Taronga Western Plains Zoo Taronga Western Plains Zoo News 2020
- Thread starter Zoofan15
- Start date
No sorry, I only know numbers of Geoffroy's black handed spider monkeys for New Zealand:
Auckland Zoo: 1.7
Hamilton Zoo: 3.5
Orana Wildlife Park: 1.4*
Wellington Zoo: 1.2 (possibly 1.1)
Pouakai Zoo: 0.2
The male at Orana Wildlife Park (imported last year) is a purebred Geoffroy's spider monkey; but I note in the NZ Mammals thread that the troop descend from founders of hybrid status, meaning the females are hybrids. That said, I believe I recognise one of the names from an Auckland Zoo research paper i.e. at least one of these females may be a purebred import from Auckland Zoo.
This was the research paper I was talking about:
Alloparental behavior in a captive group of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) at the Auckland Zoo
It was a study carried out in 1988 to 1989, when Auckland Zoo’s troop numbered two adult males; ten adult females; five juveniles; and six infants.
Infants mentioned were:
0.1 Becky (born 04/09/1987)
1.0 Harley (born 11/01/1988)
1.0 Finn (born 24/01/1988)
1.0 Benji (born 19/04/1988)
1.0 Bogart (born 15/10/1988)
1.0 Jamie (born 24/04/1989)
0.1 Kara (born 07/06/1989)
Also in the troop (sent to Hamilton Zoo with Becky) were:
0.1 Jeneil (born 17/10/1984)
0.1 Beulah (born 29/12/1985)
None of the Orana females were mentioned in this troop. I must have saw the name Belize (born 1989/1990) and jumped to conclusions, as the initials represent family lines in the infants listed above - and they clearly had a thriving B family around the time Belize was born. Coincidentally, Auckland Zoo’s last infant was named Belize (offspring of Brianna). I imagine it’s a popular name worldwide for spider monkeys.
Either way, it was an interesting paper to read through!
Do you know how they were related? Like were all the B's siblings?
Benji and Bogart were too close to be from the same mother. There would have been at least two B females reproducing in that family line - either a mother and daughter; or a mother and two daughters.
0.1 Beulah (born 29/12/1985)
0.1 Becky (born 04/09/1987)
1.0 Benji (born 19/04/1988)
1.0 Bogart (born 15/10/1988)
I believe the reference to Jamie’s sister, who hadn’t reproduced at that point (Page 143), was a reference to Jeneill (then aged 4-5 years).
0.1 Jeneil (born 17/10/1984)
1.0 Jamie (born 24/04/1989)
As for the others that were neither from the B or J branches:
1.0 Harley (born 11/01/1988)
1.0 Finn (born 24/01/1988)
0.1 Kara (born 07/06/1989)
They were likely relatives of the other lines too, as the colony descended from four individuals imported from the USA. The naming offspring with the same initial convention had only been around just less than 10 years by the time these infants were born. The B mother could have had a H daughter first (later to be the mother of Harley); followed by two B daughters when the convention was implemented (who then had Becky, Beulah etc).
Hunter Valley Zoo currently has a breeding group of 4.4 spider monkeys made up of a mixture of various Australasian stock
1.0 Mikey (1985)-from Taronga Western Plains Zoo
0.1 Hannah (1983)-from Taronga Zoo
1.0 Shane (1998)-from Taronga Zoo
1.0 Barda (?)-from Mogo Zoo (originally NZ)
0.1 Cara (?)-from Mogo Zoo (originally NZ)
0.1 Betty (?)-from NZ
0.1 Jan (?)-from NZ
1.0 Mono (Oct 2018)-born HVZ
Note: a female was also born Oct 2018, but unfortunately died at about 6 months of age.
1.0 Mikey (1985)-from Taronga Western Plains Zoo
0.1 Hannah (1983)-from Taronga Zoo
1.0 Shane (1998)-from Taronga Zoo
1.0 Barda (?)-from Mogo Zoo (originally NZ)
0.1 Cara (?)-from Mogo Zoo (originally NZ)
0.1 Betty (?)-from NZ
0.1 Jan (?)-from NZ
1.0 Mono (Oct 2018)-born HVZ
Note: a female was also born Oct 2018, but unfortunately died at about 6 months of age.
@Zorro I believe Melbourne Zoo have 1.4 (male Oren, and females, Isobella, Maya, Estella and Elena).
Let us know if you’re ever able to find out their DOB/year of birth. They were likely from the J and B families at Auckland Zoo that I mentioned in the post above.
Wildlife HQ has 3.0 (Basco, Cortez and Hebe) which were imported from Auckland Zoo in 2016. They were moved to zoo to allow Auckland's group to continue breeding.
Billabong Zoo has 1.1 (Nacho and Maria).
Gorge Wildlife Park has 2.2 (Arthur, Jake, Aruba and Samara), and one baby on the way.
Taronga Western Plains Zoo has the largest group with thirteen individuals (4.9).
Sydney Zoo has 4.0 from Orana Wildlife Park.
I'm unsure of the numbers at Halls Gap and Crocodylus - they haven't received a mention in a while.
Crocodilus has 2 males, names unknown but supposedly brothers; 1 of which has downs syndrome according to the keeper. It has a slightly hunched back and the keeper said it was quite handicapped but its brother helped it alot. I couldn't see any particular disability in its movement whilst i watched the 2 of them, the keeper was free to go inside with them and interact with them whilst feeding them
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Amazing news!!!!!
The region hasn’t had a successful male Hippo calf in ages! This has definitely made my day. 
Finally, a boy! That’s not a sentence fragment you can say often with regards to ungulates.
This is the third surviving calf of Mana and Cuddles:
Mana (M)
Born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo 31/03/1996
Still at Taronga Western Plains Zoo
Cuddles (F)
Born at Tipperary Station 00/09/2002
Arrived at Taronga Western Plains Zoo 00/03/2013
Still at Taronga Western Plains Zoo
Calves:
Kibibi (F)
Born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo 11/09/2014
Still at Taronga Western Plains Zoo
Kendi (F)
Born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo 25/05/2017
Still at Taronga Western Plains Zoo
Unnamed (M)
Born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo 15/04/2020
Still at Taronga Western Plains Zoo
If new imports aren’t on the horizon, this could be an opportunity for Werribee to import a bull - either this calf in four or five years; or Mana, now he and Cuddles have three surviving calves.
The girls at WORZ are closely related to the new male. Their father, Harold is the half-brother of Mana (the father of the new calf).
Suzie - Harold - Primrose, Brindabella - Tulip, Lotus, Pansy
Suzie - Mana - new male calf
As far as I know, WORZ don’t have any immediate or urgent plans to breed their girls at the moment.
It’s kind of a moot point since the ship has long sailed on breeding unrelated hippos (and giraffes for that matter). My preference would be to see fresh imports from overseas; but if that isn’t possible, then I’d rather them inbreed then let them die out. Werribee did this by breeding Harold with his daughters to produce their latest calves.
The Werribee females are getting on in their years so it may be wise to shift Mana actually, rather than wait for his son to mature.
The Werribee females are getting on in their years so it may be wise to shift Mana actually, rather than wait for his son to mature.[/QUOTE]
Quite correct, perhaps Werribee could ship a couple of females to Dubbo for breeding? what have they got to lose??
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By the time he would get old enough for breeding some females would be well past breeding age just ship a couple of werribee females to dubbo!
It could be done either way, but WORZ have plenty of space to breed at least a few calves. One enclosure’s been empty ever since Harry died back in 2013.
Also, it’s quite risky to shift Hippo’s so I think they would rather ship one than say, two or three.