Poor Samson. He and the girls were the only river hippos I really grew up knowing. Sad to think the next time I will be at the zoo he wont be there. Yet with his passing hopefully the zoo will look to the SSP to place a potential breeding male at the zoo. Any new male would not be a potential mate to Petal or Perky because of their unknown pedigree but in time the new exhibit will be built and more hippos could be acquired. My sincere hope is that if the zoo does wish to replace him they bring a male up from the US or just wait until Petal and Perky pass. All of the male hippos in Canada now descend from Granby's breeding pair. As do all of the females except Petal, Perky and Sparky. Given their mother's unknown pedigree Toronto would just be saddled with yet another unbreedable hippo. I want to one day see a river hippo calf but for now I will just have to be thrilled to pieces with the preferable pygmy hippo calf Harvey and Kindia might provide by next year. Samson, the Toronto Zoo's agreeable hippo, dies at 43 | Toronto Star
2017 will be a big baby year if some of the current pregnancies come through. A cheetah is due soon. I don't know which one. I would have my doubts it would be the new female but seeing as the other females have been with the males for years with nothing she also seems like the logical choice. The pitter patter of clouded leopard cubs should be heard in roughly a month. I want to see clouded leopard cubs desperately but we all need to be prepared not to see them. First off this is Pavarti's first litter so we all know what that could mean. Secondly common protocol for clouded leopards is to pull the cubs from mom within days to hand rear. This ensures they get the antibodies needed from mom but increases their odds of survival. It also allows them to bond with their future mates as they are commonly placed together before they are 6 months old. Very important in a species where the males can be very aggressive with their mates to the point where death is a real possibility. For us that means we might not ever see the cubs. They will need to be shipped to the US as soon as possible to be paired. Eurasia is about to get a lot more exciting as well with the anticipated arrival of snow leopard cubs. Good old Kota did his job again. This will likely be his last go at fatherhood given his age so hopefully his pairing with Ena will produce a larger litter. Good spring for cats! The three different litters should all be on display by July if all goes well. Next up for our 2017 joy... rhino calves. What did I just say calves? I did. White rhinos Zohari is due in November. Sister Sabi is very likely pregnant but not yet confirmed. And here is the shocker... Indian rhino Asha is also pregnant again and due in January 2018. Now we wont see any of these rhino calves until 2018 but can you imagine 3 rhino calves to enjoy that summer. No word on any of the other big possibilities... pygmy hippo, otter, wolf, orang or camel. I'll take what we are getting though with great joy. Any additions to that will just increase my level of happiness.
I have been so disconnected from the zoo lately, that I didn't know about any of these pregnancies. This is all awesome news, and has officially made my day. Thanks @TZFan
On the zoo's facebook page they posted about the hacking of 4 new Penguin chicks. The goods news about this is that the 4 chicks are from new breeding pair, with 2 of themcoming from a new pair that's considered a genetically important pair in the SSP program. Below is the Post on facebook. "We are proud to announce the successful hatching of four African penguin chicks at the Toronto Zoo! Beginning Good Friday (April 14), these yet to be named chicks will be viewable in their Indoor Viewing Area from 11 am to 2 pm daily. The first two chicks were laid by a new pair, Thandiwe and Matata, who were recommended to breed by the Species Survival Plan (SSP). Although the new pair bonded very quickly, they didn’t do well at incubating their eggs. Their first egg was laid on January 5th and the Keeper team swiftly intervened and swapped the egg to be raised by surrogate parents Ziggy and DJ, who have been great penguin parents in the past. The second egg was laid by Thandiwe a few days later on January 8th, and Keepers were initially delighted to see her sitting on the egg very tightly, however she had to sit on the egg for 7 days in a row. In the wild, penguin parents trade off egg-sitting duties as they both need to hunt and drink for themselves, however, Matata was a first-time parent and did not participate in sitting on the egg. As a result, the second egg was also given to surrogates, proven parents Shaker and Flap. The other two chicks were laid by another brand new SSP pair, Eldon and Chupa, which are viewed as a genetically important pair in the SSP program. This pair also got along very well, however, given their genetic importance, it was decided to also use surrogates for their first egg. In fact, since DJ and Ziggy were viewed as the most reliable parents, this egg replaced the first egg from the other pair, which in turn went to another proven pair: Squeak and Pedro. A few days later on January 25th, Eldon laid a second egg, which was left with the new pair to raise on their own and they did a great job! Needless-to-say, managing penguin chicks is tricky business! The chicks hatched on February 12th, February 15th, February 27th and March 4th, respectively. Incubation by the parents occurs for just over a month, then the hatched chicks stay with their parents in the nest for another 3 weeks. By this point the chicks are large and mobile enough for the Penguin Keepers to hand-raise them. Currently, our Keepers are teaching the chicks to be hand-fed fish and to get on a scale for daily weigh-ins. Recently, the Keepers gave them their first swimming lesson. Our hope is them being ready to “fledge” and join our colony at around 80 days. We were pleasantly surprised to introduce a little more girl power into our penguin colony. It was determined after hatching that three of the four chicks were female, which is good news for North American zoo population, which is predominantly male. Male and female penguins look similar, so a DNA test is required to determine their gender. The arrival of these chicks signifies a great achievement for these new penguin parents and the African Savanna Wildlife Care staff. This breeding season we were able to reach 100% of our SSP pairing and breeding goals. The Toronto Zoo penguins help draw attention to this imperiled species. Of the 18 penguin species around the world, the African penguin is one of the most endangered. The current population size in the wild for the African penguin is less than half of what it was 40 years ago, which equals only about 3 generations for penguins. Factors still affecting their decline include lack of food (due to climate change and over-fishing), disease, predation, and pollution (mainly oil spills). Today, there are fewer than 20,000 breeding pairs left in South Africa."
Alright, I have to ask, how do you find out all this information !?! Many of these are things the zoo probably won't announce until the baby is actually born. Regardless this is very exciting news for all critters involved.
I have my ways to find things out. I'm snoopy. Just to clarify though I don't work for the zoo. I received additional details but I have my doubts about how precise that info is. We shall see when the babies are announced how right the info was. I also wont be all that surprised if things don't go well for the first time moms... all but Asha and even then given her history possibly her too.
So you know someone who works there then, lol. TFW you really want to spew some cool details about western zoos but you actually work in zoological and can't say anything because of confidentiality agreements *sigh*
The article, the video and a lot of pictures of the African penguin-chicks : Toronto Zoo Hatching a Plan to Save African Penguins
The macaques are at the zoo still and there are four unless someone has died recently. Females Si Nikel, Screamer and Vina and male Guntur. No breeding will occur. Screamer is too old and the rest are related. Previous male Karl died a while back and Si Nikel's older 2 offspring are now living at Safari Niagara.
The stork visited the zoo last week and dropped off some precious cargo. Cheetah cubs have arrived and are doing well with first time mom Laini so far. Begin the count down clock to possibly seeing them... as with most cats we are looking at roughly 8 to 12 weeks. If all goes well I'm sure they will want them on display Canada Day weekend when they will get the biggest draw. Oh and clouded leopard Pavarti is now off display awaiting the imminent arrival of her cubs. Good time for anyone who wants to be certain how to tell Mingma and Pavarti apart to really study his features when you know she is not on display. Wont be long before she is back on display.
I do know how many but I'll leave that for the zoo to announce especially since mortality is high for cheetah cubs.
The notion remains that LTM's in North America is somehting of a animal management disaster decision over its years. A once flourishing program with a good population and representative bloodlines is all but lost.
You are right Kifaru Bwana. There was a good founder population and a better shot at genetic diversity then a bunch of other more popular species. As of the last SSP there were 35 with many females too old to breed. Toronto and Safari Niagara's macaques weren't even considered by the SSP but other than Vina the rest related to Toronto are non breeders.
All females except the new imports at DAK are most likely post-reproductive. I thought it was odd that none of Canada's macaques were considered by the SSP, but if the situation is similar up there then I guess it doesn't really matter. I agree that the loss of that large, genetically robust population is lamentable. Fortunately, the SSP is very interested in restarting the population with European and perhaps Indian imports; especially if the latter pans out, we might be able to re-establish a viable population.
I'm not sure if anybody was aware of this or if it has already been said but I came across a TZ Zookeepers Instagram and she had a photo saying that she would miss Arya the southernground hornbill, who went to Mississippi around April 20th.
Finally the zoo has announced all of the new cubs, which many members have known for days and weeks in the case of the cheetahs. Toronto Zoo | Press Releases
