Taronga Zoo Questions from my visit today...

J

James27

Well-Known Member
Visited today, thought the zoo was great, finally got the typical giraffe and Sysney opera house photo :D
I have a few questions:
  • Hold old is the Kodiak bear? I remember seeing her when I visited 16 years back but the keeper couldn't tell me her age.
  • Do they have a breeding pair of sun bears?
  • When are they starting the new chimp exhibit? (I saw the orangs off-show by the way, the male was standing on a climbing frame behind a wall :p)
  • I've heard that a leopard seal was pregnant? I only saw one today.
  • Elephant calf is stupidly cute, and all the elephants seemed really content. Gung was weaving quite a bit though, is that behaviour embedded or has he picked it up recently?
  • I thought the zoo had rhinos, but I never saw any. Rehomed or am I blind?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
From memory, Bethel (the Kodiak) is about 32 yrs old.

The sun bears are a pair, but haven't bred.

The chimps will be moved soon. The orang house is currently being renovated to accomodate them. Once they have moved, the renovations to the chimp park will take around 18 months (I believe).

I heard a Leopard Seal was pregnant, but haven't heard anymore. Both were on display last Wednesday when I was there.

There are no rhinos at Taronga at present. They're all out at Western Plains.

:p

Hix
 
- Bethyl is Australia's last Kodiak Bear I believe she is 33 yr's old. Her sister Cynthia died a few years back.

- The Sun Bears, Mr Hobbs & Victoria are a breeding pair. Im unsure of thier ages and/or if there are any plans to breed? Rescued from the restraunt trade in Cambodia in 1997.

- The Orangs will be temporarily off display until the new Chimpanzee enclousure has been renovated. Set for completion in 2011. Due to the high intelligience and dangerous nature of Chimpanzee's the move has/is being carefully planned in order to maintain all 19 animal's and the keepers health & safety. Some animals will be tranquilised for the move while others have/are being trained to enter transport crates. The alpha male is the main reason for the big move and renovations with 2 sub-adult males set to challenge his dominance which could see serious injury or death of troop members. The group will be split up and allowed into the exhibit in seperate groups. Security measures on the Temporary enclousure has been increased with a height increase to the perimeter walls and installation of electric fencing, most of the vegetation has been removed & a new excercise structure in place. Hopefully things run according to plan.

- Leopard Seal birth is to be confirmed, but talk has been doing the rounds. The female has been trained to allow keepers to do ultra-sound. Fingers crossed thats a sign?

- Gung's behaviour was probably picked up, however it is not uncommon of captive Elephants to do so. Taronga has excellent enrichment & stimulation regimes used on all animals including the Elephants.

- Taronga did have Rhino's however all have been moved. Most I would think to Western Plains. They have had all 3 species in Australia on display in recent years. With a tragic loss of a female One-Horned Rhino. Thankfully we now have a new female settling into Western Plains where she will eventually be introduced to Dora the male, with a baby some hopefully some where down the track.

I think thats answered most of your questions... If people wanted to add anymore?
 
That's great, thank you both. I saw the temporary chimp exhibit, it looks pretty good. Also, that'd be great if the leopard seals bred.
Thanks again :)
 
LOU said:
I think Taronga's pair gave birth to a male.....but don't quote me on it.

:)
Click to expand...

Taronga's pair did give birth to a female which is now at Melbourne zoo, it is hoped they will breed again :cool:
 
im surprised taronga are investing in this chimp enclosure division - with zoos vic looking at reacquiring the species, there is an obvious option to send one half of the newly split troop to werribee.
 
Phoenix, for that to work you would have to assume that there is some Logic within species managment :)
 
Funny how circumstances change!
Does anyone else remember when Victoria was going to specialise in gorillas - no chimps and NSW was going to keep chimps - no gorillas; going back a while I know.

Presumably both of them were going to (half-heartedly) keep orangs. Well, they seem to have got that bit right - half-heartedly.
 
whats half hearted about their contribution with orangs?

both zoos were stuck with hybrids, in which the consensus was to to no longer breed from. melbourne got a purebred sumatran pair which it has been breeding, taronga loaned its purebred sumatran to adelaide so as to contribute to the program.

i don't think its fair to say either of these zoos have not made as reasonable a contribution as one could expect.
 
Just a perception I have; probably not accurate, but because they are not group animals like chimps or gorillas, it always seems to me that orangs are not a priority with Aussie zoos.

What's Melbourne's enclosure like? Still look like something out of the Flintstones?
 
Ara said:
What's Melbourne's enclosure like? Still look like something out of the Flintstones?
Click to expand...

dear ara, your getting forgetful in your old age.

melbourne built a new "orangutan sanctuary" as part of its southeast asia precinct a couple of years ago. it features three enclosures (one meshed, one open air and one indoor) which is rotationally inhabited by its various orangutans and siamangs. whilst i would have done the main open air exhibit a little differently, it has mostly gotten thumbs up from the australian forum residents.

check the gallery - i loaded up an extensive one back when it first opened..
 
Ara said:
Funny how circumstances change!
Does anyone else remember when Victoria was going to specialise in gorillas - no chimps and NSW was going to keep chimps - no gorillas; going back a while I know.

Presumably both of them were going to (half-heartedly) keep orangs. Well, they seem to have got that bit right - half-heartedly.
Click to expand...

As I recall, Perth was gonna concentrate on orangs. The problem was, are they two species, two subspecies, or just the one and it doesn't matter? Every scientist had a different opinion at the time.

:p

Hix
 
Ouch! You got me there phoenix!
Actually, the realization that I was wrong :eek: and was thinking of the old enclosure hit me just now and I leapt on to the computer to rescind my "flintstone" post before you saw it and could score a hit on me, but I'm too slow! :D

In fact, the whole concept of today's enclosure is quite advanced. I agree with you that there are certain aspects which could be challenged, but orangs are hard to house appropriately.

Hix, this whole "species; sub-species" question applies not only to orangs but to many other animals as well, as far as I'm concerned. Would the universe really explode if, at some future time the zoo world needed to rebuild the Borneo population with Sumatran orang-utans?

There has been criticism of the bolstering of the cougar subspecies known as the Florida Panther, which was inbred to the point that it was fading away, with cougars of a different subspecies.

From a practical zoo point of view, subspecies or races are just a nuisance.
 
i think that orangutans certainly show enough morphological differences to justify a definition between the two types. whether that is enough to justify two species i don't know.

the two "species" produce fertile offspring. i think technically that just destroyed the notion of species. however, the same could be said of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins or tigers an lions - and surely we accept these as different species.

in any event i think zoos are doing the right thing in keeping them completely separate. and be damned with preserving the captive subspecies of bornean orangs. too hard!
 
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