Taronga Western Plains Zoo Taronga Western Plains Zoo 2016

Jabiru96 said:
A female giraffe calf has been born to mother Ntombi and has been named Nyah meaning "purpose" in Swahili: https://taronga.org.au/media/media-release/2016-01-14/new-year-brings-new-giraffe-calf
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Good to hear an update on Ntombi, who was born at Auckland Zoo in 2007. I haven't been following her since her departure so was amazed to learn through further research that she has three calves now.

To my knowledge, she is the only breeding descendent of Auckland Zoo's original male giraffe, John who arrived in 1960.

John fathered Kahiroa (1975) who fathered Kiri (1984) and Kay (1986). Kiri have birth to four calves (none of which have reproduced) and Kay gave birth to six calves, including Ntombi (of which only Ntombi has bred).
 
From Facebook:

For the first time at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, visitors can now see three rhino calves on display from the three species at the Zoo: Black rhino, White Rhino and Australia’s first Greater One-horned Rhino calf! Make sure you grab a Keeper Talk schedule for the best opportunity to see and learn more about these remarkable creatures. The Zoo is open every day of the year including the Easter long weekend!
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Does anyone know what the breeding plans are for **** Tip (1992) and Thong Dee (1997)? Isn't it about time they were bred from again?

If they are to remain at TWPZ, there only option for a natural breeding (higher chance of female calves than AI) would be to breed with each others sons. Can Luk Chai even reach **** Tip yet???

Though this would be genetically an okay match, I imagine the elephant breeding programme favours longer intergenerational gaps for male offspring like the white rhino breeding programme and will want to delay the breeding of the young males in the region until all founder options are exhausted (Bong Su, Putra Mas and Gung).
 
Jabiru96 said:
Asian elephant female Thong Dee is pregnant and due in November of this year :D: https://taronga.org.au/media/media-release/2016-05-12/another-baby-elephant-the-way-nsw-zoos

It has been confirmed on Facebook that the sire is Gung at Taronga via natural mating.
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Very exciting news! TWPZ kept this quiet, Thong Dee's last pregnancy was announced at 5 months. I wonder if **** Tip is pregnant too.

With Tang Mo unlikely to ever breed, it's good to see TZ/TWPZ working on breeding the females who have already bred again.

Fingers crossed for a female calf of course.
 
To me this pregnancy seems like it might have been an accident. When they first moved the elephants to TWPZ they made it clear that they had no intentions of breeding the elephants here and they were going to send them back to TZ to rejoin the herd and breed there. But now there in a position that they can't send the females back due to being pretty far along and once the baby is born they won't transport them for a couple years at least.

This is only me analyzing the situation but it seems something is up considering they announce the other pregnancy before this one. Maybe they only found out she was pregnant recently when she started showing signs that wouldn't have been noticeable before, after all they wouldn't have been expecting a pregnancy, so wouldn't be checking it.
 
Accidental breeding seems very unlikely given the females were not permanently housed in the same enclosure as the TZ Bull and given the Zoo went to protected contact a while ago meaning any mixing with the Bull would have been planned andintentional. Also numerous articles from may 2015 state they intended to breed, so yes they may not have been aware she was pregnant when they moved her but The elephant facility is huge and appears to be built for a growing herd.
 
I know many zoos monitor the female's reproductive cycle continuously as part of their husbandry. If they intend to breed with a female in the future, it would be useful to have a record of her past cycles, so they could more accurately predict ovulation when they actually need to. If Taronga do this, it should have been of no surprise to them that Thong Dee conceived. I believe the females do play social visits to Gung as well though, so if they do not keep track of the females cycles they may not have known Thong Dee was ovulating.

Riley makes a good point about the delayed annoucement, which seems even more strange when you consider a less advanced pregnancy was announced first. Pure speculation, but if Thong Dee has suffered miscarriages (especially late ones) in between Luk Chai and this pregnancy, maybe they wanted to keep it under wraps until she was far along.

I'm totally confused as to Taronga's long term plans. Like Riley, I was under the impression **** Tip and Thong Dee would return to Taronga Zoo when Luk Chai and Pathi Harn were old enough but the impending birth of Thong Dee's calf will complicate this. Pak Boon is now established as the matriach of Taronga's herd and may not welcome **** Tip's return???
 
I've been thinking more about future plans for the elephants and this is what I'm speculating...

If Thong Dee produces a female calf, she'll return to Taronga Zoo as soon as her and the calf are ready to travel; if Thong Dee produces a male calf, she'll remain at Taronga Western Plains Zoo until the calf is in it's adolescence. A male calf would ideally join the Luk Chai - Pathi Harn bachelor herd and they would be more accepting of a calf they'd known and seen from birth, as oppose to it going to Taronga and returning as a 7/8 year old bull.

If Pak Boon produces a female calf, she'll remain at Taronga Zoo with her two daughters, AI will be used to breed with Tukta; if Pak Boon produces a male calf, she'll be transferred to Taronga Western Plains Zoo no later than 2018/2019. Tukta will accompany them and breed naturally with Pathi Harn.

The other two females, assuming neither give birth in this time frame, would shift to accomodate these plans:

Thong Dee (male calf)/Pak Boon (male calf) = **** Tip (Taronga), Tang Mo (Taronga)
Thong Dee (female calf)/Pak Boon (male calf) = **** Tip (Dubbo), Tang Mo (Taronga)
Thong Dee (male calf)/Pak Boon (female calf) = **** Tip (Dubbo), Tang Mo (Taronga)
Thong Dee (female calf)/Pak Boon (female calf) = **** Tip (Dubbo), Tang Mo (Dubbo)
 
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