Adelaide Zoo ZooUpdates

There are four gorillas due to be exported in the short-medium term. The two females at Adelaide are almost sexually mature and will be placed outside the region where they can be paired with unrelated males. The EEP coordinator will recommend suitable groups for them to move to. Two young males are heading to Japanese zoos.

These four animals are all closely related to the Melbourne and Taronga groups. There is not much point in using them to establish additional groups in this region, as it would mean that all the groups here would be somewhat related. We are betting off importing some unrelated animals or genetic material to increase the genetic viability of the region's animals.
 
gorillas bred at Taronga.

Glyn- I don't know why the two females at Adelaide need to go to Europe- but its not for me to say- I just think it seems odd sending two females -from a very well-represented line -all that way when many European zoos are breeding gorillas every year, while others are on contraceptives to prevent further breeding and difficulties of placing the young males.

Zoo Pro- Interesting to hear that the two young Taronga males will go to Japan. But whatever the official(EEP)recommendations are for these 4 Gorillas -they aren't related to any of Melbourne's animals.

Monkeys sharing with Gorillas- yes, it usually works well, giving stimulation and enrichment. Young gorillas will sometimes play with the monkeys too. But at Port Lympne in UK a few years ago a batchelor silverback Gorilla caught and killed a Colobus monkey that shared the same cage, and apparently contracted Hepatitis B from it. He (the gorilla) died from this a few years later.
 
in my mind, as long as we get new gorrillas with great genetics, does it really matter, i would be upset if they went and lived as apir for 10 yrs, they can do better in oz, but if they are going to breed and have there own young --- why not? we dont have space or money for a new exhibit. but saying that perths 2020 masterplan says it will have gorrillas.
 
Glyn- yes I have reread your comments and those of ZOOPRO and I fully understand the reasoning behind the transfers.
My final comment- once these females leave Australia it will probably be a long time before any more get added to the Australian population... That's all!
 
grantsmb, the plan is likely to be importing semen and/or embryos from unrelated animals in the US. We probably don't need to be importing more animals.
 
Zoopro- now that's a very interesting concept. I can understand how existing animals like the Adelaide females can be surplussed in that case, my concern was that you would lose animals you cannot easily replace.

Do you know where in Europe Safira & Anguka(adelaide females) are to go in the first place?
 
Australia zoo has plans on holding Gorillas in the future in the worlds largest Gorilla exhibit so their maybe a few more in oz with different bloodlines, not sure when they will arrive, they were talking with Howetts zoo about them.
 
Mark- yes, I think Australia zoo will probably get Gorillas from Howletts/Port Lypmne in the future as they do have a link-up. The Aspinall collections operate outside of EEP recommendations- they only transfer animals to zoos they have good relations with, not to those they don't- such as London Zoo. The breeding male at Taronga (Kisabu)is Howletts-bred, though they have so may gorillas at Howletts there are other unrelate bloodlines anyway.

I believe that Safira and Anguka, Kisabu's two daughters currently residing at Adelaide wil be going seperately to join groups at Lisbon, Portugal, and somewhere in Germany.
 
I saw the huge group at Howletts a number of times in the mid 80s, I had never seen so many Gorillas in one zoo, I think they have 70 or more these days, not sure how many they have these days since they are exporting them back to the African wilds. I read that they have bred more than 100 of them, WOW. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Australia zoo do get some from Howletts (they are not far from me, hehehe) another group in oz would be a real good thing for the region.
 
howletts gorillas

mark- yep, howletts still have about the same number as you saw.There are five breeding groups- this summer the male Bitam died leaving only 3 very old females(three of the original founders) and one young in that group- however another young group has started breeding now as well. At Port Lympne there is one breeding group plus two batchelor groups. One of the batchelor groups includes a sight you can't see anywhere else- five or six silverback males living together- though there is some fighting occassionally and individuals sometimes have to be separated.

Sounds like this is where Australia Zoo will get some gorillas from.
 
what are the facilities, can any one describe, must be massive for 70 gorrillas, and are they on large acerages
 
I would REALLY love to see 5-6 silverbacks backs together wow, what a sight that would be, I never got to see the Gorllias at the Port lypmne zoo but i heard the exhibit was massive. Some of the leafeating monkeys there are quite rare in zoos in fact I think a number of them are the only ones of there kind outside of Java and Sumatra, the banded in one species which comes to mind.
 
ZOO UPDATES ARE BACK

Birds
+ The hen Junglefowl that was sitting in the garden bed (parrot block opposite the cassowary), has successfully hatched 1 Green Peafowl chick. She has been taken off-limits to rear it. The Peafowl eggs were removed a month ago, as the Peafowl hen was laying eggs & not incubating.
+ 8 Nepal Kalij in the Pheasantry
+ The lyrebird is growing his tail back after molting it out.
+ The Blue-wing Kookaburras in the habitat Aviaries are feeding young, these young have been seen roaming the aviary floor by members of the public as the parents nested on the ground.
+ The three female Mandarin Ducks in the tapir moat will be moving in the coming week.
+ The Orange-bellied parrots have eggs in the off display aviaries.
+ The Swift Parrots are also doing well with some pairs on their second clutch.

Mammals

+Maalo the male Lion was found dead last Thursday (2nd Dec) morning. This was sudden as he
seemed well prior to this. It seems that he died from complications associated with a twisted gut.
+The 3 yr old female baboon “Chappi” has some bad bite wounds to her L leg and is isolated in the
crush area at in the CPF while she needs constant medicating. She is near the rest of the group
but separated and not on display until further notice.
 
Zoo_Boy said:
what are the facilities, can any one describe, must be massive for 70 gorrillas, and are they on large acerages
Click to expand...

Howletts gorilla groups live in large covered cages called 'Gorillariums'. They do not cover enormous areas, but very roomy with masses of equipment and full access to the roof areas with climbing equipment. Floors are deep-litter straw to allow them to forage through it. The groups use the whole available area because they are roofed and they feel safe- gorillas don't LIKE using completely open-air enclosures very much as they are essentially forest-dwellers. A lot of fancy open enclosures don't get the same usage from the occupants. Melbourne's is okay as althogh they're shut outside on exhibit, there is plenty of shade/cover from the trees in the middle. What they don't feel happy under for long is open sky....

Port Lymne, has even larger enclosures and with big open air outside areas too- but the gorillas hardly use these except during the twice daily scatter feedings- this is very evident where the allmale groups live-they stay in the roofed parts of the enclosures almost the whole time, except at the eeding sessions..
 
Langurs.

Howletts/PL have Javan, Banded & maybe Mitred Langurs. They breed pretty well too and there are some large groups. The two parks have some of the best Primate collections in Europe nowadays, particularly the Old World Monkeys. Last year PL got Drills- first seen in UK for 40 years and one has been born in the group since they arrived from Germany. (Javan Langurs are pretty commonly exhibited nowadays elsewhere in Uk & European zoos too.)
 
NEW UPDATE!

+ Macaws retire - both of our Blue and Gold Macaws have now been retired from our free flight presentation. Both birds have reached sexual maturity and their focus has shifted making them a little unpredictable. Unfortunately this means that there will be no presentation for some time until we develop a new presentation and train some new birds.
+ Gorilla’s are likely to leave in a few months. Most of the permits are now in hand. (timing is still sketchy until all pieces are in place)
+ Nocturnal house closed until mid March with renovations underway.
+ Male golden cat has arrived from Melbourne Zoo to partner our female. Currently kept in mammal Holding.
+ Adelaide Zoo received a female Sunbear from Singapore on the same flight as the Hyena’s. Will be out of quarantine on Friday 16th Feb and moved to off limits at SEA initially.
+ Plans are being made for a replacement male lion for Adelaide Zoo in a month or two – but we will not be breeding.
+ Tassie Devils – Monarto has received 12. All healthy and coping quite well with the heat. Starting to plan for their introductions. A devil has eaten a brown snake, showed no problems.
On a sad note the female Tassie Devil at Adelaide Zoo had to
be euthanized due to complications with her age.
+ Hyaena – Monarto has received 5 Hyaenas (4 males and 1 female) – all appeared to be healthy on arrival and are now out of quarantine.
+ Monarto Oryx – There are now two breeding groups of oryx on display. The larger group of 1.8 across the creek will remain the same. The male from the smaller group will be swapped with another from offlimits soon and more females will be added to the group (including 0.1 we will be receiving from Werribee).
+ Monarto Addax - The addax calf born end of last year is doing very well and has been sexed as male – we are working on the possibility of getting him and his parents onto exhibit.
+ 20 of the wild caught Bettongs from Monarto were sent back to Venus Bay – collared and are doing well. The remaining animals are very important to the zoo community as all the other bettongs in captivity originate from only a very few animals and are very inbred. New breeding groups have been set up at Monarto and Adelaide and will be managed closely to ensure genetic and demographic viability. Our colonies will now constitute the only ‘good’ insurance population for all wild sites. A captive Insurance Population is needed to protect against further declines in the wild (last year numbers declined alarmingly on the WA offshore-
Islands which were once considered the strong hold of the Brush-tail Bettong, shortly after the numbers at Venus Bay (at that stage considered the Insurance Population for the Island populations) also ‘crashed’
+ It has been recommended by the Species Coordinator to send one of the Monarto waterbuck males back to Werribee (however as Werribee haven’t bred this year we are hoping to have some leeway and not have to send him for another year) - but any female offspring bred by Werribee will be transferred to Monarto.
+ Bilbies from the Monarto Visitor Centre have been taken to the offlimits area while their sand is changed. A pouch check of the female found a female joey which is fantastic for the colony as we are currently very male-biased (nothing new in bilbies really – we have always seemed to breed more males than females.) Because of this the adult pair will remain offlimits and 3.0 4mth old joeys will be put on exhibit instead – they are very cute!! We will soon be receiving 0.2 from WA - one of which is an important wild caught animal that has not bred in WA and is getting on in years – they are sending her to us for us to work our magic to see if we can breed from her. Fingers (and toes) crossed.
+ The male Lions at Monarto are now showing more interest, more tolerant of the females, time will tell and still need to build the cubbing yards.
+ The Tammar Wallaby release at Innes National Park has been very successful with 24 of the 36 surviving. Funding has been made available again this year for cross-fostering and we will be starting this very soon. The breeding colony is in very good shape ( 41 males and 51 females).
+ Monarto YFRWs – 4 of the 7 adult females have been trapped from the Wallaby Gorge exhibit and taken offlimits while we work on catching the rest. All have pouch young!
+ We’ve just discovered that our ‘chubby’ hyaena at Monarto, Vinnie, has a medical reason for her obesity - she has a thyroid problem and is now on medication that will hopefully trim her waist line. She has also recently had some Specialist dental work.




More news when i get it!
 
Last edited:
Hey Ben
this amount of news from SA zoos is great, thank you for sharing it with us. Does Afelaide have any breeding pairs of macaws? By my reckoning they would have three species, is this correct?
Any baby giraffes/rhino on the way?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top