Taronga Zoo Kodiak Bears. GOING GOING...3,2

C

Coquinguy

Well-Known Member
And then there was 1. Just a single Kodiak Bear at Taronga Zoo, Bethel, 31, remains to represent this species in the country following the death of her sister Cynthia last week from age-related athritis.
The good news is Bear Canyon is one bear away from being sun-bear territory.
 
.........and the bad news is that "real" bears (i.e. Ursus arctos) will no longer be seen in this country very soon.

It's a bit like saying that we don't need gorillas because we've got gibbons.
 
is it????? see i think it would be more like saying weve got crab-eating macaques, so we dont need langurs.
 
I can recall seeing an ancient syrian brown bear at the Adelaide Zoo last June. Apparently only about a month earlier its mate had died of old age, and so I assume that the remaining bear in Adelaide has subsequently also perished. So what is in the exhibit that used to house brown bears?

If Taronga moves its sun bears to the syrian brown bear exhibit after "Bethel" bites the dust, then what animal species will occupy the vacant sun bear enclosure? And will either exhibit be renovated, as the sun bears will surely need more climbing structures added to their enclosure.

In all of Australia is it true that of the 8 known bear species there will be only polar bears at Seaworld and sun bears scattered around the rest of the country? That's it until next year's giant pandas arrive? Does Melbourne Zoo still have a pair of syrian brown bears in that ugly grotto?

It's so different here in North America. Of the 219 AZA-accredited zoos I'm sure that at least 80% of them have one or more species of bear. I've been lucky enough to see 6 grizzly bears and probably around 20 black bears in the wild...but then again I don't have the opportunity to see kangaroos hopping around in local fields. Here bears are a dime a dozen in zoos and wildlife parks.
 
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the kodiak bear exhibit could easily suit the sun bears with additional logs. the exisiting sun bear enclosure is pretty lame and is going to be torn down anyway
 
There are of course the 3 European Browns at Canberra, and the recently moved Mogo Syrians up to Cairns. Are either of the ex-Perth Syrians still alive?
 
syrian brown bears

cairns had perths two, then the girl passed away now they have mogos two - so thats 3 for cairns
 
Don't get me wrong; I've got nothing against sun bears - they are very interesting and sure need help, the way they are treated in their native countries, but I think that to only have one species of bear generally on exhibit in Australia is about as reasonable as only having ONE species of big cat or ONE species of ape.

And before we start filling every bear enclosure with sun bears, we need to be reasonably sure we can get them to breed. Surely the bad old days when zoos took 20 individuals of a species in the hope that 1 or 2 might fluke a breeding success are over. I haven't seen too much breeding success with sun bears in zoos yet.

(Aw hell, I know I'm swimming against the tide here, but I just really like Ursus arctos, the same as patrick likes his jaguars. patrick is prepared to do without his jags. I'm not that noble.) :o
 
What did mogo put in it's bear exhibit? Why not send the kodiak down there and move the sun bears in to the empty taronga exhibit now?
 
The kodiak would probably die of strees, the 2 taronga had were sisters born in the states more than 30 years ago, making them extremely old by bear standards, and have a plague of age related health problems. they do not like chnage,especially these two.

When the male died, the electric fence was removed dwon the middle of the exhibit, to allow for more area, it took months just for one to cross over where the fence once was, and i beleive one bear never ever crossed to that side of the exhibit.

There would also now be no point in moving it. My guess would be sadley, the last remaining one will die within the next few months.

Mogo probably would not take the bear. it's not that easy saying- u take this bear we dont want it. Nor would mogo be appreciated as being a dumping ground for geriatic animals.
 
Ara said:
Don't get me wrong; I've got nothing against sun bears - they are very interesting and sure need help, the way they are treated in their native countries, but I think that to only have one species of bear generally on exhibit in Australia is about as reasonable as only having ONE species of big cat or ONE species of ape.
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Melbourne still has it's Syrian Bears, so its not as though Australia only has ONE bear species. Though is Melbourne intending to replace this species?
 
From memory,

Melbourne-1 male, 1 female

Cairns- 3- 2 ex mogo, cubs of above melbourne pair. 1 from perth i think, and recently lost a fourth.

Adelaide- 1 male

Canberra- 1 male, 2 females.
 
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triffle - melbourne are, last i checked, yet to make their intentions clear in regards to their commitment to sunbears, though since they have agreed to phase-out their brown bears i would consider in inevitable.
 
Zoo_Boy said:
The kodiak would probably die of strees, the 2 taronga had were sisters born in the states more than 30 years ago, making them extremely old by bear standards, and have a plague of age related health problems. they do not like chnage,especially these two.

When the male died, the electric fence was removed dwon the middle of the exhibit, to allow for more area, it took months just for one to cross over where the fence once was, and i beleive one bear never ever crossed to that side of the exhibit.

There would also now be no point in moving it. My guess would be sadley, the last remaining one will die within the next few months.

Mogo probably would not take the bear. it's not that easy saying- u take this bear we dont want it. Nor would mogo be appreciated as being a dumping ground for geriatic animals.
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You are probably right zoo boy, but who knows it could live for a bit longer then a couple of months. I am going to miss them when they are gone. Sun bears just don't have the WOW factor like the big kodiaks.
 
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patrick said:
triffle - melbourne are, last i checked, yet to make their intentions clear in regards to their commitment to sunbears, though since they have agreed to phase-out their brown bears i would consider in inevitable.
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Well thats a shame. i would have preferred to see bears in an Asian temperate forest as opposed to an extended Asian rainforest.
 
the other reason why the Kodiak should stay at Taronga is that, as flexible as their exhibit is for Sun Bears it was actually purposefully designed to accomodate the three aged Kodiaks.
heated sleeping quarters, easy access to the dens from the exhibit and heated rocks to reduce athritis. added to this a rigoruous health, fitness and nutrition regime which has extended these animals lives quite a bit.
its true the smaller sun bears dont have the wow factor of kodiak bears, but their endangered status and the fact they dont yet breed regularly is good enough reason to focus almost exclusively on this species.
at the moment we have 4 bears species/subspecies in the region....kodiaks, polar bears, syrian brown bears and sun bears.
in a few years time, would sun bears, giant pandas and polar bears be such a bad representation of this family????:rolleyes:
 
Australia is still missing out on american black bears, asiatic black bears, sloth bears and spectacled bears. Apart from one location with polar bears and one future location of giant pandas, there are just a scattering of ancient brown bears and the ubiquitous sun bears. The nation is an amazing marvel in so many ways, one being that it is the 6th largest country on the planet and yet it has only around 20 million people. Zoo fans "down under" should embark on trips to European or North American zoos, where there are heaps of bears of all varieties. On top of that, the range of large and small felines in North America is staggering. Some zoos have 15-20 different species of cat, while Patrick is still mourning the phasing out of jaguars...
 
yes, we should all jump on planes and fly to see zoos with bears, including polar bears, which are ironically threatened by climate change.
there is really only enough room to manage one species of bear sustainably in Australasia, the sun bear is a good candidate. sad as it may be for some that we dont have american black bears, im happy to know that at least by having sun bears a real difference is being made.
 
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