Felids in Australasian Zoos – News, History and Discussion

Interesting! I didn't know about how the Asiatic lioness had died. Were there other Asiatic lions held at Taronga/Dubbo? I'd thought they lived longer than 1999 as a (hybrid) species in the region, but I could be wrong.

I was recently watching a series 'Animal Tales' on 9Now, which is a rebadged reairing of a program 'Animal Hospital' which aired 1996-1998. A first season episode (so presumably filmed 1995-96, although may have been later as the show has been edited since first airing) featured an Asiatic lioness at Dubbo. I note in the article that Kandi was one of two females, so perhaps the female in the show was the other female (I think her name was Sally or similar, but could be misremembering).

I made notes on the series which I was going to share here, but unfortunately the episodes expired at the end of the year and are no longer online.

These were my notes on that episode: Asiatic lioness at Western Plains Zoo is treated for an eye injury. The exhibit looks a little like the current tiger exhibit, is that where they were housed?
 
Abbey said:
Interesting! I didn't know about how the Asiatic lioness had died. Were there other Asiatic lions held at Taronga/Dubbo? I'd thought they lived longer than 1999 as a (hybrid) species in the region, but I could be wrong.
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3.5 Asiatic lions have been held in Australian zoos.

Following the death of Kutch in June 1999, a female died in August 2002 aged 19.1 years; and a male died in September 2002 aged 20.9 years.
 
Zoofan15 said:
3.5 Asiatic lions have been held in Australian zoos.

Following the death of Kutch in June 1999, a female died in August 2002 aged 19.1 years; and a male died in September 2002 aged 20.9 years.
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I have a old booklet from Taronga from the early 70s saying they had a cub that had been confiscated which was later sent to join a group in Israel
 
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Zorro said:
I have a old booklet from Taronga from the early 70s saying they had a cub that had been confiscated which was later sent to join a group in Israel
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Hey if it was 'Simba' the lone Asiatic Lion this article: Simba, the lonely lion - He's one of a dying species - The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) - 14 Jul 1971 : says he was a cub in the 1960s and @Hix mentioned that in the zoo's 1979-1980 annual report it was stated he was still at Taronga as he died at some point during that financial year period (impressively he would have been around 20 years old). Am deducing the plans to send him to join a group in an Israel zoo didn't eventuate.
 
steveroberts said:
Hey if it was 'Simba' the lone Asiatic Lion this article: Simba, the lonely lion - He's one of a dying species - The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) - 14 Jul 1971 : says he was a cub in the 1960s and @Hix mentioned that in the zoo's 1979-1980 annual report it was stated he was still at Taronga as he died at some point during that financial year period (impressively he would have been around 20 years old). Am deducing the plans to send him to join a group in an Israel zoo didn't eventuate.
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From what I remember there was little real information other than he was a cub and was/did go to join a group in Israel
 
RE: Clouded Leopards

SMH, Thursday, 9 June 1994 Leopard left its spot writes Sonya Sandham: ‘’’’ Taronga Zoo was closed for several hours yesterday as 70 staff searched for a rare leopard which escaped during the night from its new enclosure. The female clouded leopard escaped through a seven-centimetre gap in the enclosure after one of the stainless steel restraining wires broke free, a zoo spokesman said. The search was mounted after a security guard noticed the leopard missing about 5 am. After more than five hours, zoo staff found the leopard in the false ceiling of a half-demolished toilet block within the 33-hectare grounds of the zoo. She was tranquillised and taken back to her old enclosure. The four-year-old leopard and her mate are the only clouded leopards in Australia. The chief executive officer of the Zoological Parks Board of NSW, Dr John Kelly, said the leopard, called Nona, had been put in the new enclosure overnight to test its safety. "It looks as if one of the restraining wires was not properly swathed," he said. "We're going to go-back to base and make sure mat is corrected and ensure this doesn't happen again." ''''

Am very curious where their original enclosure was in the zoo?
 
steveroberts said:
RE: Clouded Leopards

SMH, Thursday, 9 June 1994 Leopard left its spot writes Sonya Sandham: ‘’’’ Taronga Zoo was closed for several hours yesterday as 70 staff searched for a rare leopard which escaped during the night from its new enclosure. The female clouded leopard escaped through a seven-centimetre gap in the enclosure after one of the stainless steel restraining wires broke free, a zoo spokesman said. The search was mounted after a security guard noticed the leopard missing about 5 am. After more than five hours, zoo staff found the leopard in the false ceiling of a half-demolished toilet block within the 33-hectare grounds of the zoo. She was tranquillised and taken back to her old enclosure. The four-year-old leopard and her mate are the only clouded leopards in Australia. The chief executive officer of the Zoological Parks Board of NSW, Dr John Kelly, said the leopard, called Nona, had been put in the new enclosure overnight to test its safety. "It looks as if one of the restraining wires was not properly swathed," he said. "We're going to go-back to base and make sure mat is corrected and ensure this doesn't happen again." ''''

Am very curious where their original enclosure was in the zoo?
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Has any other zoo other than Taronga had them in the past not including the current ones
 
Clouded Leopard History

Prior to the 2020 import, only three Clouded leopard have been kept in the region. I have no information on the first Clouded leopard, only that it was born prior to 1974.

The second and third Clouded leopard were the pair Taronga Zoo imported from the USA in January 1994:

1.0 Samar (18/07/1990) Died 2004
0.1 Nonah (17/06/1990) Sent to Melbourne Zoo 2003 (died 2008)
Xcvvc
 
Zoofan15 said:
Clouded Leopard History

Prior to the 2020 import, only three Clouded leopard have been kept in the region. I have no information on the first Clouded leopard, only that it was born prior to 1974.

The second and third Clouded leopard were the pair Taronga Zoo imported from the USA in January 1994:

1.0 Samar (18/07/1990) Died 2004
0.1 Nonah (17/06/1990) Sent to Melbourne Zoo 2003 (died 2008)
Xcvvc
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I am unsure why any zoo especially a major zoo would want to import just a sole pair into the region without more joining them seems a bit pointless
 
Went looking on CITES database and apparently two Fishing Cats were imported from the US in 1991, would have been the first pair at Taronga. Wow so they were at the zoo for 18 months - 2 years prior to their exhibit opening in the 'Jungle Cats' complex in April '93; wonder where in the zoo they were housed prior to this?

Another individual was imported from the US in 1996, and two individuals from Canada in 1997, followed by another individual from Canada in 1998 (unsure of which zoos these four Fishing Cats went to)
 
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Zorro said:
I am unsure why any zoo especially a major zoo would want to import just a sole pair into the region without more joining them seems a bit pointless
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The region’s main zoos were at the tail end of the postage stamp collection mentality, where the quality of a zoo was judged on the number of taxa it held. Coordinated breeding programmes for the Sumatran tiger etc. only began in the 1990’s with all exchanges previously based on what zoos wanted to get rid of versus what other zoos wanted.

In this day and age (as in the case of the 2020 import of Clouded leopard), I would say they were imported in the hope/intention that other zoos would follow suit; but given this was the early 90’s, I’d say Taronga imported them because Taronga wanted them. Their director at the time, Dr. John Kelly had likely enjoyed seeing them in zoos in the USA and thought Australians would too.
 
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Zoofan15 said:
... John Kelly was American; he likely enjoyed seeing them in the USA and thought Australians would too.
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Oh John Kelly was Australian he was born in or around Lismore in the late 1940s, Perth Zoo's director at the time John De Jose was American from Long Island, NY originally I believe. John Kelly was very knowledgeable about diverse species from what I understand reading about him (sounds like he was arguably the best director Taronga ever had, sadly his tenure was cut short by his death in 1997) but I imagine he and other senior keepers at the zoo would have decided that Clouded Leopards were a beautiful species worth finding a place for at Taronga in that early 1990s wild cats new/refurbished exhibits 'boom'.
 
steveroberts said:
RE: Clouded Leopards

Am very curious where their original enclosure was in the zoo?
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It was in the walkway between the Lion enclosure and Chester's enclosure, a hemispherical exhibit, rather dim, with a piano-wire front. Later held binturong as well.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
It was in the walkway between the Lion enclosure and Chester's enclosure, a hemispherical exhibit, rather dim, with a piano-wire front. Later held binturong as well.

:p

Hix
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Am I correct in thinking that the Clouded leopards were never housed together? I note they were born within a month of each other, which I understand is the technique used to form a breeding pair (introducing them as juveniles), so was this tried initially, with them later separated?
 
@Hix Oh I remember that exhibit very well (also had Indian Crested Porcupine living in it for a while around 2006/2007) which was built specifically for Samar and Norah the CL for their arrival in Jan '94 (thanks to ZooFan for the specific arrival date), I was referring to the lone Clouded Leopard that was apparently there in the 1980s.

@Zoofan15 For a brief time in late late 1997 until sometime in 1998 Norah and Samar were living in the 'Jungle Cats' complex (I swear I saw them in the exhibit at the same time) in the exhibit that usually held Hari and Nugi the Golden Cats. During that time I believe Hari and Nugi were housed in the enclosure between the Fennec Foxes and the Dholes (more specifically took temporary occupancy of the eastern-most of the Dholes yards, these were the remnant Dholes from or descended from the '80s imports, this is a cat thread I know I know lol). As odd as it is I remember the Clouded Leopards regular exhibit between the Tigers was unoccupied during this time, or at least on the days I visited. Am almost certain the temporary move was to attempt mating between them. They did the same thing a few months prior in mid to late 1997 they moved the Binturong pair Mr B and Mrs B to the same exhibit in the 'JC' complex (and a Red Panda temporarily occupied the Binturong's exhibit which wouldnt of been much of a move as the Red Pandas were living in the next exhibit(s) over at the time between the Binturongs and the old Otter exhibit) and am wondering if the temporary move for the Binturong pair was also to try encourage mating as the 'JC' enclosures were a lot more private than the open roundabout exhibit of the Binturongs (though they've had success in the similarly designed exhibit in the current Rainforest zone) - sorry again I know this is a cat thread. Well back on topic, also the 'JC' exhibits were a lot more private than the Clouded Leopards usual exhibit too but as we know no breeding ever occurred with Nonah and Samar.
 
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@Hix Sorry meant to write curious about the other enclosures location Nonah escaped from if the hemispherical enclosure was their original
 
Zoofan15 said:
Am I correct in thinking that the Clouded leopards were never housed together? I note they were born within a month of each other, which I understand is the technique used to form a breeding pair (introducing them as juveniles), so was this tried initially, with them later separated?
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I'm not sure, I have a recollection they were put together on a couple of occasions but there was too much aggression and they needed to be separated.

:p

Hix
 
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