Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Cleveland Metroparks Zoo News 2012

The zoo's oldest African elephant, Jo, was euthanized this morning at the age of 45.

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Cleveland Metroparks Zoo - News Room
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo lost one of its oldest and largest residents today, African elephant “Jo.” The 45-year-old female elephant was euthanized by the Zoo’s veterinary care staff this morning with her keepers by her side.

Jo was lying down in her night quarters when keepers arrived early this morning, which was out of the ordinary for her. She was awake, but in medical distress and unable to get up.

“This was a heart-wrenching situation,” said Zoo Director Steve Taylor. “After carefully reviewing Jo’s status, the Zoo’s veterinary and animal care team made the very difficult but humane decision to euthanize her. We provided Jo with a great quality of life and we’re very proud of that.”

For the past several months, Jo was under medical observation and treatment for edema. A necropsy (animal autopsy) will be performed to determine the cause of death. The Zoo will release results of the necropsy when they become available. The Elephant Care & Visitor Center in African Elephant Crossing will be closed for the rest of the day but is expected to open tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Jo was born in Mozambique in 1967 and arrived at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in 1997 from the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. Weighing 7,500 pounds, she was the oldest elephant at the Zoo and shared African Elephant Crossing with four female elephants – Moshi, Martika, Shenga and Kallie, and one male elephant – Willy.
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With Jo gone, it will be interesting to see who will because the new matriarch of the Cleveland herd. This is sad news. You will be missed Jo. RIP old friend.
 
Baby Rhino Press Release

Kudu21 said:
A male eastern black rhinoceros was born at the zoo on July 1st. His birth marks the first in North America since January 2011:
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo - Help name our baby rhino!
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Here is the full press release.

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Help name our baby rhino!

Sound the horn!

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is excited to announce the birth of a male baby eastern black rhinoceros and we need your help to name him!

He was born on July 1, 2012 and his birth is truly a rare event as he is the first eastern black rhinoceros calf born in North America since January 2011.

Our unnamed calf is the first for mother Kibibbi, who herself was born at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in 2003. Jimma, the calf's father, is now on loan to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. The calf's birth marks the first time that three generations of rhinos have been represented at the Zoo - Kibibbi's mother Inge, Kibibbi and the calf.

Watch News Channel 5 and visit newschannel5.com for baby rhino updates!

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo WEWS News Channel 5

Help name our rhino calf! Please vote for your favorite name (choose one).
Bakari (noble promise)
Hasani (handsome)
Jimbi (combination of parents’ names: mom-Kibibbi & dad-Jimma)
Juba (brave)
Kito (precious child)

The contest runs Friday, August 3 through Thursday, August 9 (11:59 p.m.) Winning name announced on Friday, August 10.

The eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) is classfied as "critically endangered" in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the primary organization for quantifying conservation assessment efforts. The IUCN estimates that there are less than 1,000 of this rhino subspecies left in the wild, concentrated primarily in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has been very successful in breeding eastern black rhinos and participates in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Eastern Black Rhinoceros Species Survival Plan. SSPs are cooperative breeding and management groups for endangered or threatened species including black rhinos, lowland gorillas, polar bears and African elephants.

Who's Who in the Herd:

Inge: female, wild-born in South Africa, arrived at the Zoo in 1997, estimated to be 18-20 years old, mother of Kibibbi and Johari. Inge has given birth to two other calves during her time at the Zoo – Azzizi, who now lives at the Pittsburgh Zoo, and Zuri, who is in Portland at the Oregon Zoo.
Kibibbi: female, born at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 9 years old, daughter of Inge and mother of new calf
Johari: female, born at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 1 year old, daughter of Inge
New calf: male, born at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 1 month old, son of Kibibbi

The Zoo’s rhinos can be found in the African Savanna, between Monkey Island and the Sarah Allison Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine.

 
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Dingoes Press Release

Cleveland Zoo celebrates ‘Dingo Days’ with half-price discount – and dingoes!

Get ready for Dingo Days at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo – a special discount event and an extra special animal announcement that’s anything but the average “dog days of summer!”

Dingo Days celebrates two of the Zoo’s newest residents, a pair of 6-month-old dingo puppies! In anticipation of the brother and sister dingoes going out on exhibit by the end of the month, the Zoo will be offering half-price admission any weekday in August when the predicted temperature for the day is 90 degrees or higher. That makes tickets just $6.25 for adults and $4.25 for kids ages 2-11.

How will you know if it’s a Dingo Day? Check the Zoo’s website, clemetzoo.com, or follow the Zoo on Facebook or Twitter!

This will be the first time the Zoo has ever exhibited the Australian wild dog known as the dingo. The male, Brumby, and his sister, Elsey, were part of a litter of seven puppies born on January 30 at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo in Indiana. Their parents are purebred dingoes that were brought to Fort Wayne from Australia. The number of purebred dingoes in the wild is in decline due to human/animal conflict and the widespread hybridization of dingoes with feral domestic dogs.

Brumby and Elsey came to Cleveland at the end of June and will be in routine quarantine for a few more weeks before moving to their new home in the Zoo’s Australian Adventure.

Dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) are thought to be descended from wolves and are the largest land-based predator in Australia. They are opportunistic hunters and will eat just about anything they can catch or scavenge, including kangaroos, cattle, sheep, wallabies, rodents and birds.

Northeast Ohio’s most-visited year-round attraction, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with hours extended to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Admission is $12.25 per person, $8.25 for kids ages 2 to 11 and free for children younger than 2 and Zoo members. Parking is free. Located at 3900 Wildlife Way, the Zoo is easily accessible from Interstates 71, 90 and 480.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo - News Room
 
Kibibbi's baby boy has been named Juba.

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The link below is for the Zoo Director position to replace the retiring Steve Taylor. It seems funny to see the Zoo Director title still being used since about every other zoo in the region has a President & CEO, but I suppose the Cleveland Metroparks want to remain as antiquated and out-of-date as some of the zoo's exhibits.

http://www.clemetparks.com/pdf/ZOODIR.pdf
 
The Cleveland Zoo has begun demolition of both its Polar Bear and Grizzly Bear decks.The zoo plans to install stamped concrete and new visitor rails in front of both enclosures.The current decks were built in the 1980's and were badly deteriorating.

Team Tapir
 
Since Inge has produced 4 calves, will Johari be here last calf ? Or will she also be bred with this new breeding male ?
 
Zoogoer2000 said:
Since Inge has produced 4 calves, will Johari be here last calf ? Or will she also be bred with this new breeding male ?
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She certainly is not old and in the wild they do have quite a few calves (beyond the here stated number of 4). I would expect her to manage a few more. Which male to is somewhat irrelevant, I think she is a good breeder. :)
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
She certainly is not old and in the wild they do have quite a few calves (beyond the here stated number of 4). I would expect her to manage a few more. Which male to is somewhat irrelevant, I think she is a good breeder. :)
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We can confirm that we were informed by zoo staff that Inge is going to be bred again.

Team Tapir
 
team tapir said:
We can confirm that we were informed by zoo staff that Inge is going to be bred again.

Team Tapir
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Good to hear that she will be bred again, as she has been so successful. I just wasn't sure if the SSP had thought that she was well represented now, but I suppose she doesn't have any relatives really in the US
 
The Cleveland Zoos new dingoes Brumby and his sister Elsey made their debut today at the zoos Austrailian Adventure.They are part of a litter of 7 which was born at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo 1-30-12.This marks the first time dingoes have been exhibited in Cleveland.They were both very active as they explored their enclosure.

Team Tapir
 
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