Current Mammals In New Zealand Zoos

zooboy28 said:
Thanks for the update, although most of the changes are deletions, which is rather sad. Hopefully some more additions soon (in addition to next months arrivals!).

The only thing I note is that, along with Orana's Addra, Auckland Zoo's lone Red Kangaroo hasn't been spotted for a while, and they are also down to one Parma Wallaby, which is a phase out species too.
Click to expand...
yes it is mostly deletions with an occasional move between/to zoos. Barely ever anything new to add. (The bird list is even worse for that, although at least there the deletions will always be very few because most are well-established in private hands).

I wasn't sure if Auckland's red kangaroo was their only one. They really should get more wallabies to compliment the devil enclosure. Wellington's Australian section is advertised to have parma and tammar wallabies, so that's something.
 
Chlidonias said:
yes it is mostly deletions with an occasional move between/to zoos. Barely ever anything new to add. (The bird list is even worse for that, although at least there the deletions will always be very few because most are well-established in private hands).

I wasn't sure if Auckland's red kangaroo was their only one. They really should get more wallabies to compliment the devil enclosure. Wellington's Australian section is advertised to have parma and tammar wallabies, so that's something.
Click to expand...

I think they really should get some echidnas to complement their devils! The Parmas were in the area which had a digger in it the last time I went, so if they are down to one of a phase out species, I doubt it will be displayed again, unless its put back into the main walkthrough (which I imagine it will).

I'm most interested to see what they do with the aviaries that were down there, especially the big cockatoo one, hopefully that gets some attention and some nice species, and isn't demolished.
 
and Jumbo has left the building! The African elephant at the ex-Franklin Zoo is now at San Diego Zoo in the USA.
 
small edits to the list have been made:

DELETIONS:
*I have removed African elephant from the list now that Jumbo is at San Diego
*I have removed addra gazelle from the list as it appears the last one at Orana is no more
*I have removed Auckland from the red kangaroo holdings as it appears their last one is no more (the species is still at Orana)

ADDITIONS:
*I have added Tasmanian devil for Wellington (and soon to be Auckland and Orana) [http://www.zoochat.com/17/tasmanian-devils-new-zealand-327683/]
 
A couple of changes to the list:

Additions: four Tasmanian devils now at Auckland Zoo.

Deletions: the last two African hunting dogs at Wellington Zoo were put to sleep this week due to old age. They plan on importing a new pack this year.


I have also added an appendix to the bottom of the mammal list on page one. It is as below:

APPENDIX
Since this list was first started in 2010 there have been several species lost to NZ collections and a few new ones gained. They are as follows.


MAMMALS LOST TO NZ ZOOS SINCE 2010:

*African Elephant (Loxodonta africana): the only one in NZ was exported to San Diego Zoo (USA) in November 2013 following the closure of Franklin Zoo in April 2012. The elephant (Jumbo, later renamed Mila) had been in NZ since 1978 as a circus elephant. Since November 2011 she was housed at Franklin Zoo.

*Collared Peccary (Pecari tajacu): the last three in NZ were put to sleep due to old age in May 2011 at Wellington Zoo. They were the remnants of a formerly large NZ and Australian population derived entirely from one pair imported to Wellington Zoo from Canada in 1969. The only ones left in Australasia are at Adelaide Zoo and Melbourne Zoo.

*Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus): the last ones died of old age at Hamilton Zoo in 2010.

*Addra Gazelle (Nanger dama): the last one probably died of old age at Orana Park in 2012. It had been off-display for many years and was the remnant of an import by Orana Park in the early 1990s which never prospered.

*Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus): formerly common in NZ zoos and circuses. The last two individuals were at Auckland Zoo (via Franklin Zoo) and Zion, both dying of old age in 2011.

*Vervet (Chlorocebus pygerythrus): the last individual died of old age at Pouakai Zoo in 2012. Their stock was originally imported from Perth Zoo in 1994.

*Emperor Tamarin (Saguinus imperator): after the initial import in February 2008 of a pair to Wellington Zoo from Zoo Osnabrück in Germany (via Melbourne Zoo, Australia), the female died, another female was imported in July 2011 from Paignton Zoo (UK) and then died, and finally the last individual (the male) was exported to Mogo Zoo (Australia) in mid-2013.

*Asian Golden Cat (Catopuma temminckii): several animals were imported from Australia between 1999 and 2008, to Auckland Zoo and Hamilton Zoo. Although there were several births the cats never prospered in NZ and the last three individuals were exported to Europe in early 2011.



MAMMALS NEW TO NZ ZOOS SINCE 2010:
(Just missing out by date were Dingo to Wellington Zoo in 2008, Nyala to Wellington Zoo in late 2009, and Fishing Cat to Hamilton Zoo in late 2009)


*Pigmy Marmoset (Cebuella pygmaea): one pair first imported by Wellington Zoo in July 2010 from Banham Zoo (UK), with the first birth occurring in October 2010. In January 2011 Auckland Zoo imported a female from Twycross Zoo (UK) and a male from Mogo Zoo (Australia). In February 2011 three more (a mother and two sons) were imported by Wellington Zoo from Newquay Zoo (UK), two of which were then transferred to Hamilton Zoo. There have been multiple births in NZ from these imports.

*Bolivian Squirrel Monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis): thirty individuals were imported from France by Wellington Zoo in February 2012. The monkeys were divided between Wellington Zoo, Auckland Zoo and Brooklands Zoo. There have been many births since the importation.

*Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisonii): four individuals imported by Wellington Zoo in December 2013 and four by Auckland Zoo in April 2014. Orana Park to follow. They are advocacy animals, surplus from the Australian breeding programme.
 
Last edited:
Chlidonias said:
*Blackbuck -- Hamilton
*Sitatunga -- Hamilton
*Springbok -- Auckland; Orana
*Addra gazelle -- one left at Orana (off display)
*Sable -- Orana
*Scimitar-horned oryx -- Orana
*Common waterbuck -- Hamilton; Orana
*Nyala – Wellington
Click to expand...
zooboy28 said:
And I think there is a good chance that Orana no longer have their last Addra Gazelle, it is no longer listed on the census.

The number and location of antelope (not so much the cattle and goats) does not paint a very stable or promising future for many of these species in New Zealand zoos.

Going:
-Sitatunga: 1.3 at Hamilton, not likely to be bred again, will disappear in the next 10-15 years.

Uncertain Future:
-Springbok: 1.3 at Auckland, not being bred, 6.8 at Orana seem stable, hopefully can persist for a fair while.
-Blackbuck: 5.11 at Hamilton, large herd, breeding well and stable, but obviously having all animals in one location poses risks regardless of numbers. I'm not sure how likely it is that Hamilton Zoo will keep this species indefinitely, success with Nyala might well see the Blackbuck replaced.
-Sable Antelope: 1.2 at Orana, hopefully these can be bred, but importation urgently needed, fingers crossed for planned import this year from North America.
-Scimitar-horned Oryx: 4.1 at Orana, obviously in major danger of imminent extinction in NZ, importation urgently needed, fingers crossed for planned import this year from North America.
-Waterbuck: 0.3 at Hamilton, 3.4 at Orana, meaning a male for Hamilton would be great, but this may require importation if Orana's males are related, which seems highly likely given Hamilton's animals originated there.
-Nyala: 2.3 at Wellington (the only ones in Australasia), but seem to be doing well given they have only recently been imported. Despite the large number of other antelope species present in the region, especially the larger ones (kudu, eland, oryx, etc), almost all of which desperately need new blood and more spaces, Nyala are the highest priority antelope species in the region, with 113 spaces dedicated across the region, including 21 more in New Zealand. It is very frustrating that other species cannot get support of even 25 spaces (minimum viable population size) across the region, but this species has all these spaces saved with little chance of very many being filled in the forseeable future.

Overall, within ten years it seems likely that the four big zoos will all hold Nyala, as imports see this species establish well here, with Hamilton Zoo also holding Waterbuck (and maybe Blackbuck), and Orana preserving Springbok, Oryx, Sable and Waterbuck.
Click to expand...
the total numbers of antelope in NZ as of December last year – pretty depressing!

*Blackbuck: 6.4 at Hamilton
*Springbok: 1.2 at Auckland (post-reproductive and male castrated) and 4.6 at Orana (I think the males mostly castrated)
*Common Waterbuck: 2.2 at Orana and 0.3 at Hamilton (from Orana)
*Nyala: 1.4 at Wellington
*Scimitar-horned Oryx: 2.1 at Orana (at least one of the males being castrated)
*Sable: two females at Orana
*Sitatunga: two females at Hamilton (post-reproductive)
 
Chlidonias said:
the total numbers of antelope in NZ as of December last year – pretty depressing!

*Blackbuck: 6.4 at Hamilton
*Springbok: 1.2 at Auckland (post-reproductive and male castrated) and 4.6 at Orana (I think the males mostly castrated)
*Common Waterbuck: 2.2 at Orana and 0.3 at Hamilton (from Orana)
*Nyala: 1.4 at Wellington
*Scimitar-horned Oryx: 2.1 at Orana (at least one of the males being castrated)
*Sable: two females at Orana
*Sitatunga: two females at Hamilton (post-reproductive)
Click to expand...

Very depressing indeed. And no sign of any imports happening :(
 
what happened to all the female Blackbuck? their future seems grim with those sort of numbers. Are they kept in 2 groups, a breeding group and an all male group?
 
They certainly used to be kept in two groups, but I don't know if they still are or not. The numbers have definitely dwindled :(
 
I have now done a major re-write of this NZ Mammal list to include origin data for every species currently held in NZ. There are a few gaps obviously, but I have done as complete a job as I can. For the widely held (i.e. common) species the data is mostly rather general but for a lot of species I could be quite specific as to origins.

I have also made a companion list of formerly-held species: http://www.zoochat.com/17/former-mammals-new-zealand-zoos-1980-a-371116/
 
Last edited:
Servals at Zion

The last Serval at Zion was Zoe she died around mid July 2012 (approximately) she was aged 14 years old. There are no longer any servals at Kingdom of Zion (Formerly Zion Wildlife Gardens) Both animals (Silas and Zoe) were born at Pouakai Zoo in New Plymouth:)
 
AskAlice said:
The last Serval at Zion was Zoe she died around mid July 2012 (approximately) she was aged 14 years old. There are no longer any servals at Kingdom of Zion (Formerly Zion Wildlife Gardens) Both animals (Silas and Zoe) were born at Pouakai Zoo in New Plymouth:)
Click to expand...
thanks for that. I wasn't going to put where the "gone" servals had come from - I only put it in for Orana Park's ones because they were kept off-display for almost a decade (so most people wouldn't have even known the zoo had them) whereas Zion's, Franklin's and Pouakai's were all on-display. However if I can find out where the others came from I can add it all in just for interest's sake.

EDIT: I have just added in the last year each zoo had them (except for Pouakai because I couldn't find that date).
 
Last edited:
Astrobird said:
what happened to all the female Blackbuck? their future seems grim with those sort of numbers. Are they kept in 2 groups, a breeding group and an all male group?
Click to expand...

They are kept in 2 groups, the males (3? adults & 2 juveniles born at Hamilton) are on display in the Savannah paddock while the females & 1 male are mostly off display though sometimes have access to the paddock where the Sitatunga live.
 
Chlidonias said:
*Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) – Hamilton; Wellington

The first chimps at Wellington were a group of three female “tea-party chimps” imported from London Zoo (UK) in 1956, followed by four males in 1957. These animals later formed the basis of the zoo's breeding group (all the original “tea-party” chimps are now dead). The group at Hamilton results from six animals transferred from Auckland in 2004 (see below), plus two females from Adelaide Zoo (Australia) in 2008. Chimps were formerly also kept at Auckland Zoo, the last one (Janie) dying of old age in 2013: she was the last of four “tea-party chimps” imported to Auckland from London Zoo (UK) in 1956. A second group of four London Zoo “tea-party chimps” was imported in 1959 (now all dead). In 2004 Auckland's breeding group of six “non tea-party” chimps was sent to Hamilton (this group was descended from Auckland's former [1959] “tea-party chimps”once they became adult, and a couple of imported animals from Taronga Zoo in Australia). Willowbank had a family trio of chimps (ex-circus stock), the father and daughter of which went to Mogo Zoo (Australia) in 2009 (the female had already died by then).
Click to expand...

Do you know the history of Wellington's chimps? I believe most of the ones in the current group are somehow linked with Taronga (some of the breeding females in the group came from Taronga I think).
 
Jabiru96 said:
Do you know the history of Wellington's chimps? I believe most of the ones in the current group are somehow linked with Taronga (some of the breeding females in the group came from Taronga I think).
Click to expand...
several of the chimps at Wellington did indeed come from Taronga. I'm not sure how I managed to miss that out of the bit I wrote!

See this thread for birth dates at which zoo: http://www.zoochat.com/17/chimpanzees-23496/ (the thread is a few years old and more babies have been born at Wellington since then).
 
Jabiru96 said:
Thanks for that.

So pretty much all of the current breeding females at Wellington were born at Taronga.
Click to expand...
that is correct (the breeding females at Wellington are Taronga-born; the breeding males are Wellington-born).

Note also that there is a mistake in the list on the chimp thread I linked to. Gombe was born at Wellington in 1993 (he is now at Monarto), not born at Taronga in 1988.
 
Last edited:
Cassidy Casuar said:
An "update" on the state of the Pere David's Deer at Mt. Hutt Station:
More to Mt Hutt than just snow | Stuff.co.nz
Click to expand...
cool, thanks for that. The relevant bit of the article:
Mt Hutt Station is home to New Zealand's only herd of pure pere david's deer. About 100 were imported to New Zealand in 1984-85, but numbers dwindled and when they arrived at Mt Hutt Station only 12 remained, including at one stage just one stag.

"Numbers have taken off and we are now up to about 50. We have taken them out the far end and they are doing well.

"They were in one mob, but last year the skifield was blasting snow, causing an avalanche which destroyed several fences. So they are now in three different mobs in three different paddocks," said Bruce.
Click to expand...

I have seen on some NZ hunting sites that they are a species available for "canned hunts", but I think hybrids are probably used for those and not the pure ones (and that is only my assumption).
 
and while I'm here, a couple of changes to the thread previously:

*Wellington's male Golden Lion Tamarin died in August, leaving them with just a female.

*Orana imported two female North African Crested Porcupines last year to go with their old original female. They are intending to import a male to breed.

*I added Mesopotamian Fallow Deer to the list because I discovered that there are a couple of dozen in NZ (originally imported by a deer farmer in the 1980s). They are pure stock, unlike those in Australia which are all hybrids created by inseminating European Fallow Deer with imported sperm of Mesopotamian Fallows.

*Wellington has Caracals!!! They will be going on display in about a week's time.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top