundumusere was the cow known as rocket, as this is what her name means in the Shona language. She was named this because of her fiery personality. She was later used to create an embryo in 2008 (see previous page). Tamana was the name of the adult bull. He died on Day 42 of the 60 day quarantine at Cocos Island of Haemolytic anaemia. The young bull that died was named Chamupupuri (Shona for whirlwind). He died from severe head injuries (not heat stress as previously reported) caused by running into a fence. It was mentioned the zoo were looking to import from the US following the death of both bulls - which occurred in 1994 (see previous page). The original plan was to breed 40 young, with the aim of returning several of them to Zimbabwe. Unfortunately the breeding programme has failed to produce such a surplus.
I don't know for sure, but Matobo is counted as the 16th calf born at Dubbo, which includes the two non-surviving calves listed on the first post of this thread so I would gather that this pregnancy ended in miscarriage, rather than stillbirth. Updates/Questions 2024: Chikundo (2000) is no longer at the zoo. Mpenzi (2005) is not the sire of Matobo (2023). He has never sired a calf. Kufara (2010) would have conceived Matobo in December 2021 (10/12/2021 if my maths are correct, with 490 day gestation followed by a birth on 14/04/2023). Per the TWPZ Instagram, it seems like Siabuwa was the male still alive in 2021, not Ibala. Therefore, the candidates for Matobo's sire would be Siabuwa (Kufara's maternal grandfather) or Chikundo (Kufara's uncle, the half-brother of her mother, Bakhita), although neither are at the zoo anymore and are both likely deceased. Unfortunately I didn't think to ask, although articles state the zoo knows when Kufara conceived, so they would know for sure. As far as I can tell, Kufara conceived through natural mating, although as her signs of oestrus weren't lining up with when she was actually cycling, she required vet care to ensure that she was mated during her fertile window - which rules out the males at Monarto as being sires through AI. An article upon the birth of Sabi Star in 2021, which also announced the death of Kwanzaa, also confirmed that he had sired four calves, which would also make him the sire of Dafari (2015), as well as Mesi (2017), Pampeon (2017) and Sabi. Hoping this is somewhat helpful.
Thanks for that update. It wouldn’t surprise me if Chikundo was the sire of Matabo for the sake of continuing the representation of Pepe Kalle’s line. She has two sons (Chikundo and Iduna), which otherwise have yet to breed. Siabuwa and Kalungwizi are very well represented through their daughter, Bakhita. It does indeed sound like a miscarriage then. Typically, these aren’t recorded in the studbook; though Hamilton Zoo reported what appears from the dates to have been the miscarriage of a mid-term calf to Caballe in 2005. Gestation is 16 months and she’d given birth 13 months prior to a surviving calf, likely conceiving again when that calf was around six months old.
I did the maths wrong on this one. Ibala would be the sire of Dafari, as Kwanzaa's four calves would be Mpenzi (2005), Mesi, Pampeon and Sabi Star. My apologies.
