Kansas City Zoo Kansas City Zoo News 2023

IndianRhino

IndianRhino

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
0.0.1 black rhino calf was born on December 31st to first time parents, “Zuri” and “Ruka”.

Kansas City Zoo on Instagram: "The baby has arrived! Zuri, a critically endangered eastern black rhinoceros, gave birth to an adorable calf in the early morning hours on December 31! The rhinos’ animal care specialists report the calf is walking, nursing, and even playing spar, and that Zuri is a patient and attentive first-time mother. The barn is being kept quiet with limited human interaction to allow them plenty of time to bond, which is a very important process. Once mother and calf have had that bonding time, a neonatal exam will be performed in the coming weeks to confirm gender and overall health. We will report the gender then, and there will be an opportunity for the public to participate in naming the calf. There are only about 740 of this type of rhino left in the wild so this birth is also important for the subspecies as a whole. We are thrilled to introduce this new arrival to Kansas City! Photo by Julia, Senior Animal Care Specialist #zoo #zooborns #rhino #baby"
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33-year-old polar bear, Berlin, was euthanized yesterday morning :(

Kansas City Zoo on Instagram: "The Kansas City Zoo is mourning the loss of 33-year-old polar bear Berlin, who resided here for a decade. Berlin was the oldest polar bear in human care in the United States, and perhaps in North America, which is a testament to the extraordinary care she received from her animal care and veterinary health teams. Berlin had been experiencing hypertension and renal failure, and treatment options had been exhausted so the difficult decision to euthanize her was made yesterday morning. Berlin was born at the Cincinnati Zoo on December 11, 1989, just a little over a month after the Berlin Wall fell, so she was given her unique name honoring the event. In 2012, Berlin was residing at Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth when it flooded, and famously swam to the perimeter wall of her habitat where she waited until staff arrived and discovered her. She was temporarily housed at Como Zoo in Saint Paul and arrived in Kansas City from there in December 2012. Berlin was a beloved ambassador for her species and helped contribute to research that has benefited the wild polar bear population. Her animal care specialists commended her big personality and described her as “smart and sassy” and say she gave all of her caregivers “a run for their money!” Berlin will be dearly missed by her Zoo family, including staff, volunteers, and guests. The Kansas City Zoo will make its annual contribution from the Zoo’s Conservation Fund to Polar Bears International in memory of Berlin this year to aid in conserving this amazing, vulnerable species and their habitat in the wild."
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According to the Zoo's social media, the Aquarium's Pacific reef exhibit (the largest exhibit by water volume) is being filled with salt water for it's inhabitants which will begin to arrive in the coming months. The 650,000 gallon Aquarium is set to open in the 'early fall.'
 
Cat-Man said:
Excuse me if I’m being dumb but - was it not already?
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I think you're referring to a general freshwater fill construction crews use to check for leaks. You're right, that occured last year. This contains salt water, indicating they're reading to start the necessary biological filtration process.
 
Piece of 2023 News Not Mentioned:

On January 5th, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (1.0) emu named Nigel to the Pubelo Zoo in Colorado.

Pueblo Zoo

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On March 22nd, the zoo announced that they acquired a (1.0) southern three-banded armadillo named Mulligan from the Topeka Zoo in Kansas earlier in the year and is now an animal ambassador.

MEET MULLIGAN! This 15-year-old Southern three-banded armadillo joined us after transferring from the Topeka Zoo at the beginning of the year. As a... | By Kansas City Zoo | Facebook

On March 24th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) cheetah named Rhaegal passed away at age 7 due to chronic renal failure.

Kansas City Zoo
 
Piece of 2023 News Not Mentioned:

Also on March 24th, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (0.1) North American river otter named Ariel to the Cape May County Zoo in New Jersey.

Cape May County Park/Zoo

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On April 26th, it was announced that the zoo will acquire a (1.0) zebra shark named Chewie from the Great Lakes Aquarium in Minnesota in early May.

Great Lakes Aquarium
 
wild boar said:
Do these statistics seem odd? This data could very well be presented in a way that is skewed in favor of ARE (Animal Rights Extremists) but I find it concerning.

article: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article272223823.html
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19 birds in ten years, out of 136 birds total. Five of those 19 are chicks - chicks dying is not unusual - so 14 adult birds, but with no causes of death given or any other information.

However the data is skewed right off by only showing the deaths and saying "only two lived beyond the median age" - what needs to be shown is the total number of penguins (136) and their ages. Then the ages of those dead ones could be shown or not shown to mean anything (along with, obviously, further information regarding why the birds died). For their Humboldt's Penguins four died below the median age and one well after - but what if all their other Humboldt's are already older than the median age, what does that mean for their statistics?

If you have 136 humans and 19 have died over ten years. Five were babies. Of the remaining 14 there were 12 who died before reaching 31 years of age (the median age for humans) and 2 who died after the age of 31. What does that tell you about that group of humans as a whole? What does it tell you about the ages or health of the remaining 117 humans in that group? Nothing at all. It's just a number of deaths.
 
Thank you, though I had already done some of the math. There were seventeen penguins that died before reaching the median life expectancy, and I fail to see why there that many deaths among younger animals, although I now understand some of the cases (chicks apparently not having that great of a mortality rate). I am not asking about the other penguins, Many of the penguins originally in the exhibit were old, according to the article, and they appear to be doing fine, so I'm not worried about them.

In that example about people, the twelve people who died before the age of 31 years could have been drunk drivers (a little more than half of which are between 21 and 34 years old) or something else that most affects young people. Is there something that's affecting younger penguins in zoos from survival to an older age where there seems to be less issues?

I apologize for not being very clear.
 
wild boar said:
Thank you, though I had already done some of the math. There were seventeen penguins that died before reaching the median life expectancy, and I fail to see why there that many deaths among younger animals, although I now understand some of the cases (chicks apparently not having that great of a mortality rate). I am not asking about the other penguins, Many of the penguins originally in the exhibit were old, according to the article, and they appear to be doing fine, so I'm not worried about them.

In that example about people, the twelve people who died before the age of 31 years could have been drunk drivers (a little more than half of which are between 21 and 34 years old) or something else that most affects young people. Is there something that's affecting younger penguins in zoos from survival to an older age where there seems to be less issues?

I apologize for not being very clear.
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I wouldn't think too deep into it. A few of those seventeen came extremely close to the median age, at which point they are older animals that happen to die shortly before hitting the median, which in and of itself is an arbitrary number. Furthermore, seventeen is a fairly small sample size. Without seeing specific data for mortality, I wouldn't speculate it's anything the zoo could control. It would only be a concern if there was a clear trend amongst the seventeen (e.g. a specific virus causing multiple deaths, etc.). All zoos, however, no matter how incredible a facility they are, sometimes have young animals pass away. Cancer exists, other serious health problems can sometimes affect young animals, sometimes non-preventable injuries occur, and sometimes a particular animal may just fail to thrive (especially common in infants). It's always sad to see an animal pass, especially a young one, but unfortunately that's just a part of life.
 
Another thing to point out is KC had zero penguins secured via loan when they were nearing completion of the exhibit. In a mad scramble to have any animal for opening, sister institutions loaned or donated whatever animals they had. You're not going to donate the the prettiest or healthiest or best breeders - you're gonna donate whomever is left. KC was left with the bottom of the barrel at the time, so it's only natural that they're not going to have birds that achieve a median life expectancy.

They've been on a kick receiving penguin eggs from Sea World for a while, so even then, a developing egg being jostled about in shipment isn't the most ideal situation.
 
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