Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo - Births, Deaths and Transfers 2015

The rhino, kudu, and ostrich share one barn (plus any additional surplus animals- the extra warthogs and duiker lived here in the past). The other barn houses sable antelopes, zebra, and the birds (e.g. vulture, marabou storks, southern ground hornbills). As others have said, all animals have access to outdoor yards and depending on the weather, some may go on exhibit for short periods of time.
 
When I did keeper for a day, what I can remember is the ostriches lived in a barn by the lion house along with norm when he was alive. And I believe it was rhino, sable antelope or kudu and any other surplus animal stock/ off display. But I could be wrong I don't remember all that well, and things could have changed. But I know the ostriches were not with the rhinos. I remember the keeper told me to watch my hands when I was touching the rhinos so that the didn't push against the metal and crush my hand!
 
adams7 is correct, except the ostriches have their own barn (which I'm guessing they'll share with the wildebeest). The white rhinos actually have a pretty large indoor area and so do the other savanna animals, especially when keepers combine the stalls for them. Even the porcupines have their own fairly big house for the winter. I love cypher's idea of renovating the savanna barns to be open to the public, but it's too expensive and there are other things that need to be taken care of first.
 
I should clarify- the ostrich spend the winter in the rhino/kudu barn. The barn they share in the summer with the wildebeest is too small for 6 animals in the winter.
 
adams7 said:
I should clarify- the ostrich spend the winter in the rhino/kudu barn. The barn they share in the summer with the wildebeest is too small for 6 animals in the winter.
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I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing. Is this a recent development because of the wildebeest? My zookeeper for a day was in the middle of a blizzard and the ostriches were in their normal house. I'm glad that the ostriches move out because their barn is pretty small and I can't imagine them sharing it with the wildebeest for the entire winter.
 
I remember hearing that the Wildebeest will take up the barn near them and the Ostrich will move to the Rhino/Kudu barn. This has been the plan since the Wildebeest arrival at the zoo.
 
Here is an article about the work being done to ensure the female polar bear cub, temporarily named Juno in honour of Juno Beach (Remembrance Day baby and all).

Survival of the smallest: How the Toronto Zoo is saving Juno the polar bear cub - The Globe and Mail

Interesting not from the article... probably wrong but it mentions some other babies. It mentions a camel... are they counting 18 month old Jozy as a baby still? Also mentions 2 hornbills. Only hornbills which have breed are the Southern Ground Hornbill. Sansa was born in Jan 2012, Araya followed in Nov 2012 and Feb 2013 saw Oleana. I guess based on this time line maybe they bred them again in 2015 and chicks seem to come late fall or early into the new year. Anyone hear anything about that? None of the other hornbills are options. There are only males for the Wrinkled and Von Decker's, just discovered the Abyssinians are half siblings (who knew?) and the Great hornbills Asha and Jonah are not to breed due to advanced age.
 
I hope Juno stays healthy. That was a good article and the pictures are adorable. Thanks for sharing it.

I also wonder what kind of hornbills it's talking about. I also think it has to be the southern ground hornbills, unless they were sent baby hornbills of a different species from another zoo (which I don't think is the case).
 
arcticwolf said:
I also wonder what kind of hornbills it's talking about. I also think it has to be the southern ground hornbills, unless they were sent baby hornbills of a different species from another zoo (which I don't think is the case).
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I think the savannah group of hornbills are the only ones that can breed and are actually housed together.

Kids Zoo's Duale and Henry are kept separate from each other.
There is only one Von Der Decken's unless they acquired a second, though I have never seen him.
Same applies to Henry the Wrinkled from Indomalaya/Malayan Woods, I could not find him during my visit last month.
Which leaves Aasha and Jonah, Aasha's injury would count her out and Jonah is apparently to aggressive to place with others.

I'd love to see more hornbills at the zoo though, they are such an amazing and unique group of birds.
 
I have a bunch of things to share...

First to some sad news... Cloudy the kookaburra has passed away. She was 18. Karee is now the only Kookaburra we have. She is the number one ranked female in North America so hopefully we will get a mate for her finally with some space freed up. I will be so ticked off if they let her pass without bringing in more. They are my favourite species of bird at the zoo. I love their call. Always have, always will.

On to more uplifting news...

There are indeed two southern ground hornbill chicks who hatched in Novemeber. I look forward to seeing them in the spring even though they will be nearly as big as mom and dad.

Male Marabou Stork, Artie, has left for Dallas where he will be paired with a female for breeding. Sad to see him go but great for the species as George and Gracie are wild born and their chicks will contribute to the genetics of the species. By sending him off that may free the zoo up the breed George and Gracie again which would be amazing.

In return for Artie keepers from Dallas dropped off or keepers from Toronto picked up a new species. 5 African Spoonbills will be taking up residence on the savanna or heading to the pavilion. I have heard a couple of exhibit options exist for them. They are considering displaying them with either the penguins, white rhinos or sacred ibises. I'm thrilled by they arrival. Only species of African bird I would have wanted to see more was Shoebill and I know that is extremely unlikely to happen.

The lion cubs have gone outside for the very first time but were not on display.

Very exciting news from the orang world. Budi has been introduced to Ramai and Jingga. Budi seems much more interested in Ramai than he was in Sekali so fingers crossed. Given Ramai's... lets say unfriendly nature... I hope she is nice to him. Now we have doubled the odds of a 2016 orang infant. Call me overly optimistic but if they are not still trying to pair him with Sekali I would think odds are good that they don't need to. Its been months since they have been together so here is hoping Sekali is pregnant with a baby due over the winter.

Next summer could be stellar for babies. So far 4 lion cubs, 2 panda cubs, a polar bear, and 2 southern ground hornbill chicks are locks. Then there are the confirmed pregnancies with an indian rhino calf, zebra foal and camel calf all due by spring. If even one orang baby arrived that would be amazing, let alone two. Forget all the other breeding going on now in hopes of summer babies. 2012's summer of cute will be blown out of the water. 2016 will be extraordinary!
 
Thanks for sharing this news TZFan!

I also hope the zoo gets another kookaburra. They're such an iconic Australasian species and I can't imagine the pavilion without them.

The baby hornbills is good news. Hopefully they'll make the kudu exhibit more exciting like the last chicks did.

I am so happy about the spoonbills. They're one of my favourite bird species. I remember when they used to be in the ibis exhibit. All of the exhibit options are pretty good. It's nice that we're getting a really cool new African bird, especially after the departure of the Pelicans.

The news about the lions and orangutan a is great!
 
According to a Rainforest keeper last weekend at least two of the African Spoonbills are going in with the Sacred Ibis.

Somewhere above it was reported that an Egyptian Goose had died leaving one alone but there are two with the Sacred Ibis and there are/were 4 in the Savannah, so one of them must have moved in. I hope they get along better with the Spoonbills than they did with the Cape Shelducks.
 
I really wont be surprised if all of the spoonbills end up with the ibis. However might be nice to see them on the savanna in the summer and in the pavilion in the winter. The penguin exhibit would be the same space problem as pelicans come winter. Great place to put them in the summer but winter space will be limited with a growing penguin colony. The rhinos would be interesting but the zoo has been afraid of the rhinos hurting other animals for decades so it would be a big change for them. The ibis seem most logical.

I thought there were only two Egyptian geese prior to Loud's death. Maybe they rotated them on display. I do remember there was a bigger group but I just assumed it had been reduced to just the two males.
 
I also noticed 2 Egyptian Geese on exhibit during the weekend. I think the Spoonbills would be a nice addition, but that Ibis exhibit is a terrible exhibit. So many people walk by not even bothering to take a look at it. The placement is just plain bad.
 
I agree with you Cypher the ibis exhibit is badly positioned. I'm sure there is a reason it needs to be there. It's probably the only option based on the other exhibits and off exhibit holdings.

Well if you all are seeing two geese then there must be more. It's hard with the geese species at the zoo to guess how many they have when they only seem to put pairs on exhibit.
 
I'm not a fan of putting eland in with giraffes. I'd far rather see other giraffes. I do like eland.
I'm not a huge fan of mixed exhibits unless there is a lot of room. There had to be room for different species to get away from each other. If there is enough paddock h room that's cool. Would they be sharing indoor exhibit space?
 
Outside the eland and giraffes have tons of room. There are 3 yards so if there are problems they can be separated.

Inside I would say there isn't room for the eland to be on display with the giraffes. From what I have heard the eland will be off display over the winter and spend time in the hippo house which does have room for them. That barn is off display to the public.

We would all rather more giraffes. However there just aren't enough females for everyone to have multiple females. If Mstari had been a male Toronto may have been forced to house a bull herd. Although she would have been the top ranked male over her brother Shomari who has 4 calves. But would there have been a female the SSP could get transferred to Canada knowing full well she's never coming back and getting her calves across the border would be harder. Its hard to say. Luckily Mstari was a female. Now hopefully she has a good long life.
 
Not surprising. I wouldn't have expected them to stick around in Toronto after Er Shun and Da Mao left. I'm actually wait to see the cubs and get the photos I want. After that, I want to see the Siberian Tigers back. Any idea how many Tigers will be coming back?
 
I was just about to ask what will happen once the panda's leave? Might be asking an already discussed question but- where did the other tigers we had go?
 
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