Hello zoochatters, does anybody know if there are Northern nail-tailed Wallabies still to be seen on display in Taronga ? Are there Yellow-bellied Gliders, Long-nosed Bandicoots and any Quoll species being kept in the Nocturnal House ? Thanks in advance Jakub
Northern nail-tailed Wallabies. Both of them unfortunately have passed away. Not sure about the Nocturnal House. I haven't visit it for a while.
Tiger Adventure opening in July this year. Hope they bring back one of the boys and on of the girls from the last tiger group. It will be interesting to see what it looks like.
Wow, they're tiny. They remind me of snake necked turtles. Does anyone know if they were incubated artificially or naturally? I'm assuming artificially but doesn't incubation temperature influence the gender? If so, I wonder if they split them into two incubators with two different temperature ranges to achieve a mix of males and females?
I'm not sure if this news has been mentioned elsewhere, so I will include it here: Taronga Zoo is mentioned in this article as having insurance populations of 'lizards' from a captive-breeding programme on Christmas Island. The exact species at Taronga are not confirmed but the two species that are kept at Christmas Island are the blue-tailed skink (Cyptoblepharus egeriae) and Lister's gecko (Lepidodactylus listeri), so the species could be either or both of them. For these two species, the captive-breeding programme has been a success and both are increasing in numbers. A Christmas Miracle? Perhaps someday
A baby female pygmy hippo went on display today, she was born at Taronga on 21 February to Fergus and Kambiri. She now brings the total Australasian population to 5 individuals. Rare Pygmy Hippo calf makes a splash at Taronga
Awesome news, especially good that it's a female calf! The region is now home to the following hippos: Felix (M) born 17 November 2006 (Frank x Fluffy) MELBOURNE ZOO Fergus (M) born 6 August 2009 (Frank x Fluffy) TARONGA ZOO Kambiri (F) born 26 June 2010 (Timmy x Petre) TARONGA ZOO Obi (M) born 25 May 2015 (Felix x Petre) ADELAIDE ZOO Unnamed (F) born 21 February 2017 (Fergus x Kambiri) TARONGA ZOO Assuming the import ban on pygmy hippos is not relaxed anytime soon, I'm guessing she'll be paired with her paternal uncle, Felix, at Melbourne Zoo upon reaching maturity. Pygmy hippo gestation is short (around 6 months) and if the calf is removed, females frequently give birth less than a year later; around 2-3 years if the previous calf remains with the mother. This combined with the fact females can reproduce into their 30s hopefully means Kambiri and Fergus will produce a lot more calves over the coming years to supply our regions zoos. I wouldn't be surprised if Auckland Zoo acquire this species in the next 10 years to replace the common hippopotamus sub species they have recently lost.
I believe no IRA has even been started at this stage for importations its going to be an uphill battle if ZAA want to keep this species going in the region. Pygmys fell down between the cracks in our main zoos years ago with little interest paid to the species in the region. The Hippos both river and Pygmys held in North Queensland should have been kept in the country by ZAA and not shipped out to Bali and real lost to the species in Australia.
It is a real shame that Australia and New Zealand did not import more hippos into the region when there was the opportunity to do so. Especially considering they are such a long lived species and the inter generational gap can potentially be large (with females reproducing into their 30s). Tipperary Station held many hippos but records are absent for some of it's collection, including details of this hippo, presumed to be an escapee: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...p/news-story/1461ccca27470bd37db65d0d46ac51f2 I do believe the only way forward at the moment is to breed the Taronga pair as frequently as possible. Inbreeding is not ideal, but the only option so if females calves can be bred from this pair, they can form pairs with Felix (2006) and Obi (2015) down the line. Also, if females calves can be bred from Fergus and Kambiri, they could still be reproducing 30 years later so simply stocking up the zoos in this region with single animals, same sex siblings from this pair could be enough to sustain the sub species in this region until mates can be imported 20-30 years down the line if that is what's preferred over inbreeding. I'm not a fan of inbreeding but agree it's necessary in situations like this, when the importation of unrelated individuals is near impossible. Inbreeding is already done with condors in our region due to import restrictions and the last golden cats in Australasia were formed from mostly related pairs (though it was possible to import unrelated individuals into the region).
That is all the more reason the Hippos at Mareeba should have stayed in the country a BIG fail by the ZAA, With the strict importation laws the way they are the ZAA should have been looking long term at a number of animal species long term future but they appear to have been napping on the job. In regards to the Hippos at the Tipperary Station it is true one of the Pygmy Hippos did get out (A female) and lived feral for around 6 years untill she was shot by a pig hunter what a huge waste of a rare and endangered species with breeding females in such short supply here in the region. Also since it was also known to be living feral at the time!
Only one female river Hippo stayed in the country, I believe it was obtained by Seaworld but ended up at Dubbo where I believe it since has had a calf!
I cannot help but agree with what has been said about pygmy hippos and hippos. Perhaps further discussion deserves a separate thread as well. As a matter of urgency the ZAA should really try and sort out IRA for both pachyderm species (as well as rhinos … from South Africa) in the relative short term. Perhaps it would be helpful to create a supra regional framework for imports with New Zealand and S.E. Asia / Europe zoo community!?
