Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Columbus Zoo News 2018

Kudu21 said:
Generic... But labeled “reticulated”, yes. There were also three healthy generic calves born at the Audubon Species Survival Center, and that’s the thing— All of the thriving calves mentioned so far have been generic. The Masai population has been experiencing unusually high infant mortality rates, and no one is exactly sure why.


Infant mortality isn’t entirely uncommon, but the rate at which it is occurring in Masai giraffes is unusual. The cause of death is yet unknown, but hopefully they will have more answers after the necropsy is performed.
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Actually, at least one Masai calf is thriving at the Phoenix Zoo, Rafiki, who was born in June.
 
Kudu21 said:
I definitely agree, and if you asked, I think you’d find that these public birth cameras are not anything that most keepers would ever want themselves. Unfortunately, after the phenomenon that was April the Giraffe, it has become almost expected and sometimes the keepers don’t have the final say.
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I wouldn't entirely blame the deaths on the birth cams, since the giraffe calf that died at the Virginia Zoo wasn't born on a livestream.
 
NVP said:
Actually, at least one Masai calf is thriving at the Phoenix Zoo, Rafiki, who was born in June.
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I never said nor meant that there haven’t been successful Masai giraffe births as of late. I was merely using that as an interlude into the fact that Masai giraffes are experiencing high infant mortality rates when compared to generic giraffes.


NVP said:
I wouldn't entirely blame the deaths on the birth cams, since the giraffe calf that died at the Virginia Zoo wasn't born on a livestream.
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I also never said that I blamed the deaths on the birth cams. Frankly, that doesn’t make any sense— especially considering that most zoos have private cams to monitor pregnant mothers that are approaching parturition anyways. The issue with the birth cams is that when things do not go as planned, when there are complications, when there are deaths, they’re all directly in the public eye. Generally births wouldn’t be announced until the young animals have reached critical milestones and/or have survived for at least 30 days or so, depending on the institution.
 
Kudu21 said:
I never said nor meant that there haven’t been successful Masai giraffe births as of late. I was merely using that as an interlude into the fact that Masai giraffes are experiencing high infant mortality rates when compared to generic giraffes.



I also never said that I blamed the deaths on the birth cams. Frankly, that doesn’t make any sense— especially considering that most zoos have private cams to monitor pregnant mothers that are approaching parturition anyways. The issue with the birth cams is that when things do not go as planned, when there are complications, when there are deaths, they’re all directly in the public eye. Generally births wouldn’t be announced until the young animals have reached critical milestones and/or have survived for at least 30 days or so, depending on the institution.
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Objections withdrawn then.
 
As already mentioned in the Seneca Park Zoo thread, 0.1 Grant's zebra, "Lydia", has been transferred to the Seneca Park Zoo, and 0.1 ostrich, "Echo", has been transferred to the Columbus Zoo in return. The latter transfer was made in response to the death of their other ostrich (0.1 "Blue") during introductions with the zoo's white rhino. This brings the zoo to 0.4 Grant's zebra (down from 0.7) and 0.7 ostriches (back up from 0.6).
 
From the winter edition of the Beastly Banner:

"Next spring will present another opportunity - the chance to see Tasmanian Devils at the Zoo! Our Australian conservation partners have chosen the Columbus Zoo to participate in a breeding program for this wonderful species...We continue to work though all of our improvements in the design phase. Soon you will see more construction taking place in our Adventure Cove region, set to open in 2020, which will feature sea lions and seals..."
 
NVP said:
Actually, at least one Masai calf is thriving at the Phoenix Zoo, Rafiki, who was born in June.
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There have actually been quite a few who have survived.
Kiden - Greenville Zoo
Dixie -Kansas City Zoo
Amirah - Santa Barbara Zoo
Sprinkle - Brevard Zoo
? - Los Angeles Zoo
Aella - Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom
Maxwell - Kansas City Zoo
? - Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom
? - Brevard Zoo
 
Jaxton said:
There have actually been quite a few who have survived.
Kiden - Greenville Zoo
Dixie -Kansas City Zoo
Amirah - Santa Barbara Zoo
Sprinkle - Brevard Zoo
? - Los Angeles Zoo
Aella - Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom
Maxwell - Kansas City Zoo
? - Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom
? - Brevard Zoo
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Disney animal kingdom has two Masai giraffe calf’s that are thriving and the Los Angeles zoo has a female Masai giraffe calf whose name I don’t know of.
 
As I have said, it is not that there have not been a number of healthy Masai giraffe calves born, it is just that, from the mouth of someone involved with the giraffe SSPs, Masai giraffes have higher infant mortality rates. That is all. I did not really expect it to be such a thing.

As far as the langur exhibit renovations go, from what I understand, the outdoor exhibit has proven to not be particularly functional for the langurs, so the renovations are supposed to rectify this. I do not, however, know exactly what they are going to entail.
 
Kudu21 said:
As I have said, it is not that there have not been a number of healthy Masai giraffe calves born, it is just that, from the mouth of someone involved with the giraffe SSPs, Masai giraffes have higher infant mortality rates. That is all. I did not really expect it to be such a thing.

As far as the langur exhibit renovations go, from what I understand, the outdoor exhibit has proven to not be particularly functional for the langurs, so the renovations are supposed to rectify this. I do not, however, know exactly what they are going to entail.
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Oh I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry :(
 
I was very interested to see that the indoor enclosure(s) is/are getting such a renovation when I had originally heard that the outdoor enclosure was the biggest issue. I'm not sure how I feel about the langur enrichment bench, visually, but I am looking forward to seeing how it all comes together and improves the welfare of the langurs.
 
"Cami", the second pregnant Masai giraffe, has gone into labor, but the calf is breech. The live camera has been taken offline, but updates will be provided when available.
 
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The calf did not survive. While mother, "Cami" is currently stable, her prognosis is guarded after an emergency C-section.It was found upon removal that the calf had a number of congenital defects and would not have survived even if it had not been breech.

From Facebook:
We are saddened to report the loss of a Masai giraffe calf. Mother, Cami, began to exhibit signs of labor around 3 p.m. on December 4 in a behind-the-scenes area of the Heart of Africa region at the Columbus Zoo. As Cami’s labor progressed, it became evident that the calf was presenting rear hooves first. Giraffe calves are typically born front hooves first, and it is extremely rare for calves to survive after being born rear hooves first.

In order to do everything possible to save both mom and baby, the Columbus Zoo animal care team made the decision to enter the stall and turned off the Nat Geo WILD livestream cameras at approximately 4:50 p.m. to allow for the necessary intervention and to ensure that Cami and the calf’s health and safety were not compromised as a result.

During the intervention, the Zoo’s animal care team, as well as a large animal surgeon from The Ohio State University, attempted to manually extract the calf from Cami without success. They then performed an emergency Cesarean section at approximately 8 p.m. While Cami’s condition is currently stable, her prognosis remains guarded, and she will continue to be monitored around the clock by the Zoo’s animal care experts. Cesarean sections in giraffes are extremely rare and typically conducted as a last resort due to the high risks involved in putting giraffes under anesthesia and successful recovery. After the calf was extracted via Cesarean section, the veterinary team found that the calf had serious congenital defects and thus would not have survived even if it had been born front hooves first.

Our condolences and gratitude to the animal care and animal health teams who work diligently to provide the very best care to the giraffes. The teams will continue to monitor Cami during her recovery. We're also thankful for our great community's support during this difficult time.
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More from the zoo's website:
Columbus Zoo Mourns Loss of Giraffe Calf

My heart goes out to this incredible team of keepers during this time of incredible loss.
 
Kudu21 said:
The calf did not survive While mother, "Cami" is currently stable, her prognosis is guarded after an emergency C-section.

From Facebook:


More from the zoo's website:
Columbus Zoo Mourns Loss of Giraffe Calf

My heart goes out to this incredible team of keepers during this time of incredible loss.
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Ok I don’t mean to sound rude or mean here but doesn’t it seem kind of odd that this is the second time this year that a giraffe calf has died in Columbus? Their must be something wrong with these giraffes genetics or their diet because this is just ridiculous. I strongly think that zoos for now on should have some sort of policy in giraffe births for this species at least as zoos should not make ANY announcement for giraffe calf’s being born in ANY zoological institution until the calf is 1 month old as these deaths are tragic and I don’t like to keep hearing about this. If this sounds rude or mean to anyone I’m sorry and I will try and do better next time.
 
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