Species such as Lions, Giraffe and even Brazilian Tapir should be moved to Monarto. Adelaide is only 20 acres (incredibly small) and the collection should be focused on smaller, rainforest type species.
Australasian Leopard Population
- Thread starter Zoofan15
- Start date
Species such as Lions, Giraffe and even Brazilian Tapir should be moved to Monarto. Adelaide is only 20 acres (incredibly small) and the collection should be focused on smaller, rainforest type species.
Swanson02
Well-Known Member
I was told that was the plan 10 years ago for Adelaide, in general, to focus on 'Tropical Asia' and Monarto 'Africa', that's why Sri Lankan leopards were in Adelaide's master plan as a replacement for their lions. However, the mention of the zoo losing its lions and giraffes created an uproar across Adelaide. Pandas, Tigers, Lions, Giraffes, and Orangutans are Adelaides major species losing 40% of those species would not be a good business decision. Adelaide apparently did research into this and found that there still remained a fair portion of their local visitors who rarely/don't visit Monarto. Thus losing lions and Giraffes would be catastrophic. Monarto is an hour's drive away from the city and for some people, that is too much (2 hour round trip). They also interestingly discovered in their research a new subset of Monarto's visitors who don't/no longer visit Adelaide. I assume these would be the more moderate AR types, who perceive Adelaide's lack of space to equal an abusive organization (without maybe realizing Monarto are part of the said organization).
ZoosSA had a great dilemma on its hands it had both the region's largest and smallest lion and giraffe exhibits so to any layman who has visited both zoos the comparison was bad. So for Adelaide, I assume it was either move their remnant lions and Giraffe to Monarto and suffer the loss in visitors or use the little space they had and expand into areas of the zoo once bookmarked for 'Asian' species. Thus this new 'mini' Africa was born.
Personally, I agree with you all on Adelaide moving their African megafauna to Monarto. From the sounds of it, the keepers at Adelaide do too, but they realize above all that it is a business decision.
I believe at least the giraffes should go they need the leg room. No pun intended
Adelaide could become more like Jersey zoo with a focus on the smaller and more endangered species they could fit in quite a few there and become a real poor house for small animal conservation work and sell that to the public.
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I agree, although having Lions and Giraffes only at Monarto would create an even bigger drawcard and point of difference for Monarto, who otherwise have been lacking visitors.
A one hour drive is still quite a long way, especially for young families, and even tourists who are only visiting the city.
I think Giraffes could (theoretically) remain, even though they take up a fair bit of space. Lions are a no brainer decision to be completely moved to Monarto though, especially as Adelaide also has Tigers, and potentially Leopards as well.
I believe at least the giraffes should go they need the leg room. No pun intended
Adelaide could become more like Jersey zoo with a focus on the smaller and more endangered species they could fit in quite a few there and become a real poor house for small animal conservation work and sell that to the public.
I fully agree on the basis of allocating more room to large ungulates and species that need it alone; but furthermore it allow the zoos to specialise in different geographical areas - ideally those not represented within the region.
While every zoo has an African Savannah and South East Asia precinct, Zoos SA has the opportunity to focus on Eastern and South Asia; as well as South America through their diverse collection held across their two facilities - with each playing to their strengths.
I believe a growing trend over the next decade will be Monarto catering largely to the international market. Given the space they have available and the progressive plans we’ve seen outlined to date, it’s no exaggeration to say they’re on track to becoming one of the best zoos in the world. With international travel resuming, a whole new market will soon open up and the safari park is recognised as a reputation.
Even as Monarto’s reputation grows, I don’t expect Adelaide’s population to greatly increase their visitation. The majority of Adelaide’s visitors are families wanting to entertain their kids by letting them run around a zoo and Adelaide ticks that box, while being on their doorstep.
Kestrel
Well-Known Member
It wouldn't be impossible to try and import leopards straight from Sri Lanka, they would be a good addition to the breeding programme since most of leopards in captivity in Sri Lanka at the moment are rescues / orphans from the wild. There have been several trades between zoos in Australia and the Dehiwala zoo, which means it wouldn't be that hard to come to a future agreement regarding the importation of leopards.
It be great to have some wild born founders, but at the moment it appears the region has a surplus of Sri Lankan leopards. Two zoos hold breeding pairs, with a further 2.0 and 1.1 offspring held at those zoos and there’s been no interest to date from a third holder within the region.
Our Sri Lankan leopards are coordinated via the EAZA EEP, so any import from Sri Lanka would have to be coordinated with them. If it were possible possible to do so, there could be some interest given the first generation offspring would be easy to place throughout Europe - so definitely something to consider.
Leopard Population - 2022/2023 Summary
2022 Summary:
The highlight of the year was the birth of the 1.1 Sri Lankan leopard cubs at Darling Downs Zoo in March. This litter included the first female Sri Lankan leopard born in Australia. The two cubs have thrived and are meeting all their milestones.
The two other leopard holders in the region have maintained their populations of 1.0 and 3.1 respectively.
2023 Summary:
With the litter at the National Zoo now aged two years old; and Darling Downs Zoo’s litter aged nine months old, they’ll hopefully be opportunities for some of these cubs to move on to new facilities in 2023.
I have no information on what facilities may have an interest in these cubs, but it’d be nice to see a breeding pair formed between the unrelated first generation cubs of the founder pairings.
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Please note: This summary will be followed next month by a full population list update.
2022 Summary:
The highlight of the year was the birth of the 1.1 Sri Lankan leopard cubs at Darling Downs Zoo in March. This litter included the first female Sri Lankan leopard born in Australia. The two cubs have thrived and are meeting all their milestones.
The two other leopard holders in the region have maintained their populations of 1.0 and 3.1 respectively.
2023 Summary:
With the litter at the National Zoo now aged two years old; and Darling Downs Zoo’s litter aged nine months old, they’ll hopefully be opportunities for some of these cubs to move on to new facilities in 2023.
I have no information on what facilities may have an interest in these cubs, but it’d be nice to see a breeding pair formed between the unrelated first generation cubs of the founder pairings.
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Please note: This summary will be followed next month by a full population list update.
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Australasian Leopard Population 2023
Leopards are held across three facilities in Australasia - one holds a generic leopard and the other two hold Sri Lankan leopards.
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Generic Leopard Population
Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary, New Zealand:
1.0 Mandla (01/10/2002 Heythrop Zoological Gardens) Imported 2005
Total regional population: 1.0 leopards
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Sri Lankan Leopard Population
National Zoo and Aquarium, Australia:
1.0 Ankesh (13/08/2016) Imported 2019
0.1 Yakalla (20/05/2011) Imported 2019
1.0 Asanka (24/12/2020) Ankesh x Yakalla
1.0 Chatura (24/12/2020) Ankesh x Yakalla
Darling Downs Zoo, Australia:
1.0 Ecko (16/07/2016) Imported 2021
0.1 Maysha (13/03/2017) Imported 2021
1.0 Unnamed (26/03/2022) Ecko x Maysha
0.1 Unnamed (26/03/2022) Ecko x Maysha
Total regional population: 4.2 leopards
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Leopards are held across three facilities in Australasia - one holds a generic leopard and the other two hold Sri Lankan leopards.
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Generic Leopard Population
Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary, New Zealand:
1.0 Mandla (01/10/2002 Heythrop Zoological Gardens) Imported 2005
Total regional population: 1.0 leopards
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Sri Lankan Leopard Population
National Zoo and Aquarium, Australia:
1.0 Ankesh (13/08/2016) Imported 2019
0.1 Yakalla (20/05/2011) Imported 2019
1.0 Asanka (24/12/2020) Ankesh x Yakalla
1.0 Chatura (24/12/2020) Ankesh x Yakalla
Darling Downs Zoo, Australia:
1.0 Ecko (16/07/2016) Imported 2021
0.1 Maysha (13/03/2017) Imported 2021
1.0 Unnamed (26/03/2022) Ecko x Maysha
0.1 Unnamed (26/03/2022) Ecko x Maysha
Total regional population: 4.2 leopards
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Sad news from Darling Downs Zoo:
From socials:
Our beautiful Sri Lankan Leopard cub, Chaturi, has died. She was just 10 months old and had become an integral part of our lives in that short time.
She had started to have the occasional fit and then, last week, went off her food. She died during an exploratory veterinary procedure.
A post mortem has revealed that she had a massive cyst in one kidney and that the second kidney was seriously compromised. Only a transplant much earlier in her life could have saved her.
Fortunately her brother, Banduka, continues to thrive and is awaiting advice from the global Species Coordinator as to where his forever home will be.
From socials:
Our beautiful Sri Lankan Leopard cub, Chaturi, has died. She was just 10 months old and had become an integral part of our lives in that short time.
She had started to have the occasional fit and then, last week, went off her food. She died during an exploratory veterinary procedure.
A post mortem has revealed that she had a massive cyst in one kidney and that the second kidney was seriously compromised. Only a transplant much earlier in her life could have saved her.
Fortunately her brother, Banduka, continues to thrive and is awaiting advice from the global Species Coordinator as to where his forever home will be.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Banduka from Darling Downs Zoo transfer to a non breeding facility, who wish to hold a single male; while the National Zoo will have the choice to transfer out their two young males or retain them, with their breeding pair transferring to a facility who wish to breed.
I’d be surprised if we see a new founder female imported so soon to breed with one of the first generation males. Breeding programmes aim to extend the intergenerational gaps, so it’d be smarter to either breed with the first generation males several years from now; or maintain them in non breeding facilities with their younger siblings breeding.
I wouldn't be surprised if national zoo retain their pair and breed again. Transferring out there older litter. A pair with babies are a better financial return through visitation than none breeding pair of brothers. That way they will better recoup the expenses of importation.
More babies will be a good thing, and it will be interesting to see what other zoos show an interest in them. Taronga for example would be mad to not get them, and its not like they don't have the room around the zoo. And they would fit perfectly with their collection. In an ideal world they could do away with that terrible airplane and sumatran village just before the tigers and put them there.
Most of the cubs born to our current two pairs will probably be sent overseas, especially if the zoo wishes to breed their pair again (which is very likely).
Taronga would be a good choice to acquire them. If mesh was applied to the current Bongo enclosure, that would be another suitable location for them.
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It would be fitting since they used to have a fake leopard in the tree there.
It would be a shame to export what could be a good founder base so early on. I imagine for a big cat they are not heavy on the space requirment and leopards are popular with the public.
A lot of my non zoo fanatic relatives always talk about the old days where you could see leopards and jaguars in zoos. Having tiger, lion and leopard at Taronga would be a great fit especially once the elephants leave.
It would be fitting since they used to have a fake leopard in the tree there.
It would be a shame to export what could be a good founder base so early on. I imagine for a big cat they are not heavy on the space requirment and leopards are popular with the public.
A lot of my non zoo fanatic relatives always talk about the old days where you could see leopards and jaguars in zoos. Having tiger, lion and leopard at Taronga would be a great fit especially once the elephants leave.
Interest has been surprisingly low, though I’m hopeful some new holders will arise in the near future. From the perspective of the breeding programme, it’d be better for the first generation offspring we have in the region to go into non breeding situations and their younger siblings be paired for breeding (either in Australia or in Europe).
I’d assume these pairs were allocated to Australia with this in mind as opposed to giving us more genetically valuable leopards where the return of their offspring will be required ASAP.
The fake leopards still there actually!
I agree, but obviously there has been any interest in the region (besides Adelaide). Melbourne has Snow Leopards as their designated 'Leopard species', but there certainly should be some interest from Taronga and even Perth. The smaller zoos (like Mogo) are also options, but not sure if they have the space/resources at the moment.
Leopards were similarly popular at Melbourne and Auckland Zoo, both of which had an extensive history of breeding them throughout the 20th century. I’m hopeful both zoos (especially Melbourne) will consider them in the future. Though not as showy as the Snow leopard, they’re a charismatic species nonetheless.