Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo News 2015

Thong Dee, Luk Chai, Pathi Harn and Porntip made the move to Western Plains over the past two weeks.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo has welcomed four Asian Elephants from sister zoo, Taronga, in Sydney.

The elephants arrived in two transfers one week apart, with Porntip and her calf Pathi Harn arriving Friday 24 April, and Tong Dee and her calf Luk Chai on Friday 1 May.

“This is a really exciting time for Taronga Western Plains Zoo,” General Manager Matthew Fuller said.

“The transfers went smoothly, with all four elephants arriving in the early morning after travelling overnight by road in purpose-built transport crates.”

Mr Fuller said the elephants walked out of their crates straight into the Zoo’s new state of the art facility, to be greeted by their keepers, some of whom had travelled with them from Sydney.

“They’ve settled in well and we’re giving them lots of time to explore and become familiar with their new surroundings,” said Matt.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome these new arrivals as we take up our role in the Regional Conservation Management Plan for Asian Elephants.

“This program has had many milestones, from working with the Thai Government to select elephants for a conservation breeding program and bring them to Australia, to establishing a viable breeding program with three births already at Taronga, and now the expansion of the herd to Taronga Western Plains Zoo. The success of the program is a credit to all involved and we’re so pleased to now take it forward and play our part.”

The four new elephants take the total number of elephants at Taronga Western Plains Zoo to seven – six Asian Elephants and one African Elephant.

“The arrival of new elephants on the scene has caused a stir amongst our older female elephants, with Cuddles, Burma and Gigi all interested in the newcomers,” Matt said.

“Visitors to the Zoo will see the elephants on display as they are introduced to their new paddocks over the coming weeks.”
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so is the city zoo going to keep one group and WPZ the other group, or are they all going to be moving out to WPZ? And are the two old Asian elephants already at WPZ going to be mixed with the "new" ones at some point, or remain separated?
 
Chlidonias said:
so is the city zoo going to keep one group and WPZ the other group, or are they all going to be moving out to WPZ? And are the two old Asian elephants already at WPZ going to be mixed with the "new" ones at some point, or remain separated?
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As far as I am aware Taronga is keeping the 1.3 that remained. Burma and Gigi the old elephants will not be integrated with the new herd (from old news reports, possibly they changed their minds?).
 
Jabiru96 said:
As far as I am aware Taronga is keeping the 1.3 that remained. Burma and Gigi the old elephants will not be integrated with the new herd (from old news reports, possibly they changed their minds?).
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thanks, that is as I suspected would be the case. (And it is probably already all in the forums but it was easier to ask than waste time searching :)).
 
Taronga Zoo have announced the birth of a male Australian Sea Lion pup on their Facebook page.

Introducing Max the Australian Sea-lion pup! He’s the first seal pup born at Taronga in six years and at just 10 weeks old keepers say he’s already showing plenty of character and personality. Come and see the youngster at Seal Cove playing in the waterfall and practicing his swimming technique with first time mum, Lexie. Read more: Taronga's Australian Sea-lion pup is great news for future | Taronga
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Gorilla, Frala has given birth to a baby: So far unsexed but doing well

A baby gorilla will make its debut appearance at Sydney's Taronga Zoo on Tuesday morning.

The newborn western lowland gorilla was born to Frala and silverback Kibali, but zookeepers are yet to determine its sex as Frala has kept a tight hold of the baby.

It's the second gorilla to be born in the last seven months at the zoo.

Newborn gorilla to debut at Sydney zoo - 9news.com.au
 
I think you'll find that Fuzu, Fataki, and Mahale are doing a short period of quarantine at Taronga prior to actually being sent over to Orana...

I'm off to Taronga today to try to get me some photos of the new little one... IF Frala deigns to come out on exhibit. Fingers crossed the rain holds off! BOM doesn't ook all that encouraging... *sigh*

T.
 
I got me some baby photos today too... and I'm tipping girl... it's way too pretty to be a boy... lol!

Was the funniest thing ever... Mbeli kept going over near Frala and the baby and posing up a storm, as if to say "I have a cute baby too, remember!"... of course I took my opportunities there as well... *grin*

T.
 
tdierikx said:
I got me some baby photos today too... and I'm tipping girl... it's way too pretty to be a boy... lol!

Was the funniest thing ever... Mbeli kept going over near Frala and the baby and posing up a storm, as if to say "I have a cute baby too, remember!"... of course I took my opportunities there as well... *grin*

T.
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It would be great if the baby is a girl as she only has one breeding daughter, Anguka at Lisbon (as well as non-breeding Shinda at Prague). TBH Frala (and her relatives such as Kriba) are overrepresented anyway.

EDIT: Forgot about her daughter Shinda at Prague (maybe because she hasn't had any babies herself so she is sort of the 'forgotten one' haha)!
 
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Jabiru96 said:
It would be great if the baby is a girl as she only has one living daughter, Anguka at Lisbon.
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Anguka at Lisbon has just had a baby herself. She lost her first one after( I think) several months. That baby is genetically important on the father's side- he has no other offspring and comes from a low-representation line.

I've seen Frala described as having had eight, seven and six babies. Which is it. Is this her seventh?
 
Pertinax said:
Anguka at Lisbon has just had a baby herself. She lost her first one after( I think) several months. That baby is genetically important on the father's side- he has no other offspring and comes from a low-representation line.

I've seen Frala described as having had eight, seven and six babies. Which is it. Is this her seventh?
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Yeah, Anguka has sadly had a poor record just like her mother when it comes to babies. This is Frala's 8th baby with currently 2.2.1 surviving (including this baby) in total, and this is her 5th baby at Taronga (she had two that died at a very young age in the late 90s).
 
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Jabiru96 said:
Yeah, Anguka has sadly had a poor record just like her mother when it comes to babies.
I was concerned to see the photo of Anguka with her new baby- she was already carrying it on her neck/back instead of cuddling it close as newborns should be properly held. Often a sign of potential bad mothering. I hope they take the baby away rather than let it die.
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Pertinax said:
Jabiru96 said:
Yeah, Anguka has sadly had a poor record just like her mother when it comes to babies.
I was concerned to see the photo of Anguka with her new baby- she was already carrying it on her neck/back instead of cuddling it close as newborns should be properly held. Often a sign of potential bad mothering. I hope they take the baby away rather than let it die.
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Frala herself is what I would call a 'less-connective' mother rather than a poor one (as I initially called her, probably a wrong choice of words!). Compared to Mouila or Kriba when they were still at Taronga she seemed to ignore her sons and was rather distant from them compared to the mother/daughter pair with their offspring. I guess Anguka has copied her mother's poor/'less-connective'/neglectful traits.
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Jabiru96 said:
I guess Anguka has copied her mother's poor/'less-connective'/neglectful traits.
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It seems a trait of captive Gorilla life that some mothers are poorer at rearing babies(or won't do so at all) than others. Presumably in the wild that just doesn't happen. There was in the past a mother/daughter pair at Howletts- Mouila(not the same one;)) and her daugher Killa Killa. Despite living in social groups with other females raising youngs, Mouila had to have some of hers handraised, and the daughter Killa never raised any of her three herself before her death.

Anguka has had (afaik) one stillbirth, then a live infant that died after several months, and now this new baby. She is the only breeding female at Lisbon(they now only have two females currently) but male Nasibu is genetically unrepresented otherwise, and comes from a low very representation on both sides.
 
Pertinax said:
It seems a trait of captive Gorilla life that some mothers are poorer at rearing babies(or won't do so at all) than others. Presumably in the wild that just doesn't happen.
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Oh, it totally does. I`ve read the book of Dian Fossey about mountain gorillas and Jane Godall about the chimpas of Gombe, and both describe that wild female gorillas and chimps have very different mothering styles and, consequently, varying sucess in raising their offspring. In Gombe, one female chimp was bordering abusive towards all her children! Interestingly, her daugther was a much better mom. Another chimp one just didnt know how to properly protect her babys and lost a number of infants in situations that females with better mothering skills would have never allowed to happen.
 
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