Could well be Shabani or Samaki, as well as Furahi or Shikamoo (less likely as they are lower ranked tho). There are photos of Shabani mating with Shiba while she was pregnant so it is a possibility. Lani was a mother x son breeding (Lisa x Lubutu).
Shiba's baby has been confirmed as a male: Shiba?s little bundle arrives | Taronga This takes Taronga's numbers up to 8.10, with two females still pregnant.
a sort of page-filler article about feeding the animals at Taronga Zoo: No Cookies | dailytelegraph.com.au
No idea at this stage. The details are very vague at this point; its not known whether it will be a renovation of the existing exhibit or an entirely new one. If the latter is the case, Taronga could be looking to build it on the land opposite the snow leopards. Whilst this is pure speculation, that area doesn't have any expensive assets on it at the moment, its relatively flat and would also enable the zoo to keep utilising the big cat enclosures for the lions.
That would make sense: linking the tigers, Malayan tapir, snow leopards, Himalayan thar and dhole with the rest of what was Wild Asia. I wonder (if it were a new exhibit) where the meerkats and fennec foxes will go (especially since the fennecs have done really well at breeding in that exhibit)?
If that is the site, is being the operative word, then I highly doubt any of the exhibits from the foxes all the way along would be preserved. I imagine the meerkats and foxes would go elsewhere within the zoo (hey, if you can have Brazilian tapir in Africa perhaps they could end up in 'Asia) and the dhole and tapir moved off-exhibit entirely, or deleted from the collection.
Shiba's baby has been named 'Sudi' meaning luck or success Gorgeous baby chimp born at Sydney's Taronga Zoo is given the lucky Swahili name 'Sudi' | Mail Online They mention in the article that Samaki is the father, meaning that (if actually true and not just a misunderstanding) the baby is inbred (Samaki is the son of Shiba).
Sudi's father could well be Samaki, but also may be any of the other males except Lubutu or Sule... *grin* No-one will know for sure until a DNA test is done... hopefully they will do Fumo's DNA test soon too. My feeling is that Fumo's father might be Shikamoo... and they may be right about Samaki being Sudi's father... just a hunch I have from watching both rather closely... T.
I only wish that Taronga would stop breeding from a group of unknown sub-species origins and eventually switch to a pure group (only a DNA test can help to distinguish if any individuals hold some purity or not). That might be a big ask though (especially since Taronga has had a good record of breeding chimps and pure chimps are not exactly in the greatest supply).
With Taronga's good Chimp breeding record, I would presume nearly all the animals in their current group are zoo born(?), in which case its highly likely they are multi-race- the chances of e.g. a West African line remaining pure in such a group is very slim indeed. It means they would have to start completely afresh, or bring in e.g. some pure West African chimps into the group but only allow them, and not all the others, to breed. Gradually the impure ones would die off leaving a purebred group over time.That's what Edinburgh are trying to do though they've only recently had a successful/surviving birth from the 'pure' group. Its quite a major upheaval for any Zoo to make.
Yes with the death of Lulu Taronga now only has captive chimps (in fact every chimp currently in Australia and New Zealand was captive-born).
In a way that's a good thing (that we aren't taking chimps from the wild)... but in another way it could start to limit breeding programs as so many are related in some way, yes? T.
Yeah there is a real problem with chimpanzees in the region being somewhat related to each other. Individuals at Monarto, Hamilton and Wellington can trace their ancestry (or even birth) to Taronga in the not-too-distant past which means that to some degree they must be all closely related. The most valuable chimps are at Rockhampton (as well as the females at Monarto) where, as far as I know, none of the individuals are related to the Taronga colony. Of course, these are all with mixed-race chimps. I would imagine that with pure chimps finding unrelated individuals is even harder.
It would be nice to see some new blood brought in to the Taronga troop, but I'd assume it's not an easy task sourcing exotic animals through the proper channels... I suppose that's why they keep trying with Koko and Kamili... with not the best success rate so far... those two are certainly the least "mothering" of all the females, but Taronga must really need the bloodlines they carry. T.
I spoke a zookeeper a view days ago All the big cats will move to make place for new exhibits for the tigers and also the will make one on the side where the fennec foxes are living First the tigers will return and later the want to find a place for the lions. there are no plans for the snow-leopards who will probable go to Australia Zoo
