Great for building awareness ...., well I found some names a bit naff (except for Fernandina or isabela).
Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo News 2022
- Thread starter Zoofan15
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- auckland zoo
Plans for elephant and rhino exhibits:
Taxonomically speaking, the elephants are being replaced by nothing since Southern white rhinoceros have been at the zoo since 1980.
I asked about this on my last visit, as I was curious to know what would happen to the current rhino exhibit when they move to the elephant exhibit. Apparently, the rhinos will still have full run of their current exhibit and the elephant exhibit.
Long term, the plan is to link with a third exhibit (giraffes, zebras etc) to make a fully interconnected Savannah, where groups will rotate use of the middle exhibit in addition to their main exhibit (giraffes - upper exhibit; rhinos - lower exhibit).
Business wise it all makes sense. This is the most cost effective use of the space and will provide the remaining species with a better quality of life - but from a visitor perspective, I’m disappointed that the current rhino exhibit won’t be developed for either a new species or a walk through flamingo aviary. The latter is something much needed by the zoo and would have linked in nicely with the existing African aviary, which is adjacent to the rhinos.
Thanks @Zoofan15, fingers crossed it is just a matter of time & post-covid funding before a more substantive use of the space is proposed.
Sort of related, how old is Auckland's current lion exhibit? It was looking a little unremarkable when I visited last and wonder if it's coming up for a renewal?
Sort of related, how old is Auckland's current lion exhibit? It was looking a little unremarkable when I visited last and wonder if it's coming up for a renewal?
Auckland Zoo’s lion exhibit opened in 1998 as part of the Savannah precinct. Although it was a significant upgrade for the lions which had previously lived in the 1922 lion pit, the zoo does otherwise look at renewing their exhibits every couple of decades and the lion exhibit is looking dated and small by today’s standards.
One of my many aspirations for the remodelling of the rhino exhibit was to create a second lion habitat that could be linked via underground tunnels to the exisiting lion habitat. This would have the potential to be one of the best lion exhibits in the region and would have been a huge visitor drawcard.
If they can maybe get some more species of Antelope this would make a very nice habitat. I think a great idea would be installing fences which only certain species can fit through, eg. the antelope can access all paddocks whilst the giraffe and rhino can only access two each. The only concern I’d have here is there would be at least six different viewing areas for a single Savannah. A little bit too much eh?
Long term I’d like to see the zoo reconstruct the entire precinct. New enclosures for their other animals, Lions, Cheetah, Serval and Hamadryads Baboon would be beneficial.
Genially love this idea, i love the idea of rotation enclosures, plus i think this would help make the enclosures more dynamic with species getting mixed and matched.
Auckland Zoo currently have these savannah species in two groups:
Giraffe
Plains zebra
Common ostrich
Southern white rhinoceros
Waterbuck
Lowland nyala
I’m guessing there was an integration issue with the Waterbuck as they were supposed to go into the first exhibit; but ended up with the rhino and nyala.
If this could be resolved, I like @Jambo’s idea of access points in the fence line that allow the smaller species to move between the exhibits. The critical thing is to keep the rhinos and giraffes seperate, which could be managed this way.
My main concern is from a visitor perspective, this exhibit may not work as intended. In an ideal world, there’d be something to see at each viewing point; but in the real world, the herd animals will follow each other to their preferred spots and they’ll be nothing to see at half the viewing points.
Personally, I’d love to see Eastern bongo imported. While not a savannah animal, this hasn’t stopped several North American zoos from integrating them with giraffe, zebra etc. and if we can tolerate Hamilton Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo exhibiting Indian antelope with African hoofstock, I’m sure we could overlook this.
There is a path currently in the way, so they would have to either construct an overhead path or build a tunnel underneath the path.
The obvious place to put the connection is between the Cheetah and Greater flamingo exhibits. Although I’d prefer they bulldozed the small flamingo exhibit and built the long awaited flamingo aviary in some of the exhibit space vacated by the elephants, I was recently told there are no immediate plans to do this.
A connective raceway through this space will cause minimal upheaval and link nicely to the exisiting elephant house - which can be modified for the rhinos.
An overhead bridge/pathway will be needed either way, with an inclemental raceway leading from the rhino exhibit (lower ground) to the elephant house (higher ground).
Some queries: Do they already have published design plans for the rhino holding facility being planned? What extras in other exhibits might we expect to see coming from the old elephant exhibit conversion?
ZOO MAP:
https://rfacdn.nz/zoo/assets/media/azoo-visitors-map-covid-2022-red-light-web.pdf
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They would have begun this progress, but these plans haven’t been released to the public yet. All I’ve been told is that the elephant exhibit will be redeveloped for Southern white rhinoceros; while the current rhino exhibit will also be for their use, as well as linked to the main Savannah exhibit (containing giraffes, zebras and ostrich). The Lowland nyala and Waterbuck currently share with the rhinos.
While I’d love to see new ungulate species imported (especially Bongo), I’m not aware of any intention on the zoo’s behalf to do so. The aim of the redevelopment is to provide more space for the zoo’s growing rhinoceros herd.
Long term they plan to expand the main rhino herd of 1.2 (plus unborn calf); while retaining a stimulant bull.
How many tieke (North Island saddleback) breeding pairs at all do they have? What is the reason behind handrearing (double clutching)?
SOURCE (2018):
We've rescued and hand-raised three tīeke chicks | Auckland Zoo
We've been busy raising three hungry tīeke chicks | Auckland Zoo News
They work obviously work with the recovery effort. So, I assume any tieke chicks are destined for release into the wild (or add on to the captive-breeding effort)?
As of 18 months ago, the zoo had just a single breeding pair. This may have increased as they’ve bred well at the zoo. The 2018 chicks were handreared as the parents were unsuccessful in raising their first clutch; while the current chicks were abandoned as eggs in the nest by their parents.
The zoo have stated it’s their intention to grow a large flock of North Island saddleback for their aviary. The wild population of this species is around 7000 birds.
Bornean orangutan pregnancy update:
Auckland Zoo shared a pregnancy update on Melur today, who is now seven months pregnant. The zoo anticipate she still has another four weeks to go before delivery, but have begun monitoring her remotely overnight.
Her weight has increased from 56kg to 69kg during this pregnancy and her food intake has been increased during the third trimester.
Melur has began to slow down, though she continues to spend time up on the aerial ropes with Charlie, resting in the towers as she was on my visit last month.
The keepers are currently preparing plans for every eventuality (including needing to hand raise the infant), but are confident Melur will raise this baby as she’s an inexperienced mother.
Auckland Zoo shared a pregnancy update on Melur today, who is now seven months pregnant. The zoo anticipate she still has another four weeks to go before delivery, but have begun monitoring her remotely overnight.
Her weight has increased from 56kg to 69kg during this pregnancy and her food intake has been increased during the third trimester.
Melur has began to slow down, though she continues to spend time up on the aerial ropes with Charlie, resting in the towers as she was on my visit last month.
The keepers are currently preparing plans for every eventuality (including needing to hand raise the infant), but are confident Melur will raise this baby as she’s an inexperienced mother.
Auckland Zoo contributes to most successful breeding season of Fairy tern in almost a decade:
DOC and Auckland Zoo have been working together over the past two years to trial raising the rare bird at the zoo.
The team artificially incubated and hatched the eggs, then hand-reared the chicks. Despite the lack of knowledge and experience of staff using these techniques, one chick was successfully reared and released during the 2020-2021 season.
Building on this successful start, Auckland Zoo repeated the programme this breeding season, with five chicks transferred to a specially designed release aviary, on a beach where the birds are found naturally. Two of these five were released, making up 20 per cent of the eight birds expected to leave the nest.
Full article in link: Successful breeding season for NZ's rarest bird, the tara iti/fairy tern
DOC and Auckland Zoo have been working together over the past two years to trial raising the rare bird at the zoo.
The team artificially incubated and hatched the eggs, then hand-reared the chicks. Despite the lack of knowledge and experience of staff using these techniques, one chick was successfully reared and released during the 2020-2021 season.
Building on this successful start, Auckland Zoo repeated the programme this breeding season, with five chicks transferred to a specially designed release aviary, on a beach where the birds are found naturally. Two of these five were released, making up 20 per cent of the eight birds expected to leave the nest.
Full article in link: Successful breeding season for NZ's rarest bird, the tara iti/fairy tern
Mia the North Island kaka has died:
Full article on zoo’s social media:
Mia first arrived at Auckland Zoo in 1989 and found a new home in what was then known as the Glade Aviary – now Te Wao Nui a Tāne. Over the years she spent time at Orana Wildlife Park, Maungatautari Ecological Island Reserve and Cape Kidnappers Sanctuary as part of a national breeding and restoration programme for the ‘at risk’ North Island kākā, before settling back with her Auckland whānau in 2017.
In 1997, Mia was introduced to male Wild One and they quickly became a strongly-bonded pair who remained together for an incredible 20 years! The pair spent several years at Maungatautari as ‘anchor birds’ – not only successfully fledging chicks for release into the wild but encouraging released juveniles and other wild kākā to stay in the vicinity – hence ‘anchor’.
Mother to an unbelievable 50 chicks over her lifetime, Mia laid her first clutch (group of eggs) in 1990 and her last in 2013. In 2017 soon after Mia’s return to Auckland, additional kākā were introduced to the aviary, one of which was Ngaio – one of Mia’s daughters that hatched in 1991.
Full article on zoo’s social media:
Mia first arrived at Auckland Zoo in 1989 and found a new home in what was then known as the Glade Aviary – now Te Wao Nui a Tāne. Over the years she spent time at Orana Wildlife Park, Maungatautari Ecological Island Reserve and Cape Kidnappers Sanctuary as part of a national breeding and restoration programme for the ‘at risk’ North Island kākā, before settling back with her Auckland whānau in 2017.
In 1997, Mia was introduced to male Wild One and they quickly became a strongly-bonded pair who remained together for an incredible 20 years! The pair spent several years at Maungatautari as ‘anchor birds’ – not only successfully fledging chicks for release into the wild but encouraging released juveniles and other wild kākā to stay in the vicinity – hence ‘anchor’.
Mother to an unbelievable 50 chicks over her lifetime, Mia laid her first clutch (group of eggs) in 1990 and her last in 2013. In 2017 soon after Mia’s return to Auckland, additional kākā were introduced to the aviary, one of which was Ngaio – one of Mia’s daughters that hatched in 1991.
A very respectable age.
I assume the aviary holds more kaka for breeding?
I assume the aviary holds more kaka for breeding?