Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo News 2015

jay said:
This feeds into my theory an belief that Aussie zoos should specialise in the taxa that we have no problems in importing and showcased the wide variety that exists in these taxa, namely felines, Canines and Primates. A wide range od small cats could be be kept in the region each species showing how they adapt to different enviroments and showcasing the variety of adaptions each species has. A fishing cat looks very different to a golden cat whick looks different toa serval etc. Half a dozen small cats would compliment the variety of large cats (cheetah, tiger and lion) that are already doing well here.
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And of course during the 80s + early 90s the larger zoos did have good collections of small cats (in particular Melbourne, but I also remember seeing pallas at Adelaide and jaguarundi at Taronga) and primates (particularly Melb + Perth). Unfortunately there was a rapid decrease in numbers as species were rationalised into 'sustainable' numbers during this period. A rubbish idea for a region as small as Australia + NZ, as very few species can be kept in suitable numbers to be sustainable. Australian zoos needed to recognise that they were always going to import fresh blood from time to time to supplement the population. As a result of the past actions species that bred well but were not considered the 'correct' species were phased out. A real pity. I wonder if it will take the small private zoos to have the balls to start reinstating some of the lost species, much like Altina managed at the last moment with the maned wolves.

I have seen over the last decade UK zoos slowly bring in increasing numbers of small cat species that hadn't been seen in this country for a long time. Generally they are formed from very small founder populations. I know that Australia has tough quarantine laws but surely picking a species that is in the country (such as fishing cat) and building up the numbers is not an impossible ask? [shakes head at situation]
 
Chlidonias said:
that was unexpected news. The zoo should now have six male Californian sealions.

These two new ones, Cisco and Diego, from Rotterdam;
Michi, imported in 2000 from Stuttgart;
Pepper in 2009 from Emmen;
Cooper in 2009 from Cologne.

The sixth one is Murphy? I can't find where he came from or which year he was imported. Anyone know?
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Any reason why they don't import some females to breed from? Having worked with a breeding group of Californian sealions, it doesn't impact on their training for a display. I'm guessing there isn't many other regional collections that might take youngsters in the future.
 
why californian sealions? their southern oceans themed area is not really a fit for californian sealions. if it's just so they have animals for the seal show it diappoints me. Taronga circus. maybe they might dress some chimps up too.
 
tetrapod said:
Any reason why they don't import some females to breed from? Having worked with a breeding group of Californian sealions, it doesn't impact on their training for a display. I'm guessing there isn't many other regional collections that might take youngsters in the future.
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the only other Australian collection with Californian Sealions is the Gold Coast Sea World (which has both males and females, and does breed them for their own requirements).

Other collections with pinniped facilities (for native species) are the Underwater World at Mooloolaba, the Pet Porpoise Pool (aka Dolphin Marine Magic), Melbourne Zoo and Adelaide Zoo. In New Zealand there is only Auckland Zoo.

I don't know why they don't have any intention of breeding - but it is a bit of a contradiction, I feel, tying in with what you were just saying about small cats. On the one hand the zoos can't have more than a couple of small cat species or more than one langur because they need sustainable numbers, but on the other hand they are perfectly happy just having a pointless group of male sealions. And like boof just said, it is curiously like having tea-party chimps again.
 
tetrapod said:
And of course during the 80s + early 90s the larger zoos did have good collections of small cats (in particular Melbourne, but I also remember seeing pallas at Adelaide and jaguarundi at Taronga) and primates (particularly Melb + Perth). Unfortunately there was a rapid decrease in numbers as species were rationalised into 'sustainable' numbers during this period. A rubbish idea for a region as small as Australia + NZ, as very few species can be kept in suitable numbers to be sustainable. Australian zoos needed to recognise that they were always going to import fresh blood from time to time to supplement the population. As a result of the past actions species that bred well but were not considered the 'correct' species were phased out. A real pity. I wonder if it will take the small private zoos to have the balls to start reinstating some of the lost species, much like Altina managed at the last moment with the maned wolves.

I have seen over the last decade UK zoos slowly bring in increasing numbers of small cat species that hadn't been seen in this country for a long time. Generally they are formed from very small founder populations. I know that Australia has tough quarantine laws but surely picking a species that is in the country (such as fishing cat) and building up the numbers is not an impossible ask? [shakes head at situation]
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The simple reality of this situation (and I've spoken to inside sources at large Australian zoos about this) is that small cats are not high profile animals:

While all of us on here are zoo nerds and are interested in most animals and taxonomy, the vast majority of the general public do not even know what a fishing cat, an Asiatic golden cat, a pallas cat, a jaguarundi or even an ocelot is.... and they probably don't care... They are all just small cats to them and they probably don't even differentiate between them and their domestic cats at home.

These are the people that zoos need to get through the gates. People like us on this page are going to go to the zoo anyway, regardless which species are displayed. However getting in the general public, who don't necessarily know much about animals requires displaying animals which are either:

1. high profile (elephants, lions, giraffes, tigers, hippos, rhinos, gorillas etc)

2. engaging with the public or human-like (monkeys, meerkats, gibbons, otters)

3. the public face / ambassador of conservation campaigns (orang-utans)

4. critically endangered and needed for breeding up an insurance population (oryx, addax, Prezwalski horse, Tasmanian devil)

Of course there are other categories too, and some animals fit more than one of these categories - but in reality, how many small cat species legitimately fit into any of these categories at all? I can't think of a single one...

The animals that fit categories 1 and 2 are known to get the public through the gates, and the ones that fit categories 3 and 4 are there to help educate the public and (to use Zoos Victoria's motto) "fight extinction"

Unfortunately, I can't see a way that they can justify numerous species of small cat based on any of these criteria.

That said, I'm glad that a number of Australian zoos display servals - as they could possibly fit into category 2 if shown in something like the serval show at WORZ. However, from my experience of looking at small cats in zoos over the past 35 years, most of the time they are either sitting at the back of their enclosure doing nothing, sleeping or pacing - which is not a good look when it comes to what the general public think of zoos...
 
Grant Rhino I understand what you are saying and agree with most of it but it begs a couple of questions. If small cats don't fit into those categories why have them at all? What irks me the most is the piecemeal approach that they have. "oh we'll make a half hearted attempt at breeding a few golden cats then get bored and move them on and instead get a couple of fishing cats. Oh they are hard to breed so we'll dump them at another zoo and get a male golden cat instead." and so on.
And secondly. If the public aren't engaging with cats then shouldn't the zoos look at alternative ideas to try and create that rapport. Small felines are fascinating and come in such a wide variety of types. And many are endangered and all need conservation and for people to want to protect them. Creating interest in all wildlife should be part of the zoos standard job.
 
jay said:
And secondly. If the public aren't engaging with cats then shouldn't the zoos look at alternative ideas to try and create that rapport. Small felines are fascinating and come in such a wide variety of types. And many are endangered and all need conservation and for people to want to protect them. Creating interest in all wildlife should be part of the zoos standard job.
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This is an interesting point - because it raises the question: "Are the public not engaging with the cats or the cats not engaging with the public?" I think it is a bit of both. Whatever the answer is, I like the way Werribee Zoo is displaying the servals - in the serval show which certainly creates rapport with the public. Maybe this is the answer when it comes to displaying small cats.

Werribee Zoo staff have always stated (during the serval show) that the reason that the servals aren't on display in a normal enclosure is because they like to hide in long grass and are hard for the public to see. By displaying them in the show format, the public not only get to see them, but engage with them as well. And of course it has a conservation message: lock up your cats at night to prevent them from killing native wildlife.

The show format works brilliantly with the servals - but I have no idea whether other small cat species are compatible with this sort of thing.
 
To be politically incorrect (.... oh, how I love to be ...): it is lacklustre vision and failure on the part of zoo management, marketing and PR departments to engage the internationally recognised mission zoos have in this world of global environmental degradation and their vision to actively and effectively ENGAGE the general public with whatever species they will put on show!

The sad reality IS that some zoo management circles never go beyond the safe lines of mega vertebrates and "perceived" high profile species in the zoo environment.

It really is about saving species, habitats and ecosystems for zoos and as such it SHOULD really be immaterial what species you engage the public with. It is up to exhibit space developers and zoo husbandry / management specialists to come up with durable solutions to engage the general public - and yes ... that IS Joe General Public - with the high profile species, the mega vertebrates, the small and beautiful and little brown numbers - as we like to call them in some circles .... -!

Hence, zoos that perceive this tasking as too difficult are really something of a lost cause and a failure in providing a proper translation of any internationally recognised zoo vision (be they WAZA, EAZA, AZA, ZAA ....) for engaging the general public with the Little Brown Numbers. Further, in my humble opinion it is really also about zoos are sites of learning by play and show in any age class and SHOULD play a decisive role in both natural history research and education in order to UNDERSTAND our natural world and engage the general public with durable solutions to environmental issues we face today, be they species and biodiversity loss, habitat loss and encroachment, destruction of entire ecosystems and global environmental issues like climate change and its undesirable impacts both on the Natural World and the us Humans ...

And finally: I do consider that zoos that fail to do so ... really are taking the easy option out and treat their public with some disdain and underestimate their capacity to take in learned subject matter and become aware and start to act accordingly upon the more difficult environmental problems we face today and for which we can make a difference now, tomorrow and into the future.

Amen ...! :D
 
I agree with the comments following my original one.

If Australian zoos cannot connect with a population who include many cat-lovers, then this is the fault/lack of imagination of the zoo. Appreciate the need for the large showy species to be the main focus, but it is the secondary exhibits which is where small cats can fit in.

Secondly how is that Australian zoos cannot be bothered with small cat conservation when European and American zoos are? They seem to get around the problems of exhibiting secretive carnivores...? Also it is not just the small felids, but also the other 'relatively' easy species to import such as smaller primates. Not every Australian zoo can keep orangs, gorillas and/or chimps.
 
jay said:
If small cats don't fit into those categories why have them at all? What irks me the most is the piecemeal approach that they have. "oh we'll make a half hearted attempt at breeding a few golden cats then get bored and move them on and instead get a couple of fishing cats. Oh they are hard to breed so we'll dump them at another zoo and get a male golden cat instead." and so on.
And secondly. If the public aren't engaging with cats then shouldn't the zoos look at alternative ideas to try and create that rapport. Small felines are fascinating and come in such a wide variety of types. And many are endangered and all need conservation and for people to want to protect them. Creating interest in all wildlife should be part of the zoos standard job.
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Couldn't have put it better myself.

Melbourne Zoo bred Golden Cats for 30 years and had many successes. They established early on what it took to be successful in doing so:

1) It is of critical importance to keep the breeding pair off display. This will minimise stress to the cats and increase the chance of successful introductions, matings and rearing of cubs.

2) Once the cubs are three-four months of age, it is strongly recomended they are put on public display. This conditions them to the stimulus of people/crowds and leads to the cat being a more engaging exhibit throughout it's captive life. In addition, baby Golden Cats are a big drawcard as they are simply put "cute."

3) Not every pair will be compatable. Melbourne Zoo tried to breed multiple males/females before establishing a successful breeding pair which produced many surviving litters.

So where did it all go wrong? Melbourne Zoo appeared to be the only zoo to follow these guidelines. Taronga attempted breeding with just a single female (Mao), and then gave up when she failed to breed with two males they introduced to her. They did not have an off display area. Auckland Zoo bred a male, Hari, with a young female Hoi An. They were successfully bred off display but due to Hari being much older, they only had two litters before he died. When a new male died soon after import, they gave up and exported Hoi An. In addition, the first litter born at the zoo were not socialised to visitors until 9 months and the surviving male, Hotan, was very aggressive as a result. He was sent to Hamilton to be paired with Mao (from Taronga) where he killed her. This led to Hamilton Zoo giving up on breeding. They did not have an off display area either.
 
Unfortunately Aust zoos just gave up on golden cats (not the first species either). Yes they were not straight-forward, but the right husbandry plan was in place. If they had been as big as tigers then I suspect these beautiful and rare cats would still be in Aust. Add to the husbandry issues that small cats can be secretive, then they are never as much the draw card as established zoo animals. A real pity given where Melbourne's reputation stood globally with golden cats...
 
A small correction: Taronga did definitely have an off-display area; there is a third yard in what is now the Tasmanian Devil complex (then the small cats area) that is completely off-display. I know they tried breeding the golden cats in there.
 
Geoffrey said:
A small correction: Taronga did definitely have an off-display area; there is a third yard in what is now the Tasmanian Devil complex (then the small cats area) that is completely off-display. I know they tried breeding the golden cats in there.
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Thanks for that, I wasn't aware of an off display area at Taronga for the Golden Cats. The problem may have been with the female Mao, as she never bred with two different males at Taronga but it's frustrating they didn't persevere and import a second female. The small population of Golden Cats meant one of her mates was her uncle.

Like cheetah, it would appear mate choice is important to these animals. Melbourne Zoo's last breeding female reporoduced well with her first mate (an older male), but when he died she failed to breed with a second mate.
 
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