Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo News 2023

[ApeLadyNZ]

I’m hoping for a wet day when I next visit, so I can see Daya up close. It’ll be great to see her on exhibit with Charlie, Melur and Bahmi in the coming months. When Auckland Zoo imported the three females from Taronga Zoo in March 2001, a full integration of the colony was achieved the same year; but with Bahmi being an infant, I anticipate progress will be more cautious, despite the promising signs I’ve heard of so far.

I've been lucky enough to see Daya up close a couple of times (and snap a few photos of her) but she is shyer than Charlie and Melur and will often scoot off quickly to the other end of the habitat and hide in a tree. I can understand the zoo staff wanting to be cautious with Daya's introduction, but I'm optimistic she'll get along well eventually with our relatively easy-going orangutan family.

 

[Zoofan15]

New Zealand fairy tern conservation work:

From socials:

Our Zoo team have just received the first eggs collected for the hand rearing trials as part of our conservation partnership with the Department of Conservation.

This is the fourth consecutive year of the intensive management programme to recover this precious taonga whereby our bird keepers use their specialist skills to incubate, hatch and rear the chicks.

Just prior to fledging, chicks will be released into a predator-free area where they can be monitored by Zoo staff and DOC rangers and learn to fly and fish under natural conditions.

New Zealand fairy tern have teetered on the brink of extinction since the 1970s and fewer than 40 birds survive today.

 

[Zoofan15]

Article on upcoming births at Auckland Zoo:

In addition to Kiraka the giraffe and Zayana the Sumatran tiger being heavily pregnant, some fairy terns have hatched:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/505604/baby-boom-at-auckland-zoo

Gibson said they were also excited to have some fairy terns/tara iti hatch - New Zealand's rarest breeding bird. There were only around 40 individual birds left and a handful of breeding pairs.

 

[ApeLadyNZ]

A sad update regarding a former resident of Auckland Zoo.

I learned via social media that Horst, who was at the time the oldest male Bornean orangutan in the USA, passed away in March. He had resided at Busch Gardens, Florida, since 2009.

 

[Zoofan15]

First kiwi chicks of the season hatch:

From socials:

A new year is on the horizon - and it’s also a new beginning for this kiwi chick!

Bird keepers Erin and Rebecca filmed the hatch of this Operation Nest Egg (ONE) kiwi – with the first chick hatching on Christmas Day and the second on Boxing Day. Our skilled bird team are currently incubating three additional kiwi eggs in our dedicated incubation room.

Our bird team will carefully monitor the growth of this chick and once it’s reached the right weight, it will be sent to a predator-free island where it can go on to have chicks of its own!