Mogo Wildlife Park Mogo Zoo News

Pertinax said:
From the videos I now think its a female...
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Arguably it’s a win-win either way as mother raised females are by default easy to place; but a male would have had a practical application in joining Kauis in a bachelor troop.

I guess we’ll have to wait for the announcement, but I’ve never seen you make a wrong guess when it comes to sexing infant gorillas!
 
Jambo said:
It does appear that way which is really good news for the future of Mogo's group and the region in general!

Females have been hard to came by; if so, this would be only the sixth female born in region history out of the twenty offspring that have been born.

Here's a good video of mum Kipenzi with the young one:
Zookeeper Chad on Instagram: "So many beautiful moments like this"
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Especially given that our gorillas currently need females, hopefully it is a female birth. If they breed again soonish. If its another female great, if its a male it will have application in forming a bachelor group with Kauis, possibly even his father if they do a swap down the line.
Mogo are in a prime position, even though I dare say the mogo site may be low on space. They also have hunter valley now. Which would greatly benefit from a bachelor troop of gorilla if they do decide to move them on.
 
Tiger91 said:
Especially given that our gorillas currently need females, hopefully it is a female birth. If they breed again soonish. If its another female great, if its a male it will have application in forming a bachelor group with Kauis, possibly even his father if they do a swap down the line.
Mogo are in a prime position, even though I dare say the mogo site may be low on space. They also have hunter valley now. Which would greatly benefit from a bachelor troop of gorilla if they do decide to move them on.
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Establishing a bachelor troop at Hunter Valley Zoo is a great idea if they get approval to do that. It would enable Mogo to continue breeding (even better if they can receive a second breeding female as was originally intended).

Mogo and Hunter Valley transfer numerous animals between their sites, especially felids, which has been invaluable in managing multiple groupings.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Establishing a bachelor troop at Hunter Valley Zoo is a great idea if they get approval to do that. It would enable Mogo to continue breeding (even better if they can receive a second breeding female as was originally intended).

Mogo and Hunter Valley transfer numerous animals between their sites including lions.
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It would indeed be wonderful if Mogo could get an additional female however breeding will be focused with Kisane and Kipenzi going forward hence the second breeding recommendation.

I could certainly see the pair getting a third recommendation eventually, especially following the sad passing of Kimya.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Establishing a bachelor troop at Hunter Valley Zoo is a great idea if they get approval to do that. It would enable Mogo to continue breeding (even better if they can receive a second breeding female as was originally intended).

Mogo and Hunter Valley transfer numerous animals between their sites, especially felids, which has been invaluable in managing multiple groupings.
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Hunter valley has slowly grown in popularity as there exotics have grown. They are in a fairly touristy area as well. But they really need some new higher profile exotics to really draw crowds. It's like when billabong went from mostly natives to having lions, snow leopards and some monkey species. I grew up not far from there. Most people only see those spices if they travel so the zoos popularity among tourists and locals grew substantially.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I guess we’ll have to wait for the announcement, but I’ve never seen you make a wrong guess when it comes to sexing infant gorillas!
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There's always a first time but I don't think this is it...;)

I sexed both the young ones at London pretty quickly this time, though the zoo didn't announce they were both females for months on end, I don't know why they delayed so long, e.g. not sure earlier, or what. Meanwhile Prague with their two female babies, announced their sexes pretty quickly, after just a few days or weeks, while Gaia Park in Holland announced their baby as male within a day or so of his birth. Different zoos have different protocols.
 
Pertinax said:
There's always a first time but I don't think this is it...;)

I sexed both the young ones at London pretty quickly this time, though the zoo didn't announce they were both females for months on end, I don't know why they delayed so long, e.g. not sure earlier, or what. Meanwhile Prague with their two female babies, announced their sexes pretty quickly, after just a few days or weeks, while Gaia Park in Holland announced their baby as male within a day or so of his birth. Different zoos have different protocols.
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I’ve seen the same with chimpanzees. Taronga Zoo, which has a large community, has taken a variety of lengths of time to announce the gender based on who the mother is. Shiba (a highly protective mother) didn’t allow the keepers a glimpse of a couple of her infants for several weeks; while some of the more relaxed mothers had the gender of their offspring determined within days of its birth.

Both species are prone to being misexed - Moja at Prague springs to mind. Taronga Zoo announced the birth of a female chimpanzee infant in 2020, only for a friend of mine to send me a video around a year later proving without doubt the infant was male.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Both species are prone to being misexed - Moja at Prague springs to mind. Taronga Zoo announced the birth of a female chimpanzee infant in 2020, only for a friend of mine to send me a video around a year later proving without doubt the infant was male.
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Bristol managed to do it twice(!) with gorillas, a few years apart. Both times 'males' turned out to be females (Its rarely the other way round). Firstly Namoki, when she was about three. No announcement but the labels suddenly changed! Kukena was more like six + and they couldn't get away with hiding the mistake that time, so went public about it. There have been a number of others (not at Bristol) going back in time too.
 
Voting on Giraffe Names Opens

Baby Giraffe Naming Poll - Mogo Wildlife Park

Options for both calves (choose one name for each):

Asha – meaning “one that lives well” in Swahili

Amara – meaning “grace” in Igba, a language spoken in Nigeria

Kadara – meaning “destiny” in Yoruba

Victoria – meaning “victory” of Latin origin

Mukondi – meaning “dancer” in Kenyan

Makena – meaning “happy one” in Swahili

Zahara – meaning “flower” in Swahili

Bahati – meaning “luck” in Swahili

Liefie – meaning “beloved” in Afrikaans

Mara – meaning “spotted” in Swahili

Tatu – meaning “third child” in Swahili
 
Giraffe calves named:

The giraffe calves have been named Amara and Zahara.

I submitted the name Zahara at the nomination stage, which then went to public vote - so I’m especially pleased to see this name win. :)

From socials:

The votes are in, and the names are officially chosen!

We’re thrilled to introduce Amara and Zahara – our adorable baby giraffes!

Thank you to everyone who voted - Amara, meaning grace, and Zahara, meaning flowering, are the perfect names for these two beautiful, bright souls.
 
Western lowland gorilla infant sexed as a female:

Kipenzi’s infant has been sexed as a female and was born February 9.

The infant will be given a K name as is the tradition for this family line. It’s nice to see Taronga’s naming tradition continue at Mogo (and Melbourne Zoo).

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...k=437526c2f5b2c26ca2254a7faca369b8-1741467521

This birth brings the troop to 1.3 adults and 1.1 infants:

1.0 Kisane (18/08/2006) Djanghou x Sanki; Imported 2019
0.1 G-Ann (08/06/1979) Moemba x Fern; Imported 1997
0.1 Kriba (09/08/1979) Bongo x Mouila; Imported 1996
0.1 Kipenzi (14/01/2011) Kibabu x Kriba
1.0 Kaius (21/10/2022) Kisane x Kipenzi
0.1 Unnamed (09/02/2025) Kisane x Kipenzi
 
Jambo said:
Really positive news.

It appears Mogo now have three young foals on the ground, following the births of two others a couple of months back to mums, Winx and Katali.

This young filly is also Poppy's second offspring following the birth of 1.0 Waridi last year.

Mogo should now have fourteen zebras!
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This is indeed the third zebra foal in recent months, with all three of Mogo’s zebra mares successfully producing foals:

Update on genders:

Winx’s foal (Mshindi) is a filly

Ketali’s foal (Satara) is a colt

Poppy’s foal (Unnamed) is a filly
 
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Jambo said:
Zookeeper Chad is now looking for names for Kipenzi's little girl - names can be suggested in the comments of the below post. Obviously he'd like to continue with the 'K' naming trend too.

Zookeeper Chad on Instagram: "I think this little bundle of joy is ready for a name It’s always such a challenge and the added difficulty of a name starting with a “K” Please do let me know your suggestions please"
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It’s nice to see the tradition of K names maintained considered how many decades this goes back (Taronga began the tradition in the 70’s, possibly inspired by Jane Goodall, who used the same method).

Not only is this female from the Kriba - Kipenzi line; but Kipenzi’s father was named Kibabu, with his first two letters acknowledging his sire Kisoro (Howlett’s naming convention).
 
Zoofan15 said:
It’s nice to see the tradition of K names maintained considered how many decades this goes back (Taronga began the tradition in the 70’s, possibly inspired by Jane Goodall, who used the same method).

Not only is this female from the Kriba - Kipenzi line; but Kipenzi’s father was named Kibabu, with his first two letters acknowledging his sire Kisoro (Howlett’s naming convention).
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Not to mention Kisane (the father of Kaius and this little one), who was also born at Howletts!
 
Jambo said:
Not to mention Kisane (the father of Kaius and this little one), who was also born at Howletts!
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The whole family having K names (Kriba, Kisane and Kipenzi) was attributed as the reason for Kaius getting his K name; though going back further (pre-electronic records times), it was no doubt a practical way to keep track of family lines in large groups - something that incidentally holds relevance to us on here to this day (considering we all discuss them without reference to ZIMS to do so). :)
 
Jambo said:
Zookeeper Chad is now looking for names for Kipenzi's little girl - names can be suggested in the comments of the below post. Obviously he'd like to continue with the 'K' naming trend too.

Zookeeper Chad on Instagram: "I think this little bundle of joy is ready for a name It’s always such a challenge and the added difficulty of a name starting with a “K” Please do let me know your suggestions please"
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Someone suggested naming the baby Kimya in honour of Kipenzi's late sister Kimya at Melbourne Zoo, who passed away within a week of this baby's birth. I think it would be a nice tribute, unless it would cause any confusion for the other gorillas (whether they would remember her by name when she has lived at another zoo for years, I genuinely have no idea).

My other suggestions were Kimiya (which is very similar, so also serves as a tribute and means 'peace' which is fitting considering the peaceful nature of this baby's arrival compared to that of her older brother) and Kuyana, which means 'one who protects or supports', for similar reasons. That said, Mogo may not necessarily choose a name with African origins, we shall see.
 
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