Perth Zoo Perth Zoo News 2020

Perth Zoo is currently looking after a young Northern Rockhopper Penguin.

Full story: Pierre the Penguin Rocks into Perth Zoo
We are caring for an endangered Northern Rockhopper Penguin who braved a record breaking swim from islands in the Indian or South Atlantic Ocean before washing ashore on a beach in the South-west.

The Penguin, dubbed ‘Pierre’ is thought to be less than one year old and is currently not waterproof so cannot be released to the wild but is receiving lots of TLC from our veterinary team to get him back to full health. And trust us, with a patient this adorable, it is certainly a labour of LOVE!

Pierre presented with arrested moult, which basically means he started his feather moult (an annual occurrence for penguins), but it stopped before it was complete. This could have been because he wasn’t getting the right nutrients to sustain his moult or environmental conditions were not favourable. It’s left him looking like a bit of a scrappy pom pom, but we still think he is one handsome rooster (we mean penguin)!
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Perth Zoo have recently welcomed eleven Numbat joeys.

Full story: Eleven Numbat Joeys born at Perth Zoo
Perth Zoo celebrates the birth of 11 Numbat joeys!

Check out the video below for an exclusive first look at a few of the Numbat joeys with their mums.

The Numbat mums and bubs are doing well and are already extremely adorable (we might be biased). But the importance of these Numbat joeys goes beyond the cute and fuzzy.

When you hear the word ‘endangered’ the Numbat probably isn’t the first species to pop to mind. But this bushy-tailed marsupial is now so rare there are approximately only 1,000 left in the wild.

Perth Zoo is the only Zoo in the world that breeds Numbats. And when they’re about one year of age, they’re released into the wild to help bolster natural populations. Saving wildlife isn’t just our slogan, it’s what we do.

Since 1993, Perth Zoo has released over 225 Zoo bred Numbats, and we’ve had reports of the females finding boyfriends and having joeys - and so the circle of life continues.
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In a recent article about Perth Zoo’s baby boom, it was mentioned that the zoo recently welcomed a Western Brush Wallaby joey. According to the native mammals of Australia thread, Perth Zoo is the only zoo holding this species.

Full article: Spring Baby Animal Cuteness in Full Bloom at Perth Zoo | Perth Zoo

Keep your eyes peeled as you wander out yonder through the Australian Bushwalk for a seven-month-old Western Brush Wallaby joey poking its curious little head out of mum’s pouch to say hello.
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Perth Zoo’s 2019-2020 Annual Report is now available. The zoo have clearly been having some outstanding breeding success with their breed-for-release and zoo-based programmes. It notes the following developments:

Releases into the Wild: 120 White-bellied Frogs, 118 Orange-bellied Frogs, 73 Western Swamp Turtles, 24 Dibblers, 14 Numbats

Births/Hatchings: a Giraffe (October 2019), a pair of Red Pandas (December 2019), seven Asian Small-clawed Otters (over the course of the 2019-2020 period), two Binturongs, two sets of Emperor Tamarin twins (September 2019 and March 2020), a Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur (November 2019), a Javan Gibbon (April 2020), two Bolivian Squirrel Monkeys (February and March 2020), two Koalas, a Quokka, a Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo (September 2019), Feathertail Glider, Green Pygmy Geese, Corn Snake

Deaths: 1.0 Sumatran Tiger (Dumai), 0.1 Lion (Shinyanga) and two Hamadryas Baboons (Taye and Gen)

Arrivals: 1.0 Saltwater Crocodile from Broome, 2.0 Cotton-top Tamarins from Halls Gap Zoo, 0.1 Ring-tailed Lemur from Mogo, 0.2 Tasmanian Devils and 3.0 Common Marmosets from Tasmania Zoo

Departures: 0.1 Giraffe to Orana Wildlife Park, two Asian Small-clawed Otters to the National Zoo and Aquarium, 0.5 Pygmy Marmosets to Wildlife HQ, 1.0 Quokka to Wildlife HQ [this male has already fathered a joey]


Western Ground Parrot Update from the Report:

“Perth Zoo continued to work with colleagues in DBCA to improve our knowledge of the critically endangered Western Ground Parrot and optimise their chance of recovery in the wild. Eight birds are now being cared for by Perth Zoo, contributing to an increase in the knowledge of the species’ reproductive biology. As of late autumn, the birds had been paired in preparation for the 2020 breeding season.”

Full Report: https://perthzoo.wa.gov.au/PerthZooWebsite/media/PerthZoo/All PDFs/Perth_Zoo_Annual_Report_2020.pdf
 
Perth Zoo recently released 31 Dibblers onto Dirk Hartog Island. This follows the 27 (three adults and 24 joeys) that were released last year onto the island.
We've just released 31 endangered Dibblers! ⠀
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Perth Zoo is the only Zoo in the world that breed the endangered Dibbler, and since 1997 we've released more than 900 into the wild!
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Source: Perth Zoo's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3362015017245626
 
Perth Zoo recently posted an interesting video about their Hamadryas baboon troop recently:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=545307916279809

It was implied there are now only 1.2 (they had 2.3 at the end of last year); but thanks to @WhistlingKite24, we have confirmation that Gen (1997) and Taye (2004) have recently died. This leaves them with:

1.0 Chad (born 28/04/2005)
0.1 Grimus (born 23/11/1996) Born at Emmen Zoo; imported 2010 via Melbourne and Adelaide
0.1 Guni (born 11/01/1999) Born at Melbourne Zoo; imported 2003

With the three baboons aged between 15-23 years, this would be considered an elderly troop and I would imagine the plan is to allow them to die out naturally (as opposed to importing more females and breeding). Chad was the last infant bred at Perth Zoo; so I hope their dwindling troop size isn't an indication they wish to phase this species out.
 
Perth Zoo have announced the birth of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur triplets!
TRIPLETS!
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This World Lemur Day, we're excited to introduce the new-born Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur triplets
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Twins are common, but triplets are very unusual — we’ve never had this many born in one litter at Perth Zoo!
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A recent article about Perth Zoo's great work with their Javan Gibbons. The keeper that manages the international studbook discusses in the article that there are a few transactions happening soon to create more pairs of this species in the Australasian region.

Full article: Meet the primate matchmaker who facilitates hook-ups around the globe to save gibbons
The stud book contains all of the details about the 76 gibbons, and Ms Thompson can then match, say, a male in Ireland with a female about to come of breeding age in Australia and facilitate a hook-up. The gibbons will then travel to their new home where they will be paired for life, and with a bit of luck, have a baby.

"We have a couple of transactions coming up — there's two zoos in America that have offspring that are at dispersal age, that means they have to leave their family group."

"Then we have animals here in Australia that are really looking for a mate and so we're bringing them to the Australasian region."
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Perth Zoo have released 178 Orange-bellied (Geocrinia vitellina) and White-bellied Frogs (Geocrinia alba) into the Margaret River region to expand the distributions of both species. Since the breed-for-release programme commenced, Perth Zoo have released 1000 White-bellied Frogs and 650 Orange-bellied Frogs into the wild. Clearly a very successful result and outcome.

Source: Perth Zoo's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=792159664965020
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Zorro said:
I really like this idea I see a few more zoos are doing this. I believe it would make the monkeys more active also giving them more to see and do!
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I agree. I am big fan of these aerial tunnel systems and am glad to see that they are popping up at a few zoos like Adelaide (colobus and tamarins), Darling Downs (capuchins) and Wildlife HQ (servals, marmosets and tamarins). Natureland Wildlife Trust in NZ also has a tunnel system for their ruffed lemurs and Auckland Zoo has one planned for their tigers with the new South-east Asian precinct. I am sure there are other zoos that have these systems or have plans to install them.

This newly-constructed tunnel for their squirrel monkeys is part of Perth Zoo's future vision. According to the video below, they have plans to construct some of these overhead systems on a much larger scale for their sun bears and tigers [00:29].
 
Javan Gibbon Update:

Perth Zoo did a recent update on their group of four (3.1) Javan Gibbons. Something that is particularly interesting and unique about Perth’s situation is that they have two unrelated males living together with the female and her recent offspring. The adult female Sundar (2010) acts as a surrogate mother for their young male, Owa (2014). Owa was handraised by keepers back in 2014 and is actually Sundar’s younger sibling.


Source: Perth Zoo’s Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=686802852040234
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WhistlingKite24 said:
The binturong kits have finally been named. From a naming competition, the male has been named Rimbo (a forest in Indonesia) and the female, Kemiri (Indonesian for candlenut). I named the female and won a behind-the-scenes binturong experience!! Looks like I am off to Perth Zoo when normality returns and it opens!:D
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Are you going to take photos of the zoo?
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
Javan Gibbon Update:

Perth Zoo did a recent update on their group of four (3.1) Javan Gibbons. Something that is particularly interesting and unique about Perth’s situation is that they have two unrelated males living together with the female and her recent offspring. The adult female Sundar (2010) acts as a surrogate mother for their young male, Owa (2014). Owa was handraised by keepers back in 2014 and is actually Sundar’s younger sibling.


Source: Perth Zoo’s Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=686802852040234
Log into Facebook | Facebook
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Would be nice to have the second male be partnered at some point.

In average gibbon families around 7-8 years old the older offspring with a third baby there would be on his way. This is kind of an outlier, but following this norm the second male Owa needs a female mate in the next year or so and be paired at a different location.
 
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Kifaru Bwana said:
Would be nice to have the second male be partnered at some point.

In average gibbon families around 7-8 years old the older offspring with a third baby there would be on his way. This is kind of an outlier, but following this norm the second male Owa needs a female mate in the next year or so and be paired at a different location.
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I am a bit surprised move zoos in the region have not become a holder of this rare species!
 
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