ah, thanks for that. I am disappointed that there appears to have been no mention of this by the zoo that I could find. I mean, just in November they even did "Vale" notices for a quokka and a baby lemur that died. Not to disrespect those individual animals of course, but Cantik was the last fishing cat in Australia! Surely worthy of note one would think.
Yeah - I would have thought so too... maybe there was some other big news at the time, and she just got forgotten? Media people are human too... but I bet the keepers still miss her a lot... *sigh* T.
According to the "Wild Life" member's magazine, a male fishing cat will arrive from Rotterdam Zoo in February 2016.
According to one of my sources, the orangutans will be moved down to the off-exhibit area Frala, Fataki, and Fuzu used to inhabit - and the new female chimps will be moving into the orangutan exhibit to acclimatise before being introduced to the current troop. T.
Good to hear that Taronga is persisting with fishing cats. Again why is it left to one zoo in the region to show interest in a lovely endangered species that fits every zoo's masterplan of Asian rainforests???
Could it be because the fishing cats they can be difficult to view and so not seen as a good exhibit by visitors and zoo management
Hunter Valley hope to have them on display from Friday... and from what I saw of the new enclosure, I'm gonna be able to get much better photos than I ever managed at Taronga... yay! T.
so Taronga has no lions now... but are these lions coming back from Hunter Valley later, or will Taronga be getting new ones and leaving the current ones where they are?
If sourced regionally, the new lions will most likely be related to the departing Taronga trio, as most of the lions in Australasia descend from Kuchami's mother, Kura (1998) who is a mother of eight. Some options include Kura's great-grandaughters at Monarto Zoo (paired with the male cub at Western Plains Zoo) or one of Kura's great-grandsons at Werribee (paired with one or both of the female cubs at Western Plains Zoo). Lazerus is the father of the 1.2 cubs born at Western Plains Zoo, but only fathered Kura's second litter in 2004. Kura's 2001 litter was fathered by Tonyi, therefore the descendents of those lioness' (Amali, Amira, Kuchami and Kutaza) are unrelated to Lazerus and his triplets at WPZ.
Two new Californian Sea-lions have arrived at Taronga from Rotterdam. There is a video on their facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/tarongazoo/videos/1040796955983195/?theater
that was unexpected news. The zoo should now have six male Californian sealions. These two new ones, Cisco and Diego, from Rotterdam; Michi, imported in 2000 from Stuttgart; Pepper in 2009 from Emmen; Cooper in 2009 from Cologne. The sixth one is Murphy? I can't find where he came from or which year he was imported. Anyone know?
Article on the new California sea lions: https://taronga.org.au/media/media-...onga’s-two-new-sea-lions-enjoy-holiday-splash
The Temminck's Golden Cat went the same way. Melbourne was the only zoo in the region to hold a breeding pair during the 1990s (Hamilton and Auckland held single males) and had given up on breeding them by the time Taronga, Adelaide, Auckland and Hamilton Zoos made half-hearted attempts to breed them. Taronga, Adelaide and Hamilton only ever attempted breeding with one female. It was disappointing to see the last of the species exported, or die when they were an interesting exhibit. I know many people are fond of the fishing cat, but I always found the larger Golden Cat to be of more interest.
This feeds into my theory an belief that Aussie zoos should specialise in the taxa that we have no problems in importing and showcased the wide variety that exists in these taxa, namely felines, Canines and Primates. A wide range od small cats could be be kept in the region each species showing how they adapt to different enviroments and showcasing the variety of adaptions each species has. A fishing cat looks very different to a golden cat whick looks different toa serval etc. Half a dozen small cats would compliment the variety of large cats (cheetah, tiger and lion) that are already doing well here.
