Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol Zoo news 2011

OrangePerson said:
Speaking of gorillas how is it going with Kera being accepted in the group please?

I wonder if they'd go to the same lengths again with Salome that it took to to conceive last time.... I realise this is purely academic if Jock's not contributing!
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I have not been recently but believe Kera is pretty much fully integrated now, particularly with the 2 other younger ones who are her playmates.
I don't know if she has started having her oestrus cycle yet.

The situation with Jock and the two older ladies is a bit puzzling- with their offspring now aged 6 & 4 respectively one would expect new pregnancies(or possibly even a birth to Romina) by now. In the 1980's London had a trio(Chessington Kumba/Zaire/Salome) where breeding ocurred once with each female, the babies were both raised by their mothers but there was no repeated breeding after that. I hope this isn't a repetition of that scenario.
 
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Went to an EAZA fundraiser and they said they might possibly treat Romina with Clomid, as they did with Salome, as she doesn't seem to be cycling. Jock is getting very interested in Kera.

The young seal pup made a brief appearance whilst the mother was fed.

As always, brilliant to see the fruit bats flying round you!

The aye-ayes were very active, wish my night vision was better!

The butterfly house was very well stocked and we got a great view.
 
OrangePerson said:
Went to an EAZA fundraiser and they said they might possibly treat Romina with Clomid, as they did with Salome, as she doesn't seem to be cycling. Jock is getting very interested in Kera.
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Very interesting. So that's why there is no mating. Maybe Kera will be the next/first to have a baby in that case.
 
The climbing pole from the old bear pit has been removed from the aquarium entrance. Does anyone know if this is permanent?
 
Made my first ever visit to Bristol today - a very good day all round!

A little too tired to write up a full account at the moment, but there were one or two things I observed which are worth noting:

The naked mole rats have been moved off-show, as their enclosure had a number of "This exhibit is empty, apologies for any inconvenience" type printouts hastily stuck over the mole-rat informational posters - I say hastily as most of them had fallen onto the floor!

The armadillo which, I am given to understand, was once sharing an enclosure with the black howler monkeys, is now in the Twilight Zone with the sloths and owl monkeys.

Moreorless everything was active and visible, amazingly - literally the only species which weren't labelled as offshow and which we failed to spot were the kangaroo rats.

The zoo seem to be doing very well with their programme of breeding golden and green mantella - a great many tadpoles developing legs were to be seen.
 
The baby gorilla is a male, confirmed on the zoo's facebook page :)

Shame there are so many males popping up at the moment and seemingly not as many females. The only UK female baby from 2010/2011 that I'm aware of [outside of the Aspinall parks, don't know what they've had. With so many though I would assume there's a few females] is the one at Blackpool?

Are births somehow skewed towards males as they are in some other species, or is it more a 50/50 split generally?
 
Javan Rhino said:
The baby gorilla is a male, confirmed on the zoo's facebook page :)

Shame there are so many males popping up at the moment and seemingly not as many females. The only UK female baby from 2010/2011 that I'm aware of [outside of the Aspinall parks, don't know what they've had. With so many though I would assume there's a few females] is the one at Blackpool?

Are births somehow skewed towards males as they are in some other species, or is it more a 50/50 split generally?
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Port Lympe recently announced the birth of a female baby.
 
Javan Rhino said:
Are births somehow skewed towards males as they are in some other species, or is it more a 50/50 split generally?
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Very much 50/50 JR, just the luck of the draw, would be handy if they where a bit more like Crocs where you can sex the individual by temperature of incubation.
 
Pootle said:
Very much 50/50 JR, just the luck of the draw, would be handy if they where a bit more like Crocs where you can sex the individual by temperature of incubation.
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That would be very handy :p - it seems that gorillas (along with elephants) are one of the biggest problems with regards to surplus males. How difficult is it to have a bachelor group, or to set one up in the first place? I know there are bachelor groups about, but do they have to be integrated at a young age for it to work, ie. before they're sexually mature?
 
Dublin have also had a female born this year (there first for many years!)
 
Javan Rhino said:
The baby gorilla is a male, confirmed on the zoo's facebook page :)
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Hope they have got it right, as the first baby born there in recent years(Namoki) was mis-sexed as male for 'his' first three years! However, I'm sure they will have got it right this time. A 2nd male baby for an under-represented female like Salome is not a disaster, in fact males can potentially spread their genes more widely than females obviously.
 
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Javan Rhino said:
I know there are bachelor groups about, but do they have to be integrated at a young age for it to work, ie. before they're sexually mature?
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Normally yes. You can't introduce adult males(silverbacks) together, it simply doesn't work. The best recipe seems to be several youngish (5-8 years) males together, or with one adult silverback male 'in charge' of them. Of course it depends on temperament- some will live permanently like this, while others start fighting as they mature. If a male is removed- either because of fighting, or a transfer, he then usually can't be replaced, (either by the same or a different male)

IMO, the most desirable situation is for young males(where possible) to stay in their own natal group as long as possible, most adult males will tolerate their sons, even until they are young silverbacks (example; Kesho at Dublin). Much better for the young males concerned as they learn all facets of both male & female social behaviour. But the downside is that this also makes them harder, or even impossible, to then add to an all male group as they are past the normal integration age. But its a better(social) option for a male definately required for future breeding though.
 
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Javan Rhino said:
Thanks Jordan :) - I expected that between Howletts and PL there would be a mix of sexes, but wasn't sure what gorillas have been born there recently [apart from quite a lot :p]
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I think overall it works out at roughly 50/50 but some zoos do experience 'runs' of one sex or the other- usually it seems to be males! Howletts/PL I believe have had all but two males, in their last 8-9 births. It is a problem for the future.
 
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