Monarto Safari Park Monarto Zoo News 2013

Chlidonias

Moderator
Staff member
15+ year member
I couldn't see this posted elsewhere, a male bongo from Melbourne has arrived at Monarto:
A New Face for Monarto Zoo -
Monarto Zoo recently welcomed a young Bongo male from Melbourne Zoo. His name is Isaac and he will eventually be a companion animal to our current male Bongo, Rafiki. Rafiki has been living a solitary life at Monarto with the occasional visit from our two castrated male Blackbuck, Chop and Mr. Burns so the arrival of Isaac is very exciting for keepers as well as for him. Isaac arrived safely on Monday 21 January at 6:00pm and was unloaded into one of Monarto's ungulate quarantine yards where he will spend some time until he is cleared by vets to meet his new companion.

Isaac celebrated his first birthday on his last day at Melbourne Zoo, being a young animal it was decided to give him a companion while he is in quarantine and after discussions it was decided we would use Leah, a friendly hand raised Eland. Leah is in the yard next door so they have fence contact and the two of them are getting along well. Isaac is the offspring of the Bongo pair that left Adelaide Zoo in 2008, Binti and Ndugu, and he is one of only five male and three female Bongo in the region.
 
Telstra BigPond News and Weather
5 April 2013

A male cheetah at Monarto Zoo, east of Adelaide, has been euthanased after suffering renal failure.

The zoo says Askari, the dominant male in Monarto's group of hand-reared cheetahs, was euthanased on Thursday after a rapid deterioration in his quality of life.

'Askari was a favourite amongst visitors and staff alike, connecting the community to the plight of Africa's most endangered big cat through the zoo's popular cheetah interactive animal experience,' the zoo said in a statement on Friday.

'Askari was a very special member of the Monarto family and his presence will be deeply missed.'
 
Lion cub trio excites open-range zookeepers - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
2 May 2013

Lioness Tiombe has given birth to three African lion cubs, which are now being monitored by a security camera in a den at Monarto open-range Zoo, south-east of Adelaide.

It is five years since the last breeding success for the veteran lioness.

The new arrivals are being kept separate from the lion pride and monitored closely.

The zoo is pleased with its breeding successes, having added six cheetahs, two spotted hyenas, a chimpanzee, a southern white rhinoceros calf and a zebra filly in recent times.

Carnivore zookeeper Claire Geister says there were clear reasons for the breeding successes.

"A lot of our success is connected to the beautiful big natural exhibits and areas that we can provide our animals with and it's a very quiet area too so that they can focus exactly on breeding," she said.

She said it would be six to eight weeks before zoo staff could determine the gender of the cubs.

"We'll be able to tell then whether they're boys or girls and it will depend whether they are, whether they can be required for breeding in other zoos around Australia or if they'll stay as a part of a much larger pride at Monarto," she said.
 
two more lion cubs at Monarto, apparently making this the largest pride of lions in Australia. Another article I saw said they now have twelve lions.
Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian
8 July 2013

MONARTO Zoo has welcomed two more lion cubs to its ever-growing brood - making its pride Australia's largest.

Zoos SA announced this morning that the yet-to-be-named cubs - a male and female - had been born on June 18 to mum Kiamba.

They join three other cubs born on April 24 .

Senior carnivore keeper Claire Geister said the zoo had been "thrilled'' to welcome the two cubs to the Monarto Zoo family last month.

``It's going to be absolutely amazing to see five cubs only eight weeks apart playing together soon - just like a pride in Africa would look,'' she said.

``Kiamba's two cubs are currently housed in an off-limits area of the lion exhibit.''

``It's hoped we'll be able to reunite the entire Monarto Zoo lioness pride after the cubs' six-week vet check.''

Monarto Zoo visitors have the opportunity to see the three older cubs and the female pride every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

The zoo also is giving the public the chance to help name its five new cubs - two males and three females.

Each submitted name should be of African descent and have a special meaning.

To submit a suggestion head to the Monarto Zoo website
 
Such fantastic news!
Monarto's lion pride (males still living apart from the females as far as I am aware) now consists of-
Males: Inkosi (Levi x Tiombe) & Leroy
Females: Kiamba, Zalika, Kibira, Tiombe & Jahzara (Leroy x Kiamba)
Tiombe's two cubs (two female, one male) and Kiamba's two cubs (one male, one female)
 
A few arrivals/departures from the Zoos SA newsletter:

We’re doubly excited to announce the birth of two very special Scimitar-Horned Oryx calves, the first to be born at Monarto Zoo in more than a decade!

Scimitar-horned Oryx are extinct in the wild so this exciting and extremely significant birth is a fantastic achievement for the Monarto Zoo breeding program.

The two young calves and their proud mums are currently residing in an off-limits area of the zoo but stay tuned for an update on their progress.

This week Monarto Zoo farewelled its young bull white rhino Digger. He's moved to Taronga Western Plains Zoo where he’ll join former Monarto resident Mopani and her new male calf. In addition our two zoos swapped African Painted Dog groups. Taronga will be taking one of our male groups in exchange for a breeding pair so hopefully we’ll hear the pitter-patter of little puppy feet soon.

The zoo was also the proud recipient of a new zebra stallion, Storm, from Werribee Open Range Zoo who will eventually become the zoo’s primary breeding male. All new arrivals are currently in quarantine and will be making their public appearances in the not too distant future.
 
-3 Tasmanian devils bred at Monarto (as well as 8 bred at Healesville) have been released onto Maria Island off Tasmania's east coast.

Lion cub news:

Kiamba's cubs have been named:
-Mlinzi (male) meaning "protector"
-Makena (female) meaning "the happy one"

Tiombe's cubs have been named:
-Jelani (male) meaning "mighty"
-Husani (female) meaning "beautiful"
-Nia (female) meaning "purpose"
 
From Facebook:
You can now see Australia’s only drive-through hyena habitat every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

They now share a drive-through exhibit with African Wild Dogs.
 
There is a fire burning near Monarto Zoo, but so far the zoo is not in imminent danger, according to the zoo's Facebook:

The CFS has advised the Rockleigh bushfire is 10km away from the Monarto township. At present we have not been advised to in act our fire safety procedures. All staff, animals and visitors are not currently under threat. The situation continues to be monitored closely.

Fingers crossed the fire is put out soon.
 
Monarto has announced that they have separated two male cheetahs born in this years litter to prepare them to move to Halls Gap Zoo.
 
Does anyone know the father of chimpanzee Zuri (either Tsotsie or Sandali as I believe Boyd and Gombe are both castrated)?
 
Does anyone know the father of chimpanzee Zuri (either Tsotsie or Sandali as I believe Boyd and Gombe are both castrated)?

I did ask a few weeks ago, it sounds like they will test for paternity in the near future. Gombe and Boyd have had vasectomies, they haven't been castrated, so it would indeed be either Tsotsi or Sandali.
 
Back
Top