Taronga Western Plains Zoo Taronga Western Plains Zoo News 2020

Zoofan15

Zoofan15

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Lazarus (2002-2020)

Lazarus the African lion has passed away at the age of 17 years. He sired 3.3 cubs in 2004 at Auckland Zoo; and 1.2 cubs in 2015 and 4.0 cubs in 2016 at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

In addition to the news release on his death below, some keepers have shared their memories of working with Lazarus:

Farewell Lazarus
 
Zoofan15 said:
Lazarus (2002-2020)

Lazarus the African lion has passed away at the age of 17 years. He sired 3.3 cubs in 2004 at Auckland Zoo; and 1.2 cubs in 2015 and 4.0 cubs in 2016 at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

In addition to the news release on his death below, some keepers have shared their memories of working with Lazarus:

Farewell Lazarus
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Lazarus was a very impressive looking lion.

It's interesting to hear Maya will now be moved to Taronga Zoo to be paired with a male.
 
Out of curiosity, how old is Maya? Will she paired for breeding or non-breeding group?
 
Riley said:
Out of curiosity, how old is Maya? Will she paired for breeding or non-breeding group?
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Maya turns nine next month (born 2011). The article just says she will be paired with a male lion, though I assume given her valuable genetics (South African born), she will be breeding with this male.

While she is a decent match for an male in the region (except her five sons), my money is on Milo at Billabong Zoo. He’s also South African born and his mate has just been put on contraception, which indicates they don’t plan to breed that pair again anytime soon.
 
I doubt that Milo would leave Billabong anytime soon. The zoo plans for Milo and Misty to remain at the zoo, and especially considering they still work in with them as adults, they are a pair that wouldn’t want to swap around too much. They do have a 16 month old cub, who they manage separately from Milo, so hes possibly a more likely candidate but he’s still probably too young for now
 
Riley said:
I doubt that Milo would leave Billabong anytime soon. The zoo plans for Milo and Misty to remain at the zoo, and especially considering they still work in with them as adults, they are a pair that wouldn’t want to swap around too much. They do have a 16 month old cub, who they manage separately from Milo, so hes possibly a more likely candidate but he’s still probably too young for now
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Their male offspring (Amari) actually sounds like the ideal candidate, especially since he is not integrated with the whole pride.

16 months is not necessarily too young. Lazarus came to Auckland Zoo in May 2003 aged 12 months and was successfully integrated into the female pride that year, impregnating one of the females at the age of 18 months in November 2003. While Lazarus had the support of a beta male (who was a few weeks younger), he was facing off against three lionesses (including the alpha female who had a ferocious personality); versus one lioness (Maya), who has been noted as laid back by TWPZ.

Of course there’s also the possibility of an import from outside the region, which would be even more exciting.
 
Astrobird said:
I've been enjoying looking at google maps photos of the zoo. An observation on their many blackbuck is that there's no "black" or dark coloured males and there's several with unusual horn formation (some are curved like Oryx or impala!) My question is, could this be due to the males being castrated? not developing the dark colours and abnormal horn formation.... I assume castration will stop the males fighting as much
Google Maps or Google Maps
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The lack of dark colouration in adult males is indeed due to castration. Thanks to @Pertinax, there is a photo of a castrated male here:

Blackbuck - ZooChat

The horns on that male appear normal; though it’s possible he was castrated once mature and after he’d developed normal secondary sexual characteristics; whereas the horns of those castrated as juveniles may not develop as normal.

It’s always interesting observing the effects of castration on male animals. Castrated lions look like large lionesses; and bull California sea lions just look like large females (without the crest).
 
Zoofan15 said:
The lack of dark colouration in adult males is indeed due to castration. Thanks to @Pertinax, there is a photo of a castrated male here:

Blackbuck - ZooChat

The horns on that male appear normal; though it’s possible he was castrated once mature and after he’d developed normal secondary sexual characteristics; whereas the horns of those castrated as juveniles may not develop as normal.

It’s always interesting observing the effects of castration on male animals. Castrated lions look like large lionesses; and bull California sea lions just look like large females (without the crest).
Click to expand...

I think horn abnormalities are usually unrelated to castration- more due to damage or injury. Though as you say a young male castrated early may have the effect of supressing horn growth also.

I think the reason blackbuck are castrated is to prevent breeding rather than fighting- this is a social species with males usually tolerant of each other.
 
Taronga Western Plains Zoo has released an interesting video about their Galápagos Tortoises. The zoo currently have five adult tortoises including two males in their late forties called Wilbur and Franklin. They also have two six-year-olds (Pene and Turbo) and a nine-year-old (NJ), who were all bred at the zoo. If I recall correctly, NJ was the first ever Galápagos Tortoise bred in Australasia.

Source: Taronga Western Plains Zoo's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=208949450410207
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
Taronga Western Plains Zoo has released an interesting video about their Galápagos Tortoises. The zoo currently have five adult tortoises including two males in their late forties called Wilbur and Franklin. They also have two six-year-olds (Pene and Turbo) and a nine-year-old (NJ), who were all bred at the zoo. If I recall correctly, NJ was the first ever Galápagos Tortoise bred in Australasia.

Source: Taronga Western Plains Zoo's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=208949450410207
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What happened to the others?

BTW: do not get your hopes up as the 2 are Honolulu born individuals (whose ancestry is unknown and all classed as hybrid offspring).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
What happened to the others?

BTW: do not get your hopes up as the 2 are Honolulu born individuals (whose ancestry is unknown and all classed as hybrid offspring).
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I remember seeing a lot more than 5 adults there a few years ago??
 
Zorro said:
I remember seeing a lot more than 5 adults there a few years ago??
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As of recent times (at least the last five years), there have only been 3.2 adults: Galapagos Tortoise births at Dubbo zoo | PHOTOS

However they started with 4.5 tortoises when they were first imported by Taronga Western Plains Zoo:
Hix said:
Taronga's annual report lists 1.2 G.e.guntheri every year up until the 1982-1983 report where they were just listed as G. elephantopus. In that same report 3.3 were imported from Honolulu, and all nine were then sent to the new enclosure built for them at Western Plains. The subspecies imported was not identified. In the 1984-84 and subsequent Annual Reports (until 1996-97 when they stopped publishing the animal inventory) the 3.3 were marked as being on breeding loan from Honolulu Zoo.
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The first offspring, NJ (hatched March 2011) was the offspring of T3, one of the original females; and one of the younger Honolulu bred males: We’re for Sydney | Daily Telegraph
 
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Zoofan15 said:
As of recent times (at least the last five years), there have only been 3.2 adults: Galapagos Tortoise births at Dubbo zoo | PHOTOS

However they started with 4.5 tortoises when they were first imported by Taronga Western Plains Zoo:


The first offspring, NJ (hatched March 2011) was the offspring of T3, one of the original females; and one of the younger Honolulu bred males: We’re for Sydney | Daily Telegraph
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That which I know: I think they had 1.2 Galapagos tortoises - correct me if I am wrong - prior to receiving any Honolulu bred tortoises (5 imported, male and female).

Which begs the question: What happened to the 1.3 other Galapagos tortoises?
 
Zoofan15 said:
As of recent times (at least the last five years), there have only been 3.2 adults: Galapagos Tortoise births at Dubbo zoo | PHOTOS

However they started with 4.5 tortoises when they were first imported by Taronga Western Plains Zoo:


The first offspring, NJ (hatched March 2011) was the offspring of T3, one of the original females; and one of the younger Honolulu bred males: We’re for Sydney | Daily Telegraph
Click to expand...
That sounds about right I first visited just after the African elephants arrived!
 
A detailed update was posted about the zoo’s multi-generational Black-handed Spider Monkey group today and it provided some interesting information. Taronga Western Plains Zoo currently houses thirteen spider monkeys (eight adults and five youngsters). The oldest of the five youngsters is Isidor, who will be turning three in October. One of their other younger spider monkeys, Meeka lost her arm in an altercation between her parents and her arm was badly injured by her father, Pedro. Another one of the youngsters, Sanchez, has his mother (Margarita), grandmother (Hiccups) and great-grandmother (Jenny) all still within the group!

The group is also made up of several imported individuals. The main breeding male, Pedro was imported from a zoo in France (from the video it’s clearly obvious the zoo are mixing subspecies) and he has fathered five offspring since he arrived. The zoo also imported two sisters from Auckland Zoo – Havana and Jai. Both of these females have since bred. The matriarch of the females, Jenny, is currently 43 years old and was imported from San Francisco Zoo in 1982.

Source: Taronga Western Plains Zoo's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1170119819995216
 
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What is the status of black-handed spider monkeys in Australia / New Zealand.

(Gorge Wildlife Park also recently bred the species again (breeding pair + all their offspring).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
What is the status of black-handed spider monkeys in Australia / New Zealand.

(Gorge Wildlife Park also recently bred the species again (breeding pair + all their offspring).
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Auckland Zoo, Hamilton Zoo and Orana Wildlife Park have breeding troops of Geoffroy's black-handed spider monkey Ateles geoffroyi.

Hamilton bred many offspring from when they were imported (from Auckland Zoo) in 1995 until 2006; but breeding has only occurred once again since. A male was imported in 2010 (Burrito). He never bred before his death. Two new males (Salsa and Tostada) arrived in 2014 from Australia and one infant has since been born (in 2016). Hamilton Zoo's troops currently consist of 3.8 spider monkeys (1.3 in the rainforest; 2.5 in the main exhibit).

Auckland Zoo's troop has bred regularly through the years. There last infant was born 2018 (sired by a male from Toronto Zoo).

Orana have recently imported a male from Hamilton Zoo - one of their 2014 imports. This brings Orana's troop to 1.4, with hopes of offspring within the year.
 
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