Australasian Spotted Hyena Population

Zoofan15 said:
My pleasure. :) Happy to help out and very excited for what the future holds for this species in the region.

I'm looking forward to new imports from Monarto and long term hope to see new holders (including New Zealand zoos) acquire this fascinating species.
Click to expand...
I agree, with a few significant transfers taking place recently, I’m excited to see what happens with hyena in Australia over the next few years.
 
akasha said:
I agree, with a few significant transfers taking place recently, I’m excited to see what happens with hyena in Australia over the next few years.
Click to expand...

There's a number of breeding pairs (most of them new), which is exciting as we'll either see existing packs expand or new holders emerge. The largest pack in the region is currently only four hyena, but the pair have been highly successful and may be bred again with the intention of increasing the pack size (since they're a well represented line).
 
Upcoming Holder - Hamilton Zoo

I visited Hamilton Zoo yesterday and was excited to hear from a volunteer that the zoo has plans to import Spotted hyena in the near future. They’re planned to replace African wild dog, which the zoo has experienced repeated failure in trying to breed.

This will make Hamilton Zoo the seventh holder in Australasia.

Looking at the regional population list, the obvious candidates appear to be Jaali and Majani at Monarto Safari Park. They’re two young males from a well represented line who can live out their 20-25 year lifespan at Hamilton Zoo as a cohesive pack:

1.0 Jaali (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe
1.0 Majani (15/01/2018) Gamba x Forest

Hamilton Zoo will be the only New Zealand holder (at least for the foreseeable) and it makes sense to send them a non-breeding pair rather than breeding cubs, which will then have to be returned to Australia. There’s already four breeding facilities in the region.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Upcoming Holder - Hamilton Zoo

I visited Hamilton Zoo yesterday and was excited to hear from a volunteer that the zoo has plans to import Spotted hyena in the near future. They’re planned to replace African wild dog, which the zoo has experienced repeated failure in trying to breed.

This will make Hamilton Zoo the seventh holder in Australasia.

Looking at the regional population list, the obvious candidates appear to be Jaali and Majani at Monarto Safari Park. They’re two young males from a well represented line who can live out their 20-25 year lifespan at Hamilton Zoo as a cohesive pack:

1.0 Jaali (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe
1.0 Majani (15/01/2018) Gamba x Forest

Hamilton Zoo will be the only New Zealand holder (at least for the foreseeable) and it makes sense to send them a non-breeding pair rather than breeding cubs, which will then have to be returned to Australia. There’s already four breeding facilities in the region.
Click to expand...
It’s to be exciting time in the coming years for Spotted Hyena with Werribee too looking to hold this species as well.

Im hopeful Werribee will take the initiative to import some new stock from overseas as the regions current population is quite small as it is.
 
Jambo said:
It’s to be exciting time in the coming years for Spotted Hyena with Werribee too looking to hold this species as well.

Im hopeful Werribee will take the initiative to import some new stock from overseas as the regions current population is quite small as it is.
Click to expand...

It’d be great if Werribee could import unrelated hyenas as the region only has one female unrelated to the Kigali line.

Monarto were fundraising to upgrade their hyena facilities to allow them to import from overseas, but the only new hyena since then have been the three males from Sydney Zoo. I’m hopeful they’re unrelated to the regional population (despite their Singapore origin).

Long term, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Orana Wildlife Park acquire Spotted hyena being New Zealand’s only open range zoo.
 
Possibility of Multiple Hyena Pregnancies at Monarto

First of all, a huge thanks to @Swanson02 for his comprehensive update on Monarto Safari Park. It included some very exciting news about the zoo’s Spotted hyena packs, including some potential pregnancies:

Singapore males, Endesha (2013) and Enzi (2013), have been paired with Monarto females, Kanzi (2017) and Fahari (2020) to create two pairs. It’s anticipated both females within these pairs could now be expecting.

Gamba (2003) and Forest (2007) remain together and may be expecting a litter. This will be their final litter.

With three litters potentially on the way, there are no planned imports at this stage.

Groupings are as follows (again, thanks to @Swanson02):

0.1 Forest (24/10/2007) Mwenka x Kigali
1.0 Gamba (02/03/2003) Imported 2007 (Singapore)
1.0 Jabali (26/08/2022) Gamba x Forest

1.0 Endesha (01/03/2013) Imported 2019 (Singapore)
0.1 Kanzi (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe

1.0 Enzi (01/03/2013) Imported 2019 (Singapore)
0.1 Fahari (03/11/2020) Gamba x Forest

1.0 Jaali (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe
1.0 Majani (15/01/2018) Gamba x Forest

1.0 Mkoko (13/07/2015) Gamba x Forest

Note: It’s unconfirmed if Mkoko lives alone or with Jaali/Majani.
 
Future Hyena Holders

It appears the next two holders (the seventh and eighth) in the region will be Hamilton Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo. I thought it’d be interesting to look at potential candidates for these facilities:

Hamilton Zoo:

Hamilton Zoo is easy to predict. It’ll be the only New Zealand holder, so it make sense to send young, non-breeding hyena on a one-way ticket. The obvious candidates are:

1.0 Jaali (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe
1.0 Majani (15/01/2018) Gamba x Forest

There’s a chance Mkoko (2015), may accompany them depending on whether he’s been successfully integrated with them (and remain on good terms). Hamilton’s exhibit will have the space to accomodate three hyena, but they’ll understandably want some level of assurance these three males will remain a cohesive pack.

Werribee Open Range Zoo:

They’re a little harder to predict as their exhibit will be approximately two years away and several pairings are expected to yield cubs within that timeframe. Since Werribee is expected to be a non-breeding holder, they’d likely want a pack of 3-5 hyena. My prediction is therefore:

0.1 Forest (24/10/2007) Mwenka x Kigali
1.0 Gamba (02/03/2003) Imported 2007 (Singapore)
1.0 Jabali (26/08/2022) Gamba x Forest

Plus offspring born 2023…(Forest may be expecting)

The intention is for Gamba and Forest to produce one final litter and then retire. This pack (including their 1-3 offspring) could be retired to Werribee. Combined with the export outlined above, this would allow Monarto to focus on their two additional pairings (currently 1.1 in each pack), which hopefully will have bred by then.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Monarto Safari Park - Birth Announcement

Twins were born to Forest on 17/11/2023 and 19/11/2023. The younger did not survive, but oldest cub is thriving and has been introduced to the sire, Gamba.

Baby Boom! We're Celebrating Giraffe and Spotted Hyena Births - Monarto Safari Park
Click to expand...
Great news to hear! Even though this will be Forest's last litter, she's certainly contributed a fair part to the regional breeding program. Hopefully we have litters from Kanzi and Fahari soon too!
 
Jambo said:
Great news to hear! Even though this will be Forest's last litter, she's certainly contributed a fair part to the regional breeding program. Hopefully we have litters from Kanzi and Fahari soon too!
Click to expand...

This cub is Forest’s ninth cub, which is a regional record of the modern age; and likely within a historical context also given decreased longevity of adults. In research, I did find evidence of them breeding throughout the 20th Century (at Wellington Zoo etc who bred Striped hyena).
 
Tigeanderson said:
What sex is the oldest cub and I send my condolences to forest and gamba on the loss of their younger cub.
Click to expand...

When they mentioned a stronger, vigorous cub, my mind jumped to female; but it’s an unknown at this stage. If they haven’t already, they’ll take a DNA sample at the first check up for testing since visual sexing is so unreliable in this species.
 
Swanson02 said:
Good to see, let's hope the other two pairs are expecting or at least close too, as I was told back in late September
Click to expand...

Yes, congrats on calling Forest’s pregnancy. It would be great to have a further two litters in the near future. To my knowledge, we’ve never had triplets in the region (at least not in recent decades). Twins are the most common, but our Singapore imports are triplets.
 
ApeLadyNZ said:
It will be exciting to see hyena. I'm not sure if any other NZ zoo has held them, or if so, it must have been some time ago.
Click to expand...

@ApeLadyNZ

It’s been decades since hyenas were held in New Zealand zoos:

History of Hyena in New Zealand Zoos

Auckland Zoo:

They appear on Auckland Zoo’s maps in the 1920’s through to the 1960’s.

They were absent in 1952, with an article a detailing the escape of an American black bear, which was “herded into the vacant hyena cage.”

In 1954, Auckland Zoo were noted to have two Spotted hyena and one Striped hyena, whose tail was bitten off by the former through the bars.

Wellington Zoo:

Wellington Zoo also held them during this time period. They imported a Striped hyena in 1938, which would have been one of many.
 
Zoofan15 said:
@ApeLadyNZ

It’s been decades since hyenas were held in New Zealand zoos:

History of Hyena in New Zealand Zoos

Auckland Zoo:

They appear on Auckland Zoo’s maps in the 1920’s through to the 1960’s.

They were absent in 1952, with an article a detailing the escape of an American black bear, which was “herded into the vacant hyena cage.”

In 1954, Auckland Zoo were noted to have two Spotted hyena and one Striped hyena, whose tail was bitten off by the former through the bars.

Wellington Zoo:

Wellington Zoo also held them during this time period. They imported a Striped hyena in 1938, which would have been one of many.
Click to expand...

That is certainly a long time ago - thanks for the information! It will be exciting to see them return to NZ, even if they are non-breeding groups.
 
ApeLadyNZ said:
That is certainly a long time ago - thanks for the information! It will be exciting to see them return to NZ, even if they are non-breeding groups.
Click to expand...

Yes, I’m tipping Hamilton’s imports to be:

1.0 Jaali (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe
1.0 Majani (15/01/2018) Gamba x Forest

Males typically form stable relationships long term and it’s easier to manage the fall out of two individuals than three or more.

What will be really interesting is if Orana Wildlife Park have any intention of importing them. This is the only scenario I see a New Zealand zoo breeding and in which case, imports from outside the region can’t be discounted (for either zoo).
 
marmolady said:
I did the lion tour at Monarto today, and two of the pairs are being merged to form a clan. Marjani and Jaali remain together, and the final clan consists of Forest, Gamba, Jabali, and the new cub.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. So groupings would be:

0.1 Forest (24/10/2007) Mwenka x Kigali
1.0 Gamba (02/03/2003) Imported 2007 (Singapore)
1.0 Jabali (26/08/2022) Gamba x Forest
0.0.1 Unnamed (17/11/2023) Gamba x Forest

1.0 Endesha (01/03/2013) Imported 2019 (Singapore)
1.0 Enzi (01/03/2013) Imported 2019 (Singapore)
0.1 Kanzi (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe
0.1 Fahari (03/11/2020) Gamba x Forest

1.0 Jaali (13/09/2017) Piltengi x Thandiwe
1.0 Majani (15/01/2018) Gamba x Forest

Mkoko will presumably be integrated with Jaali/Majani:

1.0 Mkoko (13/07/2015) Gamba x Forest
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top