Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo history

steveroberts said:
Wow even Melbourne had Cheetahs for ages on top of their already incredible felid collection, every single big cat and pretty much the majority of available captive smaller wild felids not long ago
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Yeah I was really surprised. They’d had them for a long time prior to the Cheetah mentioned above.

4.1 young Cheetah were imported from De Wildt in 1983:

1.0 Claudius
Born in the wild (Transvaal) 01/01/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983 (via De Wildt)
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 08/03/1988

1.0 Bobby
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 03/03/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 29/10/1992

1.0 Caesa
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 30/05/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 30/10/1992

1.0 Augus
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 04/06/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 22/11/1985

0.1 Octav
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 04/06/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 08/03/1988

Though this quintet never bred at Melbourne, they at least got the sex ratio right - providing the female with several males to choose from. The limited space and proximity to apex predators would have inhibited breeding unfortunately.

You’ll recognise Claudius as the Cheetah who later ended up at Perth.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Yeah I was really surprised. They’d had them for a long time prior to the Cheetah mentioned above.

4.1 young Cheetah were imported from De Wildt in 1983:

1.0 Claudius
Born in the wild (Transvaal) 01/01/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983 (via De Wildt)
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 08/03/1988

1.0 Bobby
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 03/03/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 29/10/1992

1.0 Caesa
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 30/05/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 30/10/1992

1.0 Augus
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 04/06/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 22/11/1985

0.1 Octav
Born at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre 04/06/1983
Arrived at Melbourne Zoo 07/10/1983
Sent to Taronga Western Plains Zoo 08/03/1988

Though this quintet never bred at Melbourne, they at least got the sex ratio right - providing the female with several males to choose from. The limited space and proximity to apex predators would have inhibited breeding unfortunately.

You’ll recognise Claudius as the Cheetah who later ended up at Perth.
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Thanks for all of that interesting info!

Was Octav the mother of the males born in the 80's then?

Re. Werribee's individuals, Nakuru and Ovambo were then replaced by another pair of brothers (born at Monarto I believe). One of the males was named Inkosana, although I can't remember the name of the other. They arrived in 2004 I believe, so it's possible Twombe was sent to Melbourne after proving incompatible with those males.
 
dylan downward said:
Idk if anyone would but does anyone have photos of the old ape ghetto, big cat alley and seal exhibits at Melbourne I think it was around early 2000s
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There’s a photo here of a black leopard housed in Big Cat Alley:

Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images

This is one of their chimpanzees, which were housed at the zoo up until 1993:

Melbourne Zoo Victoria Australia High-Res Stock Photo - Getty Images

There’s some photos of their Jaguar here (2008), scroll through to see more photos: Rough Love

This photo of the old Hamadryas baboon exhibit may also be of interest (photo taken 2009 by @PAT):

upload_2023-3-6_17-43-31.jpeg
 

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dylan downward said:
Idk if anyone would but does anyone have photos of the old ape ghetto, big cat alley and seal exhibits at Melbourne I think it was around early 2000s
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See the Melbourne Zoo in the 80's thread. It has some of the old ape grottoes that I found.
 
Jambo said:
Thanks for all of that interesting info!

Was Octav the mother of the males born in the 80's then?
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You’re welcome :)

Octav never bred. She was a full sibling of Augus, who sired those cubs born in the 1980’s, but zoos did breed related animals so I made sure to double check.

Augus bred with a female named Marah. Their offspring were:

01/10/1986: 0.0.2 (died at 10 days)
24/01/1987: 1.0 (died at 11 days)
11/06/1987: 3.0 (Tsavo, Kibo and Mikumi)
22/10/1988: 2.0 (Nakuru and Ovambo)

Marah bred with Claudius to produce 3.1 cubs born 30/11/1989 (Asante, Etosha, Kariba and Malindi).

Augus then bred with a female named Ali. Their offspring was:

10/01/1995: 0.0.1 (died at 0 days)

Augus then bred with a female named Dani. Their offspring were:

31/08/1995: 0.0.1 (died at 0 days)
24/12/1995: 0.0.2 (died at 0 days)

All these cubs were born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
 
Jambo said:
Re. Werribee's individuals, Nakuru and Ovambo were then replaced by another pair of brothers (born at Monarto I believe). One of the males was named Inkosana, although I can't remember the name of the other. They arrived in 2004 I believe, so it's possible Twombe was sent to Melbourne after proving incompatible with those males.
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The Cheetah you refer to were indeed born at Monarto Zoo on 12/05/2003. They were named Kaidi and Inkosana and were transferred to Werribee in January 2005. They died in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Twande (born 1995) was imported from Fossil Rim in 1996 along with his two littermates (both males). They were named Sasa and Haraka and lived at Werribee from 1996 until their deaths in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

I would assume Twande lived with his brothers until he was briefly loaned to Perth; as his separation would have made it difficult to reintroduce him and he later transferred to Melbourne, while Haraka remained at Werribee.
 
Zoofan15 said:
The Cheetah you refer to were indeed born at Monarto Zoo on 12/05/2003. They were named Kaidi and Inkosana and were transferred to Werribee in January 2005. They died in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Twande (born 1995) was imported from Fossil Rim in 1996 along with his two littermates (both males). They were named Sasa and Haraka and lived at Werribee from 1996 until their deaths in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

I would assume Twande lived with his brothers until he was briefly loaned to Perth; as his separation would have made it difficult to reintroduce him and he later transferred to Melbourne, while Haraka remained at Werribee.
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Werribee actually have a decent sized off display yard, so would've presumably been able to accommodate two groups of Cheetah.

It's a shame Werribee haven't looked into breeding the species. They have the space.
 
Zoofan15 said:
The Cheetah you refer to were indeed born at Monarto Zoo on 12/05/2003. They were named Kaidi and Inkosana and were transferred to Werribee in January 2005. They died in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Twande (born 1995) was imported from Fossil Rim in 1996 along with his two littermates (both males). They were named Sasa and Haraka and lived at Werribee from 1996 until their deaths in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

I would assume Twande lived with his brothers until he was briefly loaned to Perth; as his separation would have made it difficult to reintroduce him and he later transferred to Melbourne, while Haraka remained at Werribee.
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Did any of these males breed with Lula during the 2000s? From memory she was quite a prolific breeder, but I may be getting her mixed up with another female, and this may have been at Monarto, rather than Werribee.
 
Abbey said:
Did any of these males breed with Lula during the 2000s? From memory she was quite a prolific breeder, but I may be getting her mixed up with another female, and this may have been at Monarto, rather than Werribee.
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No cubs have ever been bred at Werribee. I will check today whether Lulu had any cubs at other facilities, as she did move around a lot.

I was quite impressed with Augus and Marah on that note. Augus sired seven litters to three different females, which is impressive considering how selective females are; while Marah produced five litters with two males.
 
Zoofan15 said:
There’s a photo here of a black leopard housed in Big Cat Alley:

Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images

This is one of their chimpanzees, which were housed at the zoo up until 1993:

Melbourne Zoo Victoria Australia High-Res Stock Photo - Getty Images

There’s some photos of their Jaguar here (2008), scroll through to see more photos: Rough Love

This photo of the old Hamadryas baboon exhibit may also be of interest (photo taken 2009 by @PAT):

View attachment 609382
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Thanks for that photo. It was taken after the enclosure was renovated. Prior to that it consisted of four(?) enclosures each with a different species of baboon. On the extreme right (when facing the enclosures) was a smaller enclosure for badgers, it was always a good day at the zoo when the badgers were visible. On the extreme left, I can remember when I was a kid, there was a small encolsure for domestic rabbits and guinea-pigs. Rumour was they were for snake food.
 
Abbey said:
Did any of these males breed with Lula during the 2000s? From memory she was quite a prolific breeder, but I may be getting her mixed up with another female, and this may have been at Monarto, rather than Werribee.
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Zoofan15 said:
No cubs have ever been bred at Werribee. I will check today whether Lulu had any cubs at other facilities, as she did move around a lot.
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I looked it up and were two Lula’s. We’ll call them Lula 1 and Lula 2.

Lula 1 was born 02/01/1996 at Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre.

Lula 2 was born 21/04/1996 at Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre.

They both arrived at Monarto Zoo 24/04/1999.

Lula 1 was sent to Werribee 19/03/2002. She later returned to Monarto. Lula 1 gave birth to one cub (gender unknown) at Monarto Zoo 29/10/2004. The cub died 07/11/2004.

Lula 2 was a highly successful breeder. She gave birth to four litters at Monarto totalling 16 cubs:

3.0 cubs in May 2003
4.4 cubs in September 2004
2.2.0 cubs in March 2005
0.0.1 cub in April 2006

Lula 2 lived at Monarto continuously from her import in 1999 until her death on 01/09/2009.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I looked it up and were two Lula’s. We’ll call them Lula 1 and Lula 2.

Lula 1 was born 02/01/1996 at Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre.

Lula 2 was born 21/04/1996 at Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre.

They both arrived at Monarto Zoo 24/04/1999.

Lula 1 was sent to Werribee 19/03/2002. She later returned to Monarto. Lula 1 gave birth to one cub (gender unknown) at Monarto Zoo 29/10/2004. The cub died 07/11/2004.

Lula 2 was a highly successful breeder. She gave birth to four litters at Monarto totalling 16 cubs:

3.0 cubs in May 2003
4.4 cubs in September 2004
2.2.0 cubs in March 2005
0.0.1 cub in April 2006

Lula 2 lived at Monarto continuously from her import in 1999 until her death on 01/09/2009.
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Thanks for this. I didn't realise there were two Lulas, born at the same facility and both imported to Monarto no less!
 
Abbey said:
Thanks for this. I didn't realise there were two Lulas, born at the same facility and both imported to Monarto no less!
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Even though names are irrelevant from a studbook/ZIMS perspective, I can only assume the keepers had a different house name for one of these females to avoid confusion within a husbandry context.

They both gave birth within a month of each other in 2004, so there would have otherwise been countless opportunities for confusion over which Lula they were referring to when pairing them for breeding, discussing protocols around the impending births etc.
 
MRJ said:
Thanks for that photo. It was taken after the enclosure was renovated. Prior to that it consisted of four(?) enclosures each with a different species of baboon. On the extreme right (when facing the enclosures) was a smaller enclosure for badgers, it was always a good day at the zoo when the badgers were visible. On the extreme left, I can remember when I was a kid, there was a small encolsure for domestic rabbits and guinea-pigs. Rumour was they were for snake food.
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Are you able to inform me what species of baboon were held? Obviously hamadryas and I’m assuming olive, but what other the other 2? Possibly chacma and yellow?
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Are you able to inform me what species of baboon were held? Obviously hamadryas and I’m assuming olive, but what other the other 2? Possibly chacma and yellow?
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The baboon row held Mandrill, Olive baboon, Chacma baboon, Hamadryas baboon and Gelada over the years.

Gelada were still at Melbourne Zoo until the 1980’s; and I can confirm Chacma baboon were there until the construction of the Gorilla Rainforest.
 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
Oh I'd love for them to bring back Gelada baboons!!!
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I’d love to see a return of Chacma baboon. They were once widespread throughout zoos and circuses within the region; but several zoos phased them out in favour of Hamadryas baboon. It would be fascinating to observe a large troop and the social dynamics - with matrilineal dominance hierarchies not otherwise seen in Hamadryas troops.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I’d love to see a return of Chacma baboon. They were once widespread throughout zoos and circuses within the region; but several zoos phased them out in favour of Hamadryas baboon. It would be fascinating to observe a large troop and the social dynamics - with matrilineal dominance hierarchies not otherwise seen in Hamadryas troops.
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All those species are awesome. Felids are very under appreciated in my opinion, and chacma baboon just can’t go wrong. Realistically would love to see the return of all those species, but that’s certainly off the table and would happen at WORZ if anywhere. Does anyone know why they phased out gelada, chacma baboon and olive baboon?
 
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