Wellington Zoo Wellington Zoo News 2017

zooboy28

zooboy28

Well-Known Member
The Wellington Zoo newsletter contained a couple of pieces of interesting information about the zoo:
1) The Zoo's otters (5 males) have moved in to a "new re-vamped" exhibit, which I assume is the same exhibit, but I don't know how it has been renovated.
2) The Zoo's kea will (finally!) move into their aviary later this month, and the walkthrough will hopefully open soon after that. Will be interesting to see what happens with their old cage, but I suspect it will just be left for a while (or potentially demolished and the site left).
 
Yes it was the same exhibit for the otters and has just had some construction.Couple of things from the zoos current map.Penquins and Kune-Kune pigs have moved to the front of the zoo.The area running down the left side of the zoo under the current Kea exhibit is under construction.African wild dogs have moved into the carcal exhibit and next door (serval exhibit)is being renovated.There is now a trail running from sun bears to lions.http://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/maps/files/zoo.pdf?la=en
 
BennettL said:
Yes it was the same exhibit for the otters and has just had some construction.Couple of things from the zoos current map.Penquins and Kune-Kune pigs have moved to the front of the zoo.The area running down the left side of the zoo under the current Kea exhibit is under construction.African wild dogs have moved into the carcal exhibit and next door (serval exhibit)is being renovated.There is now a trail running from sun bears to lions.http://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/maps/files/zoo.pdf?la=en
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Thats an old map by the way. This is the current map.
https://wellingtonzoo.com/assets/Uploads/Wellington-Zoo-Map.pdf
The Penguins and Kune- Kune Pigs have moved into The Meet the Locals which was the construction down the left hand side. Capybaras are now where the Kune- Kune Pigs were. Wellington Zoo no longer has African Wild Dogs, their exhibit is now occupied by the zoos elderly Cheetah Charlie.
 
9-year old male Chimpanzee Beni died at Wellington Zoo this morning, according to the Zoo's Facebook page.

"He suffered an injury last Saturday and after a week of intensive care by our animal care and veterinary teams unfortunately he did not recover."
 
Giraffe Tisa has died aged 26 years:

Tisa the giraffe dies at Wellington Zoo after general anaesthetic - National - NZ Herald News

A female giraffe at Wellington Zoo has died.

Tisa had a health check and hoof trim under general anaesthetic on Thursday last week, but deteriorated quickly because of age-related complications and died yesterday.

The zoo's general manager of animal care and science Mauritz Basson said Tisa stopped eating and drinking and had emergency surgery on Tuesday.

"Despite our best efforts to save her life, Tisa did not recover from the anaesthetic Tuesday night and she passed away just before 1am on Wednesday," he said.

Tisa came to Wellington Zoo from Melbourne in May 1991, and was part of an international conservation breeding programme.

She had five offspring with her partner Ricky, including Zahara, who still lives at the zoo.

Herbivore keeper April Turnbull said Tisa was a much-loved animal.

Turnbull looked after Tisa for the past three years and said she had a gentle character and touched everyone who met her.

"Most mornings when I would walk up to the African savannah Tisa would stick her head over the barrier and rest her head on my shoulder," she said.

Tisa's death comes just weeks after the zoo farewelled Beni the chimpanzee, who died on February 3 after sustaining a leg injury.


Note: Tisa actually had six offspring, not five:

Zawadi (F)
Born 25 January 1995 at Wellington Zoo
Sent to Werribee Open Range Zoo 19 December 1995

Unnamed (F)
Born 15 September 1996 at Wellington Zoo
Died at Wellington Zoo 16 September 1996

Ndoki (M)
Born 22 May 1998 at Wellington Zoo
Sent to Hamilton Zoo 3 March 1999

Unnamed (F)
Born 2 June 2000 at Wellington Zoo
Died at Wellington Zoo 9 June 2000

Rukiya (F)
Born 23 September 2001 at Wellington Zoo
Sent to Auckland Zoo 16 September 2002

Zahara (F)
Born 17 March 2004 at Wellington Zoo
Still at Wellington Zoo
 
Additional information:

Tisa was born 18 October 1990 at Melbourne Zoo and arrived at Wellington Zoo at the age of 7 months on 25 May 1991.

Her mate, Ricky, was born 19 September 1987 at Taronga Zoo and arrived at Wellington Zoo at the age of 13 months on 4 November 1988. He died 15 November 2007.

Tisa was not originally the intended breeding female for Wellington Zoo. A 6 month old female named Nyika arrived in April 1988 from the Honolulu Zoo but died in December 1989.

According to the international giraffe studbook, Ricky and Tisa were the first breeding pair at Wellington Zoo, producing six offspring between 1995 and 2004. Prior to Ricky’s arrival, the zoo had only held one male giraffe named Terry, who arrived from London Zoo in October 1957 and died the day he arrived.

The birth of Ricky was mentioned in Postcards from the Zoo (2002) by Darill Clements. He was named after the photographer, Rick Stevens (who still regularly does photography for Taronga Zoo media releases). Rick Stevens spent several nights camped out in the giraffe barn, waiting for Ricky’s mother to give birth. After several nights, the birth still appeared to be a few days away so he took a night off, only for the calf to be delivered that night. It was named after him for his efforts.

Ricky and Tisa are survived by three children (Ndoki, Rukiya and Zahara), five grandchildren (through daughter Rukiya) and six great grandchildren (through grandson Forrest).
 
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Nisha said:
"Gari" the Fiordland Crested Penguin is due to be sent to Taronga later this month after being deemed unreleasable
Gari, the Tawaki prepares to cross the ditch
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She has been at the Wellington Zoo's animal hospital (The Nest) since Dec 2014, which is a very long time. She is unreleasable because of abdominal injuries that are likely to prevent her laying eggs successfully, and putting her at risk of egg-binding. So this likely means she will not be able to breed at Taronga.
 
Taronga's been working a long time to get the import permission for this individual, since 2015 I believe. Birds in general are not allowed to imported into Australia so the addition of the species to the Live Import List was arranged as a "one-off" because the penguin would have been put down if it remained in NZ.
 
A Nyala calf was born 5 weeks ago and has been named Angasii. Males are called calves while females are called lambs

The Cotton Top Tamarins twins are both female and have been named Bonnie and Barbara.

There is a new male Golden Lion Tamarin named Ronaldo. This is Clementine's third breeding partner, after the death of the previous males, Orolito and Bronx.
 
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zooboy28 said:
What??? Does this make all sheep female and all cows males?
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it's something that Wellington Zoo repeats in their press releases pretty much every time a nyala is born there. I still don't know where they get it from. It's really weird.

That particular bit in Zoofan15's post comes from the zoo's Facebook page.
 
Wellington Zoo's 2016/2017 Annual Report is available online:

https://wellingtonzoo.com/assets/Resources/Annual-Report-2016-17.pdf

Imports:

In September, 20 Nyala arrived to be the core animals for the Australasian breeding programme for the species. The regional breeding programme is managed by the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) to ensure a wide genetic variation for Nyala in human care.

In November, two Kea arrived as part of the national Kea uplift/rescue/rehabilitation programme managed by DOC.

In February, one male Golden Lion Tamarin arrived from Adelaide Zoo to pair with Clementine, our female Golden Lion Tamarin.

Exports:

After her stay at The Nest Te Kōhanga, Gari the Fiordland Crested Penguin (Tawaki) left for a new home at Taronga Zoo. She wasn’t able to be released into the wild due to her original injuries but has found a good home in Sydney where she is joining two other Fiordland Crested Penguins.

Miro the Kiwi was released into the wild in Maungataniwha, a native forest project in Hawke’s Bay.

A male Jewelled Gecko, who was repatriated at Wellington Zoo after being smuggled to Europe from New Zealand, went to live at Otago Museum in Dunedin.

Other moves included nine Squirrel Monkeys to Perth Zoo, four Nyala females to Werribee Open Range Zoo, two Sheltopusiks and one male and six female Nyala to Auckland Zoo, and the female Bongo Maisha to Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

Births:

Our Cotton Top Tamarins had twin babies in May. The new parents came from different zoos a year ago, with Esteban from Blackpool Zoo in the UK and Celeste from Bratislava Zoo in Slovakia.

Our Red-Rumped Agoutis successfully bred twice during the year, producing five offspring.

Deaths:

Beni, Wellington Zoo’s nine-year-old male Chimpanzee, died after sustaining an injury to his leg.

The Zoo’s eldest female Giraffe Tisa died in February after a health check and hoof trim under general anaesthetic. Her health deteriorated quickly due to age-related complications.

A Red Panda named Ishah was euthanised due to reduced mobility and activity because of spinal degeneration.

Rokan the Sumatran Tiger was euthanised due to arthritis in both his ankles and knees due to age. These changes resulted in signs of stiffness, difficulty rising from rest and reduced mobility.
 
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