Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Births, Deaths and Transfers 2021

Hoo boy I almost had a heart attack when I scanned over that quickly and saw the words death and gorilla, don't scare me like that man lol. Great to hear the Canadian gorilla population is doing well and we all still miss Jo dearly. The indoor exhibit isn't the same without her sitting up near the top keeping an eye on things.
 
I kinda suspected they would go for Adelaide. Its a very easy choice for an Aussie town to use for her.
 
I step away for a few months, and I come back to all of this wonderful discussion on these forums!! Welcome to all the new crew!

I sat in on the board meeting yesterday and there are a few little nuggets Dolf shared with everyone.

Firstly, he went over several pregnancies we already knew of including Masai Giraffe, Sumatran Orangutan, and Wood Bison (due next summer and all female via selected sperm). But he also made the announcement that two cheetahs are likely pregnant and that we’ll be seeing those cubs sometime in February or March! Exciting! He also mentioned that there a few more potential pregnancies, but they’re waiting for the new year to announce them to bring excitement to the summer season.
 
animalman0341 said:
But he also made the announcement that two cheetahs are likely pregnant and that we’ll be seeing those cubs sometime in February or March!
Click to expand...
Two?! Does that mean Laini may be pregnant as well? I thought the zoo only made an announcement of Emarah breeding with one of the boys.
animalman0341 said:
He also mentioned that there a few more potential pregnancies, but they’re waiting for the new year to announce them to bring excitement to the summer season.
Click to expand...
Hopefully a Southern white rhino calf! Or maybe even two if they’re lucky.
 
@animalman0341, welcome back! And why to hit it off by actually going to a board meeting! I wonder if anyone else had ever done that? Still you have stellar info for us.

Nice to hear multiple bison are pregnant. Hope the female selection works out. We dont need more boys. 5 not doing anything useful is plenty.

Excellent to hear Laini could also be pregnant for the cheetahs. That is so important because she is a founder and this really would be her last chance to have a litter. Come on luck hold out. You gave us a last shot Amur litter, Ill take a last shot cheetah litter too. Man 2 cheetah litters would really give us something cool for the summer. I dont think we have ever had two litters at the same time. We have had the females for it just no success.

@Animals R AMAZING! that is exactly where my mind drifted off to, white rhinos. We have two females. I have real hope for Zohari, minor hope for Sabi just because its never worked out before with her. We should be able to rule out an Indian rhino calf though since the crate for Asha is there. I doubt they would send her and a calf packing.

Trying to think of others you would wait on for buzz worthy babies... Otters sure but our female river otter Talise is likely now too old to conceive so not them... I'd kill for a wombat but hard to hope there.

More grey kangaroos just seems inevitable. People seem to be interested in that so strong possibility there.

The sakis are a breeding pair and we have never had a baby so that might garner interest.

I would be surprised if there wasnt another golden lion tamarin baby or 2.

The southern ground hornbills are likely sitting on an egg right now or 2.

3 penguin couples could produce chicks. You would want to wait to announce that since success is not guaranteed with penguins.

The red panda but since breeding hasnt even happened no way he could be talking about them yet.

Oh right duh me the 3 female Bactrian camels were bred, likely 1-2 przewalskis horse, and likely both female kudu. Those ones make for strong contenders. And none of them would be pregnancies they would likely announce in advance of a birth which would all happen in the spring or summer.

I think thats about it for big babies.... Nope if they know pygmy hippo Penny is leaving then it is possible Kindia and Harvey had some alone time and a calf could be on its way. But with covid do you take that risk you cant get her to the US before you need her gone. Though she could probably chill with mom and baby or go on birth control and hang out with dad. Harvey has always been social with his exhibit mates. Holding space would be the question.
 
Very cool information brought to the discussion. Great news on 2022 babies, which could really boost up attendance which the zoo needs.

I was hoping to be in on that Board meeting, but found myself busy when it was going on.
 
After some work I have discovered what happened to the two missing black tree monitors. @Kalvin has previously said the zoo was down to just male Freckles. Jeckle and Hyde were both over 16 years old and sadly passed in November and December of 2020. Just old age. Freckles though should give us hope as he is a very valuable boy. He and Jeckle were supposed to breed so it is possible in the next year or so we will get a new female for breeding. Nothing I have heard about to be clear but his value in a small population should be helpful, however there are far more males than females so will anyone want to give up their female? Who knows. A private collect might be able to spare one with a known pedigree. Time will tell.

The zoo's 4 youngest female sacred ibises were transferred to Erie Zoo in September. That leaves us with 8 adult ibises (4.4) and a chick that hatched in September. Surprise baby that is now probably pretty much the same as mom and dad. Oh well. Toronto has had chicks born year round but of the current birds most are fall babies so something to keep in mind to check for if you visit next fall. 2 new birds are due in from Safari West to become future breeders when old enough.
 
Last edited:
The zoo has announced at least 4 of the wood bison females are pregnant. These pregnancies come from the first round of AI attempts. A fifth was pregnant but the fetus doesnt appear viable. A second round was done using embryo transfers and they are waiting on pregnancy results for them.

A rats @Animals R AMAZING! just barely beat me to it. Well this is a quick summary if you want to skip the read... but the read is cool.
 
That is great news! I really enjoyed seeing the bison herd last time I was at TZ, which was about 4? 5? years ago. Let's hope they get some calves dropping in the spring, and maybe I will find an excuse to find myself in Toronto again :p
 
@BovidBabe, you probably visited around the last time or just after the last calves so good timing if you come back for the next batch. Maybe you sre good luck! In 2022 there will be lots of babies to meet to make the trip worth it. Top of the list is the giraffe calf and orang infant but also the bison, a Przewalskis horse foal, 2 possible cheetah litters, 3 maybe camels and 2 kudus, and potentially red panda cubs by fall. If half of this pans put it will be a good summer.
 
For those interested the zoo has posted a quick video about white rhino Theo's big move to Vancouver on their Facebook page. Looked pretty chill the whole way, what a trooper.
 
Another tough day for the African penguins, female Jagu passed last week after the vet staff found signs of pneumonia among other things after she was observed feeling discomfort. According to the zoo Jagu is the fourth penguin loss since March, which led to the penguin house rehab in October being rescheduled to happen this year instead of in 2022.
 
Oh wow thats unfortunate as Jagu is the offspring of Chupa and Ellie who are one of the zoo's 3 go to breeding couple. I know Buddy and Squeak passed this year who was number 4?
 
No idea who the fourth is but that's what they said in their post. I try to keep track of the comings and goings of the year and thought Jagu was the third.
 
That would be my accounting too. I checked over Facebook for another death in the last year and all I got was Buddy and Squeak as the March deaths and Jagu. So someone passed in between. My guess is whoever was third is the penguin that made the zoo do the reno so they had to have passed no later than nearly fall but more likely in the summer.

Ok I thought I posted this when I wondered if I could find the information another way... Took some scrounging but the fourth penguin was Gozi who died in June. I know absolutely nothing about the death other then it was June which if you think about it would make sense for a timeline that sees them accelerate construction for fall. Gives time for quick plans, getting parts and getting a team to do it. That feels good to not have to wonder.
 
Confirmed by the keeper of Indomalaya, Levy the clouded leopard cub went to Safari Niagara in 2019, but unfortunately passed away last winter. So the clouded leopard currently in the Safari Niagara is not Levy, and it is the one that came from the US, as the Safari responded to me via email.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top