Australasian Giraffe Population

0.1 Ellie at Perth Zoo gave birth to a male calf on Saturday morning. Perth Zoo now have six (3.3) giraffe unless young male Inkosi has already moved to Monarto:

"On International Zoo Keeper Day and World Animal Day, we wanted to share some special news with you. At 3:30am Saturday morning, ‘Ellie’ gave birth to a male giraffe calf. As a first time mum, Ellie needs time and space to adjust to motherhood. She is naturally a nervous giraffe, so we need to take things extra slowly with her and her offspring. For the time being they are bonding in the giraffe nursery, with Ellie getting used to her son and learning how to nurse him properly. As some human mums will know, this is not always easy, and Ellie has had some difficulties over the past two days allowing her son to feed. But he is strong, tall (over 180cm) and our expert and dedicated team are continuing to support Mum, calf and the rest of the herd."
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
0.1 Ellie at Perth Zoo gave birth to a male calf on Saturday morning. Perth Zoo now have six (3.3) giraffe unless young male Inkosi has already moved to Monarto:

"On International Zoo Keeper Day and World Animal Day, we wanted to share some special news with you. At 3:30am Saturday morning, ‘Ellie’ gave birth to a male giraffe calf. As a first time mum, Ellie needs time and space to adjust to motherhood. She is naturally a nervous giraffe, so we need to take things extra slowly with her and her offspring. For the time being they are bonding in the giraffe nursery, with Ellie getting used to her son and learning how to nurse him properly. As some human mums will know, this is not always easy, and Ellie has had some difficulties over the past two days allowing her son to feed. But he is strong, tall (over 180cm) and our expert and dedicated team are continuing to support Mum, calf and the rest of the herd."
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The regions Giraffes are breeding well if only we could get some fresh bloodlines! :)
 
Zorro said:
I believe the Hippo IRA is next, It appears just one thing at the time. ;)
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To be fair, the hippo IRA is more urgently needed. I didn’t realise they were still pursuing it though as the current plan is for Kani to go straight into breeding. His family line is already quite inbred.
 
Zoofan15 said:
To be fair, the hippo IRA is more urgently needed. I didn’t realise they were still pursuing it though as the current plan is for Kani to go straight into breeding. His family line is already quite inbred.
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One could mark the Hippo IRA as Urgent.
 
There is no real problem if the line is inbred because any new individuals would solve the issue. AFAIK there have been no genetic health-related issues within the tiny population. Obviously inbreeding is not ideal from a genetically managed studbook, but to be fair no Australasian hippo will have a conservation value. Purely exhibit/educational. It would be great to see several breeding herds/pairs established again for both species.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
1.0 calf at Perth Zoo is now being hand reared as young female Ellie experienced difficulties nursing her calf. This seems to be an increasingly common occurrence recently in the region: Youngest giraffe calf gets a helping hand
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From what I’ve seen, when it occurs in the open range zoos it’s usually a healthy calf that the mother fails to form a bond with. It occurs just as frequently in the city zoos too, but the calves often have an underlying health issue they die of within the month.
 
0.1 Shira at Orana Wildlife Park gave birth to her first calf today in front of visitors at 2pm. The zoo revealed that sire Mabuti unfortunately passed recently a few days ago. He was only four but Orana didn't give a cause of death. This leaves Orana with five (0.4.1) giraffes: Harriet (2012), Shira (2013), Mdomo (2013), Kamili (2018) and today's little calf: Newborn giraffe arrives at Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park in 'bittersweet' week
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
0.1 Shira at Orana Wildlife Park gave birth to her first calf today in front of visitors at 2pm. The zoo revealed that sire Mabuti unfortunately passed recently a few days ago. He was only four but Orana didn't give a cause of death. This leaves Orana with five (0.4.1) giraffes: Harriet (2012), Shira (2013), Mdomo (2013), Kamili (2018) and today's little calf: Newborn giraffe arrives at Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park in 'bittersweet' week
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Orana has had the worst luck with giraffes - their previous bull (Fanana) died at the age of three, before he could sire any calves and now they’re potentially in the same position of needing to import a new bull.

In the meantime, it’s highly likely Harriet and Mdomo are pregnant and will hopefully add to Mabuti’s legacy in the coming months.

Orana’s herd all descend from Jaffa and Celeste:

Jaffa and Celeste - Misha - Mukulu - Tambo - Mabuti
Jaffa and Celeste - Misha - Mukulu - Tunu - Harriet
Jaffa and Celeste - Sarita - Zabulu - Shira / Mdomo
Jaffa and Celeste - Nathalie - Zuri - Armani - Kamili
 
0.0.1 calf at Orana has been been confirmed as male. He has had a rough start to life and has fractured his lower back leg. The leg has been pinned and he was successfully introduced back to female Shira. From their social media: "Our precious little giraffe calf born Wednesday, – who is a boy btw! has sadly suffered a fracture to his lower back leg. Our amazing animal care and veterinary team have completed a procedure today to pin and support the fracture to heal. The wee man has been re-introduced to mum, Shira, and both will be taking some time over the long weekend to rest and recover off display. We will provide more updates on his progress next week. Thanks for your understanding."
 
0.1 calf at Perth Zoo born to female Kitoto has been named Zahara: "Say hello to Zahara. Zahara, which means blossom or blooming flower in Swahili and chosen from 14,000 entries submitted via our naming competition. What a blooming beautiful name."
 
Mr.Ivory said:
Nice every female counts. Hopefully this calf will be healthy
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The calf has got off to a good start - she was born healthy and has an experienced mother - with this being Kitoto’s third calf. I have every confidence she’ll thrive.

I’m more concerned for the newborn calf at Orana. There’s been a number of similar incidences (fractured legs) in giraffe calf’s across the world and the long term outlook usually isn’t good. I imagine the team are doing everything they can to give him a fighting chance, especially given the loss of his father last week.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
0.1 Mutangi at Taronga Western Plains Zoo has been identified as the world's oldest giraffe currently in captivity after looking at the relevant databases. She turns 31 this year and interestingly has had three sets of twins in her life: Meet Mutangi: the queen of Dubbo's herd and the oldest giraffe in captivity
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Giraffe Twins

Mutangi’s daughter at Auckland Zoo has also given birth to twins. Kiraka gave birth to male-female twins in 2016. The male calf died at birth; but the female calf, Kabili, has grown into a healthy young adult.

Kiraka’s reproductive life has been on hold since the zoo’s breeding bull died in 2017 - but the replacement bull is now old enough to breed. It will be interesting to see if either Kiraka or Kabili produce twins in the future as it’s obviously a gene that runs in their maternal line.

Kiraka and Kabili (mother and daughter)

Kiraka and Kabili (mother and daughter)

  • Media owner Zoofan15
  • Date added
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Photo taken 23/01/2021.

0.1 Kiraka (20/11/2009) Unnami x Mutangi
0.1 Kabili (31/12/2016) Zabulu x Kiraka
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
0.1 Ellie at Perth Zoo gave birth to a male calf on Saturday morning. Perth Zoo now have six (3.3) giraffe unless young male Inkosi has already moved to Monarto:

"On International Zoo Keeper Day and World Animal Day, we wanted to share some special news with you. At 3:30am Saturday morning, ‘Ellie’ gave birth to a male giraffe calf. As a first time mum, Ellie needs time and space to adjust to motherhood. She is naturally a nervous giraffe, so we need to take things extra slowly with her and her offspring. For the time being they are bonding in the giraffe nursery, with Ellie getting used to her son and learning how to nurse him properly. As some human mums will know, this is not always easy, and Ellie has had some difficulties over the past two days allowing her son to feed. But he is strong, tall (over 180cm) and our expert and dedicated team are continuing to support Mum, calf and the rest of the herd."
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The 1.0 calf at Perth Zoo has now been named Akiki. He is still being hand raised by keepers and is progressing well. Information from their social media page.
 
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