San Diego Zoo Safari Park San Diego Zoo Safari Park News 2019

All the Walk-through Aviaries have been closed to visitors, and free flight birds have been grounded, due to the detection of virulent Newcastle Disease within San Diego County. This the case at both the Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo. I’m glad that they are doing what is necessary to protect the collection birds, but this is very sad news for visitors. There has been no statement on when the aviaries will reopen, but based on the incubation of Newcastle Disease, I expect it will be months.
 
Masamba, Holly’s three year old son, has left the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The park now has in total 17 southern white rhinos

Masamba the white rhino finds a home at Potawatomi Zoo

Also according to this article below it says they have a new rhino named Ahadi and J Gregory was the bull. Does anyone know what happened to Spike and what zoos J Gregory and Ahadi came from?
 
Last edited:
John Marchwick said:
anyone know what happened to Spike and what zoos J Gregory and Ahadi came from?
Click to expand...

I don't know the answer to this particular question, but I may be able to shed light on why, with so many specimins, they'd go to all the trouble just to "swap" out one to get another. The Zoo SD showed the Zoo's efforts to eventually breed a northern using a southern white as a surrogate. This much we knew, but their process of creating a northern embryo involves using DNA to recreate egg and sperm since they have virtually no egg and sperm remaining. So it's infintessimally harder to create and quite precious. For the last few years they have been doing a kind of in vitro using southern ingredients on southern females as test cases, to see which southern females are most likely to be able to produce a living calf this way. Those that do will have added to their species, bit more importantly for this purpose, those females will be deemed the most likely to produce a living calf from a northern embryo. They said it will take years, so they may well have successful white rhino females show their ability for success by having two or more calves via this measure before trying the valuable northern embryos.

That explains the successful females who could be tested for years. But the females who cannot conceive and deliver via this process will be dropped as candidates. Thus, such a female may be swapped out to another zoo who may only need an exhibit animal or one who can breed southern whites the natural way. More importantly, a select new female may be brought in as a candidate for the northern surrogate project. Re-creating the black rhino clearly has top priority, explaining why a certain young female might be removed from a matriarchal herd.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top