Australia Zoo Australia Zoo news
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
Australia Zoo has announced the arrival of 1.0 Komodo Dragon [presumably from the Adelaide Zoo import] called Gilli. The zoo now have a pair of Komodo Dragons and this male is housed next door to their female, Indah. From their Facebook page:
Australia Zoo
So thats 3.0 now in Queensland from that shipment!
Hopefully they finally have some luck in breeding them. Australia Zoo acquired 3.2 Komodo dragons (Ora, Fat Boy, Slim, Lulu and Alice) around 1999 - they were wild born and had been imported that decade by Wyndham Crocodile Park. Ora, Lulu and Alice were kept in an off display breeding trio of 1.2, but sadly never bred; while Slim was for some time the only male on display. Fat Boy was the last survivor of these original imports.
It seems like both Komodo Dragons and Radiated Tortoises are all the rage in Queensland zoos as of late (not that I'm complaining)!
I remember seeing one of the last of these Komodo Dragons (most likely Fat Boy) in 2014. The zoo must have a large off-display area for this species to have housed that many dragons.
Not really of late, I believe both shipments would of been in the works for quite a long time but hey this is great news for our zoos hope theres more of it. I do remember seeing a pic a couple of years ago of the off exhibit areas for the Dragons I believe it was/is on AZ website!It seems like both Komodo Dragons and Radiated Tortoises are all the rage in Queensland zoos as of late (not that I'm complaining)!
I remember seeing one of the last of these Komodo Dragons (most likely Fat Boy) in 2014. The zoo must have a large off-display area for this species to have housed that many dragons.
I love Tortoises and if one of our zoos has perhaps the laregst collection in the country I wont be complaining
I had been wondering for some time what had happened to all but one of the Komodo Dragons at AZ I believe they are a long lived species but I guess it will never be known!
I recently found an interesting piece of information. The Guinness World Records declared back in December 2019 that Australia Zoo's male Giraffe, Forrest was the tallest living giraffe at 5.7 metres (18 feet 8 inches) tall.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/581308-tallest-giraffe-living#:~:text=The tallest giraffe living is,only male of his herd.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/581308-tallest-giraffe-living#:~:text=The tallest giraffe living is,only male of his herd.
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That’s interesting. The tallest member of Hamilton Zoo’s bachelor herd was (until his recent death) - Jabari (half brother of Forrest) at only 5.3 metres. The herd contains three other of Forrest’s half brothers (same sire); as well as his maternal uncle - all of which are of average height. Therefore, I’m not sure where his genes for height come from!
According to a live stream by the national zoo and aquarium canberra Skye the first giraffe born in Queensland moved to canberra in March. She was also the one shown in the live stream
I'm very honored to have fed him when I was 11. and happy world giraffe day
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I visited Australia Zoo today – the annual pass I was gifted last year is about to expire so I decided to make the most out of it. With no interstate nor international tourists and despite being the first day of Queensland school holidays, the zoo was quite empty by Australia Zoo standards. Some notes from my visit:
-The most exciting news I found out today is that Australia Zoo now has three (1.2) Sumatran Tiger cubs! They are currently 18 weeks old, and were out and about with their keepers meeting members of the public. I tried to ask more questions about them but there was a large crowd surrounding the cubs, so I couldn't find out if they were imported or born at the zoo. Either way it’s great they finally have a few younger females.The cubs were later placed on-display at 11am in the first tiger enclosure with one of their handlers much to the public’s (and admittedly my own) delight. They were a really nice surprise. Earlier in the morning, I also saw Hunter, who is the blind tiger with the ocular prosthetics in the first smaller exhibit and an adult female in the second tiger enclosure.
-The only elephants I saw today were of the plush variety in the gift shop!
A keeper said they would go on display in 2021. This means their display date has so far been moved from Easter 2020 to mid-2020 to 2021. I hope they don’t take as long as they did with the African species to put them on-display.
-I only saw five Giraffe on-display - two of the adult females and the three younger individuals. No sign of the other three including Forrest, their breeding bull. Next-door in the rhino paddock, I only saw two Southern White Rhinoceros – female Caballe and her son, Kingston.
-The second stage of the Crocodile Environmental Park redevelopment is almost finished. The newly-renovated turtle enclosure is a superb exhibit with a larger body of water than they used to have. If only more of this kind of attention was placed into developing/expanding their animal exhibits more often. I saw Broad-shelled River Turtle, Kreft’s Turtle and Brisbane River Turtle. There was another Saltwater Crocodile enclosure being constructed today as well.
-A few new nice smaller species were on-display; Gouldian Finches in the Rainforest Aviary and Purple-spotted Gudgeon (Mogurnda adspersa) in rainbowfish/crocodile tank on Bindi’s Island. The red-eared sliders haven’t been on-display during both of my recent visits. The macaws were also not-display in their usual enclosure on the island, but I did see the Scarlet Macaw in the Rainforest Aviary being monitored by keepers.
-The zoo finally have some amphibians on-display – two White-lipped Tree Frogs in the gift shop near the entrance. I really hope one day their poison dart frogs are placed on-display. I didn’t spend long in the reptile house as it was really busy but the species line-up hasn’t changed since my last visit.
-Roo Heaven, the walkthrough macropod enclosure had several Swamp Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo joeys. According to a keeper the zoo is down to 1.1 Black-footed Rock Wallaby.
-The new male Komodo Dragon from the Prague import was on-display today. Their other Komodo Dragon has moved into the former Perentie enclosure. It’s a shame the Perentie is no longer on-display.
-As always, the wild birdlife was abundant – the highlight was seeing my first ever Green Catbird! I heard the ‘meowing’ first and then found it in a tree near the tiger enclosure.
More photos will eventually be uploaded here: Australia Zoo - ZooChat
-The most exciting news I found out today is that Australia Zoo now has three (1.2) Sumatran Tiger cubs! They are currently 18 weeks old, and were out and about with their keepers meeting members of the public. I tried to ask more questions about them but there was a large crowd surrounding the cubs, so I couldn't find out if they were imported or born at the zoo. Either way it’s great they finally have a few younger females.The cubs were later placed on-display at 11am in the first tiger enclosure with one of their handlers much to the public’s (and admittedly my own) delight. They were a really nice surprise. Earlier in the morning, I also saw Hunter, who is the blind tiger with the ocular prosthetics in the first smaller exhibit and an adult female in the second tiger enclosure.
-The only elephants I saw today were of the plush variety in the gift shop!
A keeper said they would go on display in 2021. This means their display date has so far been moved from Easter 2020 to mid-2020 to 2021. I hope they don’t take as long as they did with the African species to put them on-display.-I only saw five Giraffe on-display - two of the adult females and the three younger individuals. No sign of the other three including Forrest, their breeding bull. Next-door in the rhino paddock, I only saw two Southern White Rhinoceros – female Caballe and her son, Kingston.
-The second stage of the Crocodile Environmental Park redevelopment is almost finished. The newly-renovated turtle enclosure is a superb exhibit with a larger body of water than they used to have. If only more of this kind of attention was placed into developing/expanding their animal exhibits more often. I saw Broad-shelled River Turtle, Kreft’s Turtle and Brisbane River Turtle. There was another Saltwater Crocodile enclosure being constructed today as well.
-A few new nice smaller species were on-display; Gouldian Finches in the Rainforest Aviary and Purple-spotted Gudgeon (Mogurnda adspersa) in rainbowfish/crocodile tank on Bindi’s Island. The red-eared sliders haven’t been on-display during both of my recent visits. The macaws were also not-display in their usual enclosure on the island, but I did see the Scarlet Macaw in the Rainforest Aviary being monitored by keepers.
-The zoo finally have some amphibians on-display – two White-lipped Tree Frogs in the gift shop near the entrance. I really hope one day their poison dart frogs are placed on-display. I didn’t spend long in the reptile house as it was really busy but the species line-up hasn’t changed since my last visit.
-Roo Heaven, the walkthrough macropod enclosure had several Swamp Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo joeys. According to a keeper the zoo is down to 1.1 Black-footed Rock Wallaby.
-The new male Komodo Dragon from the Prague import was on-display today. Their other Komodo Dragon has moved into the former Perentie enclosure. It’s a shame the Perentie is no longer on-display.
-As always, the wild birdlife was abundant – the highlight was seeing my first ever Green Catbird! I heard the ‘meowing’ first and then found it in a tree near the tiger enclosure.
More photos will eventually be uploaded here: Australia Zoo - ZooChat
I contacted the zoo and they were born to Kaitlyn in February. Not sure of the sire, but it would be either Juma or Ranu.
Amazing photos as always @WhistlingKite24. I can’t wait to see the rest!
Australia Zoo has now announced the arrival of the three (1.2) Sumatran Tiger cubs on their Facebook page. They have already been named - the male is called Malcolm and the females have been named Sage and Sallie.
Australia Zoo
From which bloodlines are they descended (locally already represented Sumatrans or down the line from the fresh TSI imports from Indonesia)?
Just replacing perentie for Komodo monitors is a no-brainer. This also applies as the number of perentie in Australian zoological collections is not exactly at or in prime.
@WK, thanks for the review!
Both:
Their dam (Kaitlyn) was captive born at Taman Safari Indonesia in 2007 to wild born parents. She is a founder in the Australasian region.
Their sire (either Juma or Ranu) are littermates born at Mogo Zoo in 2004. Their parents are first cousins - both directly descended from the Nico-Meta line:
1.0 Nico (1976) and 0.1 Meta (1975) > 1.0 Shiva (1985) > 1.0 Lari (1995) > 1.0 Juma and 1.0 Ranu (2004)
1.0 Nico (1976) and 0.1 Meta (1975) > 1.0 Jambi (1988) > 0.1 Malu (1996) > 1.0 Juma and 1.0 Ranu (2004)
Do they still maintain other TSI tigers and are these represented in the ZAA captive population at all?
Australia Zoo only has one tiger remaining from the original Indonesian import of 1.2 littermates (Kaitlyn). The male (Bashi) was sent to Wellington Zoo in 2010. He has been paired with a female, but they've yet to produce cubs. The other female (Maneki) was sent to Ballarat Wildlife Park in 2018.
Kaitlyn has the following living offspring:
1.0 Hunter (2013) Ramalon x Kaitlyn
1.0 Clarence (2013) Ramalon x Kaitlyn
1.0 Scout (2016) Juma x Kaitlyn
0.1 Delilah (2016) Juma x Kaitlyn
1.0 Nelson (2019) Ranu x Kaitlyn
1.0 Malcolm (2020) Juma/Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sage (2020) Juma/Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sallie (2020) Juma/Ranu x Kaitlyn
All are still at Australia Zoo, except Clarence. Clarence lives at Taronga Zoo, where he sired 1.2 cubs 17/01/2019.
Maneki has the following living offspring:
1.0 Reggie (2016) Satu x Maneki
He is still at Australia Zoo.