Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo- Births, Deaths, Arrivals and Departures 2013

We've only had malayan tapirs. The female who came to be paired with Tanuck was a 9 year old named Olivia from Point Defience Zoo. She was being switched to move her from a male who likely wouldnt breed to try Tanuck out. Hes pretty highly vauled so if we arent going to find him a new mate (probably no room for her anyway), we should do whats right and move him out.

Im not bothering with the snake group. Theres no chance of names in there.
 
Why are you not looking at the snake group? I know that at least some of the zoo's snakes have names. Also, you might find something interesting.
 
Ok ok arcticwolf you win. Ill do the snakes.

The eastern massassagua rattlesnakes apparently are very difficult to breed. Many of the animals in the north american population have been to our zoo. A fair portion either come in to the zoo from wild clutches to improve genetic diversity or go back out into the wild via Toronto. We have at least 8 adults with 2 adults with no breed orders until their haplotype is know. I dont know what a haplotype is. And from their studbook it appears almost every zoo that has them has at least one that has passed through Toronto.

We've never had any other snake listed in the online snake tag. Ok that wasnt so painful. You will be happy to know Im up to the hippo group. Again Im going to get to the name stuff later. I'll just share any current animal stuff with you.
 
For the river hippos Perky, Petal and Samson are not allowed to be bred because their pedigree is unknown. Their mother Sirene came to Granby in 1969 at age 2 from an unknown source. Their father Patriarche came to Granby in 1967 at age 9 also from an unknown source. Heres the thing... how can Granby not know where they got them from. Either there should be a purchase order or transfer paperwork somewhere. Given that they were brought in in the late 60s and it was still cool to bring them in from the wild Im unsure why they dont do what they do with many older animals of unknown origin, consider them unrelated founder stock. Though at 9 their father might be another zoos stock... I can see the confusion. But thats 9 offspring they had that shouldnt be bred. Theres Cindy in Philadelphia and Samson, Perky and Petal here. A couple of boys got sent to Laval and a couple overseas. How did we get so lucky to get 3 non breeders?

On the pygmy hippo front Harvey and Abou are 1st and 3rd ranked animals for breeding. Considering Abou's troubles I wouldnt be surprised if in the next SSP a change is recommended. Abou might not be a good candidate for breeding anymore given her health and in ability to produce surviving calves... she is 0 for 5 now. As the number 1 male Harvey should be repaired and either go or Abou should go somewhere with a another non breeder so a new female can replace her. His genetics shouldnt be wasted. Likely the problem is the very tiny size of the population, 11 males 15 females... unfortunately 4 of the females are non breeders themelves. We might need to look into importing a new female for him. Though these are the 2010 stats.

Our red river hogs have the go ahead to breed as of March.

Interestingly all babirusa descend from 10 animals brough over from Europe. They are working to import new stock. With 47 animals 10 of whom are post reproductive or sterilized in 2012 each birth is important to get the population to 100 breeders. Muna will have a big part in that future when shes moved likely next year (all babies are to be kept by their home zoo until they are 2).

And in theory we have way more warthogs than Lucy, Stephan and the triplets. More on that when I do their names up.

Well thats it Ive been through all the ones currently online. I'll check in on them again towards the end of the year and see whats new.
 
I know that I've said this already but thank you so much TZFan for all of these interesting updates. I learned so many things that I never knew about the zoo in the past few weeks. I can't wait for the end of the year to see any more pieces of information.

Also I appreciate you doing the snakes for me even if there didn't end up being anything very interesting.
 
Its been fun finding out stuff I never knew too. Well worth the expense since all of us have had the opportunity to learn. The more who have enjoyed it the more I feel like I got more than my moneys worth.

Ill be interested to see what new information is posted. They seem to have two seasons for studbooks. The May-June section and an October time when a lot of the books are published. There are obviously others throughout the year but a large portion seem to go in either one of those blocks. I just wish more of the animals were online. There has to be way more SSPs and Studbooks than the ones they have posted. Its not like they only track and plan for just the species I've shared with you. There are glaring omissions like the Przewalski's Horses, an endangered, very large mammal. Yet they post run of the mill creatures for north america like porcupines. I'd love to see all of the animals online in the future. Both their SSPs and Studbooks because its annoying to only get one or think your getting either one and find nothing which is the case for several of the reptiles and birds.

I will be certain to check back in before the end of the year on everything. After that I'll let the membership go until its discounted again or maybe wait a full year so I get even more new info. Its a toss up.
 
The new spotted necked otter came from the San Diego Zoo and is named Lila. I believe she is around 4 years old. She has been on exhibit for the last week, but is often hiding in the rock cave or log.
 
Such a fascinating thread! I love hearing about the history. And on an unrelated note, I am totally due for a visit.

Is there anything on the history of the canines? I do know that sometime way back there were Bat-eared Foxes, Fennec Foxes and I read an old article talking about the zoo having coyotes! Love the dholes, wolves (whom I remember when they were in their original exhibit which was the old Polar Bear maternity enclosure).
 
The canine and hyena grouping was very small. We did have fennec foxes from opening until 1988 when our last female died and her mate was transferred to Calgary.

And though it appears like theres a bat eared fox studbook page there its not been loaded.

I never looked at the african wild dogs before because I never thought we had them but just looked and WE DID! One glorious year summer 1975- spring 1976 we had 4 siblings with a 5th who died in transit. Wish we had kept the species. I'd happy trade the hyenas for them.

I wish there were studbooks of the arctic foxes, arctic wolves, dholes, coyotes, grey wolves ect.
 
That is a shame they didn't keep the African Wild Dogs at the zoo. They make a wonderful exhibit species and I enjoy them throughly when I visit Safari Niagara. They're very chilled out, don't seem to be bothered with their admirers. :)
 
That's fabulous! Little Nassir getting a little sister or bro to pester ;) Happy either way if the new one's male or female, but I'm leaning towards female for variety ;)
 
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I'm surprised that the keeper announced Ngozi's pregnancy this early, but it is great news.

In other news, Inukshuk arrived safely in at the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat last week according to their facebook page.

And there are 3 arctic wolves on display in the Domain, in addition to the 6 on exhibit in the Tundra. Not sure how long they have been down there or what the future plan is (start a new group and replace the group in the tundra vs introducing the new ones to the old pack).
 
Thats wonderful to hear. A new gorilla baby for to enjoy and during my birthday month to boot. Maybe a birthday buddy for me! Come on January 17th! I'd like to see another girl too given that there will very likely be a silverback change before she would reach maturity so theres a better chance we could keep her. And Charles needs another daughter. He has plenty of sons.

Im glad Inukshuk made it safe and sound. Hopefully we wont have to see him again for another 2 or 3 years thanks to healthy cubs and good mothering.

When it comes to the wolves, isnt the current pack reaching old age? Aren't most if not all of them the wolves featured on Zoo Diaries? If thats the case then they would be all at least 11 or older. There were the 2000 litter who were featured in episode 8 and a move featured in season 3 for at least one female. I'd guess if you saw the 6 at Tundra Trek it might be 3 new wolves to bolster the packs numbers or to replace them at some point as the older ones die or move back down to the canadian domain and retirement. Just a guess. If you didnt see all 6 maybe there was an issue and they were divided to stop a problem. Both time when I was there in June I could only see 3 but I also didnt have time to look around for the others.
 
Not sure of the number of wolves in Tundra Trek. However, the Canadian Domain exhibit is currently inhabited by 1.2 wolves. All are 2 years old, and the females are full siblings. They will be managed as a separate pack from the Tundra Trek wolves. No idea about if breeding is planned (although I imagine it is), but all wolves in Tundra are unable to breed. I think the plan is for the wolves in Tundra to "die out" (for a lack of nicer wording), with these new wolves replacing them eventually.
 
That makes sense. I would assume if any breeding were to happen though they would work on swapping the packs. Why waste pups down in the Canadian Domain which many people avoid like the plague... Im one... Why not show case cute pups in a space where people would flock to see them? The older pack could go back down and enjoy semi retirement. But I wouldnt worry about moving them unless the young pack was being breed soon. With young wolves they could hold off on breeding until the older pack started to dwindle more.

It is interesting though that they have decided to bring in the new pack with 6 wolves still left... unless the new ones are orphaned wild animals that couldnt be rehabilitated or problem wolves and it was a take them or lose out deal. Any idea where they are from?
 
Went to the zoo today, here are a few updates...

--New white faced saki male in America's pavillion. Looks like he and our continuing female were really getting along. Lots of grooming.
--Helmeted Guinea Fowl were free range in the Kids Zoo
--Male Warthog is now inhabiting the old Male Zebra exhibit on the way to Canadian Domain
--Victoria Crowned Cranes moved to outdoor exhibit across from Lemur exhibit (assumedly just for summer)
--A table was setup near the meerkat exhibit to name the Aba Aba Electric Fish in the African Pavilion.
 
Quick questions for you Jmanproject88.

1) Did you find out any information on the saki male? If so what?

2) Do you know why Stephane was moved to the zebra exhibit? I thought the plan was to reunite him with Lucy and the babies.

3) Do you mean the Grey Crowned Cranes? And if so does that mean they are also called Victoria Crowned Cranes? The AZA SSP only lists East African Crowned Crane as an alternative name.

4) So are you saying theres a contest to name the Aba Aba Electric fish?

Thanks for the new info particularly the new saki info. Here's hoping despite her age Kawa and the new male might hear the pitter patter of little feet one day.
 
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