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

TZFan said:
Oh ya did anyone go to the black and white gala last night? Any info from that?
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I believe that the gala was by invitation only. The Zoo released a press release about it yesterday and while they didn't actually say how much money they raised, it does appear that they got a few sponsors. The other 2 links have a few pictures from the event.

http://www.torontozoo.com/pdfs/FINAL Manulife Presents Black & White Gala Press Release March 1.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/ShangriLaTO#!/ShangriLaTO

https://twitter.com/cmcdonaldglobal/status/307330467668058112/photo/1
 
People had to purchase tickets to the Gala at $1000 each, there was an event posted on the City of Torontos website that is where I am getting this information from.
 
JMANPROJECT88 said:
Was at the zoo on Saturday, and I was informed that the last Short Beaked Echidna passed away about a month ago.
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:(:(:( I'm going to miss the echidna. I always enjoyed searching for it in its exhibit.
Does the zoo plan on getting more echidnas or were they another phase out species?
 
JMANPROJECT88 said:
Was at the zoo on Saturday, and I was informed that the last Short Beaked Echidna passed away about a month ago.
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Did both echidnas pass away? I had heard that Norman (the 2nd oldest animal at the zoo) died, but I thought that female was still around.
 
adams7 said:
Did both echidnas pass away? I had heard that Norman (the 2nd oldest animal at the zoo) died, but I thought that female was still around.
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From what the keeper told me, I could safely assume they are both gone. Also, I don't know why my other update didn't post, but the keeping also informed me that the recently acquired female wombat passed away around the same time. He said due to this, Hamlet is back from the health centre to be rotated on exhibit with Arthur (the other new wombat)
 
Oh thats so sad we already lost Millie. Are there plans to replace her as soon as possible? I dont think we would want to waste Arthur's genes when the North American population is so tiny. Maybe we could pick up a pair of females to join him and help to expand the population just that much faster.
 
No, Annie the echidna is still at the zoo and in the exhibit. She stays pretty well hidden, though.

Pick up a pair of female wombats?! I've heard that it took eight years of negotiations for these two wombats to leave Australia, although hopefully more will be arriving in North America in the not-super-distant future from the same agreement. Time will tell. There are only three female hairy-nosed wombats in North America right now (and one is only a year old), so it could take a while before Arthur has a chance to breed.
 
Wow I had no clue it took 8 years to get Millie and Arthur! Just makes Millie's death all the sadder. I guess we will just have to hope and wait to see if we are given a new female. If it doesnt look like we will get one down the line then maybe we need to send Arthur out to one of the other facilities so the population can grow. Its too bad it wasnt Arthur instead, at least if Millie was still alive she could have been bred with Hamlet either naturally or AI (if thats even possible for wombats yet).

Ungulate is there any other cool news you could give us from the zoo? I love reading your insider info.
 
Ungulate said:
There are only three female hairy-nosed wombats in North America right now (and one is only a year old).
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Ungulate, this is a little off topic... but are all three of those females at Brookfield? I can't seem to recall any other facility that manages hairy-nosed wombats...
 
TZFan said:
Millie was still alive she could have been bred with Hamlet either naturally or AI (if thats even possible for wombats yet)
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Hamlet is pretty elderly (31?)... so I don't think they'll ever take the risk/stress in trying to introduce him to a new girlfriend. However, that doesn't necessarily make him biologically post-reproductive. Brookfield's "Carver" was still breeding successfully in recent times before his passing, and he was no spring chicken! Like Ungulate said, I think we'll be waiting for a while...
 
San Diego has a pair of hairy-nosed wombats (their female is Hamlet's daughter); Brookfield has 2.2 (including Hamlet's grand-daughter and two great-grandkids); and Memphis has a single male (Hamlet's grandson) ... 1.1 + 2.2 + 1.0 + 2.0 in Toronto = 6.3 southern hairy-nosed wombats outside of Australia. So, there is only one non-paired female wombat, and she is still too young to breed (as is Arthur).
 
Thank you for that clarification, Ungulate. I hadn't realized either just how represented Hamlet was...
 
Yes thanks for all of your wonderful informations Ungulate. We can always trust you to give us the best info. Guess we will all just have to be patient and wait for whatever happens to happen.

With news of the pandas arrival shortly have any of the other new zoo residents arrived yet? Or arrivals expected soon? Im thinking primarily of the Sea Eagles, from photos they just look so striking, but also the giant salamanders or anything else Im forgetting is supposed to be coming to the zoo.
 
Oh secondary thought about the wombats... Ungulate when did Hamlet have a mate? I dont remember ever seeing two womats or a baby wombat ever at the zoo when I was a kid. Obviously there must have been a female but I just dont remember. How many offspring did they have? I guess with good old Hamlet directly related to 5 of the 9 wombats, and being one of them himself hes rather overrepresented here in North America. Any idea roughly how many wombats might be imported to North America through this big deal thats been arranged? Also does the deal have anything to do with other species like koalas and tasmanian devils? Not that we would get them but I know San Diego Zoo is getting both for their new Australian section.
 
Hamlet and Tessie were at the zoo in the "Edge of Night" exhibit from the mid 1980's up until the recent Australasia renovation, when Tessie passed away. They only ever had one successful offspring, "Nan" (now "Kindyerra" in San Diego), who was born in 1994. The gene pool is really small. And as far I my understanding goes, the negotiations were strictly for wombats, I suspect between 6 and 12 total, but I have no idea.
 
Thanks again Ungulate. Since they only had one offspring it makes sense I dont remember it, its not like I missed a ton of babies.
 
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