zooboy28
Well-Known Member
No its not true, I don't know what I'm talking about, as per usual. Auckland has bred females, but I don't think there are any surviving now, as there is only one female left, presumably the original female?
Birds In New Zealand Zoos
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
No its not true, I don't know what I'm talking about, as per usual. Auckland has bred females, but I don't think there are any surviving now, as there is only one female left, presumably the original female?
I would assume the Auckland female is the original one, yes. I think the female at Wellington was killed by her mate. What happened to the Hamilton female?
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
I dont know what happened to the Hamilton female, but apparently there were two! The first (or at least the first I have records for) dropped off the census between 10/8/2006 and 18/5/2007, leaving the zoo with 1.0, however at the next census (14/5/2008) they were up to 2.1, so presumably recieved a pair from Auckland. By 2011, they were down to 1.1, then to 1.0 before they recieved the Franklin male. So Auckland's pair have been very productive, but most of their offspring have not been very long-lived.
the original Hamilton Zoo pair came from Auckland in May 2006. From your figures it looks like the female died, they got another pair from Auckland (to make 2.1), then the spare male went to Franklin Zoo, their new female died, and then finally they got the Franklin male back again.
Wellington's female came from Auckland in September 2003.
Neither Hamilton or Wellington bred any, and Auckland retains only their original female (probably). So by my count Auckland has bred at least three females (two to Hamilton and one to Wellington) and at least six males (two that went to Hamilton, I think two to Wellington, the one now at Brooklands, and at least two or three I think to Singapore). All from the same pair. I was just trying to find out when they first imported that pair, but the furthest back in time I got was that there was a chick in 2002.
Wellington's female came from Auckland in September 2003.
Neither Hamilton or Wellington bred any, and Auckland retains only their original female (probably). So by my count Auckland has bred at least three females (two to Hamilton and one to Wellington) and at least six males (two that went to Hamilton, I think two to Wellington, the one now at Brooklands, and at least two or three I think to Singapore). All from the same pair. I was just trying to find out when they first imported that pair, but the furthest back in time I got was that there was a chick in 2002.
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
I don't know when they imported these birds, the zoo maps for that period only show "exotic birds" with no more details. The book "A Tiger by the Tail" lists Brolga on the 1992 species list, but presumably the current pair are not that old??? They are noticably absent from the 1979 guidebook, and I can't see them on the maps from the 1980s either. So if they are a long-lived species (which I don't know), the current pair may have even arrived in the late 1980s or early 1990s?
Cranes are very long-lived birds, with ages well into the 50s and 60s not uncommon in captivity. One of the oldest known birds was a Siberian crane at 83 years old. Brolgas have been documented into their 40s, so the Auckland pair could easily have arrived at the zoo prior to 1992 and still be in good breeding condition.
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
Certainly a possibility, there was a male on display in the zoo's Australian Outback exhibit in 2008 at least (according to this thread: http://www.zoochat.com/266/brolga-21221/), but I don't recall seeing one on my 2011 visit (nor at Jurong), and can find no evidence of the bird being present now.
there was supposed to be at least two males going to Singapore in 2002 or 2003, but I don't know if they actually went (or how many), hence my phrase "I'm reasonably sure..." -- I'm not 100% ceratin it went ahead but I think it almost certainly did.
I wonder if there's something wrong with Auckland's pair because few of their offspring seem to live terribly long (in terms of how long cranes should live for).
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
Ok, so according to Auckland Zoo's facebook page, the male brolga was born in 1982 and the female in 1991, both at Melbourne (presume Zoo, but could be Healesville I guess). Don't know when they arrived, or if they arrived together, but given there were brolga at the zoo in 1992, I suppose the male arrived first and the female a bit later.
That makes the male 31 years old and the female 22, so they should have a good number of years left. That they both came from the same place may suggest they are related, leading to potential problems in offspring, but it seems unlikely to me that such problems would appear after only a couple of generations of captive inbreeding.
I have updated the initial list to include changes in the thread. Feel free to point out any errors.
I've made some changes to the first post, including adding scientific names and adding spacing between lines to make it easier to read, added several more waxbill/finch species (although I have my doubts as to whether they are in the country or not), and added some extra information here and there like import dates for some of the zoo exotics.
I found this advertisement for a Hyacinth Macaw being sold in Auckland, but it does not look real to me: Blue Hyacinth Macaw parrots for sale FOR SALE ADOPTION from Auckland @ Adpost.com Classifieds > New Zealand > #9157 Blue Hyacinth Macaw parrots for sale FOR SALE ADOPTION from Auckland ,free,classified ad,classified ads
no, it is not real. Note, for example, the price of $300, which is missing all the rest of the zeros which would be attached to the end if it were real.
no, it is not real. Note, for example, the price of $300, which is missing all the rest of the zeros which would be attached to the end if it were real.
Exactly what I was thinking.
These sorts of adverts appear all over the World. They are scams. You see them even on local 'animals/pets for sale' websites too, among the genuine adverts.. Mainly they are for small toy and 'cute' breeds of Dogs, and for Parrots. Price is often unbelievebly low (the hook), and adverts are frequently identifiable by the badly worded English. Many of these scams originate in Eastern Europe though I am not sure exactly how they work- but you obviously don't get rare parrots for the prices stated.
Chlidonias, do you know when Orana Park lost their Australian Pelican(s) and Kalij Pheasant(s)?
not specifically. The last pelican I saw was in the late 1980s I think so it would have been around then. They started with three and what I was told at the time was that they died of selenium deficiency.
I've never seen kalij at Orana to my recollection, although I did see Swinhoe's pheasants there. In the 1970s and 1980s they had quite a lot of aviaries (various pheasants, brush turkeys, a lot of parrots, talpacoti doves, things like that). I can't remember exactly what was there. Almost all the aviaries had gone by the late 80s. By 1995 when I was working there, there were just two left, for sulphur-crested cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets (I think there may have been a rosella or two in those as well, and maybe a king parrot), but the cluster of new native aviaries had been built by then. There were some budgies and canaries in the petting zoo area too.
A call to Nga Manu has revealed that they no longer hold Orange-fronted Kakariki.
they only had one female, and I don't know that it was ever on display. Last time I was there it was definitely off-show. I *think* it might have been a retired breeder, and it could well have died of old age (kakariki don't have terribly long lifespans).
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
Apparently the oldest animal at Melbourne Zoo in 2012 was a Brolga that arrived in 1966 (making it at least 46 years old). I wonder if this was a parent of either of the Auckland birds.