Rockhampton Zoo Rockhampton Zoo News

A few bits and pieces for Rockhampton:
  • a clutch of Freshwater Crocodiles recently hatched from eggs laid late last year.
  • an 18-year-old male Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat recently arrived from Taronga Zoo. He is on display opposite one of their existing wombats.
 
Jambo said:
This article also mentions Lemurs for Rockhampton:

https://www.couriermail.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=CMWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rockhampton/gibbons-and-lemurs-are-coming-to-rockhampton-zoo-with-works-to-start-on-enclosure-upgrades/news-story/f59f3a7550262f943c5f35cf6d02b64a&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-warm-test-score&V21spcbehaviour=append

I'm not sure which sub-species but i'm assuming they plan for Ring Tails.
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Yes, it’s Ring-tailed lemur according to this article:

https://www.couriermail.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=CMWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rockhampton/community/gibbons-and-lemurs-shortlisted-as-new-animal-species-for-rockhampton-zoo/news-story/81c260036648ac69e79d9e126d79e6f3&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-cold-control-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append

It’s nice to see their primate collection growing.
 
Rockhampton Zoo to expand primate collection:

With chimpanzee already held at the zoo and gibbons and lemurs on the way, I’ve come across evidence Rockhampton plan to expand their primate collection in this keeping position advertisement:

Rockhampton Zoo - Zoo Keeper - Permanent Full Time

They’re looking for someone with experience with chimpanzee, gibbons and lemur; as well as tamarins and marmosets (which are not currently held at Rockhampton).

Within Australia, we have:

- Common marmoset
- Pygmy marmoset
- Cotton-top tamarin
- Golden lion tamarin
- Emperor tamarin
- Red handed tamarin are all options

All but the Red handed tamarin are held across several Australian zoos and would be easy to source.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Rockhampton Zoo to expand primate collection:

With chimpanzee already held at the zoo and gibbons and lemurs on the way, I’ve come across evidence Rockhampton plan to expand their primate collection in this keeping position advertisement:

Rockhampton Zoo - Zoo Keeper - Permanent Full Time

They’re looking for someone with experience with chimpanzee, gibbons and lemur; as well as tamarins and marmosets (which are not currently held at Rockhampton).

Within Australia, we have:

- Common marmoset
- Pygmy marmoset
- Cotton-top tamarin
- Golden lion tamarin
- Emperor tamarin
- Red handed tamarin are all options

All but the Red handed tamarin are held across several Australian zoos and would be easy to source.
Click to expand...

It's awesome to see Rockhampton expanding their primate collection.

Rockhampton could easily import Tamirans and Marmosets - all but Red Handed Tamirans are fairly common within zoos in our region.

It'll be interesting to see where their Gibbon pair will potentially be coming from. Overseas i'm assuming.
 
Jambo said:
It'll be interesting to see where their Gibbon pair will potentially be coming from. Overseas i'm assuming.
Click to expand...

We currently have three gibbons still living with their parents that are at or past the age of dispersal:

1.0 Nakai (Phillip x Viann) 17-04-2011 at Perth Zoo
0.1 Tien (Rhemus x Viet) 13-04-2014 at Adelaide Zoo
1.0 Canh (Tao x Jermei) 21-04-2015 at Perth Zoo

They’re all descendants of Tieu and Vang, so a match can’t be made from Tien and one of these males; but an import from overseas could see a new pair formed with one of them making up the other half of the new pair.
 
Zorro said:
Good to see another regional zoo thats progressing well
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I’m really impressed with what Rockhampton have accomplished. For a zoo that size to hold a great ape species (and take the initiative to import) is incredible to see - with Alon and Leakey’s offspring being amongst the most genetically valuable chimpanzee in the region.

Their initiative in expanding their primate collection is exciting and I look forward to seeing their progress in the years to come.
 
Jambo said:
Our smaller, regional zoos are progressing rather quickly, whereas on the other hand, our major, city zoos are declining. If only our city zoos could take a look at how our regional zoos are progressing.
Click to expand...

It's been mentioned before but I'd wager that it is because most of our smaller regional zoos are privately owned. Investing in new exotic animals is what generates more business for them. Compare that to Taronga and Melbourne who will always be bailed out by the government if things go south, thus they have the 'luxury' to downsize their collections.

Obviously, covid has had an effect too, with governments spending less on non-vital services, especially ones involved in tourism like zoos. Also, the AR crowd is probably the largest it has ever been so governments may be wary to invest in improving zoos for fear of "increasing funding to the animal prisons". That's also counterproductive as not improving our zoos and letting our animal populations become geriatric and lonely will just draw more ire from the AR lot.

Saying that I wonder how Sydney Zoo is going. They are private and would have obviously invested a lot into constructing their brand new zoo with hopes of regaining their losses quickly, all for covid to cut out all visitation for 2 years. I would think they would be in the largest debt out of all of the region's zoos.
 
marmolady said:
With regard to gibbons, Tien (Adelaide) was paired with Tao in Perth last year. My assumption would be that Rockhampton intends to import a female from overseas.
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That seems likely. While new founders are welcome in any breeding programme, we do have a number of gibbons in the region already to accommodate and the advent of new holders will only accommodate so many future births.
 
Swanson02 said:
It's been mentioned before but I'd wager that it is because most of our smaller regional zoos are privately owned. Investing in new exotic animals is what generates more business for them. Compare that to Taronga and Melbourne who will always be bailed out by the government if things go south, thus they have the 'luxury' to downsize their collections.

Obviously, covid has had an effect too, with governments spending less on non-vital services, especially ones involved in tourism like zoos. Also, the AR crowd is probably the largest it has ever been so governments may be wary to invest in improving zoos for fear of "increasing funding to the animal prisons". That's also counterproductive as not improving our zoos and letting our animal populations become geriatric and lonely will just draw more ire from the AR lot.

Saying that I wonder how Sydney Zoo is going. They are private and would have obviously invested a lot into constructing their brand new zoo with hopes of regaining their losses quickly, all for covid to cut out all visitation for 2 years. I would think they would be in the largest debt out of all of the region's zoos.
Click to expand...

All good points. I think similarly that because the privately owned zoos are owned and operated by people with a passion for Zoology (and in depth knowledge of population management etc) that we see a greater initiative in importing both new species and new bloodlines; versus the main zoos run by boards focussed on making money. As we've all noticed, the skills of these board members are typically more business and financial based.
 
Zoofan15 said:
We currently have three gibbons still living with their parents that are at or past the age of dispersal:

1.0 Nakai (Phillip x Viann) 17-04-2011 at Perth Zoo
0.1 Tien (Rhemus x Viet) 13-04-2014 at Adelaide Zoo
1.0 Canh (Tao x Jermei) 21-04-2015 at Perth Zoo

They’re all descendants of Tieu and Vang, so a match can’t be made from Tien and one of these males; but an import from overseas could see a new pair formed with one of them making up the other half of the new pair.
Click to expand...

Cahn may be best as he has a younger sibling (Lulani) now living with his family group. It'd be beneficial to move him sooner rather than later. Of course a female would have to come from overseas to be paired with him; and I doubt this Rockhampton will have problems with this.
 
Swanson02 said:
It's been mentioned before but I'd wager that it is because most of our smaller regional zoos are privately owned. Investing in new exotic animals is what generates more business for them. Compare that to Taronga and Melbourne who will always be bailed out by the government if things go south, thus they have the 'luxury' to downsize their collections.

Obviously, covid has had an effect too, with governments spending less on non-vital services, especially ones involved in tourism like zoos. Also, the AR crowd is probably the largest it has ever been so governments may be wary to invest in improving zoos for fear of "increasing funding to the animal prisons". That's also counterproductive as not improving our zoos and letting our animal populations become geriatric and lonely will just draw more ire from the AR lot.

Saying that I wonder how Sydney Zoo is going. They are private and would have obviously invested a lot into constructing their brand new zoo with hopes of regaining their losses quickly, all for covid to cut out all visitation for 2 years. I would think they would be in the largest debt out of all of the region's zoos.
Click to expand...
All good points you mention and close to the money. ;)
 
Zorro said:
Very glad to see the Rockhampton zoo expanding their primate collection would love to see then add some Orangs :cool:
Click to expand...

Jambo said:
Hamadryas Baboon would be another choice. Melbourne will possibly need to offload some of their males to another facility in the future if they wish to continue breeding, so Rockhampton have an opportunity there.
Click to expand...

Zorro said:
I agree but it just boils down to if they want them perhaps they have not considered them!
Click to expand...

Jambo said:
True, but they would be a great consideration, especially as they already have the facilities for them. Orangutans would require a much more expensive enclosure; which could be done, but baboons would be an easy initiative in the meantime.
Click to expand...

Hamadryas baboon and orangutans are not in Rockhampton’s short term plans, though I’d love to see both species there. I’d imagine within the decade we’ll see a bachelor troop of Hamadryas baboon held at Rockhampton. Transferring out all of Melbourne’s males is the logical move to bring in unrelated mates for their females (which outnumber the males).

Aside from gibbons, new primate species identified in Rockhampton’s plans will be tamarins and marmosets. The following are held in Australia already (i.e. the most likely species they’ll acquire): Common marmoset, Pygmy marmoset, Cotton-top tamarin, Golden lion tamarin, Emperor tamarin, Red handed tamarin.
 
Northern White-cheeked Gibbons Arrive

The zoo won’t be breeding the pair, who are related; but will be looking at options, including importing from overseas to source new bloodlines:

It’s a ‘gibbon’ that the new Zoo exhibit will be a community favourite

“11 year old Nakai (male) arrived from Perth Zoo on Monday and his almost 6 year old cousin Tuson (female) joined him on Wednesday from Adelaide Zoo,” Cr Rutherford said

“Nakai and Tuson spent some supervised time this morning bonding for the first time and building a friendship that was such a delight to witness.

“Whilst we won’t be breeding the two cousins, we do envisage working with other zoos in the future, including overseas to get some new bloodlines into Australia to pair up with Nakai and Tuson.
 
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