Sydney Zoo now has A southern white rhino he seems to be on display but still in quarantine
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Sydney Zoo Sydney Zoo News 2022
- Thread starter Patrick Keegan
- Start date
Awesome news! A first for Sydney Zoo.
It looks like a young rhino. Having just reviewed the Southern white rhinoceros population list, I’d guess Kingston at Australia Zoo is the most likely transfer given his demographics.
1.0 Kingston (00/07/2019) DJ x Caballe
Great news really. Sydney always had plans for Rhinos so it’s nice to see one finally there. I’d assume the rhino will be displayed with their giraffe and zebra.
As @WhistlingKite24 mentioned and as I remembered, @Matt_C did mention a young rhino at Hamilton being crate trained to be sent to Sydney. After overviewing the list it seems the only candidate is:
1.0 Samburu (Kruger x Kito) 28-06-2016
Hopefully an announcement from Sydney will be coming soon to confirm the identity of their newest addition.
Hamilton Zoo have been keen to shift Samburu on for a while now. He was originally supposed to be sent to Halls Gap Zoo in 2020, but then Covid canned the export.
On my last visit, there was lots of huffing between him and Kruger, given Samburu is well and truly past the usual dispersal age for this species.
Male rhinos normally don’t reach full maturity until between the ages of 8-10. Samburu will soon be approaching six years of age and while he may not have been becoming a nuisance towards the females, he definitely would’ve been towards his father, Kruger.
Hopefully Sydney Zoo can follow up their import by bringing in a mate for him in the future.
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I’ve seen Kruger showing hostility to him from the age of three. It’s a fair sized exhibit, but with a herd of six, tensions have been running high for a while. I’ve also heard Moesha (the eldest female) snorting loudly at him with her tail up - indicating her displeasure.
Given they don’t have a lot of space, my guess is Sydney Zoo will be holding either a lone bull or a bachelor pair, but I could be wrong. Given most of their species are non breeding, I’m sure they’d be glad to receive a cow and a breeding recommendation.
I agree space issues will not agree with anything more but 1-2 bachelor males.
I would advocate setting up a bachelor herd in one of the open range locales so the young ones experience a bull mating.
BTW: male Kruger is getting on a bit, but since he is wildborn genetically valuable.
Halls Gap yet to receive rhinos?
I would advocate setting up a bachelor herd in one of the open range locales so the young ones experience a bull mating.
BTW: male Kruger is getting on a bit, but since he is wildborn genetically valuable.
Halls Gap yet to receive rhinos?
Halls Gap Zoo currently have a 26 year old male named Kapamba:
1.0 Kapamba (18/03/1996) Bort x Gingabelle
There’s currently only three bachelor facilities in the region - Perth Zoo, Mogo Zoo and the National Zoo each hold two bulls.
I would seriously consider each of the open range zoos to start bachelor groups as part of natural white rhino range management. That would free up room in city zoos for other rhino taxon or a pachyderm like pygmy hippo or tapir for that matter. That means Werribee, Monarto and Dubbo do so. With the expansion of white rhino breeding program thru rescue of further wildcaught southern white rhino at risk there is a great task ahead for these three.
Same goes for expansion of southern central black Diceros bicornis minor program.
Remember that ZAA is more successful ATM in their breeding at the one facility that currently breeds the taxon than all the US zoo facilities combined (White Oak, Fossil Rim). Allthough, I am holding out for new imports to US as well to revive the program with CS2C and ranches in SE and central US.
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That would be indeed be useful. I know some of the open range zoos e.g. Monarto and Orana have a non breeding or spare bull in addition to the breeding herd, which has served as a stimulant to the breeding bull to mate the cows he’s housed with.
Auckland Zoo also previously held a bachelor herd of two brothers in addition to their breeding pair. They now hold one spare bull (the other brother was exported) possibly for the reasons detailed above.
Larger bachelor herds may be on the cards with zoos like Monarto and Orana currently expanding their facilities to receive wild rhinos.
I was at Hamilton zoo last week and noticed Samburu was absent as was his crate. One of the rhinos, I think kruger, had a wound on his buttock which had been recently treated. I speculated they had moved Samburu to the yard after a fight but moving him on is a much better outcome.
Kruger is now 33 years old and getting on in years. Having his six year old son, who’s approaching his prime, would have been stressful for him. Moving him on is really the only option and ideally would have happened several years ago. At least his next offspring is a female, who turns two this year.
A change of bull would be of benefit to Hamilton’s herd imo. Of the three cows, one hasn’t reproduced in 10 years; and another (aged 15 years) has never bred with Kruger. She doesn’t like him apparently.
Kruger has three living offspring with the third cow; as well as another three across other facilities - all of which are in breeding herds, meaning he’s probably sufficiently represented at this point.
Yes, it seems the best option. I suppose plenty of candidate bulls available within the region to become new herd breeding bull?
Having looked over the list, there’s not a huge number of candidates. Tino (2015) at Orana Wildlife Park seems the obvious choice. He turns seven next month and Orana’s only reproductively viable cow is his mother. He’s currently serving the role of a stimulus bull to Stumpy (the breeding bull), but a swap with Kruger would allow the latter to fulfil the same role. It would be the simplest exchange logistically given they’re in the same country.
Given Orana will soon receive several South African imports, that could also be an option.
Do you know what time frame these imports are on?
The time frame started in 2013 so it’s anyones guess now
Orana Wildlife Park started construction last year, so hopefully within the next year or so. The plan is for some rhinos to remain at Orana; while others are quarantined for up to a year, before being sent to Australia.
64 year old Asian elephant saigon has been put to sleep due to debilitating muscular atrophy.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZ8mfCQJonp/?utm_medium=copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZ8mfCQJonp/?utm_medium=copy_link
She reached a respectable age and testament to good quality of life (up till now).
Rhino update:
Samburu was still at Hamilton Zoo as of Saturday. The zoo has no immediate plans to export him, though this remains the long term plan.
The post linked above doesn’t state whether the new rhino is male or female (though a small bachelor herd is my prediction). It’s looks young (I’d guess 3-4 years), which makes the following strong possibilities:
0.1 Carrie (DJ x Inyeti) 04-12-2018 Australia Zoo
1.0 Kingston (DJ x Caballe) 00-07-2019 Australia Zoo
0.1 Meeka (Khulu x Mopani) 18-08-2019 Taronga Western Plains Zoo
A weaker possibility is:
1.0 Tino (Cyrano x Tamu) 14-02-2015 Orana Wildlife Park
At six years, he’s older, though Orana Wildlife will surely be looking to move him on. He’s the son of the park’s only reproductively viable cow and his role as a stimulant bull will soon be fulfilled by the South African imports Orana will be receiving. They’ll soon be needing space and he’s the obvious export.
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