Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo New Animals, Departures and Deaths 2012

Quartz92 said:
It is possible to see a baby giraffe is Twigga is pregnant. As for the gorillas, they will try and get Charles and Ngozi to breed again last I heard. The Organutans, I have no idea what is going on.
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That's great news! Hopefully Charles will be able to have at least one more baby. Does the zoo plan on bringing in more giraffes now that Stripes is gone and the girls are getting older? Or are they going to wait until the giraffes move into the elephant exhibit?
 
Quartz92 said:
It is possible to see a baby giraffe is Twigga is pregnant.
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Sorry Quartz92 - did you mean to say "as Twigga is pregnant"? If so that is exiting! It's been a while since we've seen a baby giraffe at TZ!

Such amazing things happening at the TZ - an exciting time! Way to go TZ!!
 
With the whole giraffe situation, it's highly possible that Twigga could conceive at this age (Ginetta conceived in 2003 when she was around Twigga's current age, although the calf was stillborn in 2004). The only problem is that due to increased age, the pregnancy is much more risky for mother and calf.

I would imagine that due to the space issues in the barn (which allowed for 3 adult giraffe at the most), we won't be receiving any new giraffe until they move over to the elephant exhibit (which, as we all know, could be awhile).
 
Thats good to hear Quartz. I'm glad good old Charles will get to hopefully be a dad one more time. Hopefully they will have a little girl who could stick around Toronto and become one of the breeding females when a new silverback arrives. Our troop will be going though some big changes over the next few years with Charles and Josephines eventual deaths and the relocation of probably most of the youngesters to make room for the new silverback and new females. Sadiki and Nassir will have to go. And Johari was already supposed to go this summer so I'm guessing she might be first to go. But one never knows, perhaps depending on Sadiki's age when Charles goes maybe he might inherit his fathers position. He could breed with Ngozi.
 
kknudsen said:
Sorry Quartz92 - did you mean to say "as Twigga is pregnant"? If so that is exiting! It's been a while since we've seen a baby giraffe at TZ!
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I believe Quartz92 meant "if Twiga is pregnant," as nobody really knows at this point. However, I think that given that Twiga last gave birth in 2006 (6 years ago now) and she is on the older side, the chances of her actually being pregnant are probably slim to none. As much as I would like to see a baby giraffe, I don't think we shoulb be getting are hopes up.
 
All of this baby talk made me wonder how the baby pygmy hippo is doing. I think I heard somewhere that it passed away. Is this true? I really hope not. A pygmy hippo calf would be amazing to see.
 
Unfortunately, yes the pygmy hippo baby did pass away.

@adams7 yes I did mean to say 'if Twigga is pregnant' thank you for clarifying for everyone.
 
Quartz92 said:
Unfortunately, yes the pygmy hippo baby did pass away.

@adams7 yes I did mean to say 'if Twigga is pregnant' thank you for clarifying for everyone.
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:(:(:(:(:( That is such sad news. I was really looking forward to seeing a baby pygmy hippo. Does the zoo plan on breeding them again?
 
arcticwolf said:
:(:(:(:(:( That is such sad news. I was really looking forward to seeing a baby pygmy hippo. Does the zoo plan on breeding them again?
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I would say yes, as they are back together on exhibit.

In other news, Chrissie (Matschie's tree kangaroo) has been transferred to Woodland Park Zoo (I think) and a new female is in quarantine. According to the keeper, there have been very few births over the last couple of years in North America and as a result the SSP reviewed their breeding pairs and recommended several transfers.
 
Just an FYI if this hadn't already been mentioned. The pygmy hippo calf was being hand-reared when it passed away. Abou wasn't letting the calf nurse during the initial period after birth.
 
Too bad about the hippo calf. I was looking forward to seeing her. I wonder if there was something wrong with her or the rejection by Abou had something to do with it. Are Pygmy Hippos difficult to hand raise? Because if she is constantly rejecting the babies and they are hard to hand raise then is it really fair to the calves. But if they are usually ok then maybe the baby just needs to be pulled immediately after birth since we are talking about the survival of a critically endangered species. Since Harvey and Abou have never successfully produced a surviving calf in several attempts should we still be trying to breed them? Maybe there is something wrong her or Harvey that is producing sickly calves. I know the zoo would check their health before breeding but maybe their combined genetics just isnt working. Perhaps they need to start considering a switch. Swap Abou or Harvey for a new mate and see what that produces.

I'm sad Chrisse is gone. Hasnt she been with us for a really long time? But then again I hope she has more success with a new male and Harrington and his new mate do well together. A baby tree kangaroo would be nice for the zoos attendance if they promoted it because who doesnt love a joey no matter what kind it is.
 
Was at the zoo today, and here are some updates on new animals:

--Giant Land Snails are now on display in Americas Bug Wing. They are in the old Lubber exhibit which is seperate from the wall itself.
--An interactive bug display in the African pavillion had Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, a large tarantula (couldn't see the sign), whip scorpions, and the green bottle blue tarantula (from Americas) was new. It is temporary, however.

--Wombats are continuing to dig. They have dug tunnels throughout the entire exhibit, which had exits in all of the Echidna's sleeping holes. Echidna was not on exhibit.
--Other than that, Charles was sleeping in a large bucket on exhibit that Nassir was trying fit into as well, to NO avail.
 
JMANPROJECT88 said:
Was at the zoo today, and here are some updates on new animals:

--Giant Land Snails are now on display in Americas Bug Wing. They are in the old Lubber exhibit which is seperate from the wall itself.
--An interactive bug display in the African pavillion had Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, a large tarantula (couldn't see the sign), whip scorpions, and the green bottle blue tarantula (from Americas) was new. It is temporary, however.

--Wombats are continuing to dig. They have dug tunnels throughout the entire exhibit, which had exits in all of the Echidna's sleeping holes. Echidna was not on exhibit.
--Other than that, Charles was sleeping in a large bucket on exhibit that Nassir was trying fit into as well, to NO avail.
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The bug display was set up only for this weekend's Community Event ($5 admission).

Are you sure the echidna isn't on exhibit? I saw it last week walking around, along with the 2 hard to find brush-tailed bettongs.
 
Are the snails temporary too? Giant snails are found in Africa not the Americas, so they don't really fit in. Where was the temporary bug exhibit located in the Africa Pavilion? It sounds like they just put their education invertebrates on exhibit.
 
The Temporary exhibit was beside the MeerKats. The Land Snails were in Americas pavillion I can tell you that for sure. As I said, yes, the African exhibit was temporary. Echidna was not in the exhibit at the time I was there.
 
Has anyone heard anything new on our new female sumatran tiger? Has Vitali been shipped out, with her taking his place?
 
Does anyone know if our penguins have been successful hatching any of their eggs? Or any news on the possiblity of polar bear cubs this winter?
 
Re. polar bears - I was told by a keeper this summer that both female polar bears bred with Inukshuk (the male, since moved to Cochrane) this year. They are hopeful that atleast one is pregnant (just a side note, did Nikita ever have an unsuccessful birth? I seem to remember something about that before the whole Aurora/cub situation).
 
If one of them is pregnant, when would they give birth? I know most polar bears (including Hudson) are born in either fall or winter, so wouldn't that be soon?
 
Most polar bear cubs arrive between novemeber and February. Hudson is on record as the earliest birth were the cub survived (well that we know of who knows in the wild). Thats why I thought I would ask if anyone had heard anything. Cubbies could have already arrived or be expected any time now if either of the girls are expecting.
 
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