It's a new year, which means it is time for a new thread. The 2 big animal stories to watch for 2013 will be the arrival of the 2 Giant Pandas and the eventual departure of the elephants. In the meantime, below is a follow-up article on the penguin chicks, which states they will be on display in mid-February. However, if all the chicks are currently being parent-reared, then they are already on display in the indoor holding area, but they may not be visible in the nests. I believe that the mid-February date is when the Zoo will pull the chicks for hand-rearing and place them near the window, as they did with the 3 in the spring. Cute alert! Toronto Zoo welcomes five endangered penguin hatchlings - thestar.com
Great news about the penguins! Five is super and with the potential of 2 more that's even better. I say when they officially are on exhibit in February we get another naming contest. Or if we get no say I think it would be hilarious to name them after the seven dwarfs, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy and Sneezy. With the exception of Grumpy or Doc the other names are very gender neutral. Could work. Does anyone have any idea when our pandas will arrive? I don't know how close to completing the exhibit they are and they will probaby have this official arrival announced in May like the white lions to cash in on end of year field trips and get a jump on summer attendace. But considering breeding season for the panda starts in march and the pandas would need time to adjust if they want a chance at a 2013 cub so I'd guess they would need to be moved here soon. Unless the zoo is just going to pass on breeding this year leaving us only 4 years to breed a cub in a species that's notoriously difficult to breed. Wouldn't be so bad to lose a year if we have 9 more years to breed and a chance to renew the contract but with them going to Calgary in 5 years the pressure is on. Also does anyone know if the stellar sea eagles or giant salamander have arrived yet? Or if their exhibits are even close to ready? I'm excited to see the stellar sea eagle. They look spectacular in photos.
Assiniboine Park have announced via Facebook that they expect to receive Polar Bear, Hudson from Toronto in the next few weeks
The zoo has also confirmed Hudson's departure. He will last be on exhibit Jan 27th before his move. I kind of thoughts since this seasons litter died they would keep him around over the summer to milk our love for him. But with their deaths perhaps there is an urgent need to get rid of him so Inukshuk can return and go though quarentine before breeding season starts in hopes of surviving cubs in 2013 from Aurora and/or Nikita. http://torontozoo.com/pdfs/Hudson Move Press Release 2013-01-17.pdf
It's nice to see that Hudson will be getting a new home. The Journey to Churchill exhibit at the Assiniboine Park Zoo looks like it will be amazing! Although I'm sad to see Hudson go, I'll be excited to see Inukshuk return. He has always been my favourite bear at the zoo, and now there might be another chance to see more polar bear cubs in Toronto.
With the absence of an adorable little bear, it will be nice to distract visitors with the arrival of two panda bears. He's going to a great home, when it's all completed. I do hope Inukshuk does return since he is a proven breeder with the females.
The zoos press release says they will be breeding Inukshuk and the girls later this year so he must be returning shortly after Hudson leaves.
Re. Pandas Pandas are 'set' to arrive in March due to the quarantine protocol, the exhibit will not be completed until May - set for the long weekend opening. They will likely quarantine the pandas in the Health Centre. *This is all based off of information from months ago, it may have changed* I am sure we will here more once the Black and White Gala has happened which is on Feb 28th.
After a lot of talk on other threads about Tasmanian devils coming to North America, it made me wonder if the Toronto Zoo still wanted to get them. I know that a few months ago someone posted an article on here about how the zoo was phasing out some animals, and about how they would like to get devils again. Was the article actually telling the truth, or was it just a crazy idea with a very small chance of happening?
I dont have any information on that other then what that article you are talking about said. But the Aussies would be foolish not to try restablishing a thriving tasmanian devil population here in North America. With that contagious facial tumor cancer devastating the wild population they should be looking for a back up plan for the species. What if something went wrong in their captive population too? They really should be looking to get a strong genetically diverse population going not only in North America but Europe and Asia as well. The more devils they can get out to be captive bred far from the cancer epidemic the better their chances of reestablishing the species should the tumor wipe out the wild population like it appears it might. If the Aussies are going to loosen their restrictions on devils I would have to guess Toronto would be one of the zoos they would give some priority to seeing as we successfuly kept and bred devils in the past. In the innital phase of reintroduction you would want people with proven experience to get some of the first animals so they can help expand the population as quickly as possible. I could be wrong though. Id love to see them back. They were a real highlight for me in the Australian pavillion.
Hudson has made it to Winnipeg safely. Hudson the polar bear arrives in Winnipeg - Manitoba - CBC News
Has Vitali (siberian tiger in Indo) moved out yet, with Kemala the new female sumatran tiger taking his spot? I would imagine her quarantine has finished, and if all is well/has gone as planned, there would be no reason for her not to be in Indo's tiger habitat yet. If anyone has information but they don't feel like posting, just PM me.
Inukshuk is on his way back to Toronto to breed but once hes done they are planning on sending him right back to Cochrane. Inukshuk Returns to Toronto Zoo
Vitali left the day after Kemala arrived (they used the same truck and driver to transport both). Kemala has finished her quarantine and is on exhibit in the north yard (or at least she was). It is pretty easy to tell the tigers apart because she has a pink nose and Hari doesn't.
Yes and they have been observed breeding Also, the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat announced on facebook that Inukshuk arrived back in Toronto last night. Not sure if he will be going through quarantine.
Does anyone know if we have had any luck with breeding the indian rhinos again? Its been awhile since Asha lost her first baby. Will we get lucky with a new baby sometime soon? Also are there any plans to breed the pygmy hippos again? Its been a several months since the baby girl died but since they havent successfully reproduced are they still going to try or are they thinking of switching the pair up and bring in a new breeder in hopes of a healthy calf for either parent? And on another rhino note. I remember awhile back hearing we might be getting two female white rhinos from south africa. What ever happened to that deal? Seems a shame to have a yard that large and a young male paired with only an old female. Maybe Tom's not genetically valuable but it seems a waste of space that could be better used for a breeding group of anything else if we arent planning on breeding the rhinos. What will they do when Shaboola dies?
The female pygmy hippo "Abou" who lost her calf back in the summer will most likely not be bred again for several reasons. No idea for the indian rhino's, but stayed tuned on the white rhinos. I'm not saying anything will surely happen, but just keep your eyes and ears open.
I don't believe there is any news on the indian rhino, other than that they are still trying to breed them. With the pygmy hippos, I think that the plan had been to continue to breed them. However, Abou (female) actually got quite sick and has been off exhibit for months now. Her health is improving, but I'm not sure what the breeding plans are now. There have been some big changes with the white rhinos. Tom was brought in with plans to breed him, so I'm guessing he is valuable. The Zoo scraped the plan to bring in females from South Africa, probably due to the large expense. In the late fall though, they did receive 2 young females from Busch Gardens Tampa. Around the same time, a trade was made with a zoo in Quebec (possibly Granby), with Shaboola leaving Toronto and a 9 year old male, Tony, coming. While the females are still too young to breed, Toronto now has 4 rhinos under the age of 10, so within a few years there should be babies. The 3 new rhinos have not yet been on exhibit as they were in quaratine until just recently, but should be out in the spring.
