Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo History

Oh ok thanks Tygo do you now if there were any others that came with her and How long she ahd been on her owen for cheers.
 
Ok thnaks any way Tygo

Also would any body have any Info on the bear speces that lived at Auckalnd like names d.o.b genders e.c.t thanks
 
This article mostly focuses on Auckland Zoo's early history, and was presumably written to coincide with the zoo's 90th anniversary.

Story here: Changing times at Auckland Zoo | Stuff.co.nz
26/12/2012

Talk to any Aucklander and you're bound to elicit some memory of them having their photo taken in the mouth of Auckland Zoo's concrete dragon.

Aim for anyone over about 30 and they should be able to tell you about taking a ride on Kashin the elephant.

Go back another generation and you will probably hear stories about the chimpanzee tea-parties.

In the years since it opened on December 17, 1922, Auckland Zoo has become a staple attraction for the city.

But its story begins about a decade earlier in a suburban street in Royal Oak.

In 1911, businessman and future Auckland mayor John James Boyd bought a plot of land on Boyd Ave, off Symonds St, where he planned to set up the city's first zoological park.

He already had animal parks in Christchurch and Wanganui and despite some complaints from neighbours, and the concerns of officials, there was nothing local councils could do to stop him.

When news broke of his intention to establish a zoo in Auckland a petition against it was started on the basis that it would be a breeding ground for rats.

The petition and other objections were unsuccessful and the zoo got the go-ahead, but it was to be the beginning of a tumultuous 10-year war between Mr Boyd and the Onehunga Borough Council.

When the park opened in February 1912 it was a hit with visitors.

Not surprisingly though, it started generating complaints from neighbours.

It was very much a zoo of its time, historian Lisa Truttman says.

"He had between 600 to 2000 specimens, a lot of them would have been small birds, but in a five to seven-acre section of land it boggles the mind.

"He must have just had cages and cages upon cages," she says.

"He was breeding lions - he was breeding them until the cows came home and exporting them to America and Australia.

"That must have been a horrible, absolutely ghastly, situation."

Mr Boyd also had an on-site abattoir where he would kill horses, stray cats and calves to feed the animals.

"No wonder the neighbours complained," Ms Truttman says.

"One minute you're in this quiet, leafy, residential suburb and suddenly this animal park appears, complete with the kids and a brass band on Sundays."

Mr Boyd's zoo is surrounded by legends.

One of the most popular is the tale of a lion which escaped and wandered down Onehunga Mall before popping its head into a pub where its keeper was having a beer.

Sadly, the real story is a lot less worthy of a movie script, Ms Truttman says.

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Around Christmas of 1917, at the time Mr Boyd was the mayor, a young lion cub escaped into a nearby paddock where there were some cows with their calves.

"The cows forced it back into a hedge where it was cowering through fear of these giant horned beasts when it was spotted by some servicemen on leave.

"They lassoed it like a [scene from the] Wild West and hauled it back to its cage," she says.

Ms Truttman says the story of the lion wandering down Onehunga Mall did not exist until 1966 when it appeared in a South Auckland community newspaper.

"I am surprised nobody created a story about the unloading of some lions at Onehunga wharf.

"They were loaded up into a cart and the horse bolted when the lions roared. They took off up the road, the cage tipped, and the lions ended up in the ditch," she says.

By 1919, the war over the zoo's place in Royal Oak was still raging.

With a new mayor came a bylaw banning the zoo and a system of fining Mr Boyd for every day his attraction remained open.

To avoid the fines, Mr Boyd loaded his animals on to trucks and took them on a tour of the North Island.

When he returned the fines started again and by 1921 he realised the writing was on the wall.

In June 1922, Mr Boyd asked the Auckland City Council, for the third time, if it would like to take his animals and finally his offer was accepted.

The council bought 11 lions, six bears, and two wolves for £800.

The rest of Mr Boyd's animals were sold to other zoos and private buyers.

Six months later the Auckland Zoological Park opened its gates in Western Springs.

In the early days, the park was faced with the challenge of trying to build up a collection of animals.

Business people going on overseas trips were asked to find new species and many brought some back.

By 1956, it was decided the zoo needed more of an entertainment factor and chimpanzee tea-parties were introduced.

They were stopped in the early 1960s as attitudes towards captive animals began to change, but one of the chimpanzees, Janie, is still alive and is one of the zoo's oldest residents.

The big hit in the 1970s was the arrival of Kashin the elephant and in 1981 the zoo's animal hospital opened.

Director Jonathan Wilcken says the zoo has undergone enormous change and transformation during nine colourful decades.

Today, its attention is centred around conservation.

"Zoos haven't just changed their focus a bit, they have fundamentally changed from top to bottom in terms of why we exist and what we do," Mr Wilcken says.

"The focus for leading zoos around the world is strongly and very clearly to do with wildlife conservation. All of the wildlife that we care for here in the zoo we are also promoting care for out in the wild."

The Auckland Zoo remains a centre for advancing wildlife veterinary medicine and Mr Wilcken says its vets are increasingly being called on by the Department of Conservation to help in the outdoors.

During the past decade there has also been a move towards showcasing more of New Zealand's native species.

Last year the zoo unveiled Te Wao Nui.

The $16 million precinct is the largest and most significant development in the zoo's history and houses hundreds of New Zealand native species.

Conservation and our native species look to remain the focus of the zoo for the coming decades, Mr Wilcken says.

"We've only really just started on this journey, but the more we can do this stuff the more it will build the relevance of the zoo for people."
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The actual opening date for the Boyd (Royal Oak) Zoo was actually 2 November 1911 not February 1912. Not sure how the reporter got that one stuffed up because Lisa had given them the correct date.

RE: Doris apparently she is still in the same enclosure. The rest are in the other display area.
 
Yes, apparently Doris and Georgia aren't playing nicely together - there have been injuries, and also egg-laying. If only there was a boy in there...
 
Animalgeek said:
Ok thnaks any way Tygo

Also would any body have any Info on the bear speces that lived at Auckalnd like names d.o.b genders e.c.t thanks
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Auckland Zoo had many polar bears over the years. Their main breeding female was named Natasha and arrived in 1949. She gave birth to twins in 1957 which died as cubs and had another cub in 1960.

He was called CHIMO and lived until 1989. He was the only polar bear to survive to adulthood. Their last three bears were females named Joachim, Lisbeth and Ingrid. Joachim and Lisbeth were born in 1962 and died in 1995 and 1990 respectively. Ingrid was the zoo's last polar bear, she died in 1995, four weeks after Joachim.
 
Chimo said:
Auckland Zoo had many polar bears over the years. Their main breeding female was named Natasha and arrived in 1949. She gave birth to twins in 1957 which died as cubs and had another cub in 1960.

He was called CHIMO and lived until 1989. He was the only polar bear to survive to adulthood. Their last three bears were females named Joachim, Lisbeth and Ingrid. Joachim and Lisbeth were born in 1962 and died in 1995 and 1990 respectively. Ingrid was the zoo's last polar bear, she died in 1995, four weeks after Joachim.
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The first Polar Bears were imported via London through animal dealer G.B. Chapman. Auckland Zoo ended up with four males and two females. A male bear was sent down to Wellington Zoo. One female escaped and had to be shot. The other female named Daisy was exported to Australia in 1934. The three remaining males subsequently died. One of the same skin disease that killed Brunus (and the others) later on in the 1950s. One died from a bone piercing the gut and I'll have to check my records on the cause of death of the last male. By 1936 no bears were left at the zoo. In the same year Auckland Zoo imported a two year old male named "Snowball". Six years on he died from a bone perforation of the gut. He was replaced in 1942 by a 12 year old male from Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney. That bear later died aged 20 years around 1949/50. Hope that helps fill in some gaps.:)
 
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AskAlice said:
The first Polar Bears were imported via London through animal dealer G.B. Chapman. Auckland Zoo ended up with four males and two females. A male bear was sent down to Wellington Zoo. One female escaped and had to be shot. The other female named Daisy was exported to Australia in 1934. The three remaining males subsequently died. One of the same skin disease that killed Brunus (and the others) later on in the 1950s. One died from a bone piercing the gut and I'll have to check my records on the cause of death of the last male. By 1936 no bears were left at the zoo. In the same year Auckland Zoo imported a two year old male named "Snowball". Six years on he died from a bone perforation of the gut. He was replaced in 1942 by a 12 year old male from Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney. That bear later died aged 20 years around 1949/50. Hope that helps fill in some gaps.:)
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Thanks for that AskAlice, that's interesting info :)

Do you know any information on the dates of birth of Natasha, Brunus and Natuk? Do you know if Chimo had any cubs with the three females he was with (Joachim, Ingrid and Lisbeth)?
 
Duerener1 said:
Can you tell when Chapman has delivered the first polar bear?
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The first two bears arrived in late 1924

I'll need to check the archives I have and get the exact date. I do have a time line for Auckland Zoo that I've been working on for some time. It's on line.

I don't have a birthdate for the later bears because they were wild. Ingrid I think came from Taronga Park. I'll check my records on that too. Lots of documents to look at to find it. :)
 
Chlidonias said:
I just chanced across this link while looking for something else, and thought it would be of interest. I'm not sure if there's an actual video on the link (due to restrictions on Chinese internet connections) but it is titled regarding wombats and Tasmanian devils at Auckland Zoo in 1985:
AUCKLAND ZOO. WOMBATS - Moving Image C3982 - Online Catalogue | The New Zealand Film Archive
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Doesn't appear to be a video on that link, but the info, i.e. Devils at Auckland Zoo in 1985, might help with dating the two maps we have from that decade.
 
Polar Bears

Chimo said:
Thanks for that AskAlice, that's interesting info :)

Do you know any information on the dates of birth of Natasha, Brunus and Natuk? Do you know if Chimo had any cubs with the three females he was with (Joachim, Ingrid and Lisbeth)?
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'Tiger by the Tail' reports the '12 year old Brunus' died in 1962. This would place his year of birth (in the wild) at around 1950. Natuk was younger, but probably not by more than a couple of years. Natasha first bred in 1957 (female twins) so I'd place her year of birth at at least 1954, but probably no earlier than 1950. Sorry I can't be more accurate.

Joachim was actually a male and was born in 1962 . He and Lisbeth arrived as two year olds in 1964 and had 7cubs between 1970 and 1982, none of which survived. Chimo was born in 1960 and died in 1979 (as mentioned in another post) so he would never have met Ingrid who arrived in 1984. Ingrid was born in 1962 and at 22 years of age, too old to breed with Joachim by the time she arrived at Auckland Zoo.

I don't know if Chimo would have been exhibited with Joachim (due to male-male fighting) so I'm guessing he was consequently kept separate from Lisbeth (unless she shared exhbit time with the two males?).

I believe Chimo would have enjoyed/endured a large media presence and the zoo may have desried to breed from him with Lisbeth for that reason so maybe she showed more preference/inclination to mate with Joachim as he was the father of her 7 cubs?
 
I do have a copy of the Auckland Zoo Polar Bear registry I obtained from AK Zoo. I'll check all the dates of arrival and death dates. A Tiger by the Tail is a good reference but it's also full of errors.
 
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