Mstari and Amani, 8 weeks. I have watched them for 30 or 40 minutes 4 times now and Amani is a very calm, collected young lady, examining everything around her, including visitors. The first time she was barely 7 weeks and was quite content when her mother moved away from her right across the exhibit.
Kiko was with them outside all day for the first time Thursday but my pics of all three together were all missing something.
It's nice to know Amani seems so confident when we all know Mstari is prone to being high strung and skittish. Takes after dad. He's a pretty chill guy. Did you notice if Mstari seems more settled and self assured herself? Just wondering if motherhood has helped her any. I still dream of a mixed exhibit one day.
Actually I don't find Mstari skittish. She is usually calm and watchful, and she does not come close to visitors as readily as Kiko does but she does not shy away either. When Twiga and Mstari were transferred from their old digs to their new ones a few years ago the keeper who had trained them for the move told me Twiga hung back, reluctant to get off the trailer but Mstari pushed past and got down on her own. I know when the Eland arrived and were put in the same barn they were nervous and the zoo was worried about the valuable females so moved the eland out again quickly, so that is probably what you are thinking of. I wish they had given it more of a chance so we would have a mixed exhibit.
I've heard other accounts of her being spooked by something but the Eland are definitely a big part. I'm surprised they haven't tried gazelle or impala. If shes not cool with bigger eland maybe the smaller guys would do. Or an easy experiment would be to bring the ostrich over. Zoo already has a place to take them back if it doesn't work out. I'd be happy to see the kudu tested too. The zebra would be a good choice too because they can move the stallions into the lower yards but they would still be on display for the zoomobile. Testing with one of the animals onsite would probably be the best choice and see if one of them will work. If so you have a free exhibit for a new species or two.
