Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden What's Gnu at the Cincinnati Zoo? - 2012

Apparently there is a Steller's sea eagle in the barred owl aviary according to Facebook.
 
A new video about the zoo's Malayan tigers:

Another video about the gibbon and orangutan reintroduction:
 
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A hyacinth macaw has joined the blue-and-gold and scarlet macaws on exhibit on the island by Wings of the World.

 
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A clutch of quince monitors hatched at the zoo recently:
 
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MrOkapi said:
So....any updates on how Africa is going as of now?
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Nope, nothing new. Right now from what I saw, they were working on the waterfall/watering hold that will separate the African Plains animals from the white lions. Also where the cheetah exhibit will be hasn't been worked on yet. As of now I believe they are working on the deck for the African Savannah Restaurant that will overlook the African Plains because the zoo announced about 2 weeks ago that the bathrooms there (below the deck) were closed.
 
A male Coquerel's sifaka was born to first-time parents Rinaldo and Wilhelmina. It is already on display with its parents in Jungle Trails.
 
Sifaka birth press release:

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is thrilled to announce the birth of its first Sifaka (SEE-fah-kah) baby. The baby boy was born on September 3 to mother “Wilhelmina” and father “Rinaldo” who arrived at the Cincinnati Zoo in April of 2011. The parents were the first sifaka’s in the Zoo’s history.

“Not only is this species a rarity at the Cincinnati Zoo, but with only 54 individuals in captivity in the world, all at 10 US zoos, this birth is rare and monumental for the species,” said Thane Maynard, Executive Director of the Cincinnati Zoo. “The family of three is now on display in their home in Jungle Trails and everyone is adjusting quite well to the new arrival.”

Baby sifakas are born one at a time. Upon birth, they are fully furred and have their eyes open. Babies remain clinging to their mothers’ chest for the first few weeks, and eventually move on to clinging to her back, for roughly the next six months. It takes a year for sifakas to reach full maturity.

Sifakas are large lemurs built for a specialized type of locomotion called vertical clinging and leaping. Maintaining an upright posture, they use their powerful legs to jump from tree to tree. Active by day, sifakas sleep in small groups high up in the treetops to avoid predators at night.
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First Sifaka Birth for Cincinnati Zoo! - The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
 
Time lapse of the pouring of the moat in what will be the new lion exhibit:
 
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The Cincinnati Zoo has been awarded a National Leadership Grant for plant conservation:
CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the only Ohio institution to receive a prestigious National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in 2012. This competitive grant was awarded to the Cincinnati Zoo to support a three-year research study at the Zoo’s Carl H. Lindner Jr. Family Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) that will provide critical information for botanical gardens in the U.S. and worldwide to aid in developing strategies and methods for cryopreservation as a tool for plant conservation.

Through the grant, CREW’s plant division research team will assess over 980 samples from the frozen garden in CREW’s CryoBioBank, including seeds, spores, pollen, and tissues from 178 species, many among the nation's most endangered, that have been stored up to 24 years in liquid nitrogen. Current viability and genetic integrity will be determined and used to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods used at the time of banking, as well as effects of tissue, age, genotype, species, and storage location.

The Zoo will receive $461,808 in grant award money and the results of the study should provide botanical gardens with a significant leap forward in the body of knowledge from which to draw in order to develop their own strategies for the stewardship of their collections.

Because the project design includes carefully structured input and evaluation from four of the world’s foremost experts on botanical collections and plant preservation, combined with the recognized innovation and expertise of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Dr. Valerie Pence, the study’s designer and principal investigator at CREW, the results of this research are expected to form the basis for recommendations on the use of cryopreservation that will shape the future development of ex situ plant conservation in botanical gardens in the United States and around the world.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. The IMLS mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. It is awarded through peer review and requires, at least, a 100 percent match in monetary contribution by the applicant.

The Carl H. Lindner Jr. Family Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) was the first of its kind, state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to saving endangered plants and animals from extinction. CREW maintains one of the oldest, largest, and most diverse cryopreserved collections of wild plant materials in the world as part of the Frozen Garden of its CryoBioBank®. The Cincinnati Zoo contributes to global efforts on plant conservation by propagating and preserving endangered plants and through education and research. The Cincinnati Zoo is a participating institution in the Center for Plant Conservation as well as a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and it works with these and other partners to address the challenges of conserving the world’s rarest plants. The Cincinnati Zoo also subscribes to the Voluntary Codes of Conduct on invasive species and promotes the use and understanding of native species in its Native Plants Project.

To learn more about IMLS, please visit imls.org: The Leading Imls Site on the Net.
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Cincinnati Zoo Awarded National Leadership Grant for Plant Conservation - The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
 
Tessa, the zoo's Masai giraffe cow, is pregnant and due sometime in the next month.
CINCINNATI, OH (September 27, 2012) - Tessa, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s five-year-old Maasai giraffe is pregnant again, due in the next month. Tessa, and father “Kimba,” are both doing well and currently can be seen at the Zoo’s Giraffe Ridge exhibit. The Zoo (@CincinnatiZoo) will be live-tweeting leading up to and during the birth. Make sure you follow hashtag #giraffebirth for the latest updates.

The Cincinnati Zoo’s history with giraffe births dates back to 1889 when it became the first zoo in the Western Hemisphere to have a giraffe born in captivity. This will be Tessa’s second calf, her first calf, Zuri, was born in April 2011. At seven-weeks-old, Zuri fractured her leg in her indoor stall and after months of working with local equine specialists, the Zoo was forced to make the devastating and most humane decision for the calf, to euthanize her on July 1, 2011.

“As emotionally painful as the loss of Zuri was to all of us here at the Cincinnati Zoo, Tessa’s pregnancy gives us hope again,” said Thane Maynard, Executive Director of the Cincinnati Zoo. “Right now the focus is on Tessa and ensuring she is calm and comfortable as her due date approaches.”

The Zoo has formed a dedicated team of Volunteer Observers (ZVO’s) to keep an eye on Tessa around the clock. Volunteers take 3-4 hour shifts watching Tessa, looking for behavioral changes that might indicate labor. Signs such as Tessa starting to pace and perhaps even showing the first signs of a birth - the baby’s small hooves emerging for the first time - are what the ZVO’s are on the lookout for. Protocols have been developed to cover almost any situation, although the Zoo hopes that after four hours of labor Tessa will give birth on her own.

“Tessa really started to ‘show’ three months ago, which gave us confidence that she was indeed pregnant again,” said David Oehler, Director of Animal Collections, at the Cincinnati Zoo. “Over the last month, we’ve been preparing the indoor stall and the outdoor yard for the arrival of this calf and naturally, monitoring Tessa closely to ensure a smooth pregnancy. As with any birth, the entire staff is excited, but cautiously optimistic.”

After nearly 15 months of gestation, at birth a baby giraffe drops to the ground head first, about a 6-foot drop! The fall and the landing do not hurt the calf, but they do cause it to take a big breath. The calf is expected to both nurse and stand within an hour of delivery. To prepare for the birth, in Tessa’s indoor stall, keepers have added 6-8 inches of sawdust and hay on top of large rubber mats to cushion the calf’s fall and to provide excellent footing for the calf once it begins to stand. Giraffe calves typically weigh around 125 pounds at birth and are approximately six feet tall.

Tessa, who currently weighs 1,660 pounds, came to the Cincinnati Zoo in 2008 from the Houston Zoo for the opening of Giraffe Ridge. The father, “Kimbaumbau” (Kimba) also came to Cincinnati in 2008, from the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. Both Tessa and Kimba can be found at Giraffe Ridge, which is a 27,000 square-foot exhibit complete with an elevated viewing platform, which provides an amazing interactive experience, bringing guests eye-to-eye with giraffes.

Although their numbers have decreased in the past century, giraffes are not currently endangered, but listed as “lower risk” with fairly stable populations. Unlike many species, there is no true breeding season for the Maasai Giraffe and females can become pregnant beginning at just four years of age. In the wild up to 75% of the calves die in their first few months of life, mainly due to predation.
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http://cincinnatizoo.org/blog/2012/09/27/cincinnati-zoo-giraffe-now-expecting/

In other news, this year's king penguin chick has been named Charlemagne.
 
Tessa, the pregnant Masai giraffe, is showing some udder and teat development. Keepers and volunteers are on calf watch tonight.
 
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