Adelaide Zoo Adelaide Zoo News 2018

Pertinax said:
They should have persevered with it, though trying to add strange females to a pair with a baby isn't the best time- the male would be delighted to have additional females I'm sure, but not the female. I also think lack of females to distract him is why the younger male abuses infants like that, he has no other focus of attention. In a big troop this would less likely to happen I think.
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True!

This sounds very much like a case of husbandry inadequacy and not heeding the social organisation and structure of natural Hamadryas groups.

BTW: the zoos of Emmen Netherlands and Hamm in Germany have definite surplus Hamadryas. The latter even direct 30 to give away ...!!!
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
True!

This sounds very much like a case of husbandry inadequacy and not heeding the social organisation and structure of natural Hamadryas groups.

BTW: the zoos of Emmen Netherlands and Hamm in Germany have definite surplus Hamadryas. The latter even direct 30 to give away ...!!!
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I read a paper on Hamadryas many years ago by Kummerand Kurt,- apparently in the wild, troops consist of a number of units each comprising an adult male with normally 2-3 females and offspring.

In many captive primate situations, young males prove a nuisance/harmful to small babies as they have more time to focus unnatural attention on them, instead of other activities they would have in the wild such as foraging, travelling etc.
 
Jambo said:
Do you know which females they were? Where they came from and where they went?
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They were Beth, Greet and Macey from Wellington Zoo:

Beth (04/06/1994) born at Wellington Zoo
Greet (16/09/1996) born at Dierenpark Emmen
Macey (13/03/2004) born at Wellington Zoo

Beth is the mother of Macey. Wellington Zoo imported Beth's mother from Melbourne Zoo in 1988. Wellington Zoo imported Greet from Dierenpark Emmen in 2001.

Greet died at Adelaide Zoo; Beth and Macey were then sent to Melbourne Zoo, where Macey has since given birth to a son:

Hamadryas Baboon Birth | Zoos Victoria
 
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Panda Breeding Season is done for the year....(From the Facebook page)
Attention friends!
Adelaide Zoo’s Giant Panda breeding season has officially come to a close for the year.
Our dedicated keepers and veterinarians have worked around the clock over the past four days to support Wang Wang and Fu Ni during their short, yearly reproductive window.

While Wang Wang certainly brought out his best moves during introductions, Fu Ni wasn't particularly receptive to his charms. And with the short fertility window of only 36 hours coming to a close, the decision was made to proceed with artificial insemination.

We're excited to report we were able to carry out two insemination procedures this year, with both attempts going very well.

Artificial insemination has played an important role in the captive breeding of Giant Pandas around the world due to the species’ unique reproductive biology. Their complicated reproductive biology presents a number of challenges, but ongoing research continues to improve our understanding of panda reproduction and improve our chances of succeeding.

While we won’t be able to confirm Fu Ni is with cub until approximately two weeks before she would give birth, we are now treating her as though she is pregnant.

We'd like to thank everyone for their ongoing support and patience during this important time and are crossing our fingers for the pitter-patter of tiny panda paws. This year marks the fifth genuine attempt at breeding for Wang Wang and Fu Ni, and we would be thrilled to achieve our ultimate goal of welcoming a Giant Panda cub to Adelaide Zoo.

Wang Wang and Fu Ni are fantastic ambassadors for their species and are already playing an important part in international Giant Panda conservation.

Following the reproductive window, it’s essential that Fu Ni is not exposed to any potential stressors. That's why Bamboo Forest will be closed until 24 September to give Fu Ni some peace and quiet to maximise the chance of success.

Thanks to our major sponsors AGL Energy and Repromed for supporting Wang Wang and Fu Ni on their journey to parenthood.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
Panda Breeding Season is done for the year....(From the Facebook page)
Attention friends!
Adelaide Zoo’s Giant Panda breeding season has officially come to a close for the year.
Our dedicated keepers and veterinarians have worked around the clock over the past four days to support Wang Wang and Fu Ni during their short, yearly reproductive window.

While Wang Wang certainly brought out his best moves during introductions, Fu Ni wasn't particularly receptive to his charms. And with the short fertility window of only 36 hours coming to a close, the decision was made to proceed with artificial insemination.

We're excited to report we were able to carry out two insemination procedures this year, with both attempts going very well.

Artificial insemination has played an important role in the captive breeding of Giant Pandas around the world due to the species’ unique reproductive biology. Their complicated reproductive biology presents a number of challenges, but ongoing research continues to improve our understanding of panda reproduction and improve our chances of succeeding.

While we won’t be able to confirm Fu Ni is with cub until approximately two weeks before she would give birth, we are now treating her as though she is pregnant.

We'd like to thank everyone for their ongoing support and patience during this important time and are crossing our fingers for the pitter-patter of tiny panda paws. This year marks the fifth genuine attempt at breeding for Wang Wang and Fu Ni, and we would be thrilled to achieve our ultimate goal of welcoming a Giant Panda cub to Adelaide Zoo.

Wang Wang and Fu Ni are fantastic ambassadors for their species and are already playing an important part in international Giant Panda conservation.

Following the reproductive window, it’s essential that Fu Ni is not exposed to any potential stressors. That's why Bamboo Forest will be closed until 24 September to give Fu Ni some peace and quiet to maximise the chance of success.

Thanks to our major sponsors AGL Energy and Repromed for supporting Wang Wang and Fu Ni on their journey to parenthood.
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Exciting news for Wang Wang and Fu Ni. Hopefully a panda cub for them soon!
 
The young male Tomkay was incredibly aggressive towards the new females and they were absolutely battered. The zoo persevered for some time, but Tomkay received no discipline from Horus. It’s a very unfortunate situation. I wonder if there will be options in the future to export Tomkay to a group with males that won’t put up with bad behaviour.
 
marmolady said:
The young male Tomkay was incredibly aggressive towards the new females and they were absolutely battered. The zoo persevered for some time, but Tomkay received no discipline from Horus. It’s a very unfortunate situation. I wonder if there will be options in the future to export Tomkay to a group with males that won’t put up with bad behaviour.
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Wonder why Horus didn’t discipline Tomkay when he got two new females that he can mate with. Intresting that Tomkay was the one that was agressive because i would’ve thought that it would have been Chappi protecting Tomkay and not wanting to have Horus mating with other females. Since @Sunbear12 said it was so recent following Tomkay’s birth.
 
Since@Sunbear12 said it was so recent following Tomkay’s birth.[/QUOTE]

Just to clarify I said it was after not recent. The introduction occurred between the birth of the first two young but I can’t remember exact times at which the introduction took place.
 
marmolady said:
The young male Tomkay was incredibly aggressive towards the new females and they were absolutely battered. The zoo persevered for some time, but Tomkay received no discipline from Horus. It’s a very unfortunate situation. I wonder if there will be options in the future to export Tomkay to a group with males that won’t put up with bad behaviour.
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I would simply have removed him from the group, let the new females settle with the adult male until he was bonded with them and saw them as his 'property' then try bringing back the younger male. More than likely the adult male would not have let him near them afterward.
 
The export of the 3 females to Adelaide Zoo was part of a mass export of Wellington Zoo's female Hamadryas baboon (they now have only males). 4 females were sent to Melbourne Zoo in November 2015, so I'm guessing the 3 sent to Adelaide Zoo left the same month. Tomkay turned one in December 2015 so he wouldn't have been very old when these introductions took place. Ultimately, he's shot himself in the foot as his father, Horus (born 1999) is now 19 years old and past his prime. Males are typically ousted from their posititon as a leader of a one-male unit at the age of 16, so the only reason he has maintained his position is by vitrtue of being the only adult male. Tomkay (nearly 4 years old) will no doubt assume the alpha role in the next couple of years and would have had a decent sized harem had these females remained in the troop.

When Wellington Zoo had a decent sized troop, they usually had around 3 males leading one-male units. At one point, they had two males leading one-male units (one with four females; the other with six females). This was caused by a previous alpha dying and his females being divided between the remaining two units.

I was surprised to read about the formation of a Hamadrayas baboon troop at the London Zoo in 1925. Somebody had the bright idea to kick things off with 90+ males and only 6 females. There were mutliple deaths of males and even the addition of 30 females did little to alleviate conflicts. I'd suggest the best ratio is at least two females to every male (but ideally 3-5).
 
Zoofan15 said:
I was surprised to read about the formation of a Hamadrayas baboon troop at the London Zoo in 1925. Somebody had the bright idea to kick things off with 90+ males and only 6 females. There were mutliple deaths of males and even the addition of 30 females did little to alleviate conflicts. I'd suggest the best ratio is at least two females to every male (but ideally 3-5).
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There were so many males on 'Monkey Hill' they also killed females due to fighting for possession of them etc. Terrible imbalance of the sexes, even additional 30 females would have meant males stil outnumbered them approximately 3 to1.
 
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