The Indian Rhino calf has now made its public debut at Dubbo and can be seen on-display with female Amala. They are on-show from 9:30 to 12:30 daily: Rhino calf Hari can now been seen at Dubbo zoo
Taronga Western Plains Zoo Taronga Western Plains Zoo News 2021
- Thread starter Zoofan15
- Start date
What outstanding news its been a while coming. I wonder what lucky zoo is likely to be the one who receives him in the future
Could potentially be Perth Zoo. They’ve expressed an interest in acquiring this species once their elephants are phased out.
People have previously speculated Melbourne may also acquire them in place of their elephants, but since this would disrupt the SE Asia theme of the elephant trail, my money is on an expansion to the orangutan exhibit - possibly featuring high ropes.
I believe Austzoo were interested in the species not that long ago
I doubt Melbourne would care as they’ve already disrupted the theme by adding Squirrel Monkeys to the former Binturong enclosure in the Elephant Trail. Personally, I think Indian Rhinos are high on the list as a replacement for their elephants. They are feasibly the only replacement for the elephants that would generate almost the same attention.
That would be a good addition to their Asian precinct, but I think they’ve decided to focus any efforts on large ungulates on their recent elephant imports, which is no bad thing when they’re on track to founding the first breeding herd of Sumatran elephants in the region’s history - a huge achievement for the zoo; and a reflection of the zoo’s conservation efforts in Sumatra (building an elephant hospital etc).
In my opinion, the next priority for Australia Zoo’s collection should be the long overdue import of a great ape.
They’ve imported Sumatran elephants and Sumatran tigers from Indonesia; wouldn’t it be great if they could work on importing (unreleasable) Sumatran orangutans?
I believe Sumatran Orangutans were high on there list when Steve was there but like a lot of other things that were of interest much of it never happens, remember the largest Gorilla exhibit in the world, also the huge hotel and railway station that were put up,even the camping area has been put on hold for a fair while. I will believe it when I see it.
It’d be nice if Australia Zoo imported Bornean orangutans to support Auckland Zoo’s efforts in kick-starting the breeding programme for this species again.
Yes, I certainly do remember the plans for Gorilla and Orangutan Island. It was scheduled to open 2006 and an article published around a year after Steve’s death even described how they were digging the moat for it. The change of theme to Bindi’s Island was most disappointing.
The hotel and camping ground can be on hold indefinitely for all I care. I’m pleased they’ve focussed their recent efforts on elephants and crocodile/alligator exhibits.
I believe the ten year plan from 2006 to 2016 was to complete three phases of development in that time as far as I am aware only phase one was completed
Taronga Western Plains Zoo Annual Report 2020-2021:
The annual report for the Tarongas is now publicly available. Below are the notable highlights, transfers and births Full report: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/tp/files/80833/2020-21 Annual Report of the Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales.pdf
The annual report for the Tarongas is now publicly available. Below are the notable highlights, transfers and births Full report: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/tp/files/80833/2020-21 Annual Report of the Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales.pdf
- the zoo achieved a 100% success rate with all six breeding pairs for their first breeding season for the Regent Honeyeaters with 33 chicks. The honeyeaters live with Malleefowl, White-winged Choughs and Scaly-breasted Lorikeets. 10 Greater Bilbies were released into Sturt Desert National Park (NSW) in September 2020 which are now breeding into the third generation. 12 Plains Wanderer chicks hatched at Dubbo throughout the year.
- Taronga secured over $10 million to build platypus refuge and research facilities across both Sydney and Dubbo, providing holding capacity for 75 Platypus.
- An Australasian Region Elephant Welfare Tracking Tool has been developed which intends to, “benchmark the current standards in elephant welfare across the region to develop a baseline, which will be used to develop a more complete understanding of what constitutes positive animal welfare for elephants and evaluate sitespecific interventions designed to provide conditions in which elephants can thrive.”
- Kendi, the female hippo that had a severe case of tetanus (apparently the first recorded case of tetanus among hippos in human care) made a full recovery. Every hippo counts in Australia and all the hippos have now been vaccinated. A string of births occurred – a female South-central Black Rhino calf (they are hoping for a second black rhino pregnancy), two Giraffe calves, five Meerkats and two Black-handed Spider Monkey infants. One of the giraffe calves marked the final calf to their previous breeding bull but had to be handraised by keepers which was the first time in 17 years Dubbo had to handrear a giraffe. Unfortunately, the calf developed a gut infection and was euthanised. Another loss was Mana, the only adult male common hippo in the region.
- Both of the White-handed Gibbons had from acute illnesses recently but thankfully they both recovered as they live out their twilight years. Regarding ungulates, breeding has stalled for many species due to transfer delays but there have been some internal moves within the zoo with processing 17 Przewalski’s Horses through the new hoof stock handling facility and lots of Eland moves.