The two remaining females are 27 (‘Lhasa’) and 19 (‘Dana’).
Rockhampton Zoo Rockhampton Zoo News
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‘Soa’, one of Rockhampton Zoo’s Asian Small-clawed Otters has died. He was 18.5 years old.
He originally came from Taronga Zoo in 2014 along with his brother ‘Houdini’.
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He originally came from Taronga Zoo in 2014 along with his brother ‘Houdini’.
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Samantha the chimpanzee has given birth overnight, however the baby didn’t survive. My thoughts go out to Rockhampton Zoo in this difficult time.
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Further information has been released regarding the death of the chimpanzee baby (I commend Rockhampton Zoo for being open about the death).
The male infant either died during the birthing process or directly after birth. His lungs were still filled with amniotic fluid so he never took a breath.
Baby Chimpanzee Results
I greatly admire Rockhampton Zoo for their open communication from the start (announcing Samantha’s pregnancy) through to sharing the results of the necropsy, following the unsuccessful birth. The mortality rate of Chimpanzee infants born to mothers over 35 is high; even more so for first time mothers, so this was always going to be a high risk pregnancy for 36 year old Samantha.
To put this into perspective, Taronga Zoo announced that Shiba had given birth this year at the age of 38 years, months after Safiri was born. Shiba is a highly experienced mother with a near perfect record of successfully raising offspring.
Holly is born 1988, so is five years younger than Samantha (born 1983). Holly will be almost 32 upon the birth of her first infant, so although past her prime, is by no means geriatric. I’m not aware of any first time mothers over 30 in the region who have been successful, though many similar aged females at Taronga (as well as Sanda at Hamilton) have had successful infants at this age.
Sanda was a first time breeder though wasn't she?
No, Sanda (1985) had a daughter in 1993 that died in infancy. Chiku (2016) was Sanda’s second offspring.
Ceres (1990) similarly gave birth to her first offspring in 1998, that died as an adolescent. Cebele (2017) was her second offspring.
I believe Hannah (1993) at Monarto holds the record as the oldest successful first time mother in the region, following the birth of Hope (2019). There have been older first time mothers e.g. Sandra at Taronga, but her infants didn’t survive.
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Rockhampton Zoo has welcomed the birth of a Chimpanzee baby this morning to mother Holly. Baby and mother are doing well at this stage.
Rockhampton Zoo
Rockhampton Zoo
The sex of the baby announced today , Its a boy!!!!
That’s great news!
Though, it brings the string of 5 female births in a row in the Australasian region to an end; the last boy, being Enzi (2015).
That’s great news!
If Rockhampton Zoo follow the female dispersal pattern, this male will likely stay in the troop; while Capri is exported at adolescence.
This would also reflect their genetic importance in that Capri is the daughter of two founders and unrelated to every chimpanzee outside of Rockhampton Zoo; while the male infant (a great grandson of Yoka) is related to most of the chimpanzees in the region.
The possible names for the chimpanzee baby have now been shortlisted. These are the options received via email:
The final list of shortlisted names is below:
ARCHER – This was a popular nomination, inspired by the Archer Brothers and Mount Archer.
CHIKONDI – A Zambian name meaning ‘love’.
GANDALI – A Darumbal word meaning ‘star’, which links to his place of birth on Darumbal land.
OAKLY – A combination inspired by both parents. The ‘Oak’ is drawn from Alon’s name – which is Hebrew for Oak Tree – and ‘-ly’ from ‘Holly’.
OBI – A name emanating from Nigeria which means ‘heart’ or ‘one who charms’.
ROCCO – We received 170 nominations for variations of Rocco and Rocky - a permanent link to his place of birth, Rockhampton.
Chikondi is a really good name, I hope it wins.
Oakly is cringe; and Obi has been overdone in zoos lately.
The chimpanzee baby has been named Gandali.
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Rockhampton Zoo recently made an interesting post about a species I didn't know the zoo had - a female Superb Lyrebird. The lyrebird currently lives in the zoo's walkthrough aviary and hatched at Healesville Sanctuary in 2009 and moved to the zoo in 2011.
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Rockhampton Zoo will soon commence construction on a new enclosure for a group of Meerkats. This will be a new species for the zoo and they are set to hold a group of six meerkats - non-breeding of course as it's the state of Queensland.
Full story here: Guess who's coming to Zoo?
Full story here: Guess who's coming to Zoo?
Rockhampton Zoo have announced the arrival of Meerkats:
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