I knew Tiga was in renal failure but I didn't realize she would go this quick. I will miss having her snuggled right up to the glass. At least she lived a good long full life and contributed well to the population during her time with Kota. She will live on in her cubs and grandcubs.
Grevy's Zebra - Thru word-of-mouth I have heard that Tori gave birth to a female two days ago and both are fine. Last week I was in the rhino barn and Jake was in the other wing from the rhinos. He has been going on the exhibit alone from late afternoon until morning, waiting for Tori to give birth so he then could be with Lori-Ann to breed, hopefully (because she is older and has never bred). Youngsters: Leia is waiting to be transferred to San Diego, and Luke is waiting in the off-exhibit holdings for a plan for him. I watched the three females on exhibit for some time when they were due to go in and Big Mama Tori was clearly the boss - they were all at the gate but she kept bumping and shaking her head at the other two, making them stand back so she was first.
Here's the press release on the Zebra calf, who was introduced to the public today. Toronto Zoo | Press Releases
Have we lost one of the West African Dwarf crocodiles? I've only seen 1 (think it's Monty) over my last few visits...been looking at all the nooks & crannies in the exhibit... I haven't seen any keepers around to ask... I'm also wondering if the von der Decken's hornbills are nesting....it looked like the female was just starting to mud up the hole in the nest box.
According to the Zoo facebook page the Lynx cubs have both been confirmed to be female. They're also 4 months old.
More baby news! According to the Zoo facebook page, Bactrian camel Alice gave birth to a male calf on August 23.
Here's an article on the camel birth. Apparently he is being hand reared which is interesting since Alice is an experienced mom. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/09/01/toronto-zoo-welcomes-baby-camel.html
Someone on facebook asked about way the calf is being bottle fed. The zoo replied with the following: "When mom, Alice, was showing aggressive behaviour towards the baby, making feeding a challenge for the calf, Zookeepers stepped in to assist by bottle feeding the male calf with mother's milk to ensure he continues to be healthy and strong." So the calf is being fed by both mother and by bottle.
Very sad news today from the zoos Facebook. African lion Lyndy was put down after showing signs of kidney disease and poor health over the last few months. He was 16 years old.
That's very sad news to hear. I last saw Lyndy out on exhibit on August 24. He seemed okay then, but what do I know. Keepers obviously have a more intimate relationship with the animals, so seeing him getting worse and worse must've been hard for them. I wonder how Jerroh is being affected by the lost of his brother. I wonder if he'll act differently now that he'll be alone on exhibit. With Lyndy's death, I wonder if this will in any way change the plans, if any, for the White Lion cubs. As I've mentioned in the developments thread, A Keeper said that the boys could possible stay if the Tawny's pass away, making room for them in the house.
Very sad indeed to hear of Lindy's passing. It will undoubtedly be hard on Jerroh at first but as with all animals he will adapt. I do not believe it will change the zoo's plans for Harrison, Hank, Oliver and Gus. They would be fools not to find homes for them. If they can that frees space for future breeding... not a good idea but let's face facts cubs are money makers. It would be incredibly rare for a zoo to keep four adult males together. I know they coexist peacefully in the wild in a group of four brothers but zoos rarely keep more than a pair of males. Most often a trio of brothers is split with a pair and a singleton if not totally divided. Right now Atlanta has a trio of two year olds, denver is about to pick up 4 yearlings, Kansa City has a trio of ten year olds, and oakland is about to get a trio of yearlings. Plus trading the boys off is probably already well in the works for some if not most of the boys. Jerroh is still alive and unless they suspect he will pass shortly too he could be around another 4-10 years (oldest recorded male was 26).
Some successful breeding of a rare fish species was announced on the zoo's facebook page today: "We are proud to announce that the critically endangered Ptychochromis insolitus (P. insolitus), a perch-like species of fish, have successfully been bred for the first time in Canada." The post continues and notes that the hatchlings are a month old and in a closely monitored quarantined exhibit.
this species has an interesting story attached to it, regarding being thought to be effectively-extinct in 2013: Fish Found: The Greatest Conservation Success Story of 2013? - Scientific American Blog Network
Moose, Elliot, has been put down. At eleven he was old for a moose. Oldest on record is nearly 14 and the average age for a male to reach is 5 and 1/2. FYI his mate Ashley is the same age so don't be surprised to hear of her passing anytime soon too.
Never knew Moose had such a short lifespan. I wonder if there are any plans in getting new moose, male or female, or whether that will be put on hold until the Canadian Wilderness plan are finalized.
I honestly don't know if a new male moose is in the cards right now. There are not that many breeding males. Elliot and Ashley were the most prolific breeders by far. Not many get a chance to breed and during their partnership they produced seven calves, males Oakleaf (dead), Wayne Roundtree (dead) and an unnamed twin of Saro's, and females Cherry, Saro, Lilly and Trilly all still alive. The girls are the least genetically valuable moose in the AZA because Elliot and Ashley are two of the only pairs that bred and bred well. I do not think there is much chance we will get a highly valuable male unless a male orphan becomes available. Cherry and Saro are now both past peak breeding age (4) so they are unlikely to ever breed while Lilly and Trilly are approaching that magical age. Most females will not breed beyond 7 meaning when Ashley had the twins at 8 she was unlikely to have them. She had them beyond the average life expectancy for a female moose. So long as Elliot was alive he could potentially sire a calf. It shouldn't be all that surprising if Ashley passes in the next year or two unless she wants to be a record breaker. I think its unlikely the zoo will do anything about the moose unless orphans become available. Even if Ashley passes they will still have two adult females. The SSP wasn't too concerned about breeding them. I don't see Elliot's passing changing that. The Canadian Domain is not well visited so they may well wait for the passing of the girls or the opening of the Canadian Wilderness to do something. However if orphans became available through the MNR I could see the zoo snapping them up. It's how they got Elliot and likely Ashley (her history is a little more iffy), as well as just about every other moose the zoo has had unless that moose was born there which didn't happen often.
Absolutely shocking news out of Winnipeg. Polar bears Hudson and Humphrey are returning to Toronto. Part of me wonders if they will trek north like their dad to Cochrane not long after. They are both too big and old to socialize with Juno although they are highly social bears. Polar bear brothers Hudson and Humphrey moving to Toronto Zoo | CTV Winnipeg News
Some more shocking news of the day! This morning (friday) keepers found 3 dead bison in a non public accessible area. They are going to investigate into it. It will be very interesting to see the cause of death. Toronto Zoo investigates after 3 bison found dead Friday - Toronto - CBC News
Jake.Roberts we may never be told the causes of death. It's actually pretty rare for them to reveal cause of death unless old age was involved. We zoo chatters might find out but that's because someone among us will likely ask a keeper. But necropsy reports are very rarely released to the media. Frankly what's more surprising to me is that the zoo is even mentioning the deaths to the public. They have so many wood bison no one would know the difference.
