Blog Archive

Posts for category 'Monarto Zoo'

Monarto Celebrates Digger’s 1st Birthday

While ANZAC Day is celebrated across the country it bears a double significance at Monarto Zoo, marking the birth of its Southern White Rhinoceros, Digger, named in remembrance of this important day.

Born on April 25, 2011, weighing just 45 kilograms, Digger has grown dramatically over the past 12 months now tipping the scales at 720 kilos.

National Threatened Species Day

Did you know Tasmanian Devils patrol an area in a large figure of eight pattern in the wild? And so, with a little poetic license, the legend of the Looney Tunes cartoon character, Taz, spinning around from place to place, was born.

With their large heads, wide jaws and big, sharp teeth, Tasmanian devils are an iconic Australian species

Meet Jahzara

Our little lioness has a name – Jahzara – an African name meaning ‘blessed princess’. She certainly represents the name well as we feel we are very lucky to have her. We would like to thank PETstock (the winners of our eBay naming auction) and their members for all of the suggested names.

Jahzara will soon be four months old and she is averaging weight gain of 1kg per week. She is brave enough to walk onto the scales on her own now and is weighed weekly. Her most recent weight was 15.2kg. She is still helping Kiamba to eat her daily feed but will soon be big enough to be given her own piece.

Baby Zebra at Monarto Zoo

Check out our little foal who was born at Monarto Zoo last week :)

 

 

Baby Bison

In mid-2010, all 5 female Bison at Monarto Zoo were introduced to our breeding bull in the off limits area. They were then put back onto exhibit at the end of the year, making August the latest due date for possible calves.

On Tuesday 5th July, Monarto had its first much anticipated Bison calf birth. It was noted that a female was off on her own in the early morning and at 1.30pm the Visitor Centre called with a report from the bus driver that the suspected female was in labour.

Cuddling a Rhino

Since our last blog things have been going along nicely. Uhura, Umqali and Digger have been residing in the Contact Boma most days which suits Digger just fine. They have had the odd day off to allow our bull, Ibutho, the chance to run around and stretch his legs. He has taken a real shine to his ‘aunty’ Uhura who is now the best play toy ever. Digger calls out to Uhura every time they are separated but as soon as we put them back in together poor Uhura is bombarded with head butts, mock charges and horn fighting.

It's a Girl!

Our little lion cub is 9 weeks old already! I weighed her mum, Kiamba, this morning then managed to coax the cub onto the scales with mum for the first time too – a healthy 6.5kg. She is showing a keen interest in her mum’s food, and Kiamba is slowly learning to share. While she is definitely still drinking mum’s milk to increase her strength and immunity, she has very sharp teeth to steal small bites off the 4kg pieces of meat we feed Kiamba daily.

Final Chance to Make a Difference

As you may have seen recently, the Bill to make labeling for palm oil a mandatory requirement on food, cosmetics and palm oil was passed in the House of Senate on Thursday 23rd June 2011.

Now it has one more step to go on Monday 4th July, when it goes through the House of Representatives. If it successfully goes through there then it will become law.

A Statement from Zoos SA

The Royal Zoological Society of South Australia is a not for profit, non-Government organisation. Significant capital investment was required for the development of the new front entrance precinct, the perimeter fence – required in order to meet National Zoo Standards – and the Giant Panda exhibit. The organisation attracted an enormous amount of community and business support, and valuable partnerships but far less national sponsorship than expected, largely due to the onset of the Global Financial Crisis at a critical point in the project.

Living Under the African Stars

Well, we have successfully completed the field work with The Brown Hyena Project in Namibia for 2011. Three weeks of camping, living under the African stars and searching for hyenas in the night!

We were able to dart and fit GPS collars on 4 animals over the 3 weeks.

Little Lion Cub

The cub is much more mobile now and being seen out of the den most days, which has the other lionesses intrigued. They can’t access it yet but are certainly interested. It has also been seen from a distance by a lucky few visitors, viewing it from the lion exhibit on their bus tour.

More about Digger

Digger, the Southern White Rhino calf, is now a month old, I know it seems like only yesterday he was fifty kilograms. Mum, Umqali, and he are doing really well. Umqali continues to be an exceptional mother, responding in kind to Digger’s every demand, including being there for him when he kisses the electric fence...for the third time.

Darting Hyenas

Wow, what an exciting few days in the field! We have spent three nights in camp and so far we have been able to dart one Brown Hyena a night. This is very good odds and we hope our luck will continue. I will never forget these nights, such a highlight in life and career to be able to be so close to such a wild hyena. Amazing experience!

More on our Lion Cub

Monarto Zoo’s new lion cub is already almost two weeks old and growing quickly – although not as rapidly as the rhino calf! Its eyes are open and it has been heard calling should mum wander too far. Kiamba is doing a fantastic job of ensuring the little one has a plump belly. She is also very protective, warding away too many prying eyes.

Lion Cub

More exciting baby news at Monarto Zoo... one of our female lions, Kiamba, gave birth to a cub on Tuesday, 3 May. Mum and baby are doing well, they will be off-exhibit for awhile but stay tuned for regular updates and photos (these two photos were taken when the cub was only one day old!)

African Adventures

Well, I am here is sunny Namibia, Africa, to be a volunteer with The Brown Hyena Project. Participating in this field work is a dream come true for me and I am so excited! Over the next 3 weeks our small team, led by Dr Ingrid Wiesel, will dart and fit GPS collars to Brown Hyenas.

It's a Boy

For some time now staff at Monarto have been eagerly waiting, and waiting, AND……waiting, the birth of a rhino calf.

Monday 25th April put an end to our waiting game with the arrival of a wrinkly, big footed baby rhino. Staff arrived early ANZAC day to find mum resting inside her boma, which is unusual for that time of morning, and upon hearing staff Umqali promptly greeted us revealing a tiny baby hiding behind her.

Sneak Peek at Our Baby Rhino

Our female rhino, Umqali, gave birth to a male calf, which we found looking adorable and strong on the morning of ANZAC day.

All is going well so far and we hope to have him and mum on exhibit shortly. Stay tuned!

Beth
Curator of Living Collections, Monarto Zoo

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Scrap Metal Recycling

I have noticed recently in the eastern suburbs that the annual hard rubbish collection is in full swing. All that interesting stuff neatly stacked by the suburban roadsides waiting for re-use, people trawling the streets for useful items that are no longer required by others.

Re-use is the most desirable fate for discarded items with recycling coming in second.

International Women's Day

It’s hard to believe that in 1984 Adelaide Zoo’s very first female zoo keeper was employed.

I started working at Adelaide Zoo way back in December 1991 as a casual zoo keeper and by this time it appeared that women were well and truly ensconced into the zoo culture and work ethic.

Up, Up and Away

Since last writing, the big transfer day for our male Southern White Rhino Jabari has come and gone without any hiccups.

Everyone is always a little nervous when it comes to transfers but after months of training, the big day finally arrived

Przewalski's Horse Born

A couple of weeks ago, one of Monarto Zoo’s breeding pairs of Przewalski's Horses  produced another valuable foal for this critically endangered species.

The foal is the first born to the pairing up of Kolya and Rosanna. These two animals were introduced to each other a little over 12 months ago in our off-display breeding area, and right from the word go, indications were very encouraging that they would breed.  Kolya showed a lot of interest in her

Trapping SA's Most Endangered Mammal

Hello all,

Recently I had the privilege to spend time in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytatjara (APY) Lands (northern SA near the NT boarder) representing Zoos SA in the annual Black-footed rock-wallaby (Petrogale lateralis MacDonnell Range race) trapping event. 

The Warru, as they are called by the Anangu people, is SA’s most endangered mammal,

Singapore Bound

I would like to introduce you to little (or not so anymore) Jabari our 3 year old, 1200kg, Southern White Rhinoceros. Jabari is the second Southern White Rhinoceros to be born at Monarto to pair Uhura and Satara, with hopefully many more to come.

World's First 'Power Neutral' Wildlife Park

Leading Adelaide-based solar energy company, ZEN, have partnered with Monarto Zoo to create the world's first 'power neutral' wildlife park.

The innovative ZEN Dual Axis Power Tracking system will offset Monarto Zoo's entire energy needs, including our heating, cooling, communications, perimetre fencing and water pumping systems.

Travelling Bison

Just got back from a trip with one of the keepers taking two male American Plains Bison from Monarto Zoo over to the zoo at Hall’s Gap in Victoria. All went incredibly smoothly... well, except for it taking 2 hours to get them to walk up the raceway into the trailer – nothing happens with 800kg bison bulls until they’re good and ready!

Time at Monarto

Hi all,

Today I am working at Monarto Zoo. I generally only work at Adelaide, but as the usual Monarto nurse is on leave I was asked to cover for her. I always enjoy working at Monarto and, as they say, a change of scenery can be as good as a holiday.

First up I attended in-house gun training.