San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo News 2012

The zoo has released a list of potential names for the panda cub and online voting has begun and will last until Oct 30. The name will be revealed Novemeber 13 in a naming ceremony.

Here are the choices.

Qi Ji (Qíjī), which means miracle. The Chinese characters are 奇迹

Yu Di (Yǔdī), which means raindrop. The Chinese characters are 雨滴

Da Hai (Dàhǎi), which means big ocean/big sea. The Chinese characters are 大海

Xiao Liwu (Xiǎo lǐwù), which means little gift. The Chinese characters are 小礼物

Yong Er (Yǒng er), which means brave son. The Chinese characters are 勇儿

Shui Long (Shuǐlóng), which means water dragon. The Chinese characters are 水龙

Panda Cub: Time to Vote!
 
Parking structures in the way of planning tend to be really expensive but make the money back real fast because of parking charges. They also save a ton of space as the huge surface parking lot they have now takes up a lot of space when compared with the size of the zoo. If San Diego did have that space for exhibits, where would they put parking, the entrance and what exhibits would they put there? How would the zoo function if there was zoo space before the entrance? All challenging questions in terms of the design of the zoo grounds, and we all have our opinions on how the zoo handles that.
 
And half of those questions are already answered in the planning information available on the zoo's website.
 
With Elephant Odyssey down to 5 elephants and their aging Asian elephant population seeming to rapidly shrink, does anyone know what the long-term plan for the zoo's elephant exhibit is? Are they planning eventually to bring in a herd of African elephants from the Safari Park and cease holding Asian elephants or is EO intended to be a perpetual "retirement" home for older elephants from other zoos (e.g., Reid Park)?
 
DavidBrown said:
With Elephant Odyssey down to 5 elephants and their aging Asian elephant population seeming to rapidly shrink, does anyone know what the long-term plan for the zoo's elephant exhibit is? Are they planning eventually to bring in a herd of African elephants from the Safari Park and cease holding Asian elephants or is EO intended to be a perpetual "retirement" home for older elephants from other zoos (e.g., Reid Park)?
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Probably the later, the zoo is looking to do another reid park style elephant trade with the Chaffee zoo in the near future.
 
I dont know about a trade. They only have 3 breeding age females, Swazi, Ugmani and Ndula at the moment, none of whom have sucessfully bred with unrepresented male Msholo. And while Musi is currently a pain in the butt teen right now he is also extremely genetically valuable with a wild sire. So in several years once Msholo is a father to a number of calves he can take over as resident breeding bull with all of the females and female calves except his mother and any sisters produced. That leaves the three two year old boys, Mac, Luti and Emanti who are too young to leave the herd just yet. My guess would be they wouldnt seperate them until they are starting their annoying teenage years around 8 like Musi is now. Especially if there arent a lot of new calves due which at the moment seems about 2 years out. Ndula could already be pregnant and no one has said anything yet since Luti is 2 already. Ugmani has 1 year old Neepo and has been flirty with Msholo resently so I'd guess she wont be having a calf at least until 2014. And Swazi just gave birth to Qinisa so shes a minimum of 2 years away so at least late 2014 at the earliest. And Kami and Khosi are both still far too young to breed at 4 and 5 years old roughly. Prehaps they will do a long term trade, where they get elderly asians sooner rather than later. And the other zoo will revamp its exhibit and get a bull herd consisting of the 4 young boys when the exhibit is done and they are ready to leave the herd, possibly with Msholo depending on his breeding ablities (if hes a dud then hed go or if hes been a real stud he would go like Mabu). Possibly with Ndula to prevent inbreeding with new stud Musi.
 
Although now thinking about it they do have other africans to trade. Tembo and Sheba could go elsewhere to become part of another herd of non breeding age africans (Toronto has 3 older cows looking for a new home). Also available for grabs without a trade at all would be Calgary Zoos breeding herd of Asians (not that they have been all that successful in breeding in Calgary) Perhaps bringing them in would give Ranchiupor one or two more chances at fatherhood and help to keep the herd lively and more natural. Im sure there are other zoos in the US looking to close down an Asian elephant exhibit for whatever reason. So there are other options.
 
TZFan said:
Although now thinking about it they do have other africans to trade. Tembo and Sheba could go elsewhere to become part of another herd of non breeding age africans (Toronto has 3 older cows looking for a new home). Also available for grabs without a trade at all would be Calgary Zoos breeding herd of Asians (not that they have been all that successful in breeding in Calgary) Perhaps bringing them in would give Ranchiupor one or two more chances at fatherhood and help to keep the herd lively and more natural. Im sure there are other zoos in the US looking to close down an Asian elephant exhibit for whatever reason. So there are other options.
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Introductions with Shaba are going very slowly. She has been in the same yard as Sumithi and Mary but has had only fence introductions with Tembo. I think the zoo would be very hesitant to take Tembo away from her long time companions Sumithi and Devi. The keepers have told me there are no plans to breed Ranchipur because he has arthritis in his hips.
 
The zoo has sent 2 of their giraffes to other zoos. A male was sent to the Safari Park and a female to the Phoenix Zoo. We also received a Bactrian camel from the Hogle Zoo in Utah.
 
I'm going to the SDZ at Christmas again and I'm wondering if anyone knows what the chances of the panda cub being on exhibit at that point is?
 
Usually we see the new panda babies go on display at about six months. We are at the three month point with our new baby. So I would guess February before the baby and mother are put into a display area for the public. Even then they sometimes stay in the den all day and can not be seen by visitors. The naming ceremony for the new baby will be this Tuesday, Nov 13th at 10am in the Wegforth Bowl. 7,000 name suggestions were narrowed down to six. The public voted. The winner will be announced Tuesday.
- Qi Ji, which means Miracle
- Yu Di, which means Raindrop
- Da Hai, which means Big Ocean or Big Sea
- Xiao Liwu, which means Little Gift
- Yong Er, which means Brave Son
- Shui Long, which means Water Dragon
 
TZFan said:
I dont know about a trade. They only have 3 breeding age females, Swazi, Ugmani and Ndula at the moment, none of whom have sucessfully bred with unrepresented male Msholo. And while Musi is currently a pain in the butt teen right now he is also extremely genetically valuable with a wild sire. So in several years once Msholo is a father to a number of calves he can take over as resident breeding bull with all of the females and female calves except his mother and any sisters produced. That leaves the three two year old boys, Mac, Luti and Emanti who are too young to leave the herd just yet. My guess would be they wouldnt seperate them until they are starting their annoying teenage years around 8 like Musi is now. Especially if there arent a lot of new calves due which at the moment seems about 2 years out. Ndula could already be pregnant and no one has said anything yet since Luti is 2 already. Ugmani has 1 year old Neepo and has been flirty with Msholo resently so I'd guess she wont be having a calf at least until 2014. And Swazi just gave birth to Qinisa so shes a minimum of 2 years away so at least late 2014 at the earliest. And Kami and Khosi are both still far too young to breed at 4 and 5 years old roughly. Prehaps they will do a long term trade, where they get elderly asians sooner rather than later. And the other zoo will revamp its exhibit and get a bull herd consisting of the 4 young boys when the exhibit is done and they are ready to leave the herd, possibly with Msholo depending on his breeding ablities (if hes a dud then hed go or if hes been a real stud he would go like Mabu). Possibly with Ndula to prevent inbreeding with new stud Musi.
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I predict that Swazi, Qinisa, Macembe, Ndula, Lustandvor, and Msholo will be transferred to the Chaffee zoo. While Umgani, Khosi, Phakamille, Ingadze, Emanti, Neepo, and Vus Musi will remain at the Safari Park. As the two asian cows from Chaffee arrive at the SDZ I predict the Tembo and Shaba will be transferred to the SDSP to provide adult company to Umgani.

The habitat at the Chaffee zoo is set to open in 2014 and I believe construction is set to start shortly.
 
betsy said:
The zoo has sent 2 of their giraffes to other zoos. A male was sent to the Safari Park and a female to the Phoenix Zoo. We also received a Bactrian camel from the Hogle Zoo in Utah.
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Really? That's news to me. Is it a Masai? We certainly don't need anymore Reticulated, that's for sure. :) We have two young male Masai so it would be nice for them to have a female friend for when they're old enough so they don't go 'after' the Reticulated.
 
Yes one of the male Masai from Phoenix went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and a female Masai was brought in from the San Diego Zoo.
 
Ituri said:
Yes one of the male Masai from Phoenix went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and a female Masai was brought in from the San Diego Zoo.
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That's very interesting. It doesn't seem like they've been in Phoenix very long, although it's probably been at least 2 years. hahaha. Thanks for the info. I imagine once they're old enough there'll be Masai babies. And maybe more Reticulateds once the new male is old enough. Makopi was the last calf and that was quite a number of years ago now.
 
As far as I know, there ISN'T a new male reticulated. The long term plan as I understand it is to slowly phase out reticulateds and eventually work exclusively with Masai.
 
Ituri said:
As far as I know, there ISN'T a new male reticulated. The long term plan as I understand it is to slowly phase out reticulateds and eventually work exclusively with Masai.
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Actually, there is a new male reticulated. He's only been here a short time and is a youngster. I don't remember how old he is or where he came from, but there is a new one now. I saw him last week.
 
Newer than the beginning of October? There certainly wasn't a male reticulated then, and that conflicts with all the information I have. What's your source?
 
I can't tell you EXACTLY when he arrived, but like I said, I was there recently....since the beginning of October, and there is a young male there. My source is me. Going there and seeing him myself. Don't need anything more than that.
 
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