Mopani remaining with Kamari will indeed impact the latter's breeding potential.
It is a known quantity in the wild (where young wenend daughters move away from their mothers).
Australasian Rhino Population
- Thread starter WhistlingKite24
- Start date
It is a known quantity in the wild (where young wenend daughters move away from their mothers).
I feel like the region’s zoos have a greater awareness not just of the importance of separating mothers and daughter, but mixing up poorly performing herds.
Even amongst a pair of unrelated cows, it was once common to see one breed; and the other not - either due to estrus suppression or an aversion to the bull.
Nowadays, swaps of bulls are common and will surely lead to better reproductive results and increased genetic diversity long term.
Process in the breeding front but more awareness needs to be had holding bachelor bulls and expecting them to live together like bachelor elephants its not working well
Very true. I think this would be an accurate summary of lessons learned in captive Southern white rhinoceros reproduction and husbandry:
1. Cows exert estrus suppression on each other - especially within mother/daughter dyads. Unrelated females can also exert this on each other.
2. Bachelor herds do not work long term, even in the absence of cows - this will ultimately become an issue if more or equal numbers of male calves are produced compared to female calves.
3. Stimulant bulls have value - Many zoos (Auckland, Orana and Monarto) have had success with stimulant bulls, which motivate the breeding bull to mate with the cows. Olfactory exposure can be sufficient.
4. Juvenile association lessens reproductive interest - Many cows that have known the bull they’re paired with for breeding since they were a juvenile fail to mate with him once attaining adulthood.
5. Change is essential - a change of bull can induce cows that have ceased cycling to cycle again and can shake up estrus supression at least temporarily.
I believe whoever deemed putting bachelor bulls together really needs to have a rethink as its just not working and I wonder how much rhino savvy they have?
I suppose to be fair, bachelor herds work well with so many other ungulates that until it was trialled, there was no reason to suggest it couldn’t work with white rhinos - especially since they seem to work initially until two or more bulls within the unit reach maturity.
Going forward, it could still be used as a temporary holding strategy for juvenile bulls that have left their natal herds, but aren’t yet ready to go into a breeding placement. This covers a period of their lives between the ages of around 3-10 years and has been undertaken by several zoos within the region, with some of those bulls then progressing to heading up breeding herds.
Affirmative, I could not have put in more succinctly.
Swanson02
Well-Known Member
I discussed this topic on the future of Melbourne Zoo thread but I was wondering what people's opinions were on the Greater one-horned rhinoceros breeding program at Dubbo and which facilities it could expand to next.
This especially pertains to Hari, who I assume we would all prefer to remain in Australasia after he reaches maturity. Perth has stated their possible intentions of acquiring Indian rhinoceros as a replacement for their elephants but whether this comes to fruition is uncertain. I could also see either Werribee or Monarto acquiring him as they both are open-range zoos of a similar ilk to TWPZ. Melbourne could be another option but ZoosVic like ZoosSA seem to be more focused on expanding operations at their open-range zoo than their inner-city location. Hari could even end up in New Zealand, Hamilton has to date done amazingly well with their White Rhino breeding program maybe their expertise/luck can be carried over to Indian rhinos as well?
This especially pertains to Hari, who I assume we would all prefer to remain in Australasia after he reaches maturity. Perth has stated their possible intentions of acquiring Indian rhinoceros as a replacement for their elephants but whether this comes to fruition is uncertain. I could also see either Werribee or Monarto acquiring him as they both are open-range zoos of a similar ilk to TWPZ. Melbourne could be another option but ZoosVic like ZoosSA seem to be more focused on expanding operations at their open-range zoo than their inner-city location. Hari could even end up in New Zealand, Hamilton has to date done amazingly well with their White Rhino breeding program maybe their expertise/luck can be carried over to Indian rhinos as well?
I can confirm Hamilton Zoo has no intentions of acquiring this species. They’re working to a very basic masterplan that aspires to nothing of this level. It’s a shame though given their success with Southern white rhinoceros.
I see Melbourne Zoo as the most likely option (in place of their elephants), but your idea of Werribee could be more fruitful as a breeding facility given they’re an open range zoo. Eventually they could be the breeding facility long term with Melbourne holding a surplus bull - though they don’t feature in Werribee’s masterplan at this point in time.
I’m wondering if Dubbo will retain Hari for a few years. They have the space and breeding hasn’t been as prolific as other zoos that have held this species. Stimulant bulls can be of great assistance, so he could fulfil this role, while other zoos pursue the import of founders.
I find it way more likely that if Hari was to be moved to Zoos Victoria, he would be sent to Melbourne as a replacement for their Elephants. Yes, Werribee does have space, but don't really need him if that makes sense. Melbourne does; they need a suitable replacement for such an iconic and well known animal like their Asian elephants. Melbourne have the space available.
Long term, breeding could be moved to Werribee, and Melbourne could play a role similar to San Diego in the US (a bachelor facility for surplus bulls).
I believe the original idea at Dubbo was to hold two pair’s of Indian rhinos but for some reason it never went further. There really needs to be better long term planning when bringing in a new to the country species just like the bongos and some other species, it’s really pointless just bringing in a tiny founder base and a few years later wonder why little progress has been made for said species, it smacks of bad planning and management
I’ve heard that also. Although the role of a stimulant bull cannot be underestimated, zoos have achieved results with a founder base of 1.2 Indian rhinoceros (e.g. Whipsnade), so even importing a second female would have been advantageous.
Your idea works better from the perspective of a regional breeding programme though as a pair could then be formed from first generation offspring to the respective pairs - as well as first generation females being able to be bred back to the other (unrelated) founder bull.
Werribee Zoo Rhino Update:
I've received some updates regarding Werribee's rhinos.
They're holding their six rhinos across two groups.
Group One:
I've received some updates regarding Werribee's rhinos.
They're holding their six rhinos across two groups.
Group One:
- Make (1984)
- Kifaru (2009)
- Kipenzi (2013)
- Letaba (1992)
- Sisi (1996)
- Umgana (1988)
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I could not really see any problems for Perth zoo or any other Australian zoo acquiring them as I believe breeding as a whole has been almost stopped in European zoos due to lack of new holders while here in Aussie we still only have the one adult pair plus the resent baby.
It’d be good to see Werribee establish a successful breeding pair in Kifaru and Kipenzi. They’re both in their reproductive prime and the absence of cycling females will surely give Kipenzi the best chance. This will hopefully lead to the birth of Werribee’s first rhino calf in a decade.
Meanwhile, Kifaru’s sister is breeding well at Auckland Zoo. Moesha never performed well reproductively, but her daughter is certainly compensating.
It’d be nice to see the next zoo to acquire this species import an unrelated pair. It’ll be a decade before Hari can breed and importing another pair or two across the region’s zoos would eventually mean new rhinos don’t have to be sourced at every generation.
If there’s sufficient surplus in Europe, Dubbo could look at importing a second female. Several zoos in Europe have successfully bred from females in herds containing two or more adult cows.
I believe it was dubbos original plan to hold two pairs. The San Diego safari park house quite a few animals together and have bred many calf’s
Whipsnade have similarly experienced success with two breeding females; though few can compare to the success experienced by the herd at Basel Zoo (from which Dubbo’s bull descends).
One of their cows (Joymothi) first gave birth in 1956 at the age of five. She produced a total of ten calves. Her daughter (Moola) died at the age of 14, but had already produced five calves.
It’d be great to see more holders - especially amongst the region’s open range zoos, which could potentially hold herds rather than pairs depending on availability.
Initially Werribee attempted to introduce Kifaru to all three females, obviously which didn't work well. This was over two years ago. They then attempted to introduce Umgana into the mix, to hopefully stimulate Kifaru to mate but this didn't work as well.
Make who was separated from the group over three years ago has now been reintroduced to her granddaughter to create a smaller herd, whilst placing no disadvantages to both Kifaru and Kipenzi as she's post reproductive. Fingers crossed for a baby rhino very soon!
I’m not surprised that was unsuccessful given Kifaru was 10 years old and inexperienced. A herd of three cows, including adults would have been too much for him.
Something similar happened with his sire, Kruger, who arrived from South Africa as a 10 year old in 1999. He was introduced to an adult female from the same shipment, who took years to accept him.
Rhino herds seem to be most successful when bulls are either older/more experienced than the cows they’re integrating with; or at least equal in age and experience. Kifaru and Kipenzi are therefore the obvious choice.