Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo News 2017

Twin Giraffes born at Auckland zoo one girl and a boy, sad the male passed away!
 
Article about the twin Giraffes.
Giraffe birth provides bittersweet New Year gift for Auckland Zoo
Giraffe birth provides bittersweet New Year gift for Auckland Zoo

New Year's Eve delight was tinged with sadness for Auckland Zoo staff after they welcomed extremely rare twin giraffes.

One of the prematurely born twins, a male, had to be euthanised on Monday because he couldn't suckle or function independently and did not form a bond with mum Kiraka.

Mammal curator Warren Spencer said that despite the "great efforts of all involved, the male's post-birth complications became untreatable and we took the very difficult decision on welfare grounds to euthanise the young male".

After pregnancies of 15 months, giraffes are born by dropping more than two metres with the mother standing up. They're usually able to stand up and nurse within 30 minutes after birth, but the male was unable to do this.

Despite being born about 12 days prematurely, things are looking better for the female calf with her seven-year-old mother Kiraka, Spencer said.

"She has developed a strong bond with her mother and we are optimistic for the days ahead."

Twin giraffe births are extremely rare with a little over 30 documented cases worldwide, Auckland Zoo said.

The zoo now has two male and three female giraffes.

Father of the twin giraffes, Zabulu, is a Rothschild's giraffe, a sub-species of giraffe that is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.

The four other giraffes including the surviving twins are hybrid giraffes from different giraffe sub-species.

It's estimated that since 1998, habitat loss and poaching have resulted in giraffe populations plummeting from 140,000 to just 80,000.
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Amazing!Twins!! So sad that one died.I guess giraffes only have room for one baby to suckle.That makes (6?) to the girraffe herd.

BennettL
 
Giraffes have 4 teats and I´ve already seen 4 calves drinking all at once, from 1 lactating female here at Prague zoo.

Giraffe twins only rarely survive. Actually, around half of them come as stillbirths.

Olomouc zoo in Czech republic had twins once, in year 1999 and the mother had name Veronika. Her twins were female Kabuki and male Kabu. Kabu later was the main breeding bull at Ostrava zoo.
 
Let's hope the female calf survives, it sounds like she's in good health.

I wonder if they'll look for a name that reflects she was a twin, as it's a rare event:

Akete (F) - first born of twins African

Pacha (F)- twin Swahili

Auckland Zoo didn’t mention this, but one set of approximately 30 previously recorded cases of giraffe twins was born at Auckland Zoo in 1990 to Tsavo and Manyara. Both were male, one died at birth; the other (Mussa) at four days old.

 
A Flamingo chick has hatched at Auckland Zoo.
Flamingo chick hatches at Auckland Zoo
Flamingo chick hatches at Auckland Zoo
Tuesday, 17 January 2017
For only the second time in its history, Auckland Zoo has welcomed a flamingo chick into the world. The chick hatched on 3 January.

In 2014, the zoo made headlines for being the first in Australasia to breed Greater flamingo chicks, as well as the first zoo in the world to successfully breed from an entirely hand-reared flock.

Former exotic birds team leader, now head of capital works and infrastructure, Michael Batty raised and transported Auckland Zoo’s flock of greater flamingos to New Zealand in 2001, from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) in Slimbridge, England. Along with Pridelands team leader Nat Sullivan, he assisted with the hatching of the new chick.

"The chick was taking longer than usual to hatch, so we decided to give it a helping hand by very carefully removing some of its egg shell," says Michael.

This is a difficult and delicate task, but luckily the chick welcomed the assistance.

Pridelands Team Leader Nat Sullivan has been monitoring the chicks' progress since incubation.

"It is doing really well. It’s steadily getting bigger and more vocal, and is even starting to stand on one leg," says Nat. "It's certainly been keeping us busy with regular feedings and check-ups, but of course none of us mind, it’s a really cool little chick and great to see it improving every day."

Young flamingos lack the pink feathering for which these birds are famed. This pink plumage develops over their first three years, due to the carotenoid pigment in their diet, which is high in alpha and beta-carotene (humans take in beta-carotene when they eat carrots).

The sex of this new chick will not be determined for some time and it will be a few months before visitors can come and see it, but the zoo will be posting updates on its website, Facebook, twitter and Instagram.
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That's fantastic news. Hopefully more successes will lead to a self sustaining flock with the luxury of being able to export some to other New Zealand zoos in time to create flocks there.

Does anyone know how the 2014 chick is doing? Does he still have grey plumage?

It'd be interesting to know if the parents of this chick are the same parents that bred in 2014.
 
That is great news for the future of Aucklands flock.Very very newsworthy.Congrats Auckland!

BennettL
 
Zoofan15 said:
Let's hope the female calf survives, it sounds like she's in good health.

I wonder if they'll look for a name that reflects she was a twin, as it's a rare event:

Akete (F) - first born of twins African

Pacha (F)- twin Swahili

Auckland Zoo didn’t mention this, but one set of approximately 30 previously recorded cases of giraffe twins was born at Auckland Zoo in 1990 to Tsavo and Manyara. Both were male, one died at birth; the other (Mussa) at four days old.
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Update on the female giraffe calf:

Auckland Zoo's leggy little lass takes first day out in her stride - National - NZ Herald News

It says in the article she weighed 46kg at birth which seems quite large considering she was a twin. I believe the usual birth weight for a single calf is 45-55kg.

The article refer to Rukiaya as an old female (she will be 16 years old in September this year), yet she is still of reproductive age so hopefully she'll have a new calf this year. Her previous two calves in 2013 and 2015 were each born before Kiraka's previous two in 2013 and 2015 so this is the first time Kiraka has given birth first (unless Rukiaya has lost a calf we're not aware of).
 
Zoofan15 said:
Update on the female giraffe calf:

Auckland Zoo's leggy little lass takes first day out in her stride - National - NZ Herald News

It says in the article she weighed 46kg at birth which seems quite large considering she was a twin. I believe the usual birth weight for a single calf is 45-55kg.

The article refer to Rukiaya as an old female (she will be 16 years old in September this year), yet she is still of reproductive age so hopefully she'll have a new calf this year. Her previous two calves in 2013 and 2015 were each born before Kiraka's previous two in 2013 and 2015 so this is the first time Kiraka has given birth first (unless Rukiaya has lost a calf we're not aware of).
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Rukiaya also had a calf in 16th of Janaury 2012 named Nakuru now at Melbourne zoo.

BennettL
 
BennettL said:
Rukiaya also had a calf in 16th of Janaury 2012 named Nakuru now at Melbourne zoo.

BennettL
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Sorry, I must have worded my post badly. What I meant was, once Kiraka was also reproductive, she was following a pattern of giving birth a few months after Rukiya each time (2013 and 2015). Kiraka’s latest birth (2016) is the first in which she (or rather Rukiya) deviated by Kiraka giving birth first. Maybe Rukiya lost a calf I’m not aware of. Either way, Rukiya could be currently pregnant and hopefully has many more reproductive years ahead of her. Far from being old like the article suggests! I’m not sure what age cows cease producing offspring but Kay (1986) had Ntombi in 2007 aged 21 years.

Rukiya also had three male calves in 2006, 2007 and 2010 prior to her three female calves in 2012, 2013 and 2015 :)
 
A squirrel monkey was born at Auckland Zoo last Friday, according to a Facebook post from the Zoo.
 
The Flamingo's have now produced another two chicks as well the one mentioned earlier in the thread (the youngest being 12 days old). Excitingly the newest chick is believed to have been sired by the 1st male they hatched back in 2014 - Video on the zoos Facebook of the new arrivals
 
This is fantastic news, it is very impressive how the Auckland flock is growing, and hopefully in a few years surplus will be available to create a second group.
 
Great to hear the flamingo flock are breeding so well. Have all three chicks from this year been confirmed as male?

Interesting that the youngest chick has most likely been fathered by the 2014 chick. This would mean not only has the 2014 chick fathered offspring at the age of three, unlike it’s parents (and others in the flock) that didn’t breed until they were thirteen years old and that this latest chick is the offspring of a hand raised chick of a hand raised chick. When the 2014 chick hatched, Auckland Zoo stated it was a world first that an entirely hand raised flock had produced a successful chick.

Hopefully enough offspring can be produced to supply other zoos in New Zealand. It’d be nice to see Hamilton, Wellington and Orana Wildlife Park take up holding this species.

It's strange Auckland Zoo don't name these chicks (a significant zoological achievement) when they are such long lived birds and most/all of the founders have names.
 
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