Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2017

I think the death of Kibabu (40 years old this year) at Mogo Zoo will prove the biggest catalyst for change. I think his daughter Kipenzi (2011) will be transferred to Melbourne Zoo to join her sister, Kimya (2005) in a breeding troop, and their mother Kriba (1979) will join them as a non breeding female. This will isolate Yuska, so maybe she will then join G-Anne at Mogo Zoo and they will import Motoba from Werribee (if still alive) to form a non breeding troop. Either Yakini or Ganyeki will be exported to Europe and the remaining male could then be joined by young females to form a breeding troop at Werribee.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I think the death of Kibabu (40 years old this year) at Mogo Zoo will prove the biggest catalyst for change. I think his daughter Kipenzi (2011) will be transferred to Melbourne Zoo to join her sister, Kimya (2005) in a breeding troop, and their mother Kriba (1979) will join them as a non breeding female. This will isolate Yuska, so maybe she will then join G-Anne at Mogo Zoo and they will import Motoba from Werribee (if still alive) to form a non breeding troop. Either Yakini or Ganyeki will be exported to Europe and the remaining male could then be joined by young females to form a breeding troop at Werribee.
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That would be a really nice proposition for the ZAA?
Hear, hear, ... hear!
 
Macey the Hamadryas Baboon has given birth:

Baby baboon on board at Melbourne Zoo

Melbourne Zoo keepers are welcoming the newest arrival to the hamadryas baboon troop.

The offspring Melako was born on May 20 at the zoo to an "excellent mother" Macey who has already raised three young at Wellington Zoo, keepers say.

The baby baboon is named after a northern Kenyan tribe involved in a campaign, Beads for Wildlife, which helps women to create income streams.

Melako's father Jabari was born at Prospect Park Zoo in New York, and he and his half-brother Azizi arrived in Melbourne in 2012 to introduce new genes into the breeding program.

The newest arrival will be shown off to the media on Thursday.

He joins a troop of 20; with 13 female baboons in the mix, and the second youngest Juju was born in May 2015.

The species is listed as threatened on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list.

The animals are native to Somalia, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with links dating to Egypt, and are skilled climbers enabling them to scale steep cliffs to escape predators.
 
Another couple of articles on the Hamadryas Baboon baby:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...n/news-story/04c8efb82c0c0bf83eafd21815696814

Melbourne Zoo welcomes first baby boy baboon:

A bouncing baby baboon has been welcomed by visitors at the Melbourne Zoo after being born on May 20.

Newborn male Melako and mum Macey are both healthy and happy, entertaining visitors as the baboon bub finds his feet in the enclosure.

“He’s only five days old but growing up quickly,” said primate manager Harna Burton.

“He’s holding onto mum pretty tightly but looking around, crawling up and down and sometimes even being put down.”

Hamadryas baboons are known as incredibly social primates and the new addition to the family is causing some adjustment.

“Half-sister Juju is very interested and sticking close-by, but most of the other primates are keeping a watchful eye or pretending they haven’t noticed at all,” said Ms Burton.

While Melako is only the second baboon born at Melbourne Zoo since 2000, Ms Burton says keepers will be busy with another baby two months away.

“To have two babies in one year is really exciting and it shows our baboons are very comfortable in their environment.”


Hamadryas Baboon Birth | Zoos Victoria

Hamadryas Baboon Birth:

A Hamadryas Baboon was born on 20th May, the second baboon birth at Melbourne Zoo since 2000.

Mother and son are doing extremely well. Macey is proving to be an excellent mother, with previous experience of raising three babies at Wellington Zoo. Jabari, the baby’s father, is one of two young males born at the Prospect Park Zoo in New York.

Jabari and his half-brother Azizi came to Melbourne in 2012 with the aim of introducing new genes into the breeding program. The two young males have different mothers but were sired by the same father.

There are now 20 individuals in the baboon troop: seven males and 13 females.

The new baby has been named Melako, after the Melako Conservancy in northern Kenya where the women are involved in our Beads for Wildlife campaign. The only other youngster in the group is Juju, born to Huddo in May 2015. As Huddo was an inexperienced mother, Keepers had to step in to assist, which has not been the case with Macey.

Hamadryas Baboons display a complex and active social life, with a status hierarchy and virtually constant interaction among group members.

The opening of their exhibit Baboon Lookout in 2011 was a major milestone for Melbourne Zoo, as it enabled the removal of an old and outdated exhibit and provided great opportunities for the group to display their natural behaviours.
 
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I'm presuming the Hamadryas at Melbourne have been contracepted over the last decade or two if this is only the second birth since 2000. Of course they will breed like flies otherwise- nothing to do with 'being happy in their environment'...
 
Zorro said:
Wish they were breeding like flies not that many in the region these days!
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Who has Hamadryas other then Melbourne and Perth? Disappointing that a large active group-living species isn't encouraged more as a display.
 
Pertinax said:
Yakini would probably have to leave Australasia to have a female group, but as Ya Kwanza's son Mapeema has nine offspring in Germany, this genetic line is pretty safe I think. Yakini's half-brother Ganyeki is perhaps more important genetically than Yakini as on his mother's side he is the only offspring of G.Anne, herself the only(?) offspring of wildcaught parents, but again he would need to go outside Australasia.
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That's a very similar approach to the SSP in North America; looking at the heritage and genetics of each animal to see which animals are qualified for breeding
 
tetrapod said:
Who has Hamadryas other then Melbourne and Perth? Disappointing that a large active group-living species isn't encouraged more as a display.
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Darling downs zoo in Queensland has a breeding troop also they imported two females from Poland a few years ago. The Wildlife HQ also in the state have a small group.
 
Wellington Zoo in NZ does too (at least, they did six years ago).

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
Wellington Zoo in NZ does too (at least, they did six years ago).
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Wellington is getting rid of their baboons - sorry, "phasing out". Most have their former troop have already been exported to Australia. I gather they are going to be replacing them with a walk-through lemur enclosure.

Auckland Zoo still has hamadryas too.
 
Adelaide and Crocodylus both have Hamadryas too - Adelaide's group is breeding. I think the region has over 50 Hamadryas baboons - so not a small number (by regional standards) at at least 8 zoos (listed above).

I suspect breeding is probably limited to prevent excess offspring that cannot be rehomed.
 
zooboy28 said:
I suspect breeding is probably limited to prevent excess offspring that cannot be rehomed.
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Almost certainly why Melbourne haven't had births since 2000. But they've put a 'spin' on the news about the recent births as if they were a rarity- which they are, but its deliberate...
 
Pertinax said:
Almost certainly why Melbourne haven't had births since 2000. But they've put a 'spin' on the news about the recent births as if they were a rarity- which they are, but its deliberate...
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Agreed, as it's a significant zoological achievement. As mentioned, Hamadryas baboons breed well in cptivity, a female can give birth every 22 months on average and aren't expecially hard to breed from what I've seen in most zoos. The Auckland Zoo troop has produced several offspring since it's establishment 8 years ago and when not on contraception, the Wellington Zoo troop had baby booms in the early 2000s and again around 10 years later. It also appears they're celebrating it's birth as a male (as the previous infant born was female), however as Wellington Zoo has recently discovered, rehoming males is far more challenging than rehoming females. With an excellent male:female ratio and hopefully more female births, Macey's son should be a welcome addition to the troop that can stay at Melbounre Zoo long term.
 
Farewell Yonaton | Zoos Victoria
Primate Keepers bid a sad farewell to much-loved icon Yonaton, the male Mandrill.

Yonaton arrived a Melbourne Zoo on September 2000 from the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem in 2000.

He will be remembered for his stunning colouration which stood out spectacularly as he moved around his rainforest exhibit.

Melbourne Zoo Veterinarian Dr Sarah Firth says 'Yonaton was known to have spinal arthritis which was discovered on x-rays during a health check in 2012. He was started on pain relief at this time. At first he did not appear affected by this arthritis but then he started showing signs of spinal pain in 2013 requiring ongoing pain medication until now.'

Recently Yoni’s pain appeared to worsen and his medications needed to be further increased to try to control his symptoms. This week, the vets and primates team had two meetings to discuss Yonaton’s quality of life, concluding yesterday that he was no longer responding to medication so the decision was made to say goodbye.

Yonaton was considered geriatric at 22 years old. Captive life expectancy for mandrills is in the range of 20-30 years.

He will be sadly missed by our staff and Melbourne Zoo visitors.

Farewell Yoni!
 
Astrobird said:
Primate Keepers bid a sad farewell to much-loved icon Yonaton, the male Mandrill.
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that's not good news. Melbourne only had one male. Adelaide only has one male. Tasmania Zoo had the retired male from Adelaide but he died in 2015. Those are the only three places in Australasia that have mandrills.
 
Sad news indeed. Adelaide has one of his daughters and have a fairly young reproductive group, but with Melbourne now holding two elderly females and Tasmania Zoo holding a single elderly female, the future of this species in the region isn't looking that great.

I hope Adelaide takes the initiative to import some new bloodlines as required, which may inspire other zoos to acquire or reacquire this species.

I really don't understand the lack of interest in this species. The mandrill is endangered, fits in with the African rainforest theme going on in many zoos, is extremely charismatic, not to mention being the world's most colourful mammal. What more do zoos want!?
 
Whereas it is sure sad and unfortunate, I do believe it is not too hard to acquire males from Europe. As far as import restrictions, not so much ... I thought.
 
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