Jurong Bird Park Hornbills,pheasants, Birds of Paradise and those odd looking parrots

Zooish said:
On another note regarding kiang's reply, it is surprisingly hard for Singapore to get animals from Malaysian zoos. Ego and politics easily get into the way.
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That doesn't surprise me... By the way, I've seen some very nice collections in malayan zoos such as Storm's storks, flat-headed cats, lots of civet species, sumatran serows... really interesting despite the fact that most zoos have old enclosures, most of the time not quite suitable...

Thanks for your answer, zooish.
 
regarding the great-billed heron (which coincidentally I saw probably only a few days before Pedro saw it!), the fact that it has a leg-ring doesn't mean it isn't a wild bird. There are hundreds of thousands of wild birds around the world that have been rung for various reasons. Alternatively it could have been a bird brought to the bird park injured and then released when better (after being rung to identify it). It seemed to me to be acting more like a wild bird knowing its on to a good thing and hanging around for the free fish than a captive one. Maybe Zooish would be able to find out its story?
 
Hmm... come to think of it, I remembered seeing signage for the great-billed heron at that exhibit, which means to say it belongs to the park. Its highly unlikely to be wild because it is never seen anywhere else except at the Wetlands pools with the marabou and milky storks.

Don't know if I can find out much because Jurong doesn't really answer such queries over email and I don't know anyone working there. But i'll give it a shot, stay tuned.
 
Any news on the dinosaur descendants exhibits?

When will it open?
Will the Cassowaries still be there? (What species do they keep?)
 
How cool would it be if the dinosaur descendents had haotzin's in it.
 
Dinosaur Descendants will open in June, and it will house the flightless birds that used to occupy the area previously, including the cassowaries (single-wattled and double-wattled; the dwarfs had gone 'missing' before the renovation) of course. I have no idea if it will introduce any new species, but hoatzins look unlikely considering only Bronx Zoo has them and I'm sure they're not willing to let go of any.
 
Pedro said:
That doesn't surprise me... By the way, I've seen some very nice collections in malayan zoos such as Storm's storks, flat-headed cats, lots of civet species, sumatran serows... really interesting despite the fact that most zoos have old enclosures, most of the time not quite suitable...

Thanks for your answer, zooish.
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Pedro and Zooish,

Why is it an ego and politics thingy with Malaysian zoos and Singapore? Is it racial in origin (Chinese versus Malay)? Or do you 2 mean something entirely different and am I way off ... the mark? Please elaborate!!!! :confused:

Thanx,

Jelle
 
To answer your question Jelle, i need to go into a bit of history (just a little):

Singapore used to be a state of Malaysia until 1965 when it gained independence and broke away on rather bad terms. Surprisingly, puny Singapore developed faster than Malaysia and quickly became a richer and more credible nation. All this while, Malaysia has been slightly jealous of Singapore's success and the animosity of the split remains till today. There are still frequent spats regarding territorial boundaries and such.

Hope this answers it :)
 
Allright you meant the history of Singapore. Well, fine ... I could have also sensed a bit of a China vs Malay divide somehow (allthough the Peranakan happily co-exist with true Chinese immigrants in Singapore)? :)

Back on topic: what plans are in the works for Singapore Zoo this year? Any indication how this partnership with Singapore Airlines will shape the collection in future and exchange programmes intercontinental?
 
That too jelle, but the bitter separation and economic disparity cause somewhat more tension than the race issue. The separation was motivated by racial differences btw Chinese and Malays though.

Back to the Zoo: Its looking to export its young bull elephant this year, last I heard to S.Korea. That would be the most major move this year i'm predicting. A Malayan tapir export looks likely too as there are now surplus animals.

All I can say is that the Singapore Zoo's collection plan is VERY fluid, it changes all the time. The deal with SIA gives it more options to source for animals further away from Asia. Expecting more exchanges with European/American zoos in the next 3 years.
 
Should be in the other thread but i'll just answer it here;

There was a baby tapir born just 1 month ago at the Night Safari! The Zoo and Night Safari each has a breeding group.

The adult female manatee could be pregnant again, but even if so, it would be still early stage as it just gave birth less than a year ago.
 
Zooish, do you know which private breeder in Singapore is keeping the bornean peacock pheasants? They are on the picture gallery you told me about, but I can't find anything else. I'd love to see these birds!

If you could find contact details, could you PM me those too?

Thanks for all the help:D
 
Which young bull are you talking about?

If I dig out my data set for Elephas maximus at Singapore:
Zoo
0.1 Komali (38)
0.1 Jati (24) 1984
0.1 Gambir (19)
0.1 Intan (13, arrived 2005 ex Bogor)
0.1 Aprila (13, arrived 2005 ex Bogor)

Night Safari
1.0 Chawang (28)
1.0 Sang Wira (born ?, mother Sri Nandong)
0.1 Jamilah (age? - breeder)
0.1 Tun (18)
0.1 Sri Nandong (age? - breeder)
0.1 Sri Utama (born 1998, mother Jamilah)

If the young bull is sent away to South Korea, does that mean new calves are on the way at Singapore? Why is South Korea chosen as a destination as it is not exactly big on elephant breeding?
 
Writhedhornbill said:
Zooish, do you know which private breeder in Singapore is keeping the bornean peacock pheasants? They are on the picture gallery you told me about, but I can't find anything else. I'd love to see these birds!

If you could find contact details, could you PM me those too?

Thanks for all the help:D
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The largest local breeder I'm familiar with is called Avifauna Breeding and Research which is a CITES member. Its a commercial company which breeds mainly exotic SE Asian species. Its official website is down so I don't know how to contact them.
 
jelle said:
Which young bull are you talking about?

If I dig out my data set for Elephas maximus at Singapore:
Zoo
0.1 Komali (38)
0.1 Jati (24) 1984
0.1 Gambir (19)
0.1 Intan (13, arrived 2005 ex Bogor)
0.1 Aprila (13, arrived 2005 ex Bogor)

Night Safari
1.0 Chawang (28)
1.0 Sang Wira (born ?, mother Sri Nandong)
0.1 Jamilah (age? - breeder)
0.1 Tun (18)
0.1 Sri Nandong (age? - breeder)
0.1 Sri Utama (born 1998, mother Jamilah)

If the young bull is sent away to South Korea, does that mean new calves are on the way at Singapore? Why is South Korea chosen as a destination as it is not exactly big on elephant breeding?
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Sang Wira, he's 7 this year. The main motivation to export him ASAP is because he will get too big to fit on a plane; he could always travel by sea but its always better to have more than one option to move him, especially so since the deal with SIA Cargo was struck.

At the moment, none of the females are believed to be pregnant.

S.Korea is not confirmed, but if it is, its probably because of several factors:
- They might be willing to bear export costs
- They might have some animal(s) we want
- They are beginning to seriously look into breeding with the new male
 
If you want to know more about Bornean Peacock Pheasants I suggest you speak to Sebastian Tan.

There is still a lot of scepticism as to whether the Bornean Peacock Pheasant is the same species as the Malayan Peacock Pheasant. Genetic analysis is very open to interpretation and many geneticists interpret their results in the favour of discovering new species when sometimes they are not valid. There are many examples of scientists disagreeing the status of a species and many still argue over the definition of what a species is.
 
Thanks very much Peacock pheasant.

Even if it is not a full species, it is still an amazing subspecies, and I would love to see it.
 
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