San Francisco Zoo San Francisco Zoo 2009-2011

leo811

leo811

Well-Known Member
the zoo has recently set up a nursery cam, which has live feeds outside the gorilla enclosure twice daily. i've seen it twice in the past week. the keepers say the baby is doing extremely well and is quite advanced. they are teaching it to bottle feed thru the fence (a feeding was shown on feed). the baby was able to hold on to the fence and take the bottle on his own while it was held on the other side by a keeper. the companion lesson is that the prospective surrogate bwang is being taught to present the baby to the fence for such feedings. once both actions are learned, the baby will be given to bwang, will probably be several months still, but its essential that once baby is given to bwang, she is able to present for feedings as baby will take a bottle for two yrs. while the baby is in constant 24/7 contact care with keepers, it is visible to the other troop members via their night quarters that surround the day room area. the father oscar jonesy is a constant visitor and shows alot of interest in the baby. most of the time i watched he was present. the keepers show the baby up to the fence so that both baby and others (mama monifa shows some interest too) can not only see the baby up close but smell it. i think all will go well with the training and the baby's introduction physically to the troop. i look forward to seeing it out in the enclosure by summer.
 
okapikpr said:
This article mentions that a newly renovated Black Rhinoceros enclosure should be done in August.

www.sfexaminer.com >> Local News
Click to expand...

I would like to know what will happen with the eastern black rhinos. For sure, the very productive grandma Elly is no longer reproductively active, but Gene at 22 is still in his prime. So, what are the plans for the immediate future to again hold a breeding pair with Elly deservingly being allowed to live out the rest of her life out at SF Zoo.

Separately, the SF Zoo still has a young male on site? What about him? Transfer inside the SSP or - perhaps even - outside to the JAZGA or EAZA regions?
 
black rhinos

i recently asked a keeper about the new exhibit housing and they are planning to move both gene and elly to the new exhibit. i don't think they would ever move elly.
 
It's really a shame that the big cats weren't moved to different zoos and the old lion house wasn't bulldozed into the ground. Is it heritage-protected? Whatever the case may be, it is a dreadfully outdated home for large felines.
 
The bear probably died of boredom, as the grotto there is terrible.;)
 
The 3 attached grottos for the 3 polar bears are certainly outdated, but it turns out that the one that died was 27 years old, longer than average life expectancy (25 of those years were in these fairly dismal exhibits). The other two bears are 27 and 29 years old, the latter is the oldest in the US!
 
27 really isn't that old for a captive polar bear to die though. The oldest polar bear in the U.S. use to be Snowball at the Cleveland Zoo who lived to be 37 years old when she died in October 2008.
 
And Debbie the polar bear at Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg died last year at the age of 41. She lived in a sub-par grotto as well
 
geomorph said:
The 3 attached grottos for the 3 polar bears are certainly outdated, but it turns out that the one that died was 27 years old, longer than average life expectancy (25 of those years were in these fairly dismal exhibits). The other two bears are 27 and 29 years old, the latter is the oldest in the US!
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I admit there is a case in point. But is this not the fad of the day - new polar bear exhibits. Quite fairly the first 10 years an exhibit may be termed state-of-the-art, the second 10 years it is still modern and the third 10 years it is damn right out-dated .....

All polar bears at SF Zoo are similarly aged. Till what age is a female reproductively active (that set off against average life expectancy/age in captivity would be a better measure of reliability than any extremes up or under ...).
 
snowleopard said:
The bear probably died of boredom, as the grotto there is terrible.;)
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Snowleopard, I agree that the polar bear grottos are outdated. However, whenever I go to the SF Zoo, I tour the bears (polar, Andean and grizzly) at least 3-4 times, and run in to the keeper checking on the bears frequently. I was there last year when they were having special enrichment - different animals on different days. The day I was there the Andean bears next door to the polars were getting their special treats. While everyone was watching the Andean bears with their fruit, the keeper noticed that Ulu the polar bear was anxious. She immediately went around to the top of the exhibit and threw a live fish in Ulu's pond. Ulu happily retrieved the fish and seemed contented for the rest of the day.

In my opinion, the care given by the keepers is much more important than an eye appealing exhibit.
 
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I would have to agree that animal welfare is much more defined by the level and integrity of animal care than anything else.
 
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