Australasian Giraffe Population

Abbey said:
By my understanding, these are the Rothschild's giraffes (from the Orana/NZ lines) still living in Australia (3.7 in total):

1.0 Shaba (Ijumma x Shani) 21-08-2011 at Mogo Wildlife Park (now at National Zoo)
1.0 Armani (Harold x Zuri) 23-12-2002 at Orana Wildlife Park (now at Perth Zoo)
1.0 Ajali (Armani x Misha) 29-05-2010 at Perth Zoo (now at Werribee Open Range Zoo)
0.1 Manzi (Ijumma x Shani) 24-01-2010 at Mogo Wildlife Park (now at Altina Wildlife Park)
0.1 Penny (Armani x Misha) 24-12-2007 at Perth Zoo (now at Australia Zoo)
0.1 Tanzi (Mukulu x Twiga) 22-08-2002 at Melbourne Zoo
0.1 Shani (Mukulu x Twiga) 21-03-2006 at Melbourne Zoo
0.1 Binti (Ijumma x Shani) 24-01-2013 at Mogo Wildlife Park
0.1 Tuli (Ijumma x Shani) 00-00-2014 at Mogo Wildlife Park
0.1 Oni (Ijumma x Shani) 27-01-2016 at Mogo Wildlife Park

As far as I'm aware, the pairing you're referring to is that of Ijumma x Shani at Mogo (producing 1.4 calves), but with Ijumma's passing, the latest calves at Mogo are hybrids/generics.

(My initial knowledge of the Rothschild's lines is indebted to @jay and the ozzoos website in the early 2000s, but any errors in extrapolations of the bloodlines since 2005ish are all mine)
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Yes, that all looks correct.

History of Rothschild’s giraffe in Australia:

To summarise the history of these “Rothschild’s” giraffe in Australia:

- Perth Zoo received 1.1 siblings (Anthony and Misha) and their 0.1 half sister (Marama) from Orana Wildlife Park and bred several calves.

- Melbourne Zoo received the son of Anthony and Misha (Mukulu) and bred him with an imported female (Twiga) to produce several calves.

- Perth Zoo received Misha’s great nephew (Armani) and bred him with Misha to produce calves.

- Mogo Zoo received Misha’s nephew (Ijumma) and Misha’s grandaughters via Mukulu and bred calves.

All of these zoos have since received hybrid breeding partners for these giraffes.

Given the founders of Orana’s giraffe breeding programme were already related to each other, it really highlights how inbred our giraffe population is and what a benefit fresh imports will be.
 
0.0.1 giraffe calf has been born at Mogo Wildlife Park presumably to female Oni (whose pregnancy was announced a few months ago) - reported on social media.
 
1.0 Azizi at Adelaide has successfully been moved back to Monarto and been introduced to the safari park’s bachelor group - reported on their FB page.

0.1 Kiraka at Auckland Zoo is currently pregnant. Sire is 1.0 Billy from Australia Zoo. The news was reported by @Zoofan15 on the Auckland Zoo news thread.
 
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WhistlingKite24 said:
1.0 Azizi at Adelaide has successfully been moved back to Monarto and been introduced to the safari park’s bachelor group - reported on their FB page.
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Wow, I thought Azizi was there to stay. Wasn't that the initial plan?

It's good to know Azizi's settled in well though. Monarto have quite large, nice bachelor group.

I really don't see the point of Monarto retaining two female Giraffes, who take up a lot of space that could be used much better for a city zoo like Adelaide.
 
Jambo said:
Wow, I thought Azizi was there to stay. Wasn't that the initial plan?
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It was noted on socials how they didn’t want him to breed due to him being closely related to Adelaide’s females:

Azizi is now at an age and size where he could have attempted to mate with Adelaide Zoo female giraffe, Nolean and Kimya. He is too closely related to the girls to be paired, so it was decided to train him to use the trailer and move him back to his birthplace.

They presumably didn’t want to maintain him as a castrated bull either.

As popular as they are, Adelaide Zoo should definitely phase out giraffes. It’s not an efficient use of space to accomodate a species which can be seen in large herds at their sister zoo.
 
Zoofan15 said:
It was noted on socials how they didn’t want him to breed due to him being closely related to Adelaide’s females:

Azizi is now at an age and size where he could have attempted to mate with Adelaide Zoo female giraffe, Nolean and Kimya. He is too closely related to the girls to be paired, so it was decided to train him to use the trailer and move him back to his birthplace.

They presumably didn’t want to maintain him as a castrated bull either.

As popular as they are, Adelaide Zoo should definitely phase out giraffes. It’s not an efficient use of space to accomodate a species which can be seen in large herds at their sister zoo.
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I must've been thinking of Nolean then. Azizi was most likely only moved to Adelaide for the purpose of drawing crowds, being the first baby giraffe at Adelaide zoo in obviously more than two decades. Zoos SA would've jumped at the opportunity to move him there. Therefore, it's always been inevitable then that he'd have to be moved back once he grew up.

That's quite right. Giraffes are an iconic species, and Adelaide has plans for them to be seen from the other side of the River Torres; which makes sense as they'd see a Giraffe and immediately think of Adelaide Zoo (a little bit of advertising there;)). In my opinion though, if Adelaide do decide to continue to display Giraffes, i'd like to see them holding more than just two giraffes. A group of four or five is better to see compared to a single pair.
 
Jambo said:
I must've been thinking of Nolean then. Azizi was most likely only moved to Adelaide for the purpose of drawing crowds, being the first baby giraffe at Adelaide zoo in obviously more than two decades. Zoos SA would've jumped at the opportunity to move him there. Therefore, it's always been inevitable then that he'd have to be moved back once he grew up.

That's quite right. Giraffes are an iconic species, and Adelaide has plans for them to be seen from the other side of the River Torres; which makes sense as they'd see a Giraffe and immediately think of Adelaide Zoo (a little bit of advertising there;)). In my opinion though, if Adelaide do decide to continue to display Giraffes, i'd like to see them holding more than just two giraffes. A group of four or five is better to see compared to a single pair.
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The reason Azizi was transferred to Adelaide was because he had to be removed from his mother for handraising. Adelaide had the facilities to handraise a calf in close quarters, while providing him with socialisation versus Monarto, which run their herds across large paddocks.

The space allocated to the gorillas in the masterplan is 2400m2, so if the giraffes are to replace them, then they could surely hold a small herd. At a minimum, they could hold 1.2 with the option of transferring surplus to Monarto as they mature.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
0.1 calf was born to 0.1 Scarlett at Monarto Safari Park last Friday. This is Scarlett's second calf since she arrived from Australia Zoo. Her first calf was 1.0 Azizi who recently moved back to Monarto Safari Park from Adelaide: Gorgeous little giraffe calf born at Monarto Safari Park
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Impressive work from Scarlett considering her age. She gave birth to her first calf at the age of four years one month, which is considered young for this species, which usually gives birth to their first calf closer to five years old; and then factoring in the 15 month gestation, she conceived her second calf within two months of her first being removed for hand rearing.
 
As reported by @Abbey from their visit, the National Zoo and Aquarium recently welcomed the birth of 0.0.1 calf to their experienced pair Shaba and Mzungu. This is the pair's fourth successful calf following 0.1 Kebibi (2016) 0.1 Nzuri (2019) and 1.0 Khamisi (2020)
 
A few recent confirmed pregnancies.

0.1 Penny at Australia Zoo is currently pregnant according to a recent YouTube video about breeding programmes at the zoo. This follows their most recent birth which was 1.0 Jesse (2021) born to female Sally who is the only offspring currently in the group. Penny's most recent calf was 1.0 Hunter (2020) who is now at Tasmania Zoo.

0.1 Tuli at Mogo Wildlife Park is also pregnant as announced by @Abbey in the news thread. This continues Mogo's string of recent calves starting with 1.0 Karn (2019), 1.0 Twiga (2020), 0.1 Matilda (2021), 1.0 Matope (2021) and 1.0 Mshangoa (2022).
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
0.1 Ntombi at Taronga Western Plains Zoo has given birth to 1.0 calf over the weekend - reported on social media. Sire is 1.0 Mtoto and this is his first calf. Ntombi's last calf was 1.0 Shingo (2019) who is now at Hunter Valley Wildlife Park housed with two females.
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It’s about time! I’ve been expecting to hear of a birth to Ntombi since 2020. I’ve followed her since her birth at Auckland Zoo in 2007. She was the last of her family line, which descended from the import of a bull from London Zoo in 1960.

The comparatively lengthy birth interval between this calf and Shingo makes me think she had a stillbirth/non surviving calf in between:

1.0 Fanana (21/08/2012) Deceased
1.0 Nkosi (03/08/2014)
0.1 Nyah (01/01/2016)
0.1 Malaika (11/09/2017)
1.0 Shingo (25/03/2019)

Hopefully her daughters, aged 6.5 and 4.75 years, will have their first calves soon.
 
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