Monarto Safari Park Monarto Safari Park News 2024

Couple of pics as of recent. Enjoying the water facilities. Very much looking forward to seeing Permai’s physical and emotional reaction when she sees and bonds with Burma next month.
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Luke899 said:
Couple of pics as of recent. Enjoying the water facilities. Very much looking forward to seeing Permai’s physical and emotional reaction when she sees and bonds with Burma next month.
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It’s clear that this move has been hugely beneficial for Burma before the other elephants have even arrived. She appeared content with her own company (and that of her keepers) in that she never displayed any behaviour associated with loneliness/depression; but she now has a world class complex with enrichment beyond anything she’s seen before.

I don’t doubt Permai will enjoy the habitat as much as Burma; but the main appeal for her will surely be the companionship of other elephants.
 
Zorro said:
Let's look back to 1970 when both the Whisnade zoo UK and the San Diego Wild animal park USA imported (by ship) 20 White rhino each from South Africa. The SD put them out into one of its 100 exhibits while Whipsnade put theres in the newly opened 30 acre rhino paddock, Both zoos also had one current adult pair when the new animals were introduced. Both herds bred well over the years!
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It's almost like keeping them in a natural way, actually works for them. Compared to what seems like an overly managed way zoos currently do.
 
Zoofan15 said:
San Diego still managed their bulls separately from the larger integrated herd of cows and calves - which is the set up Monarto will be following. There will be numerous off display yards to accomodate the bulls.

The territory size of a bull white rhinoceros is around 3km2, so theoretically multiple bulls could be coexist in Monarto’s exhibit; but I find it unlikely they’d attempt this and in any case, it’s important for record keeping to have certainty around parentage. At most I would expect to see offspring retained for longer than then usual 2-3 years (dispersal age).
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Taking blood samples would enable deciphering of who is the father, the same way we do with chimps. When the rhinos first import it doesn't actually matter who breeds with who, the white rhino program is failing. They just need to breed some.
Managing multiple bulls and letting them form their own territories would enable monarto and even western plains to an extant to increase there carrying capacity. In the current set up we continually see oestrus suppression hampering breeding efforts. If we actually start keeping rhinos in a more natural way in our large open range zoos we may actually see a reversal of oestrus suppression. After all if it happened like we see it here in our zoos, wild populations would fail miserably. Just like we have done with elephants, we need to look at how we can better breed, manage and keep white rhino.
 
Tiger91 said:
Taking blood samples would enable deciphering of who is the father, the same way we do with chimps. When the rhinos first import it doesn't actually matter who breeds with who, the white rhino program is failing. They just need to breed some.
Managing multiple bulls and letting them form their own territories would enable monarto and even western plains to an extant to increase their carrying capacity. In the current set up we continually see oestrus suppression hampering breeding efforts. If we actually start keeping rhinos in a more natural way in our large open range zoos we may actually see a reversal of oestrus suppression. After all if it happened like we see it here in our zoos, wild populations would fail miserably. Just like we have done with elephants, we need to look at how we can better breed, manage and keep white rhino.
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It would be expensive to undertake paternity testing of every calf born; not to mention there’s huge potential for conflict, which wouldn’t be a good look for the zoo. Monarto have clearly considered every option and decided against managing multiple bulls in one space as they’re building several separation yards.

With regards to breeding, holding the cows in a large herd will hopefully negate the effects of estrus suppression as it appeared to in the San Diego/Whispnade herds. Bulls can be rotated between the herd every couple of years or so, with the presence of other bulls on site (perceived competition) enhancing breeding.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Burma update:

Really impressed with the innovations that have gone into this exhibit - you can tell it was designed with input from some of the region’s elephant experts (such as Andrew Coers).

From socials:

"Burma is enjoying a fun approach to keeping cool, with trunk-fulls of water and plenty of splashing around.

A highlight of her new home for Burma (and her visitors!) is the drinker she has access to. This is an in-ground, self-filling water enrichment device that allows Burma to draw cool water out of the ground using her trunk - which often ends up being thrown over her back, or sometimes if she's feeling cheeky, in the direction of her keepers!

Burma can hold up to eight litres of water in her trunk, and visitors will often see her throw water over herself followed by a dusting of sand on her back, to reflect the sun and keep her nice and cool.
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Yes very impressive design and it has been lovely to watch Burmas bond and trust with her keepers (they are awesome) and she is very evidently enjoying her new habitat while given the choice and control to move around and even move to the Elephant pavilion. She is still exploring and getting aquatinted with the sights and sounds lol the first sight of a kangaroo she was not totally comfortable with. The design and work going into the whole elephant habitats is very species appropriate can’t wait the rest of the herd to arrive from thier respective current locations
 
Rosheen.1 said:
Yes very impressive design and it has been lovely to watch Burmas bond and trust with her keepers (they are awesome) and she is very evidently enjoying her new habitat while given the choice and control to move around and even move to the Elephant pavilion. The design and work going into the whole elephant habitats is very species appropriate.
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What’s been really cool to see is how much Burma is enjoying the habitat as a result of the support of her keepers.

In the matriarchal herds already built up within the region, this support will come from within the herd (especially the matriarch); but until the others arrive, the keepers are all Burma has and they’re clearly doing an exemplarily job of filling that gap in the meantime.
 
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