Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2023

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steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

Didnt actually know about the Otter escapes only the poor Red Pandas like the late Kesari :(
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Yes, there’s been a number of otter escapes - the most famous being Jin, a female born at Auckland Zoo in 2003. She escaped her exhibit in 2006 and was found a month later on island off the coast of Auckland.

Auckland Zoo had a female red panda named Maya that escaped twice that I know of. Her son Badal met the same fate as Kesari the same week he transferred to Hamilton Zoo.
 
Zoofan15 said:
From what I can find, they have a social grouping of five males that participate in shows. I’m not sure if they have a female/breeding group in addition to these males. I’m hoping the females they exported to Melbourne Zoo a few years ago wasn’t them shifting to holding a single sex group. :confused:

Tapei Zoo hold them, but don’t appear to have bred since 2013.
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Are the females in Europe able to breed or are they desexed? What if some of those went to Singapore to breed with the 5 males, with offspring being sent to us (maybe even with more European females)? I know this probably won't happen, but just an idea - I really don't want to lose coatis from the region before I have even seen one yet!
 
Osedax said:
Are the females in Europe able to breed or are they desexed? What if some of those went to Singapore to breed with the males, with offspring being sent to us? I know this probably won't happen, but just an idea - I really don't want to lose coatis from the region before I have even seen one yet!
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I believe they use separation of the sexes as a means of population control in Europe, but no European zoo has bred for around a decade, so their population would likely be post reproductive/elderly.

When the ban came into effect in 2016, that was our chance to import them. Instead Melbourne Zoo bred a bunch of them in 2011 and called it a day. :rolleyes:
 
Zooish said:
No chance of further imports from Singapore I'm afraid, at least for now. There are currently 6.1, all are elderly and presumably past/near the end of breeding age.
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That’s unfortunate. I think at this at point we have to conclude Melbourne Zoo will be phasing out the coati. It’s regrettable there wasn’t initiative from other zoos to import them when there was the opportunity to do so to establish a sustainable population.

Even inbreeding the stock we had (there were multiple options for pairing half siblings) would have been preferable to allowing them to die out imo. Inbreeding isn’t ideal, but zoos do it often enough with felids, ungulates and chimpanzees.
 
Zooish said:
No chance of further imports from Singapore I'm afraid, at least for now. There are currently 6.1, all are elderly and presumably past/near the end of breeding age.
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I guess they will soon be gone from zoos worldwide, with the breeding ban in Europe, and almost every individual being elderly :(. Hopefully the region decides to import White-nosed Coatis.
 
Osedax said:
I guess they will soon be gone from zoos worldwide, with the breeding ban in Europe, and almost every individual being elderly :(. Hopefully the region decides to import White-nosed Coatis.
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They're reasonably well represented in the US - presumably because of the prevelance of South American species in their collections. But yes, a phase out in Europe is confirmed and it appears Australasia and Singapore will follow.
CGSwans said:
I'm coming to this rather late. What is the back-story with a breeding ban in Europe? Is it potential for invasiveness?
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Yes, I believ it's due to the potential for them to escape and establish themselves as an invasive species. For this reason, only castrated males are permitted in Tasmania.
 
Zoofan15 said:
They're reasonably well represented in the US - presumably because of the prevelance of South American species in their collections.
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Were you saying Ring-tailed Coatis are common in the US, or White-nosed Coatis? I know that the White-nosed is very common there, but have never heard anything about the Ring-tailed species in North America.
 
Osedax said:
Were you saying Ring-tailed Coatis are common in the US, or White-nosed Coatis? I know that the White-nosed is very common there, but have never heard anything about the Ring-tailed species in North America.
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I was referring to Brown-nosed coati (the species in Australia). They’re held at several US facilities including the Cape May County Zoo, Alexandria Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Elmwood Park Zoo, Ponderosa Zoo and Naples Zoo to name a few.
 
Osedax said:
So could we import them from the US then?
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I believe so. I‘m not aware of imports being restricted to approved countries like they are with Bovid imports and other species that have required an IRA in recent years. The US is a hassle to import from compared to Europe and Singapore, so I’d assume that’s the reason we’ve previously gone the Europe/Asia route.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I believe so. I‘m not aware of imports being restricted to approved countries like they are with Bovid imports and other species that have required an IRA in recent years. The US is a hassle to import from compared to Europe and Singapore, so I’d assume that’s the reason we’ve previously gone the Europe/Asia route.
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So there is still some hope left
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Of the 2 mentioned species, what would be your guys’ preference in an ideal world. Ofc it’s be nice to have both but if it was hypothetically one or the other
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The Brown-nosed coati is a more attractive species imo and my personal preference; but for pragmatic reasons, my vote would have to be for the White-nosed coati.

White-nosed coati are held in abundance throughout the US zoos and several litters have been produced in 2022/2023. This gives me total confidence we’d have no issues sourcing them down the line versus a species held in a smaller number of zoos, with less breeding.
 
Elephant calves crate training:

A post on socials notes the three elephant calves (now aged 7-9 months) have begun crate training ahead of their move to Werribee next year.

What an exciting year ahead for Australasia’s elephant population - with Werribee hopefully being the first of two new holders in 2024. :)
 
marmolady said:
Melbourne Zoo has announced the tragic loss of nine-year-old elephant bull, Man Jai, from EEHV. Truly sad news; the virus is just ghastly in its impact.
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Man Jai (2013-2023)

This is tragic news - particularly given Man Jai was approaching his tenth birthday in December and was fast approaching young adulthood (EEHV outbreaks being more common in calves).

Man Jai is the second elephant in the region to die from EEHV, following on from Tukta (2010-2018). It’s a sad end to Melbourne’s otherwise successful breeding programme ahead of their transfer to Werribee next year. I have no doubt everyone shares my hopes the latest cohort of calves will remain unaffected by this devastating virus that sadly remains prevalent in this species.

My thoughts are with Man Jai’s keepers and all who knew him. I still vividly remember the excitement around his birth in 2013, Dokkoon being the first elephant to give birth to two calves in the region.
 
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