Swanson02
Well-Known Member
Monarto has plenty of surplus cheetah, wouldn't be surprised to see a pair end up at Werribee over the next couple of weeks, especially if Werribee is quarantining a hippo for Monarto
Werribee Open Range Zoo Werribee Open Range Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter austrlain zoo gower
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Monarto has plenty of surplus cheetah, wouldn't be surprised to see a pair end up at Werribee over the next couple of weeks, especially if Werribee is quarantining a hippo for Monarto
Re. Werribee’s new Cheetah:
There’s not really an overwhelming surplus of Cheetah at Monarto (or within the region) in general.
Monarto have 2.10 Cheetah:
These females are too old:
0.1 Kwatile (Jala x Nakula) 2012 at Monarto
0.1 Kesho (Jala x Nakula) 2012 at Monarto
These live in a cohesive group in Wild Africa:
0.1 Mara (Saadani x Kesho) 2018 at Monarto
0.1 Mapenzi (Saadani x Kesho) 2018 at Monarto
0.1 Kuishi (Saadani x Kesho) 2018 at Monarto
0.1 Nyota (Innis x Kuishi) 2023 at Monarto
0.1 Zawadi (Innis x Kuishi) 2023 at Monarto
Dakari and Absame live in a coalition and are the only males at the park:
1.0 Dakari (Duke x Emmy) 2022 at WCCC
1.0 Absame (Innis x Kesho) 2022 at Monarto
That leaves these three females:
0.1 Qailee (Luigi x Mia) 2015 at Cango
0.1 Quella (Luigi x Mia) 2015 at Cango
0.1 Tish (Innis x Quella) 2023 at Monarto
I imagine Tish is Dakari’s intended mate, though they may wish to retain one of the 10 year old females (both proven breeders) as back up option. They may be able to spare the other as surplus. Werribee’s exhibit would be better utilised by a coalition of males, but if the expansion is 3-5 years away, it may suit them to acquire a 10 year old female.
Alternatively, they could consider importing young males from outside the region; and acquire females following the expansion in a few years.
Very sad news. I'll miss seeing her at Werribee, where she spent her last eleven years.
I'm very glad I got to see her just last week, where I actually spotted her pacing the back of her exhibit from the safari bus; a behaviour I'd seldom seen from her. On my visit earlier this year, I'm also now very glad I was able to catch Kulinda right at the viewing glass;
There should be the two Serval sisters living still at Werribee. I attended the presentation back in June and saw both.
Werribee's masterplan intends for them to create a new breeding complex for African Wild Dogs and Cheetah, alongside also acquiring Spotted Hyena. So if they decide to continue with these plans - the zoo will be back to holding a decent amount of carnivore species soon. Cheetah and AWD's should absolutely return anyhow - once the zoo can acquire replacements.
Cheetah will be fairly easy to acquire, Regionally there are enough breeding that someone is bound to have an animal they want moved.
AWD have not bred in a while. It will be interesting to see if they take on an already established pack to allow another zoo to breed. Or whether they will create another pack from animals at other zoos and breed. Personally I think that would be a better option, it would be better for visitation and creating a larger but more cohesive pack.
I'm not sure whether Werribee's current facilities are equipped to breed - they've always held just single sex groups.
That (I think) is part of the reason why a new dedicated breeding complex for both them and Cheetah was proposed within the last masterplan. Whether that comes to fruition will remain to be seen - as this was supposed to be apart of the Waterhole precinct, that has since been occupied by Ostritch and Zebra (which could be temporary).
With that in mind, them taking on one of Altina's bachelor groups (allowing them more space to breed), makes the most sense - but that's just a prediction on my part.
Werribee’s current facilities are only suitable for a single grouping of Cheetah.
Breeding facilities are best designed to give the female a choice of mates. She has the option to walk past a number of males and effectively choose (even if the zoo has a breeding recommendation for a particular pair, most males living in coalitions are brothers).
They've accommodated two groupings there in the past, so it's do-able but probably not preferable.
It’s a single outdoor exhibit, so while they could rotate access via the dens, it makes more sense to hold a cohesive grouping. It would be much better utilised by a bachelor pair/group as it’s a spacious exhibit.
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There's a off display yard adjacent too - which they used to rotate the previous groupings.
But I do agree that the size of the exhibit best lends itself to a cohesive grouping - as a solitary female, Kulinda was never really active, and often sat out of sight at the far back of the exhibit.
Hamilton’s Cheetah are the most active I’ve seen in any zoo. They spend the majority of the day patrolling every corner of the exhibit and interacting with each other. I’ve seen several bachelor pairs (including in that exhibit) that are more sedate, so maybe it’s having a third or fourth male that takes their engagement up a notch; or at least increases the chance you’ll see at least two of them doing something at any given time.
A bachelor group would definitely be the way to go and if Werribee imported young males from Europe or South Africa, that would see them well placed to receive females once the breeding facility is up and running.
New male Waterbuck arrives:
Male Waterbuck Toretto has transferred in from Altina Wildlife Park (reported on Altina’s socials), where it’s been stated he’ll soon be introduced to Werribee’s females.
Werribee Open Range Zoo now has 4.3 Waterbuck:
1.0 Micato (17/07/2018) Hide x Gecko
1.0 Eclipse (14/06/2019) Hide x Kumuka
1.0 Cosmos (12/04/2020) Hide x Kumuka
1.0 Toretto (23/02/2021) Chitwa x Tokyo
0.1 Kumuka (22/03/2008) Kampala x Ipsi
0.1 Aurora (14/05/2019) Hide x Gecko
0.1 Nziza (23/05/2023) Kubwa x Acacia
Male Waterbuck Toretto has transferred in from Altina Wildlife Park (reported on Altina’s socials), where it’s been stated he’ll soon be introduced to Werribee’s females.
Werribee Open Range Zoo now has 4.3 Waterbuck:
1.0 Micato (17/07/2018) Hide x Gecko
1.0 Eclipse (14/06/2019) Hide x Kumuka
1.0 Cosmos (12/04/2020) Hide x Kumuka
1.0 Toretto (23/02/2021) Chitwa x Tokyo
0.1 Kumuka (22/03/2008) Kampala x Ipsi
0.1 Aurora (14/05/2019) Hide x Gecko
0.1 Nziza (23/05/2023) Kubwa x Acacia
Here's a few questions that would be great if you could get answers to!
- How many Vervets is the zoo down to?
- Are both male Hippos coming from France remaining at Werribee (instead of one being re-routed to Monarto)?
- How is the zoo tracking with sourcing replacements for their AWD's and Cheetah?
- When is Werribee expected to acquire the additional female White Rhino from NZ and the UK?
- Elephants - When do keepers plan to introduce Luk Chai to the cows for breeding again? If you end up chatting to a a keeper, would also be nice to know their thoughts on either or both of the Sydney bulls being transferred across eventually for breeding, and whether they foresee Luk Chai remaining at the zoo as a mentor bull in the long term.
- Zebras - How many does the zoo have; and have they halted breeding (it seems they have)?
If you talk to an elephant keeper would you ask if they have considered using Putra Mas at some point via AI on any of their cows?. Have a good visit!
Thanks @Swanson02
A few questions from me:
Which female Common hippopotamus are they planning on breeding from?
0.1 Primrose (01/12/1990) Harold x Unknown
0.1 Tulip (01/01/2003) Harold x Primrose
0.1 Lotus (28/03/2008) Harold x Primrose
Will their next pack of African wild dog be non-breeding or breeding; and are they planning to import from overseas?
Is the long term plan to maintain a pride of six lions or are they transferring out the adolescent males? Will Asali be breeding again?
1.0 Sheru (19/11/2016) Lazarus x Maya
0.1 Nilo (17/03/2012) Imported 2014 (Denmark)
0.1 Asali (12/08/2017) Johari x Nilo
1.0 Jango (04/06/2023) Sheru x Nilo
1.0 Mwezi (04/06/2023) Sheru x Nilo
0.1 Kianga (04/06/2023) Sheru x Nilo
Is Kipenzi the Southern white rhinoceros pregnant again?
Are any of these male Waterbuck castrated?
1.0 Micato (17/07/2018) Hide x Gecko
1.0 Eclipse (14/06/2019) Hide x Kumuka
1.0 Cosmos (12/04/2020) Hide x Kumuka
Swanson02
Well-Known Member
Here's a few questions that would be great if you could get answers to!
- How many Vervets is the zoo down to?
- Are both male Hippos coming from France remaining at Werribee (instead of one being re-routed to Monarto)?
- How is the zoo tracking with sourcing replacements for their AWD's and Cheetah?
- When is Werribee expected to acquire the additional female White Rhino from NZ and the UK?
- Elephants - When do keepers plan to introduce Luk Chai to the cows for breeding again? If you end up chatting to a a keeper, would also be nice to know their thoughts on either or both of the Sydney bulls being transferred across eventually for breeding, and whether they foresee Luk Chai remaining at the zoo as a mentor bull in the long term.
That's all from me. Hope you enjoy your visit - will be a nice day tomorrow.
- Zebras - How many does the zoo have; and have they halted breeding (it seems they have)?
Information from my short half-day visit to Werribee today
Dropped into Werribee today for a quick half-day after looking at cars. Really impressed lovely zoo with (in my opinion) the best theming in the region. It was packed, easily the busiest I’ve seen an Australian zoo. Probably to be expected given Victoria has 5–6× the population of SA. Huge contrast to when I visited Wellington Zoo earlier this year, there were about 15 people in the entire place!
Chatted to two keepers, one at the lion exhibit and one at the end of day hippo talk.
Info
- Spotted a lone male Waterbuck on the Lower Savannah, would this be the male from Altina? No info on breeding
- I counted 16 Zebra on the Lower Savannah, plus another 4 in the enclosure near the elephants, so 20 total across two groups on display. No info on breeding.
- I counted 3 vervet monkeys. Interestingly, one looked like a juvenile with a shortened tail. Most visitors didn’t seem to appreciate how rare these guys are
- The lion keeper told me Werribee will likely not be getting any new African Wild Dogs. The species will be replaced in their current exhibit by hyena. (I hope wild dogs aren't being forgotten regionally)
- Conversely I was told they plan to acquire new cheetah asap. It will be a pair but from where is unknown.
- Heard nothing new regarding elephants at either Werribee or Monarto. Managed to get one question in at the elephant talk and was told that keepers aren’t aware of Monarto’s plans. could just be them not wanting to make info public without Monarto's consent.
- Had a really good chat with a hippo keeper. He was surprised I knew about the two bull hippos coming from France apparently it wasn’t known that this info had become public.
- It was confirmed by him that only one of the bulls will stay at Werribee after quarantine and breeding will be attempted with all three cows (preferably the two younger ones first).
- The other bull will rotate between Monarto and Dubbo, spending a couple of years at each. The keeper wasn’t able to confirm which zoo will be first, but suggested it may be TWPZ as Pansy is still young and can wait a few years.
- Keeper noted that hippos can breed very quickly compared to elephants and rhinos, with only about a 12-month turnaround between calves. The priority right now is simply getting the bulls into Australia “don’t want to count their chickens too early"
- He said it is hoped that jabulanis mother Kipenzi is already pregnant again, but couldn't confirm .
Information from my short half-day visit to Werribee today
Dropped into Werribee today for a quick half-day after looking at cars. Really impressed lovely zoo with (in my opinion) the best theming in the region. It was packed, easily the busiest I’ve seen an Australian zoo. Probably to be expected given Victoria has 5–6× the population of SA. Huge contrast to when I visited Wellington Zoo earlier this year, there were about 15 people in the entire place!
Chatted to two keepers, one at the lion exhibit and one at the end of day hippo talk.
Info
- Spotted a lone male Waterbuck on the Lower Savannah, would this be the male from Altina? No info on breeding
- I counted 16 Zebra on the Lower Savannah, plus another 4 in the enclosure near the elephants, so 20 total across two groups on display. No info on breeding.
- I counted 3 vervet monkeys. Interestingly, one looked like a juvenile with a shortened tail. Most visitors didn’t seem to appreciate how rare these guys are
- The lion keeper told me Werribee will likely not be getting any new African Wild Dogs. The species will be replaced in their current exhibit by hyena. (I hope wild dogs aren't being forgotten regionally)
- Conversely I was told they plan to acquire new cheetah asap. It will be a pair but from where is unknown.
- Heard nothing new regarding elephants at either Werribee or Monarto. Managed to get one question in at the elephant talk and was told that keepers aren’t aware of Monarto’s plans. could just be them not wanting to make info public without Monarto's consent.
- Had a really good chat with a hippo keeper. He was surprised I knew about the two bull hippos coming from France apparently it wasn’t known that this info had become public.
- It was confirmed by him that only one of the bulls will stay at Werribee after quarantine and breeding will be attempted with all three cows (preferably the two younger ones first).
- The other bull will rotate between Monarto and Dubbo, spending a couple of years at each. The keeper wasn’t able to confirm which zoo will be first, but suggested it may be TWPZ as Pansy is still young and can wait a few years.
- Keeper noted that hippos can breed very quickly compared to elephants and rhinos, with only about a 12-month turnaround between calves. The priority right now is simply getting the bulls into Australia “don’t want to count their chickens too early"
- He said it is hoped that jabulanis mother Kipenzi is already pregnant again, but couldn't confirm .
Thanks for this update @Swanson02. For a short visit, that’s a comprehensive update that answers a lot of questions!
Yes, I would assume the male Waterbuck you saw alone was Toretto, the new male from Altina Wildlife Park. They plan to introduce him to the females in the near future, with the two younger females hopefully breeding with him.
Werribee don’t have any juvenile Vervets, so if assume that was a female you saw. I too noticed a size difference between the ones I saw on my last visit.
That surprises me they plan to breed with all three female Common hippopotami at Werribee. There’s presumably a lot of confidence in being able to integrate the calves with their aunts/grandmother as with bulls on site, it wouldn’t be ideal to be managing the cows across three groupings long term.
That’s excellent news that the second imported bull Commmon hippopotamus will be shared between the other two facilities (if imported). Pansy (2013) at Monarto is older than the two younger cows at Dubbo who are Kibibi (2014) and Kendi (2017), so I suspect Monarto would be prioritised; but to be honest, all are young enough to not be impacted by a wait of a few years.
Excellent news Kipenzi the Southern white rhinoceros could be pregnant again. Her reintroduction to the bull was in March, so she could be as far as halfway through a 16 month pregnancy.
Very disappointed to hear African wild dogs are no longer planned to be coming to Werribee. It’s not entirely surprising given the lack of surplus in the region; but I was originally told they hoped to acquire more, so wondered if they’d import.
Thank you for today's update @Swanson02 , Yes elephant information is not readily available to the general public so no surprise there. As I expected only one Hippo bull to be retained at Werribee and the other to be shared between Dubbo and Monarto, I guess once he has bred to the cows at Dubbo then to be moved out to Monarto so hopefully we will see a few babies born in the region in the coming years!Information from my short half-day visit to Werribee today
Dropped into Werribee today for a quick half-day after looking at cars. Really impressed lovely zoo with (in my opinion) the best theming in the region. It was packed, easily the busiest I’ve seen an Australian zoo. Probably to be expected given Victoria has 5–6× the population of SA. Huge contrast to when I visited Wellington Zoo earlier this year, there were about 15 people in the entire place!
Chatted to two keepers, one at the lion exhibit and one at the end of day hippo talk.
Info
- Spotted a lone male Waterbuck on the Lower Savannah, would this be the male from Altina? No info on breeding
- I counted 16 Zebra on the Lower Savannah, plus another 4 in the enclosure near the elephants, so 20 total across two groups on display. No info on breeding.
- I counted 3 vervet monkeys. Interestingly, one looked like a juvenile with a shortened tail. Most visitors didn’t seem to appreciate how rare these guys are
- The lion keeper told me Werribee will likely not be getting any new African Wild Dogs. The species will be replaced in their current exhibit by hyena. (I hope wild dogs aren't being forgotten regionally)
- Conversely I was told they plan to acquire new cheetah asap. It will be a pair but from where is unknown.
- Heard nothing new regarding elephants at either Werribee or Monarto. Managed to get one question in at the elephant talk and was told that keepers aren’t aware of Monarto’s plans. could just be them not wanting to make info public without Monarto's consent.
- Had a really good chat with a hippo keeper. He was surprised I knew about the two bull hippos coming from France apparently it wasn’t known that this info had become public.
- It was confirmed by him that only one of the bulls will stay at Werribee after quarantine and breeding will be attempted with all three cows (preferably the two younger ones first).
- The other bull will rotate between Monarto and Dubbo, spending a couple of years at each. The keeper wasn’t able to confirm which zoo will be first, but suggested it may be TWPZ as Pansy is still young and can wait a few years.
- Keeper noted that hippos can breed very quickly compared to elephants and rhinos, with only about a 12-month turnaround between calves. The priority right now is simply getting the bulls into Australia “don’t want to count their chickens too early"
- He said it is hoped that jabulanis mother Kipenzi is already pregnant again, but couldn't confirm .
Thanks for the updates!
Werribee's always been a rather popular open range zoo; probably due to it's close proximity to the city, and it's great collection. The growing population in the western suburbs is only helping. A lot of people in west Melbourne would rather just visit Werribee now instead of travelling into the city to go to Melbourne.
The AWD's were supposed to get a new breeding complex apart of the Waterhole trail, but it seems this has been canned, or perhaps put on the back burner.
It'll be interesting to see when the Hyena and Cheetah are acquired, and where from. There's countless options regionally atm. I guess we'll have to wait and see. It's also good that Werribee intends to acquire a pair of Cheetah, which will hopefully make good use of the exhibit.
Werribee intending to breed from all three cows is also a surprise, but it makes sense considering they'll have four exhibits; presumably to accommodate all three cows separately (alongside their offspring) and then the bull.
Werribee have been intending to breed Kipenzi asap so they can get a calf on the ground before they acquire new females, and Kifaru's sent up north.
I'm not sure what it is - must be the elephants or the ingenious marketing Zoos Vic have implemented around the state this year for their arrival, but Werribee has seen huge numbers of visitors this calendar year. I know many people who've visited this year just to see the elephants, and have the loved the zoo so much they've visited again!
Werribee's always been a rather popular open range zoo; probably due to it's close proximity to the city, and it's great collection. The growing population in the western suburbs is only helping. A lot of people in west Melbourne would rather just visit Werribee now instead of travelling into the city to go to Melbourne.
Must be - they'd likely be getting him used to the mixed display habitat before introducing him to the rest of the group. The same was initially done when they received the young male Eland last year.
I counted 17 back in June, so it's possible that unless you missed one; one has passed/been removed from the group. I was told the group was without a stallion, and had a few young males, so there was no breeding back at the time. The four males on the Waterhole trail are the former Melbourne males.
That's a shame. I counted the same when I last visited, so it seems Werribee may indeed be down to just three. Sadly they may be on the way out sooner rather than later...I counted 3 vervet monkeys. Interestingly, one looked like a juvenile with a shortened tail. Most visitors didn’t seem to appreciate how rare these guys are
Not surprising re. the zoo not intending to get any new AWD's. I was told they would be replaced by Hyena in that exhibit (even before the last AWD's passed), and indeed the masterplan includes them inhabiting that exhibit.
The AWD's were supposed to get a new breeding complex apart of the Waterhole trail, but it seems this has been canned, or perhaps put on the back burner.
It'll be interesting to see when the Hyena and Cheetah are acquired, and where from. There's countless options regionally atm. I guess we'll have to wait and see. It's also good that Werribee intends to acquire a pair of Cheetah, which will hopefully make good use of the exhibit.
That's an interesting thing for him to say. It's been mentioned on every safari tour I've been on! Perhaps he wasn't aware it was being communicated by the educational team.
That's interesting to hear, but makes a lot of sense in order to grow the population as quick as possible. It's also interesting to hear the bull will be rotated across Dubbo and Monarto initially - it would make more sense for the first son born to just be sent to the other facility.
Werribee intending to breed from all three cows is also a surprise, but it makes sense considering they'll have four exhibits; presumably to accommodate all three cows separately (alongside their offspring) and then the bull.
Indeed it's not over until the bulls arrive into Australia. There's still some barriers the zoo needs to get through.
That's good news to hear. Hopefully she's pregnant, and due later next year.
Werribee have been intending to breed Kipenzi asap so they can get a calf on the ground before they acquire new females, and Kifaru's sent up north.