Mogo Wildlife Park Mogo Zoo News

Abbey said:
Someone suggested naming the baby Kimya in honour of Kipenzi's late sister Kimya at Melbourne Zoo, who passed away within a week of this baby's birth. I think it would be a nice tribute, unless it would cause any confusion for the other gorillas (whether they would remember her by name when she has lived at another zoo for years, I genuinely have no idea).

My other suggestions were Kimiya (which is very similar, so also serves as a tribute and means 'peace' which is fitting considering the peaceful nature of this baby's arrival compared to that of her older brother) and Kuyana, which means 'one who protects or supports', for similar reasons. That said, Mogo may not necessarily choose a name with African origins, we shall see.
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I think Kimiya is a perfect name as furthermore it reflects the current state of the troop - peaceful, cohesive. It acknowledges the hard work Mogo’s staff have put in to achieving this and celebrates the end result.

I’m not such a fan of naming the infant Kimya as I think names should be like jersey numbers of famous athletes and retired after use on a high profile individual. The region’s gorilla population has remained small enough that every gorilla is noteworthy. An exception could arguably be made for a direct line descendant e.g. grandchild; but even then I prefer your idea of Kimiya - a reference to the name without copying the name.
 
Abbey said:
Someone suggested naming the baby Kimya in honour of Kipenzi's late sister Kimya at Melbourne Zoo, who passed away within a week of this baby's birth. I think it would be a nice tribute, unless it would cause any confusion for the other gorillas (whether they would remember her by name when she has lived at another zoo for years, I genuinely have no idea).

My other suggestions were Kimiya (which is very similar, so also serves as a tribute and means 'peace' which is fitting considering the peaceful nature of this baby's arrival compared to that of her older brother) and Kuyana, which means 'one who protects or supports', for similar reasons. That said, Mogo may not necessarily choose a name with African origins, we shall see.
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I do like your suggestions!

Kimiya especially has a nice meaning

I do think Kriba and G Ann especially would recognise the name - as they lived with Kriba for years. If Mogo were concerned about using the name for the reasons you mention, I doubt they'd name her 'Kimiya' too, which is essentially the same pronunciation.

One of the names I especially liked in the comments was 'Kaziyah' which is a Swahili word which means strength, hard work and determination; a perfect reflection of the hard work Mogo's team have put in over the years (especially surrounding the raising of Kaius).
 
Nepalese red panda twins were born in December:

From socials:

Have you been lucky enough to see the two newest additions to Mogo Wildlife Park’s Red Panda family yet?

Twins, born in December last year are just starting to venture outside their nest box, with mum's supervision of course!
 
Zoofan15 said:
Nepalese red panda twins were born in December:

From socials:

Have you been lucky enough to see the two newest additions to Mogo Wildlife Park’s Red Panda family yet?

Twins, born in December last year are just starting to venture outside their nest box, with mum's supervision of course!
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Parents should be 1.0 Rohan (2018) and 0.1 Dorje (2015) who have previously had two litters; 0.1 Hari (2022) and 0.1 Maila (2023).
 
Jambo said:
Parents should be 1.0 Rohan (2018) and 0.1 Dorje (2015) who have previously had two litters; 0.1 Hari (2022) and 0.1 Maila (2023).
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Yep, this would be their third litter. Maila was born December 2023, so a shorter birth interval than that between the first two cubs (24 months). Acknowledging cubs are always born November-January.

My friend visited in December 2024 and noted the exhibit was closed off, so I’d be hopeful of an announcement for a while. Glad they didn’t take a year to announce it like they did with Maila!
 
I had a quick visit to Mogo today, not much to say that hasn't already been said but I saw both Kendi and Kaius on display today – Kendi was being carried by Kipenzi, and Kaius was playing ‘pick-a-boo’ along the glass area at the front with visitors (as mentioned in a previous post by @Osedax, seemed much more interested in us than his family). Regardless, still very heartwarming to see them in all together as one ‘big happy family’

I wasn’t able to catch a glimpse at the red pandas cubs, but one adult is still in with the radiated tortoises and two (assuming Rohan and Dorje) were both in together in the enclosure closest to the white lions. It looked like the enclosure closest to the caracals had screening around the nest box but no adult red pandas or anything moving that I could see – Hopefully the cubs were off display for a positive reason, or my eyesight just let me down!

I also heard some fantastic vocalisations from Chatura the Sri Lankan Leopard, he was very displeased with some loud kids that had wandered up to his enclosure and called him a cheetah.
 
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Tigergal said:
I had a quick visit to Mogo today, not much to say that hasn't already been said but I saw both Kendi and Kaius on display today – Kendi was being carried by Kipenzi, and Kaius was playing ‘pick-a-boo’ along the glass area at the front with visitors (as mentioned in a previous post by @Osedax, seemed much more interested in us than his family). Regardless, still very heartwarming to see them in all together as one ‘big happy family’

I wasn’t able to catch a glimpse at the red pandas cubs, but one adult is still in with the radiated tortoises and two (assuming Rohan and Dorje) were both in together in the enclosure closest to the white lions. It looked like the enclosure closest to the caracals had screening around the nest box but no adult red pandas or anything moving that I could see – Hopefully the cubs were off display for a positive reason, or my eyesight just let me down!
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Thanks for the update.

I guess time will tell to what extent Kaius’ social development has been affected by his hand-raising. In the meantime, it’s a huge positive that he’s been accepted/tolerated by his family. Once Kendi reaches the juvenile stage, I anticipate she’ll initiate engagement with Kaius, which it doesn’t sound like the adults do (bar Kriba’s occasional interactions).

The red panda cubs are six months old now and should be on exhibit full time. Hopefully you see them on your next visit.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Thanks for the update.

I guess time will tell to what extent Kaius’ social development has been affected by his hand-raising. In the meantime, it’s a huge positive that he’s been accepted/tolerated by his family. Once Kendi reaches the juvenile stage, I anticipate she’ll initiate engagement with Kaius, which it doesn’t sound like the adults do (bar Kriba’s occasional interactions).

The red panda cubs are six months old now and should be on exhibit full time. Hopefully you see them on your next visit.
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Fingers crossed, I have a membership to the three 'Australian Wildlife Parks', so hoping I can get down there again soon and see them before they're too big and become just regular red pandas :p
 
Tigergal said:
Fingers crossed, I have a membership to the three 'Australian Wildlife Parks', so hoping I can get down there again soon and see them before they're too big and become just regular red pandas :p
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It’s funny you should mention that. The first red panda cubs I ever saw was Wellington Zoo’s second litter (born December 2002) in March/April 2003. I can remember my excitement at hearing they’d just emerged from the nest box and how underwhelmed I was when I discovered they were just small versions of the adults. I was a child at the time and had recently watched one of the early seasons of Auckland Zoo’s The Zoo, which covered the birth of one of their litters (with footage of the cubs in the nest box). I didn’t realise they developed so quickly and was expecting something much less independent.
 
Tigergal said:
I had a quick visit to Mogo today, not much to say that hasn't already been said but I saw both Kendi and Kaius on display today – Kendi was being carried by Kipenzi, and Kaius was playing ‘pick-a-boo’ along the glass area at the front with visitors (as mentioned in a previous post by @Osedax, seemed much more interested in us than his family). Regardless, still very heartwarming to see them in all together as one ‘big happy family’
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That's interesting to hear. I know Kanzi at Melbourne is much the same. She's almost always quite interested in guests and often comes up and interacts with them at the viewing window.

Kanzi received little social interaction elsewhere in the troop, so my assumption was she interacts with the guests due to that. Her play sessions with grandma Yuska were very limited (likely due to Yuska's advanced age). Compare this to Taronga's boys who grew up together and were always interacting with one another; and never really interacted directly with guests.

In this case however, Kaius will soon hopefully have a play mate in Kendi once she begins to grow independent and starts to venture off from mum, Kipenzi.
 
Spider monkeys arrive:

From socials:

Have you spotted one of our newest additions? Spider Monkeys, Mono and Sumatra recently arrived at Mogo Wildlife Park and are busy settling into their new enclosure.

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Mono was born 2018 at Hunter Valley Zoo
 
steveroberts said:
Thanks for the news. Oh that's fantastic, they're going to be such a great addition to Mogo seriously. Actually only now that you have shared their arrival news realise that as far as am aware Mogo has possibly not had spider monkeys ever before (although they did feature as emblem animal of an old online logo of theirs 25 years ago).

mogo-png.805691


source: Mogo Zoo (Wayback Machine Archived Webpage 2000)
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They have had them before, I think I have a couple of old maps with spider monkeys. I'll see if I can find them.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Spider monkeys arrive:

From socials:

Have you spotted one of our newest additions? Spider Monkeys, Mono and Sumatra recently arrived at Mogo Wildlife Park and are busy settling into their new enclosure.

—————

Mono was born 2018 at Hunter Valley Zoo
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Indeed Sumatra is too - both of them offspring of the breeding group there.

Mogo had Spider Monkeys in the past too. Some of the current individuals at Hunter Valley are from Mogo's previous troop, combined with individuals from Taronga and NZ.
 
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