With the age and history of Cassie, I would also highly doubt that they will ever breed as Rockhampton hoped he would. When he dies, it might be a good idea to send one of the Taronga males up to form a breeding group, or just send the females to Taronga and put something like mandrill/colobus, etc. in the exhibit.
Rockhampton Zoo Rockhampton Zoo's New Chimp Exhibit
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With the age and history of Cassie, I would also highly doubt that they will ever breed as Rockhampton hoped he would. When he dies, it might be a good idea to send one of the Taronga males up to form a breeding group, or just send the females to Taronga and put something like mandrill/colobus, etc. in the exhibit.
It's a real shame, it's obvious that much work has gone into the exhibit and chimp group. What a pity that they are having such difficulties in creating a functioning community, it seems to me to be a very unfortunate situation, especially when I compare it to the also recently established group at Monarto.
I don't imagine a single male would be kept with females when Cassie does pass, as that would be a highly unnatural social situation that most zoos would be moving away from. I've never visited, so don't really know the size of the exhibit. How many chimps could possibly be housed there?
I don't imagine a single male would be kept with females when Cassie does pass, as that would be a highly unnatural social situation that most zoos would be moving away from. I've never visited, so don't really know the size of the exhibit. How many chimps could possibly be housed there?
if they want to breed Chimps, all they need to do is bring in a young or subadult mother-reared/socialised male(aged 8+) and use him as the breeder. The older male will almost certainly accept him as a junior, but the younger one will still mate the females whenever he gets the chance. In the rare event that he didn't accept him they could alternate them as pairs on a temporary basis until the old male dies.
That sounds sensible, though I'm not sure that the surviving older male has a lot of experience with others besides the recently deceased Ockie. There are certainly plenty of young males at Taronga at the moment- with the new infant being male as well! It will be interesting to see what does happen with the chimp group in the coming months.
They can be remarkably tolerant, even with totally strange Chimps. Look at how the two brothers accepted two females easily, even after so long with no other company. He would accept a junior male I am quite positive.
I couldn't help thinking when they were showing them videos etc that they were wasting their time- if they didn't mate soon after the females arrived, they never would- too set in their ways.
Yes, Taronga has a good number of adult males (Shikamoo, Furahi, Samaki and Shabani) of which practically any could be sent up to Rockhampton due to a mother-reared background.
More on Ockie's death: Queensland chimp performs CPR in vain
Potential import of 2 chimps from Israel: Rocky Zoo chimps could get new mates if council gives nod | Whitsunday Times
It would definitely be better for the genetics of the Australian population! Even though Taronga's chimps are not related to any at Rockhampton (as far as I know), they are greatly represented throughout the region so by importing some from Israel it would be introducing new bloodlines into a highly related population (the last unrelated individuals to be imported were the 4 females from the Netherlands in 2010 and their genetics so far have not been mixed with those of Taronga stock).
It would be great to have some new genetics in the region, definitely. Hopefully the proposal will be approved by the council, to me it seems a shame to have just the three chimps on their own rather than building up a more natural social grouping.
Just curious, does anyone have any photos of the exhibit itself?
Just curious, does anyone have any photos of the exhibit itself?
Samantha (from Willowbank in NZ, then Mogo, then Rockhampton) was born to a female (Coco) bred at Taronga. Ockie and Cassie (the former is now dead) came from Natureland Zoo in Queensland and descend from Taronga chimps. Holly from Mogo is probably not related to Taronga's chimps but I don't think anyone knows for sure.
Wow, that's interesting. Thanks for pointing that out! That means that new genetics is definitely needed then.
related to Rockhampton's chimps, does anyone know what happened to Luis (Holly's brother). I presume he died at Mogo before Sam and Holly moved to Rockhampton so does anyone know a date and cause?
1.1 chimps ("Alon" a 7 year old male and "Leeki" a 20 year old female) are scheduled to arrive in September: Rockhampton Zoo to get two more chimpanzees under partnership with Israeli zoo - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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That's fantastic news! It would really open up Rockhampton as an option for the likes of Sembe and Lani to breed with a completely unrelated males.
Does anyone have photographs of Rockhampton's chimp exhibit or know the size? How large a group could they potentially house?
Does anyone have photographs of Rockhampton's chimp exhibit or know the size? How large a group could they potentially house?
there's a description of the cage by Steve on the previous page of this current thread.
And some photos on this link: qmcgroup.com - Rockhampton Zoo Chimpanzee Enclosure
It is 1000 square metres apparently.
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
Holly was given a ukelele to try out, and the Zoo has uploaded a video of it to their Facebook page, which is worth checking out. Have musical instruments been used before for animal (especially ape) enrichment?
Link to Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RockhamptonZoo?fref=nf
Link to Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RockhamptonZoo?fref=nf
I was an intern at a sanctuary in the US where the chimps have been given a harmonica to play with on occasion. I was never there when they had one, but I heard that one of the chimps did 'play' it to an extent. I think playing music for apes outside the enclosures is much more common.