Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Columbus Zoo Updates for 2009

It's my first post, hope I'm doing everything right, because I love the Columbus zoo and learning about new plans and animals. Just thought I'd mention the new show ColumbusZoo001 referred to earlier, "Animals on Safari", is rumored to be considering doing a run through for the volunteers in about 7 - 10 days. If all goes well, they could be opening shortly after. Hope it's true. Can't wait!
 
More Breeding Activity/Pregnancies:

As summer rolls around the corner, we continue to anticipate more babies.

1) We have a pregnant Red Panda and Silvered Leaf Langur (possibly two).

2) Our male and breeding female Lion were successfully introduced and bred while she was in heat. Hopefully we'll have lion cubs by October.

3) We are still hopeful our female Mandrill is pregnant. Our male breeds so much we couldn't pinpoint which breeding led to pregnancy so it could still happen.

4) This year our flamingo eggs will be pulled and hand raised by the keepers in hope that hand raising will reduce aggression. Joining them will be eggs from the National Zoo.
 
That is great news. Can't wait to see all of the babies running around. I do have a few questions though, will the flamingos be reintroduced once they are older? Or are they going to be used in shows and such? Also how many red pandas does the Columbus Zoo have? Is it always the same pair on exhibit?
 
Drills

Are the two female Drills that are going to Edinburgh still at Columbus? Edinburgh have got two new females but we think these may be from Europe, not from Columbus?
 
That is great news. Can't wait to see all of the babies running around. I do have a few questions though, will the flamingos be reintroduced once they are older? Or are they going to be used in shows and such? Also how many red pandas does the Columbus Zoo have? Is it always the same pair on exhibit?

The flamingos will be used in promotions and then reintroduced when the older. Some will be introduced earlier than others. Currently the Columbus Zoo has 3.3 Red Pandas. And it's not always the same pair on exhibit. The ones on exhibit right now are our "primary" breeding pair.
 
Departures

1) The drills, Nora and Eschu, that arrived in Edinburgh are from Columbus. Best of luck to them, they are both in prime breeding age.

2) Our seven year bull Black Rhinoceros, Klyde, arrived Wednesday in Cincy. It's nice to have extra room in our Pachyderm facility.
 
Thanks for the confirmation, very lax of the zoo to maintain that they came from Europe on their own website, thank goodness for zoochat.
 
1) The drills, Nora and Eschu, that arrived in Edinburgh are from Columbus. Best of luck to them, they are both in prime breeding age.

2) Our seven year bull Black Rhinoceros, Klyde, arrived Wednesday in Cincy. It's nice to have extra room in our Pachyderm facility.

Great about the drills - seeing as they are unrelated to the Europeans and the only likely ones to be part of the EEP - finally making it to Edinburgh, UK in Europe.

What about the black rhino pair .... Do they now have a recommendation to rebreed them or ...?
 
I`m not sure if they are really unrelated to the other drills in Europe - Atlanta`s drill group are descendents from Hannover and Stuttgart (?) drills, but I don`t know if the 2 females are from the Atlanta group.
 
The two female drills are from the Atlanta group. But I don't think all of Edinburgh's drills are related to Hannover's or Stuttgart's.

@ Kifaru Bwana: I'm almost completely positive we have a recommendation to breed our rhinos again - that was the whole purpose of the transfer; to free up space at our facility.
 
The two males in Edinburgh are both descendants from Hannover - the older one has actually been born in Hannover (N`Boa), while the younger one (Ilembo) was born in Barcelona, but his mother Inga is from Hannover. There are only very, very few drills are not related to the Hannover drills and some amount of inbreeding is inevitable at this point. But better inbreeding then no breeding at all.
 
I just hope the two new females integrate okay and there is no trouble when they start to produce offspring as they are (effectively at least) from a different matrilineal line to the existing one.

The EEP Studbook even recommends zoos not to do this (if possible) as there are instances where the dominant female will continually try to kill infants of subordinate females which are not her own relatives. However I can see why this is not always put into practise as a Zoo like Edinburgh would take a very long time to build up a group with just a single female. At least they can display a numerically larger group and there may be harmony anyway.

I have a suspicion nearly all the Drills in USA did originiate from the European groups, mainly Hanover. The European groups in Hanover, Stuttgart(some now also at PL) and Barcelona have had various exchanges of animals between them in the past. I believe Hanover(?) more recently exchanged an animal with Rabat zoo and now finally have a breeding male 'Sumbo'(?) which is not related to other Drills in the region. But he is the first outcross for several generations.
 
I think Edinburgh has pretty much no other option but to bring in new females if they want to use the breeding potential of their males - the female who came with the 2 males from Barcelona has been hand raised and is apparently not showing normal social behavoir. She`s about 10 and has never bred, so I guess she may never breed (and if she would, there`s a big doubt if she could raise her young). If she shows agressions against the two new female or their offspring, she may end up permanently seperated.

Re sumbo - he arrived in 2000/2001 and his first sons were born in 2001/2002. He has more then a dozend offspring now by three females (sisters). All but 3 of them are males... at least some fresh blood (although the 3 females are from the main Hannover line and therefore all of Sumbo`s sons are related to most of the other drills in Europe).
 
If she shows agressions against the two new female or their offspring, she may end up permanently seperated.

I hadn't realised Edinburgh's first female was handraised. She's probably a poor prospect for breeding but if she ends up being compatable with the new ones from Columbus then there should be no problem. A similar situation to Paignton's Mandrills where a handraised female is living in the group but is not really involved socially.

I guess it is Sumbo's male offspring that have gone from Hanover to Woburn then. Its a pity the EEP can't organise an import of say 3.3. drills from the Drill Centre in West Africa to inject real new blood into the European groups.
 
If you are asking about the show Animals on Safari, it's "getting there". They are shooting for an official opening around July 6, give or take a day or two. It is my understanding though, that they are already doing, or will be doing in the next day or two, soft openings, with the public able to watch the rehearsals.
 
As Zoodad said, the show is slated for July 6, but that could very well change as the rehearsals start.

@cwenwyn: The show features mostly dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals but also includes a pig, a kangaroo, a lynx, various birds, and a skunk. The show is about how exotic animals don't make good pets so there aren't as many exotics (which are harder to train) as domestics.
 
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