Dublin Zoo Dublin zoo

As far as I lmow they plan on keeping both the only species that they have no plans for are any ursid species at the moment.
 
Shame for ursids. I would think Dublin would be good for either sun, sloth or spectacled bears.

I wish also it would choose between the Sumatran and the Siberians. Are they breeding from either (I seem to remember Sibs, but not entirely sure)? If a Himalayan/Eastern Asian aspect is there perhaps with snow leopards Sibs would be more suitable to the Collection and Masterplan????? :confused:
 
They have snow leopards and mating was seen recently so fingers crossed. They bred the sumatrans a few years ago but the female killed one or both cant remember. A breeding siberian male is being brought in. Dont know why they are not gutting any ursids. With the sloth bear studbook looking for new holders I thought they would have gone for them but aparently not. Id personally wish they would add some more islands to the lakes for more species in both the first half of the zoo and the one over in the african section. Maybe an island for baboons,colobus,mandrills or something similar and some islands with aviaries for vultures,bateleurs etc
 
I want more places to start keeping Sloth bears, they're so interesting.
Good that they want more places to keep them.
Are there many in Europe? I only know of Berlin zoo and Whipsnade keeping them, although I'm sure there's more.
 
So there's Whipsnade (ex London), Frankfurt and Berlin I think has 1...
That's not many :S
 
The ratio might benefit from another reproductively proven unrelated female. The current clan of 4.2 is a rather skewed and imbalanced one.

Although you are correct about the sex ratio, Dublin Zoo has an unrelated female from Stuttgart who arrived two years ago. She was the only Gorilla in Europe to be successfully introduced to an already established group that year. She is too young to breed at the moment. Lena, the dominant female, is ready to 'pop'. This will be her fifth baby. :D
 
I was just reminisicing about the opportunities for a more evenly balanced gorilla troupe once brought into a new setting. Regular gorilla troupes are basically silberback, perhaps a blackback and 3-4 females with offspring. A relocation to the new house and integration of a third proven and somewhat under-represented female in the troupe would obviously stabilise things and make it a better gorilla family.

I suppose it will not be long before the sub-adult male offspring will become a matter of concern to the silverback. At this time 1 or even the 2 eldest offspring will become surplus and be candidates for removal to a bachelor setting.

I just hope that it will be before long. Anyways, the new species coordinator has already been active on the front of balancing out several difficult groups (e.g. Blackpool, Duisburg and Muenster) and perhaps Twycross and Dublin could be next (as potentially also Belfast would be).

Another hope of mine: an active participation of the EEP Gorilla programme in re-establishment of gorillas in the Congo/Gabon reserves run by Port Lympne. I really do think they are a the cutting edge of bringing over surplus to the wilds while preservering population goals in the European programme. A sign that things are moviing is the very fact that recently PL was awarded the clouded leopard EEP. Perhaps similar thawing may be due on the gorillas before long ..........
 
Lena, the dominant female, is ready to 'pop'. This will be her fifth baby. :D

Has Lena produced another baby yet? Any details?

I've heard that the young female Mayani lives in the group but has no social contact as the others just ignore her so she just sits alone. Its likely to be because they are a closeknit family and whereas she is both handraised and a stranger. Hopefully things will improve when she becomes sexually interesting to the males.
 
I suppose it will not be long before the sub-adult male offspring will become a matter of concern to the silverback. At this time 1 or even the 2 eldest offspring will become surplus and be candidates for removal to a bachelor setting.

I think they still get on fine with the silverback 'Harry' (who is a rather odd male- acts depressed yet he breeds well). Only the eldest one(Kesho) is anywhere near being a problem agewise. He's 10 and would in some respects be suitable for Twycross's group. Though rather young to take on females, he has (importantly) lived with a younger male(his brother 'Alf) and there's an exactly same- aged male(matadi) at Twycross. Matadi's safety if a new male is brought in is an issue for them apparently.
 
mayani gets on very well with group,as been seen mating with harry although she is still to young,and every morning is sleeping with harry in the nest,the only time she sits on her on is when food is around,lens has still not poped,but she is not to far away!!
 
mayani gets on very well with group,as been seen mating with harry although she is still to young,and every morning is sleeping with harry in the nest,the only time she sits on her on is when food is around,lens has still not poped,but she is not to far away!!

Okay, that's good to know about Mayani and it sounds like I was told wrongly about her.
Does Kesho still get on well with Harry?
Do you have a timeframe for the new enclosure?
 
How is the lioness doing now that she is on her own? Are there plans to find her a new mate?
The lioness is doin well but she is 20 years old now and we dont plan to put her thru the stress of an introduction,when she dies we plan to bring in a potential breeding pride of asian lions to the zoo,we have 2 females waiting to arrive from warsaw.it would be very difficult to place her at another zoo at this stage of her life so we will just let her enjoy her retirement.
 
gorillas

harry and kesho,still get on well,kesho is turning into a very handsome gorilla,the new gorilla area should be finished i 14 yo 16 months tme
 
Looking at the google earth map of Dublin zoo, i took a look at the site for the new gorilla rainforest, on the site of the former white rhino enclosure.
This is going to be a massive development, a huge outdoor enclosure, with what could be the redevelopment of the rhino stabling into indoor housing.
My concern is for the outdoor enclosure and such a huge swathe of open paddock, i dearly hope that the management of the zoo follow up what they are saying by using the gorilla rainforest at melbourne zoo as their model.

Sunday Business Post | Irish Business News

And give the gorilla some sort of cover, to give the gorillas some feeling of security, rather than a huge expanse, with a few token climbing structures and mile after mile of hotwire.
This exhibit has all the makings of a truly world class gorilla exhibit, starting with a clean slate, and finally give the gorillas of Dublin, who have regularly reproduced against all the odds a worthy home.

http://www.dublinzoo.ie/dynamic/File/MAP.pdf
 
And just a postscript to the above notes, i would like to see the zoo move the neighbouring common hippo to Fota, and bring in a pair of pygmy hippo, or perhaps even attempt a mixing?
maybe a bit too ambitious
 
That looks like it might be a good idea. Mixing though? Would it work? I assume that the exhibit would be water moated, if they had hippos in the moat it could work. Not sure about the land area though.
 
Are there any updates on the new gorilla enclosure?

Does anyone know when the projected completion date is?
 
It would be fantastic if the hippos were let out onto the lake, however the water flows down into a public pond in the Pheonix park so contamination would be a problem. Pygmy Hippo would be a nice idea actually, a species I never thought of. I have heard that the Mangabey are going to be mixed with the gorilla and their old island will be a madagasgar island with ringtailed and b&W ruffed lemurs mixed. I think birds are overlooked in the zoo there are loads of opportunities for small aviaries throughout the zoo, even a black cheeked lovebird aviary in the plains would be nice. I am really looking forward to the new gorilla exhibit opening but it has been put on hold due to the slow down in the economy. I believe they are starting some planting this year so that there will be mature plants in the exhibit when it opens. It will be completed in the next three years.Young Kesho will probably have to be moved out before the completion however which is a shame really.
 
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