NEWS
DECEMBER
- Two young polar bears have journeyed all the way from Russia to find their new
home in Australia. Lia and her brother Lutik are the two new residents of
Polar Bear Shores at Seaworld on the Gold Coast.
For the moment they are in quarantine but visiters will be able to view them from Boxing
Day.
- People can be stupid! Why steal a baby Quokka? Melbourne zoo are desperate to find
the young animal which was stolen overnight on the second of December. The young
animal is still reliant on its mother for milk and will die if it isn't returned soon.
Theft of animals from Melbourne zoo is rare but distressing whenever it happens. Let's
hope the youngster is returned before it is too late.
- Some catch up news from Taronga and Western Plains Zoos
- Ten Year old Shinda and eight year old Kijivu are two of
Taronga Zoos young female gorillas. They are now sexually mature and a new home for
them has had to be found. Their father is Kibabu, the dominent
Silverback of the troop. All the other males are their brothers. So as with Melbourne Zoos
recent departures, (see August
and April news), the two young females have been sent to Europe to
be integrated with unrelated gorillas at Prague Zoo.
- Recently four young cheetahs were sent to Western Plains Zoo, after spending a
Quarantine session at Taronga. The cheetahs are 17 months old Jala, Kifani
and Shakkari and 16 months old Masuka. A third female was also to be sent
from South Africa with these four but she broke her leg before the trip. Arrangements
have been made for another female to be sent and she should arrive soon.
- Western Plains zoos female maned wolf, Ytamby gave birth to four cubs in August,
the first cubs to be born in Australia since 1998. Ytambi was hand raised as a cub
and it was feared that these cubs would also need to be hand raised. Instead Ytambi
became the first Maned Wolf to raise her own cubs at Western Plains and is a faultless mother.
For the first time at Taronga Zoo a Striated Grasswren has been hatched and raised. These
little birds are not very well known and the zoo has been able to record behaviour not
previously known. The can be seen at the Australian Bird Lawns.
- From the 7th December an Indian Rhino can be seen at Taronga Zoo, the first of its species
in Australia. The two year old male is Dora and was born and raised at
Nagoya Higashiyama Zoo in Japan. He will stay at Taronga Zoo for a few months, next to
the pigmy hippo enclosure. Dora will then be sent to Western Plains Zoo where
a state of the Art Rhino breeding complex is waiting for him. The zoos aim at
obtaining a further three rhinos, (presumably 2 female and another male.) and begin
a breeding program. Western Plains already has the two African species of rhino.
- Polar Bear Twins, Lia and Luticc are now on display at Sea Worlds
Polar Bear Shores. The twins are the third and fourth residents of the exhibit.
- Walkabout Creek at Brisbanes Forest Park is an excellent place to discover Australias
native fauna. They are also involved in breeding programs for several endangered species.
They have recently achieved success with the Tiger Quoll, a small carnivourous
marsupial which is becoming rarer in the wild. It is beleived that they prey on and are
poisoned by the Cane Toad. Tiger Quolls were last seen in Brisbane Forest Park in the 1960's,
about the same time as Cane toads reached the area.
Quolls are difficult to breed in captivity. The normally solitary animals need to be
seperated quickly after mating as the powerful male will sometimes kill or injure
the female. Five youngsters were recently born
at Walkabout Creek in a specially
built exhibit.
- Recent forest fires in New ZSouth Wales and the ACT have destroyed homes, farms and
bushland. They have also had an impact on captive animals. The National Zoo and Aquarium
in the ACT was in danger of being incinerated. The human stff were evacuated but unfortunately
the animals had to be left behind. To give them a chance most of these animals were released
from their enclosures so that they could try to escape the flames. Thankfully the fire was
averted and none of the animals came to harm. Instead returning staff had the large job of
rounding up the roaming animals. In the midst of this a marmoset actually gave birth to
a healthy youngster.
- Orana Wildlife Park in New Zealand have announced plans that they will become
involved in the Captive Breeding Program for the endangered
Sumatran Tiger.
- Seaworlds Polar Bear Shores exhibit has come under fire by several animal
rights and conservationist campaigners. Sue Arnold, the co-ordinator of Australiand for Animals,
an animal rights group, claims that it is ' the ultimate sickness to bring these animals
from the arctic to a subtropical climate'. The Democrats animal welfare spokesman, Andrew
Bartlett has also questioned the relevance of keeping polar bears captivity, saying that
it is inappropriate to keep these animals for entertainment in the 21st Century.
- In April I mentioned that the Queensland Government
had started a breeding program for the endangered Mahogony Glider. A female called
Blossom has started the program with the birth of two youngsters in July, the first to
be born in captivity. Since then a second female has given birth to two young.
- Orana Wildlife Park has announced the birth of a Rothschilds giraffe. The young male was
born in November to the female, Nath and father Harold. Harold
has sired two other youngsters at Orana Park.
- Two of Australias billinaires have expressed an interest in creating Africa
Style Wildlife Parks. Kerry Packer and Warren Anderson are famous in Australia for their
money. Now they wich to become conservationists and to breed endangered species.
My question is why? Perhaps Sue Arnold and Andrew Bartlett should look into this?
- Victorias Open Range Zoo has welcomed a very special foal. Kyakhta is a
Przewalski Horse, the first foal to be born at the zoo since the arrival of their species
in October 2000. The zoo has a small herd of three adult females and a male, Godan,
making the little foal a very important addition. She was born on November 29th.
- Finally to finish of the news section of 2001, a very special birth in a Japanese Zoo.
Mei Mei is a female Panda living at Ueno Zoo. On December 17th she gave birth to
a healthy male cub, her second birth. This is the fifth panda to be born in Japan and
brings the number of these animals in Japan up to six.
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