Taronga Zoo Recent history of Taronga and developments etc

Zoofan15 said:
It’s clear the advantage initial holders had in breeding species that were yet to become established in the region.

Taronga supplied numerous zoos in the region with giraffes, red pandas, hippopotamus, chimpanzees and tigers; while Adelaide Zoo bred red pandas and otters in large numbers.
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I was incredibly surprised to see Adelaide had that many Red Pandas but even then, it's likely this was mainly a breeding pair plus their offspring. Similarly, it appears Taronga also retained a lot of their initial Red Panda cubs.

Back then there weren't nearly as much holders as there are today, so there would've been little interest from other facilities in taking on surplus.
 
Taronga had two females for a while - Wanmei and Soy. This was early 2000's. Both females bred with Mayhem. Soy was moved to Adelaide I think it was 2006.

We often managed multiple breeding pairs so the number of offspring born at the zoo being so large is without a doubt due to that.
 
Trua said:
Taronga had two females for a while - Wanmei and Soy. This was early 2000's. Both females bred with Mayhem. Soy was moved to Adelaide I think it was 2006.

We often managed multiple breeding pairs so the number of offspring born at the zoo being so large is without a doubt due to that.
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Thanks for that - and it does make sense as Taronga somehow managed to produce 44 Red Panda cubs in thirty odd years whilst breeding their pairs at relatively natural intervals (every two to three years).

Afaik Mayhem only sired five litters with Wanmei and another two with Soy. Around a quarter of the cubs (part of the number above) sired by Mayhem.

It'll be interesting to know what happened to his parents. It seems they either passed or were retired to another facility come 2002 when both were only around ten or so years of age. They also appeared to have only sired just three litters; their first being a single female, Lang Tang in 1996.
 
Trua said:
Taronga had two females for a while - Wanmei and Soy. This was early 2000's. Both females bred with Mayhem. Soy was moved to Adelaide I think it was 2006.

We often managed multiple breeding pairs so the number of offspring born at the zoo being so large is without a doubt due to that.
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Jambo said:
Thanks for that - and it does make sense as Taronga somehow managed to produce 44 Red Panda cubs in thirty odd years whilst breeding their pairs at relatively natural intervals (every two to three years).

Afaik Mayhem only sired five litters with Wanmei and another two with Soy. Around a quarter of the cubs (part of the number above) sired by Mayhem.

It'll be interesting to know what happened to his parents. It seems they either passed or were retired to another facility come 2002 when both were only around ten or so years of age. They also appeared to have only sired just three litters; their first being a single female, Lang Tang in 1996.
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It’s quite easy to breed large numbers of red pandas in a short space of time with even a single breeding female. Auckland Zoo’s original breeding pair of Nepalese red panda produced three offspring between 1995-1997. After the death of the mother, one of the daughters had an unplanned mating with her father to produce two offspring in 1998. She then had a further five offspring between 2000-2002 with an imported male. That’s a total of 10 cubs born between 1995-2002!

Red pandas can produce cubs (often twins) annually and there’s no indication breeding was regulated via breeding recommendations in the 1970’s like it is today in Australasian zoos. I’m open to correction, but the earliest mention I’ve found of coordinated breeding recommendations in Australian zoos is early 1990’s. Mortality rate of cubs is reasonably high and combined with a demand from other holders to receive Taronga bred cubs, it’s easy to see why the numbers produced were so high. There could well have been accidental matings between fathers/daughters etc. too.

The parents of Taronga’s first red panda cub appear to have been Chinese red pandas, as they were noted to have been imported from China in 1977 (impressively conceiving their first cub that year). One half of the pair died the following year of lung cancer.

Like Auckland Zoo who initially held Chinese red panda, a decision was made by Taronga to switch to Nepalese red panda at some stage, which has been the regional focus for decades.
 
steveroberts said:
(from email reply from Taronga staff) apparently Sarina the 0.1 Asian elephant arrived at the zoo in late 1936 and died 2/11/1979.
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Thanks for sharing @steveroberts.

This is a good reminder that the Elephant Database, while a useful resource, is not always accurate (it incorrectly lists her year of death as 1971). I’ve recently found articles from 1976 and 1977 detailing Sarina as one of the zoo’s elephants (and she was mentioned by Darill Clements in Postcards from the Zoo, which otherwise seemed unusual if she had in fact died four years prior to her starting work there).

The late 70’s were a turbulent time for Taronga’s elephants with Joan dying in 1976; Jill in 1977; and Chori and Sarina in 1979. Burma arrived in 1982 to join the 1.1 remaining Asian elephants (Heman and Ranee).
 
Zoofan15 said:
Thanks for sharing @steveroberts.

This is a good reminder that the Elephant Database, while a useful resource, is not always accurate (it incorrectly lists her year of death as 1971). I’ve recently found articles from 1976 and 1977 detailing Sarina as one of the zoo’s elephants (and she was mentioned by Darill Clements in Postcards from the Zoo, which otherwise seemed unusual if she had in fact died four years prior to her starting work there).

The late 70’s were a turbulent time for Taronga’s elephants with Joan dying in 1976; Jill in 1977; and Chori and Sarina in 1979. Burma arrived in 1982 to join the 1.1 remaining Asian elephants (Heman and Ranee).
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Well the note section on here page lists a reference mentioning Sarina passing in 1979 as well so it just appears the author of the database has just mixed 1979 up with 1971.

Joan, Jill and Sarina were all three of the zoo's female elephants who used to give rides. Not sure why Ranee was never utilised, but perhaps her younger age when rides ended contributed to this.
 
Jambo said:
Well the note section on here page lists a reference mentioning Sarina passing in 1979 as well so it just appears the author of the database has just mixed 1979 up with 1971.

Joan, Jill and Sarina were all three of the zoo's female elephants who used to give rides. Not sure why Ranee was never utilised, but perhaps her younger age when rides ended contributed to this.
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steveroberts said:
That note section about 1979 was from personal correspondence with the site creator this week, with some big help from a very knowlegeable fellow member of this site, Taronga history knowledge and records being one of their personal knowledge-'bank'.

Yeah its a mixup with anothe Asian ele' who died 6 June 1971, easy to make mixups, anyone would on a site with thousands of elephants with database bios like you said.



Good thing for Ranee she wasn't subjected to. That ride-giving should of been ended in early 1960s like it was at Melbourne and Perth zoos.
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Like @steveroberts said, that note only went up in the last week following correspondence with the site’s administrator. Mistakes are understandable (and inevitable) when dealing with such a large dataset, but nonetheless can lead those doing research down false trails.

Ranee was 14 years old when Taronga phased out elephant rides in 1976. Attempts were made to breed from Heman and Ranee, so I wonder whether Ranee was designated a breeding cow instead of being trained for rides. Alternatively, she may have lacked the temperament expected of a ride elephant (an elephant that’s easily spooked would be dangerous for all involved). In any case, the three cows they had were likely sufficient for the workload required.

Taronga phased out elephant rides over a decade after Auckland Zoo (1965). Like Taronga, Auckland’s rides came to an end with the death of their trained elephant (Jamuna). There were attempts to train Malini as a replacement, but difficulties in doing so were reported in 1966 (namely that she was unnerved by planes). Malini died prematurely in 1971.
 
steveroberts said:
(from email reply from Taronga staff) apparently Sarina the 0.1 Asian elephant arrived at the zoo in late 1936 and died 2/11/1979.
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Thanks Steve. November 2 is a significant date for elephants in NSW:

02/11/1979 - Sarina dies
02/11/2006 - 1.4 Asian elephants arrive from Thailand
02/11/2010 - Tukta is born to Pak Boon
02/11/2016 - Sabai is the first elephant calf born at TWPZ
 
Abbey said:
Thanks Steve. November 2 is a significant date for elephants in NSW:

02/11/1979 - Sarina dies
02/11/2006 - 1.4 Asian elephants arrive from Thailand
02/11/2010 - Tukta is born to Pak Boon
02/11/2016 - Sabai is the first elephant calf born at TWPZ
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Oh wow :-0 very significant date indeed, great research Abbey, really interesting.
 
Great resource for papers about animals at the zoos and all sorts of things, just some of the examples for Taronga.

Library Genesis • scientific articles - results for 'Taronga Zoo'
Library Genesis • scientific articles - results for 'Taronga'

(clicking the sci-hub link is reliable pdf reader for the papers).

Or of course can just go straight to Sci-Hub for lol, everyone who isn't already familar with and 'cut out the middle man', but Library Genesis great source of finding other written materials too aswell as scientific articles.
 
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one example

Sci-Hub | Introduction of Asiatic golden cat Catopuma temminckii at Taronga' by Deb Olsen (published 2012)

includes diagram of the old 'Jungle Cat(s)' building complex - now 'Tasmanian Devil Conservation Centre':

tz-jungle-cats-1993-2008-jpg.778469
 
steveroberts said:
Great resource for papers about animals at the zoos and all sorts of things, just some of the examples for Taronga.

Library Genesis • scientific articles - results for 'Taronga Zoo'
Library Genesis • scientific articles - results for 'Taronga'

(clicking the sci-hub link is reliable pdf reader for the papers).

Or of course can just go straight to Sci-Hub for lol, everyone who isn't already familar with and 'cut out the middle man', but Library Genesis great source of finding other written materials too aswell as scientific articles.
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This is awesome Steve, thank you! Scientific paper can often be a good source of historical data and facts such as animals' ages, so it's good to have another reliable source (especially since I'm no longer a full-time student).
 


Taronga Zoo footage starts just after 1 minute and 30 seconds into

includes (not all in order of when filmed):

Western lowland gorillas (dont know which individual - Buluman?) in those horrible old enclosures
Giant anteaters (2) in a crappy concrete floored exhibit (very cute seeing them though, poor things)
Goodfellows or Matschie's tree-kangaroo (decent enclosure for the time period arguably)
Chimpanzees (some of the individuals who lived in some of the tiny pen cages in the old Ape 'House' (row)
Leopard seal (I think) in one of old pinniped pools
Tiger (maybe a Sumatran or subspecies hybird) in old Big Cat 'House' (row)
Leopard (black/melanistic) in old Big Cat 'House' (row)
Small-clawed otters (not too bad an exhibit for the era, though very basic)
Pigtailed macaques in one of old monkeys pits
Elands
Himalayan tahrs on 'Tahr Mountain'
Situatunga? 1.0
Deer (wapiti??)
Wedge-tailed eagle in old aviary
 
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steveroberts said:


Taronga Zoo footage starts just after 1 minute and 30 seconds into

includes (not all in order of when filmed):

Western lowland gorillas (dont know which individuals) in those horrible old enclosures
Giant anteaters (2) in a crappy concrete floored exhibit (very cute seeing them though, poor things)
Goodfellows or Matschie's tree-kangaroo (decent enclosure for the time period arguably)
Chimpanzees (some of the individuals who lived in some of the tiny pen cages in the old Ape 'House' (row)
Leopard seal (I think) in one of old pinniped pools
Tiger (maybe a Sumatran or subspecies hybird) in old Big Cat 'House' (row)
Leopard (black/melanistic) in old Big Cat 'House' (row)
Small-clawed otters (not too bad an exhibit for the era, though very basic)
Pigtailed macaques in one of old monkeys pits
Elands
Himalayan tahrs on 'Tahr Mountain'
Situatunga? 1.0
Deer (wapiti??)
Wedge-tailed eagle in old aviary
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Nice find! The gorilla would be Little John or Anabella, both of which passed in 1977. It doesn't look like Buluman or Betsy to me.

Also really cool to see the Giant Anteaters. Let's hope they make a return regionally with the Xenarthra IRA now completed!

I also don't believe Taronga had purebred Sumatrans at the time. A pair were acquired in 1951, but it appears after that they were hybridised - and this Tiger was a generic.
 
steveroberts said:


Taronga Zoo footage starts just after 1 minute and 30 seconds into

includes (not all in order of when filmed):

Western lowland gorillas (dont know which individuals) in those horrible old enclosures
Giant anteaters (2) in a crappy concrete floored exhibit (very cute though)
Goodfellows or Matschie's tree-kangaroo (decent enclosure for the time period) s
Chimpanzees (some of the individuals who lived in some of the tiny pen cages in the old Ape 'House' (row)
Leopard seal (I think) in one of old pinniped pools
Tiger (maybe a Sumatran or subspecies hybird) in old Big Cat 'House' (row)
Leopard (black/melanistic) in old Big Cat 'House' (row) black leopard in old big cat Small-clawed otters (not too bad an exhibit for the era though obviously very basic)
Pigtailed macaques in one of old monkeys pits
Elands
Himalayan tahrs on 'Tahr Mountain'
Situatunga? 1.0
Deer (wapiti??)
Wedge-tailed eagle in old aviary
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Such a great video @steveroberts!

That looks like Suzie (1948) and Bessie (1950) up on the log on the chimpanzee cage. The juvenile swinging looks 3-4 years of age, so would have been Gemini (1970) or Chiki (1970). Both family lines had a distinct look and this infant looks decidedly like the S family, so my money is on Gemini.
 
Jambo said:
Nice find! The gorilla would be Little John or Anabella, both of which passed in 1977. It doesn't look like Buluman or Betsy to me.

Also really cool to see the Giant Anteaters. Let's hope they make a return regionally with the Xenarthra IRA now completed!

I also don't believe Taronga had purebred Sumatrans at the time. A pair were acquired in 1951, but it appears after that they were hybridised - and this Tiger was a generic.
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Taronga reportedly had two Sumatran tigers into the late 70’s according to the 1978 annual report, so I’m wondering if they were elderly offspring of the 1951 pair (Max and Cija), which subsequently hybridised with generic tigers - with the purebreds being post reproductive by the time Nico and Meta were imported in 1979.

In any case, the tiger in the video appears to be a generic tiger. It doesn’t look purebred Sumatran.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Taronga reportedly had two Sumatran tigers into the late 70’s according to the 1978 annual report, so I’m wondering if they were elderly offspring of the 1951 pair (Max and Cija), which subsequently hybridised with generic tigers - with the purebreds being post reproductive by the time Nico and Meta were imported in 1979.

In any case, the tiger in the video appears to be a generic tiger. It doesn’t look purebred Sumatran.
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Taronga apparently had a pair of 'Sumatrans' named Duke and Wendy of whom were a breeding pair. They produced a lot of cubs together and consequently Taronga had a huge surplus. At one point (in 1970), they had thirteen tigers on site.

Taronga also apparently had another pair of Tigers at the time, Sam (from the USA) and Sandra (from Adelaide). They bred a few times too, although I'm not sure what sub species they were.
 
Thanks guys, cool to hear the info though. Its actually thanks to you Zoofan15 that we know that Taronga's Sumatran tiger story did not begin with Meta & Nico's Jan 1979 arrival from Rotterdam, was the beginning of a lineage that now stretches 45+ years, but the zoo had Sumatran tigers for 27 and a bit years prior to them with Cija & Max.

Heres some other videos found on youtube of the zoo back in the day
(the first one just below, was made clearly made for a children audience as the video intro itself states, and narration very much drives home is a colossal understatement lol not to mention very dated, but still very interesting from historical p.o.v)


The latter video just above from 1978, must admit already posted on here a while back (and just a heads up: the latter part of video is the family who filmed own family lives footage but the main part of is Taronga),it's fascinating seeing the lions and one of the tigers in the old pits and other cool animals like poor lonely Chori 0.1 the African elephant in her not-good enclosure, but historically interesting.

This is a much more recent one from about 11 or 12 years ago:

 
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