new new zealand news

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Coquinguy

Well-Known Member
whats happening over on your side of the ditch peoples???
still no photos of the african savannah at Wellington......
any updates to speak of??? Please fill us all in. Nigel, Childonias, NZ jeremy.....
 
not much going on I don't think. The only photos I've got of the Wellington savannah are of the corner where the giraffe building is (in other words, giraffes and bars). Orana has a couple of baby porcupines, born a couple of months ago (I've only been there twice since they were born and they weren't coming out of the den so no photos). A giraffe went to Wellington from Orana but that's already been covered. The Wellington Aquarium scheme is back underway with planning for a new site (they're trying to get planning permission).
 
Wellington

a few months ago another chimpanzee was born , but it was too early for zoo staff to determine the sex . Mother chimp was very protective .

I got that from a newspaper article , as I found that more useful than trying to get a zoo staff member to comment .

Hoping to visit the zoo in a couple of weeks ( after I move into my new pad , and school hols finish )
Will update you all on Wellington after my visit

Auckland appears to be mainly concentrating on the new NZ concept along the streamside , but it is really early days yet
 
Meerkats bred at Auckland Zoo earlier this year for the first time in almost 20 years of being exhibited...

The male sumatran tiger (Oz) and the female (Molek) are being mated, unsuccessfully so far...

Two giraffes and two zebras have been born in the last 6 months or so...

A new Red Panda and Asian Otter exhibit area were opened in Early January replacing the old big cat CAGES (in the metal bar sense)...

The aquarium was closed in December (it was small and about half reptiles), due to work on Auckland's largest ever project Te Wao Nui...

They are renovating Reptile alley (about 8 small enclosures)...

The New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine was completely recently and the band rotunda (1922) renovated...

Very few old (a couple of original) cages still exist but most of the zoo has been developed to an acceptable or above level...

Thats all I can remember for now...
 
For the exact details you'll have to e-mail the zoo, try Abigail Smith (I've e-mailed her twice and she's got back to me within a day)...

abigail.smith@aucklandcity.govt.nz

But one was born a year ago and had some problems upon birth (its deaf) and the other was a few months ago... Both are of mixed subspecies (creates some interesting stripe patterns)...
 
at Orana, apart for the two baby porcupines there are also a baby meerkat, scimitar-horned oryx, waterbuck and seven (?) springbok. A baby giraffe was born on Tuesday (29 April).

The addra gazelle has been put back on display (its the only one left in Australasia)
 
new at Wellington

new adverts in bus shelters suggest that baby emporor tamarins have been born at the zoo . Will be visiting ( hopefully next week ) so I hope to report more details
 
that was quick! They only got them at the end of February. If they have had babies the mother must have already been pregnant, given the 4-5 month gestation of tamarins. Pretty exciting though; probably the first emperor tamarins ever born in NZ I'd wager.
 
NZ Jeremy said:
Meerkats bred at Auckland Zoo earlier this year for the first time in almost 20 years of being exhibited...
Click to expand...

sorry for being so slow and only just picking up on this now, but...seriously!? They haven't bred any meerkats before? That's pretty damn poor!
 
Chlidonias said:
sorry for being so slow and only just picking up on this now, but...seriously!? They haven't bred any meerkats before? That's pretty damn poor!
Click to expand...

Not if they display a single-sex group, thereby helping to alleviate regional imbalances in sex ratios.....

There's a huge benefit to some zoos holding single sex groups of many animals that are part of managed breeding programs.
 
From what I understand it hasn't been a case of that Zoopro...

I'm sure you can shed some light on the situation but I've got the impression they have been very unsuccessful, when the exhibit opened in the early 90's they has about 20 meerkats and it dwindled to about 3 - 4 for the last 6 - 7 years and I know this is the first successful mating...
 
when meerkats were first brought into NZ it was as a direct response to the popularity of the Telecom meerkat adverts on tv (around 1990 or so). Auckland and Wellington (and/or Hamilton?) imported groups of males and females. Orana Park imported only males under the reasoning that they were so easy to breed that there was no need for them to also be doing so. Of course Orana's all started dying off so they had to do a second import so they had both sexes and could keep their population going.

So Auckland definitely had both sexes and had every intention of breeding them but, apparently, didn't succeed. Bit odd I think.
 
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