The National Zoo and Aquarium have recently acquired Brush-tailed Bettongs. They are on-display in an aviary with potoroos, Galah, Superb Parrot, Tawny Frogmouth and Bush Stone-Curlew: Log into Facebook | Facebook
National Zoo and Aquarium National Zoo and Aquarium News 2021
- Thread starter WhistlingKite24
- Start date
Orange-bellied Parrots are now listed on the National Zoo and Aquarium's website: Orange-bellied Parrot - National Zoo & Aquarium
Just to clarify from the note on their website, they are one of a number of zoos that hold OBP's surplus to the current needs of the program for display. They are not a breeding institution. To be clear, this is not a critical comment, as holding institutions are also very important to the program.
The National Zoo and Aquarium have been handraising an eland calf that was born at a different facility. The young male, named Mkhulu, has been introduced to the zoo's resident eland Mbali: Log into Facebook | Facebook
The National Zoo and Aquarium have been doing regular livestreams about various animals on their social media. Some of them have provided interesting updates and I have pulled some of the key information from the various videos. Mainly primate-related:
- Interestingly, the zoo has three rhino yards for two males enabling them to frequently rotate them into a grassy yard every 2-3 days to permit natural grazing whilst also allowing the grass to be maintained.
- they currently have four Bolivian Squirrel Monkeys on their island exhibit comprising of a bachelor group: Toraya (6), Chita (5), Mateo (5) and Guido (3). These individuals are different to the ones listed on their website implying that there has been a recent transfer.
- the zoo currently has six (4.1.1) Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs – breeding pair Masina and Polo and their four offspring. The keeper mentioned that three of them were males – Tany, Msao and Maso (spelling probably not correct for some of these names). The keeper didn’t mention the last individual. The zoo have produced 12 ruffed lemurs including a litter of five infants. They are hoping to breed again soon but are taking a break currently.
- two Cotton-top Tamarins have recently been born at the National Zoo. The zoo currently has a group of 11 tamarins including the main breeding pair Fernando and Rose. Their offspring at the zoo are called Miguela, Tulio, Felipe, Pablo, Chipotle, Rio, Lorenzo and the two unnamed twins born just before lockdown. They have been breeding them since 2018 but have only ever produced one female; the rest have all been males!
- the zoo’s four (3.1) Common Marmosets are currently mixed with agouti. Interesting to note that one of the agoutis in the livestream looks like the “Azara-looking” agouti that came from the Taronga in 2016 stemmed from the last of the original animals and two of them look like the pure Red-rumped Agouti that originate from the more recent imports. The difference between animals is really quite striking.
0.2 Plains Zebra are settling into quarantine following their arrival from Hamilton Zoo, NZ. One female will be staying in Canberra and the other will be moving to Dubbo: Log into Facebook | Facebook
The National Zoo and Aquairum have imported 3.0 Cheetah from South Africa. Males Viking, Asani and Zambi arrived in September:Zoo welcomes new Cheetah cubs | Canberra CityNews