Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Births, Deaths and Transfers 2024

Wait did Henry the Wrinkled Hornbill go to Europe yet if so when.

Also what happend to the Von Der Decken's Hornbills at the zoo. They(not sure how many) were at the zoo many years ago. There used to be multiple Von Der Decken's Hornbills in Canadian zoos but now there's zero.
 
@antilio capra Last I checked Henry is still at the TZ. You can sometimes see him peeking through the glass on the Zoolife orangutan cam if you have that.

As for the Von Der Deckens we had two, the male was killed by a turaco, and after that the female was transferred to LA for breeding.
 
@Jefferson, 100% speculation on my part that we wont be getting more komodos. We have had tons of problems getting Kilat a mate. When Kiki wasnt breeding they started looking for a replacement. For awhile they wondered if she was even a female. The zoo went way above and beyond to try and get her to breed including a trip to Guelph to get scanned (cant remember what kind). If they could just replace her I dont think they would have tried so hard to get her breeding. Breeding Kilat was very important to the population. His mom Draca only had two offspring, Kilat and older brother Satu (first komodo hatched in Canada). Neither has been lucky enough to have offspring of their own and Draca's wild born bloodline will die with them. I just think if we are having that much trouble getting a mate for Kilat who is just 1 of 2 offspring of a founder then what hope do we really have to get two new komodos? I fully admit I could definitely be proven wrong. All depends on what the zoo wants when Kilat dies and if it is possible to get more komodos from somewhere. Its a future problem. Something just tells me Kilat will be around for another decade or close to it. Maybe I just cant picture a day where he isnt there.

@antilio capra, I took some of the transfers off the list because they have been on it for years and nothing has happened. I think wrinkled hornbill, Henry was suppose to go to Europe before covid. Personal choice to give up? Yeah but if I dont make changes sometimes transfers will never change.

And @hyena142 is 100% correct about the Von Der Deckens hornbills. Keepers strongly believe Heinz Klaus was killed by the violet turaco, to be specific. They didn't see it happen but they were pretty sure and so Francine was sent to LA where I believe she has bred at least once. Kinda a pity I liked them. At least the turaco didn't take out my favorite in that aviary, hamerkop Homer.
 
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Wow that's dark. As for Henry I'm glad to see another year of him. He is my secound favourite Toronto zoo bird. Does the zoo house anything in the Amphibian Rescue Centre? I know there was a population of Wyoming Toads, are they still there and anything else?
 
@Zoo adventures It's a long explanation (and as the designated TZ hyena guy I'm the one who gives it lol) but we unfortunately don't breed our hyenas for multiple reasons.

First off the main reason is something you mentioned yourself. We have four, and four is too many for us to add cubs. The hyena barn is very small (how that thing held a pride of lions back in the olden times is beyond me but zoo standards were different back then), so there's just no room to add cubs we might not be able to offload when they become adults.

Secondly, even if we had the space to breed we still couldn't because our clan is a disaster. Pinduli and Moja were brought in as potential breeders after the previous hyena generation died out, but it quickly became clear that Pinduli was very much not interested. It took them years of introductions and trial and error before she could even be on exhibit with Moja, let alone breed with him. Then it turned out that not only did Pinduli not want to breed, she also had this crazy condition that I think no one had seen in a hyena before that required her having to be spayed. So the new plan was to send Pinduli away and bring in Echo (the #1 ranked male in NA) and Kanzi to be our new breeders. But something happened and Pinduli's transfer fell through but we ended up with Echo and Kanzi anyways. The zoo apparently toyed with the idea of continuing to try to give Pinduli the boot and breed Kanzi, but it turned out Kanzi can't breed either (not sure why). So they just gave up, to the point that the 2020 Animal Plan said their future plan for hyenas is to only take in retirees and non-breeders, which is kind of understandable considering we're one of only two Canadian zoos to have spotted hyenas, but still a huge bummer. I have hope they'll change their mind on that though considering not everything from the Animal Plan came to pass. As much as I love Kanzi I wish they'd just send the girls somewhere and bring in a new female to breed with Echo so we could finally get those cubs.
 
@hyena142 has the details right but the timeline slightly off. Echo was brought in before Pinduli was spayed. When she wouldnt breed with Moja they thought mate choice might help and a younger male like Echo might peak her interest. Then came the issues that caused spaying, not too long after Echo arrived.

Kanzi is a behavioral non breeder. I believe she was tried with both boys in hopes that we could at least keep them in two groups but it didnt work out. She's more into people than other hyenas.

Sadly with the way things are Echo should go. He is a potential founder having been imported from South Africa by Parc Safari. Would be nice if Parc Safari was given the option to breed the two females who came with him. Spotted hyenas can always use new founders.

The zoo could change it's mind down the line about breeding. As for Toronto while Moja is an older boy, we could have Pinduli and Kanzi around for another 10-20 years. We will just have to wait and see what the future holds for our hyena clan but for now we can safely rule out welcoming the zoo's first hyena cub for the foreseeable future. Pity.
 
hyena142 said:
@Zoo adventures It's a long explanation (and as the designated TZ hyena guy I'm the one who gives it lol) but we unfortunately don't breed our hyenas for multiple reasons.

First off the main reason is something you mentioned yourself. We have four, and four is too many for us to add cubs. The hyena barn is very small (how that thing held a pride of lions back in the olden times is beyond me but zoo standards were different back then), so there's just no room to add cubs we might not be able to offload when they become adults.

Secondly, even if we had the space to breed we still couldn't because our clan is a disaster. Pinduli and Moja were brought in as potential breeders after the previous hyena generation died out, but it quickly became clear that Pinduli was very much not interested. It took them years of introductions and trial and error before she could even be on exhibit with Moja, let alone breed with him. Then it turned out that not only did Pinduli not want to breed, she also had this crazy condition that I think no one had seen in a hyena before that required her to be spayed. So the new plan was to send Pinduli away and bring in Echo (the #1 ranked male in NA) and Kanzi to be our new breeders. But something happened and Pinduli's transfer fell through but we ended up with Echo and Kanzi anyway. The zoo apparently toyed with the idea of continuing to try to give Pinduli the boot and breed Kanzi, but it turned out Kanzi can't breed either (not sure why). So they just gave up, to the point that the 2020 Animal Plan said their future plan for hyenas is to only take in retirees and non-breeders, which is kind of understandable considering we're one of only two Canadian zoos to have spotted hyenas, but still a huge bummer. I have hope they'll change their mind on that though considering not everything from the Animal Plan came to pass. As much as I love Kanzi I wish they'd just send the girls somewhere and bring in a new female to breed with Echo so we could finally get those cubs.
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Sending Echo out would be a great thing since he is ranked 1#. We can wait 10 years for these hyenas to die or go to another zoo. I could not imagine that they once housed lions in the hyena enclosure, is there any plans to renovate the hyena enclosure like make a new barn? Thanks for all this explanation.
 
I know this isn't related to the topic here but I was wondering since I'm remastering my 2017 footage from the zoo is there supposed to be a slight green hue coming from the animals as well as the foliage? I filmed on a cloudy day in June when the grass was lush and green. Does the green from the foliage reflect onto the animals due to lighting??? Thanks!
 
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Zoo adventures said:
Sending Echo out would be a great thing since he is ranked 1#. We can wait 10 years for these hyenas to die or go to another zoo. I could not imagine that they once housed lions in the hyena enclosure, is there any plans to renovate the hyena enclosure like make a new barn? Thanks for all this explanation.
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It is crazy to think that barn not only held lions but a breeding pride of lions! In 1974 it was home to 11 (3. 8) adult lions from various places. 1976 was way worse. By then they had 23 (9.14) adults. Yes I said 23! And thats from 7 different places. Clearly that was insane and the number did drop by 1979 to just breeding male Brutus, his two sisters he inbred with and a sister set of 3 (two of the 5 girls were named Natasha and Nosey). They did lose a female and keep two female cubs through their lives. Cubs were there but often not long. For more info check page 9 of the family tree thread. But can you imagine that barn housing 23 adult lions from 7 different sources? That cannot have gone well, especially with the 9 unrelated adult males. Mind blowing right? There may have been other housing. I wasnt even born yet so I couldn't say what the set up was until the 1990's when I start having clearer memories. I do believe though the current hyena barn is the original lion barn with obvious changes over time to meet requirements.

I don't really recall plans for a renovated barn being in the master plan but you never really know what will happen in the future. So many factors are always at play. We will just have to wait and see. I do think when the exhibit is empty again they would look at replacing the barn before getting more hyenas or another species. I mean the barn is from the 1970's so replacing it might be wise. Starting over would allow them to build for the species they want to keep there but also to bring everything up to modern building standards and ensure the building is going to continue serving the zoo well into the future.
 
TZFan said:
It is crazy to think that barn not only held lions but a breeding pride of lions! In 1974 it was home to 11 (3. 8) adult lions from various places. 1976 was way worse. By then they had 23 (9.14) adults. Yes I said 23! And thats from 7 different places. Clearly that was insane and the number did drop by 1979 to just breeding male Brutus, his two sisters he inbred with and a sister set of 3 (two of the 5 girls were named Natasha and Nosey). They did lose a female and keep two female cubs through their lives. Cubs were there but often not long. For more info check page 9 of the family tree thread. But can you imagine that barn housing 23 adult lions from 7 different sources? That cannot have gone well, especially with the 9 unrelated adult males. Mind blowing right? There may have been other housing. I wasnt even born yet so I couldn't say what the set up was until the 1990's when I start having clearer memories. I do believe though the current hyena barn is the original lion barn with obvious changes over time to meet requirements.

I don't really recall plans for a renovated barn being in the master plan but you never really know what will happen in the future. So many factors are always at play. We will just have to wait and see. I do think when the exhibit is empty again they would look at replacing the barn before getting more hyenas or another species. I mean the barn is from the 1970's so replacing it might be wise. Starting over would allow them to build for the species they want to keep there but also to bring everything up to modern building standards and ensure the building is going to continue serving the zoo well into the future.
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That is crazy that they had 23 lions living there.
 
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@AJ the TZ Guy The zoo surprised us by picking up some new species for the holidays. We have a new three-banded armadillo named Kuzco, a hairy screaming armadillo named Kronk, and a tamandua that hasn't officially been announced yet but popped up on Dolf's insta story. The armadillos will go in the Kids Zoo next summer and until then will be touring the zoo with the outreach team so guests can see them ahead of time. As for the tamandua we're not sure yet but I'm assuming it'll be the same deal
 
Are they getting rid of their hippos?
Also what animals are in Eurasia wilds, I wonder if they could get anything rare like a saiga like in original plans.
 
@USZOOfan42 First off welcome to the Toronto forum! Always nice to see a new face here

Unfortunately yes the river hippos are leaving, the zoo determined that we just don't have the space for them and the bill they'd need to foot for refurbishments wasn't worth it. Right now the zoo is looking for takers for our girls and come up empty handed so far, but a transfer could happen any time. As for the pygmy hippos they'll be sticking around.

Currently the animals in the Eurasia Wilds are Amur tigers, mouflon, West Caucasian tur, snow leopards, Steller's sea eagles, Bactrian camels and red pandas. There might still be a barbary sheep or two in there somewhere as well, I'm not sure. We also have Przewalski's horses, yak and lion-tailed macaques only viewable from the zoomobile as well as a wattled crane. The red pandas are currently off-exhibit as we await a few transfers, and the Sumatran tigers from Indo-Malaya are currently on vacation in the Amur tiger complex while renovations are done on their normal exhibit.

As far as I know the only new species planned for Eurasia is markhor, and that was back in 2020 and we haven't heard anything about it since so that might've changed. Saiga are unlikely since I don't think they have a population in NA zoos anymore.
 
Seems like they are fazing out a lot of species! Is there any new planned exhibits? I love how they filled up every continent.
 
Is Kalden the Red Panda from Edmonton in addition to the one they announced in the same post as the one about Paprika and Suva leaving? (Sakura from Greater Vancouver)

Edit to add: Has there ever been any talk of the Przewalski's Horse sometimes getting more face time in Eurasia other than on the Zoomobile? I feel like the camel enclosure would also make a good one for them on occasion.
 
@Blitz Welcome to the TZ forum!

Kalden will likely be coming to Toronto to be a companion for Sakura unless things have changed as they often do with transfers

This is a very long time away but the zoo does have plans for the horses. When the time comes to turn the Old Eurasia/Zoomobile Drive-Thru area into Wilderness North, the plan is to combine the mouflon exhibit, the empty former chamois exhibit, and the big camel exhibit into one big habitat for the camels and Przewalski horses.
 
@Blitz, first off welcome.

Kalden is supposed to be a companion for Sakura. He is castrated so there will be no babies even if they are hanging out. Two red pandas are always better than one. Hopefully they enjoy each others company and we can see more interactions between them.

@hyena142 is right they are planning on combining those three exhibits. However they could go for the reno at any point once the mouflon pass or at least are down to a handful. The Przewalski's have lived with mouflon in the past just fine. Only reason they stopped keeping the males in there was because a coyote got in and slaughtered several of the mouflon. It was safer to keep them with the female mouflon and barbary sheep... plus there was only a few left at that point. As long as the mouflon and camels get along here is no reason they couldnt open things up a little. And there isnt really a reason to expect a problem but they will probably wait because they still have quite a few mouflon and there really isnt a rush.
 
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