Keeper Notes - International Congress of Zookeepers

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Keeper Notes
March 2012
An Introduction to
Wildlife Reserves
Singapore
Feature Article
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) manages three vastly different but just as
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delightful parks, all of which will play host to the 4 International Congress for
Zookeepers in September 2012. In this first of a series of articles, we are
introduced to WRS and will feature the parks it manages in subsequent issues.
All WRS parks are designated rescued wildlife centres by the
governing authority. The Wildlife Healthcare and Research
Centre at Singapore Zoo, and Avian Hospital in Jurong Bird
Park were constructed to ensure we have the best facilities to
care for wildlife, both in our parks and in the wild.
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) is the parent company of award-winning
attractions Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, Singapore Zoo and the upcoming
River Safari. WRS parks aim to be world-class leisure attractions, providing
excellent exhibits of close to 10,000 animals presented in their natural
environment, for the purpose of conservation, education and recreation. In
2010, the three parks welcomed 3.6 million guests.
Jurong Bird Park is a whirl of colours,
especially when you enter Lory Loft to feed the
multitudes of colourful, noisy and
exceptionally bold lories and lorikeets residing
there.
Singapore Zoo’s free-ranging orang utan
habitat is the first of its kind in the world.
Since the zoo opened in 1973, more than
35 orang utans, both Sumatran and
Bornean, have been bred here.
The Wildlife Healthcare and Research Centre was opened in 2006, and has
facilities such as a surgery room (above), treatment room, laboratory, digital
x-ray room, animal wards and a post-mortem room. There is also an
interpretive gallery where visitors are able to gain an insight into WRS’
veterinary practices and cases.
An unprecedented level of effort has been invested to
conserve and protect biodiversity. Since 1987, we have
provided support to over 30 conservation projects in nine
countries, ranging from field research to education to training
and capacity building. Recent efforts include hosting a
regional Asian Pangolin Conservation Workshop, Asian Zoo
Educators’ Conference and Southeast Asian Animal Training
and Enrichment Workshop.
To strengthen our commitment, the Wildlife Reserves
Singapore Conservation Fund, an independent charity, was
established in 2009 to further our support for wildlife
conservation in Singapore and to provide funding for
organisations and individuals with like-minded vision on
native wildlife conservation.
Singapore’s Night Safari is also the world’s first. Enjoy a magnificent welcome from
Chawang, a majestic Asian bull elephant when you journey by tram during the twilight
hours.
ICZ Keeper Notes
WRS has also signed Memorandums of Understanding
(MOUs) with many zoological institutions, such as the Central
Zoo Authority of India, Begawan Foundation in Bali and
Japan’s Asahikawa Asahiyama Zoological Park. In addition,
WRS is the first zoological institution in Asia to sign an MOU
with the prestigious Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS),
which manages five parks in New York City, including Bronx
Zoo, New York Aquarium and Central Park Zoo.
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WRS has also signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)
with many zoological institutions, such as the Central Zoo
Authority of India, Begawan Foundation in Bali and Japan’s
Asahikawa Asahiyama Zoological Park. In addition, WRS is the
first zoological institution in Asia to sign an MOU with the
prestigious Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which
manages five parks in New York City, including Bronx Zoo, New
York Aquarium and Central Park Zoo.
These various agreements aim to foster closer professional zoo
relationships which will enable the parties to collaborate on field
conservation projects; to share best practices and technical
expertise; to promote capacity building of regional organisations;
and to promote public education and awareness on conservation
issues.
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Breeding of endangered animals is another important aspect of
conservation which WRS undertakes seriously. We are proud for our
successful breeding of threatened species, which includes the orang utan
(both Sumatran and Bornean), Komodo dragon, proboscis monkey, Douc
langur, Malayan sun bear, Malayan tapir, Sumatran tiger, clouded
leopard, Sunda pangolin, twelve-wired bird of paradise, great pied
hornbill and Bali mynah. Over the years, we have exchanged many of
our captive bred animals with other reputable zoos for breeding
purposes.
One of the most exciting field projects we are currently
collaborating with WCS on is the conservation of Indochina’s last
known population of the critically endangered river terrapin
(Batagur affinis) in the Sre Ambel and Kaong rivers, south west
Cambodia. Ex-situ efforts within Singapore Zoo have resulted in
11 hatchings in the past two years. Our total collection stands at
18 specimens, which consist of two pairs of sexually mature
adults and 14 juveniles. As part of the partnership, we jointly
hosted a regional workshop on the conservation of Asian
tortoises and freshwater turtles last February, to set priorities for
these ancient species over the next decade.
Dr Brian D Horne, Turtle Coordinator for Wildlife Conservation Society, holds
up a satellite tag against a juvenile Southern river terrapin bred at Singapore
Zoo. The satellite transmitter has since been attached to a wild caught specimen
that was re-released into the Sre Ambel River, Cambodia, earlier this month. The
tag will allow WCS conservationists to track the terrapin.
Education is another pillar in WRS, be it in staff development or
educating the public on the natural world. Together with a local
polytechnic, we offer a Certificate Programme in Animal
Management, Singapore’s first and only such programme that
provides training in the care, handling and husbandry of animals.
Twenty of our zoology and avian staff graduated from the first
batch and another cohort is now undergoing the course.
In addition, we regularly
send staff overseas for
workshops, training and field
opportunities. Some
examples of the programs
and activities our staff have
been exposed to range from
giant panda husbandry
training in Sichuan, China
to accompanying a shipment
of Indian Rhino from
Oklahoma Zoo, USA to
attending the First European
Elephant Management
School in Hamburg, Germany.
The Douc langur, Malayan tapir, clouded leopard and Bali mynah are just some of the
endangered species that have been bred at WRS parks
One of the most significant recent exchanges is that of three captive-bred
male proboscis monkeys to Apenheul Primate Park in Germany. Moving
forward, the two zoological organisations will set up an international
studbook for the proboscis monkey so an internationally coordinated
breeding programme can be initiated.
Despite WRS’ relatively short history, its parks have built up their
reputations as some of the best zoological institutions in the region.
Additionally, profits from the parks’ takings are ploughed back to support
conservation and education, to build a stronger talent pool, to regenerate
infrastructure and to develop River Safari, which will mark an exciting
chapter of growth when it opens in 2012. This river-themed park will be
expansion of our unique product offerings and shine a spotlight on the
rich biodiversity of the freshwater systems around the world.
Ivan Choo, Junior Avian Management Officer at Jurong Bird Park tries his hand at
making an enrichment device for the Singapore Zoo’s proboscis monkeys during the
First Southeast Asian Animal Training and Enrichment Workshop held in October
2010.
ICZ Keeper Notes
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Wildlife Reserves Singapore is
proud to host, in conjunction with
Registrations
Registration costs are $570 Singapore earlybird for those received by
the ICZ, the 4th International
30 June 2012. After 30 June the price is $650 Singapore.
Congress on Zoo Keeping
Registration includes:
Sunday Icebreaker 6pm – 8pm. Jurong Birdpark includes food and
September 9thOfficial
to 13th,newsletter
2012. of the International
Congress of Zookeepers
basic drinks.
Monday morning and afternoon tea, lunch
Monday Evening Silent Auction/function Jurong Birdpark 5pm –
10pm includes meal and soft drinks. Cash bar available.
Tuesday morning tea and lunch
Tuesday evening event 5pm Dinner and soft drinks Ah Meng Terrace
Singapore Zoo followed by Night Safari
Wednesday morning tea and lunch.
Wednesday Evening Gala dinner at Mirramar Hotel 7pm-11pm –
includes dinner and soft drinks. Cash bar available.
Thursday morning tea and lunch.
This conference themed “MANY VOICES, ONE CALLING” hopes to
bring together keepers and zoo professionals from around the World
for the objectives of enhancing the professionalism of Zoo Keepers
and the welfare of the wild animals in their care.
Registration also includes shuttle buses available to and from Jurong
Bird Park at limited times from ICZ preferred accommodation for
delegates, as well as entry to Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park and
Night Safari as well as the congress proceedings.
Delegates from every country have much to contribute. We
encourage keepers to share their knowledge and experiences in the
field of Zoo Keeping with their fellow keepers at this momentous
event.
T-shirts are available at an additional cost of $20 for standard cotton
or $30 for dri glo.
Venue
The conference will be held at Wildlife Reserves Singapore facilities
including Jurong Bird Park where the spoken papers will be
presented with workshops and visits to Singapore Zoo and Night
Safari.
Partners
Partners are able to attend these events at the following prices
Monday Silent Auction dinner
$50
Tuesday Dinner and Night Safari evening
$50
Wednesday Gala Dinner
$120
Delegates only may attend ice breaker function on the Sunday night.
Registrations
Registration costs are $570 Singapore earlybird for those received by
30 June 2012. After 30 June the price is $650 Singapore.
Announcement
The ICZ is pleased to announce a new partnership with The Shape of Enrichment.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the two organizations for cooperation in
the field of professional animal care, behavior management, and animal welfare.
The Shape of Enrichment, Inc. is a 501c) 3 non-profit organization incorporated in 1996 in California,
USA. The Shape of Enrichment, Inc. is dedicated to promoting worldwide environmental enrichment
efforts for captive animals. The Shape of Enrichment, Inc. encourages improvements in animal welfare
through education and international exchanges of enrichment theory and application.
Welcome, Shape of Enrichment, as ICZ’s first official partner! Look for a formal announcement by the
ICZ President at the upcoming ICZ Congress in Singapore, Sept 9-13, 2012.
ICZ Keeper Notes
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Around the ICZ World
PRE-LOVED ZV
UNIFORMS HELPING
PHILIPPINE ZOO
KEEPERS
AFSA
AFSA is organising a three day general meeting in
ZooParc de Beauval, from the 22nd to the 25th of May.
The Zookeepers Association of the Philippines (ZAP) held the 5th
National Philippine Zookeeper workshop on 23-25 February at
the Protected Areas & Wildlife Bureau Wildlife Rescue Centre in
Quezon City, Manila. The meeting was a great success, with 61
keepers attending from almost 20 zoos and wildlife centres
across the Philippines. The theme of this workshop was
enrichment and a follow-up workshop is planned for later in the
year to accommodate requests from many other keepers unable
to attend the February event.
About 100 people should attend this meeting to share
and communicate on zookeeper profession. We are
very happy that ZooParc de Beauval accepted to hold
this meeting. This institution presents very interesting
and rare species to the public, like koalas, okapis,
manatees and since a few months, two giant pandas.
Established in 2003, ZAP is the only zoo organisation in the
Philippines. Despite the biological and conservation significance
of much of the county’s wildlife, among the top three countries in
the world for number of threatened endemic species, Philippines
zoos and their staff face huge challenges in providing for the
animals in their care. Whilst there is national legislation covering
the operation of zoos and rescue centres, government funding
and other support is very limited, zoo keeping is not seen as a
career of high standing, and knowledge of Philippine fauna
across the general population is very low. Dedicated keepers
continue to care for animals despite these challenges Providing
some previous-style Zoos Victoria shirts for the participants at
this workshop is a small way that we can assist.
BdZ
We hope that this meeting will be fruitful and made of
constructive exchanges between French Zookeepers !
In March, the BdZ had their General Meeting at the Zoo
in Krefeld.
Forty two BdZ Members attended. Several items were
on the Agenda, including the membership in the ICZ.
The committee members of the BdZ final decision was
to fund only one ICZ representative, who would also
remain on the ICZ steering Committee for the ICZ
Congress to be held in Singapore this year and not two
as previously.
Furthermore the BdZ Board members had an Strategic
Meeting in February which was very successful.
Furthermore, the BdZ Magazine will now be printed on
recycled paper starting with the next issue. All
correspondence between the Board members will also
be used on recycled paper.
The BdZ did several mammal assessments which
included the decision of killing animals as a food source
other animals being acceptable i.e. food for snakes etc.
Irene Tomaschek
The cost of transporting the shirts was generously covered by the
Australasian Society of Zoo Keeping.
Chris Banks, Zoos Victoria
ICZ Keeper Notes
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AAZK Appoints New HARPY
Representative to the
ICZ
In 1980, a group of motivated zookeepers in the
former Zoo of Wassenaar (which unfortunately
closed in 1985) started publishing a magazine four
times a year. The magazine was called ‘The
Harpy’.
In 1988 The Harpy Foundation was officially
registered. The start was far from easy, but today
the Harpy and it’s magazine is strong and is read
by zookeepers, directors, veterinarians, educators,
etc. Even the Dutch zoo organization NVD uses
our magazine to send out their messages.
AAZK is pleased to announce the appointment of Sara Wunder
Steward as the newest representative on the ICZ Steering
Committee. Sara will fill the vacancy created when Shane Good
stepped down from the ICZ, and joins Norah Farnham as AAZK’s
second representative.
After graduating from the University of Kansas in 2003, Sara worked
at the Kansas City Zoo before moving to a warmer climate. Since
2005, Sara has worked at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida as a
Senior-I Keeper of the rhinos. Sara is an active member of the
International Rhino Keeper Association (IRKA) and serves as the
Scholarship Chair and Coordinator for the Rhino Conservation
Calendar Fundraiser. She also serves as the President of her local
AAZK Chapter, Tampa Bay. Sara is a recent graduate of George
Mason University with a Master’s in Zoo & Aquarium Leadership,
Collections Management. Sara has also found time to attend AZA
Professional Training School in Wheeling, WV., and is looking
forward to meeting and learning from our international zoo
colleagues and finding yet another opportunity to serve AAZK as an
ICZ representative.
The American Association of Zoo Keepers is one of nine professional
zoo keeper associations within the International Congress of
Zookeepers (ICZ). Each of these associations has two
representatives on the ICZ’s Steering Committee.
ICZ Keeper Notes
Nowadays this magazine is still called ‘the Harpy’
and is widespread under 1200 members in the
Netherlands and Belgium (and Suriname) of which
the majority is working in Zoos. Also students and
other interested people can join the Harpy. We
don’t advertise our magazine actively outside zoos,
because our main focus is on zoo employees.
One of the activities the foundation organizes is an
annual conference.
This year, it is the conference’s 25th anniversary
and is scheduled to be held on 14 November 2012.
We hope to see a lot of the old Harpy editors and
board members at this conference.
The Harpy might be one of the oldest zookeeper
organizations, but we are still alive and kicking!
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AICAS
News from
The Animal
Welfare Group
The main goal of this group is to ensure animal welfare (mainly
dealing with wild animals, but also including domestic animals)
and be alerted to the improper use of these animals in activities
such as commercials, circuses, non educative messages, private
parties, events or company promotions.
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Answered Letters
Generalitat de Catalunya audience defender for Generali advertisement.
Answer: They cannot act after the advertisement has been released, they
recognize the subject of using animals is controversial and understand
our mission and defense arguments.
ICZ (International Congress of Zookeepers) Organization Committee,
who have a congress in Singapore in 2012, for including in their program
a visit to an activity in which daily routines include photos with Orangutans, which are not considered to be educational for public.
Answer: The ICZ Committee replied that the Singapore location will give
opportunities for Asian Zookeepers to participate and learn about the ICZ
and the Zoo’s respect for the animals by providing all the security and
special requirements for this kind of event.
To Cadena SER Valladolid for taking to their studios a Brown Bear to
promote the arrival of a circus in town.
Answer: Their intention was not to exploit the animal and in future will not
take animals to studios to promote their events.
A very positive answer!
These are some actions that have been taken on:
Complaint letters waiting to be answered
To the singer Mónica Naranjo and her Manager for using a tiger
on a photo setting, and to the daily journal Qué!, where these
photos were published.
To the TV show presenter Txumari Alfaro for telling the audience
how to make some house medicines by ill-treating and killing
slugs in a cruel way (impaling and flattening them, etc.).
To Geogia Pacif Company, owner of the Colhogar brand for a
TV commercial using an Asiatic Elephant.
Interviewing the bear, local Radio,Valladolid, Spain
To the actress Sharon Stone, through her Manager, for using
wild animal species as this tiger, on a photo shoot interview with
Dominical XL, who has also received a letter.
To the several institutions and companies involved on Volkswagen
exhibition at Terminal 1 from EL Prat Airport (Barcelona), where exhibited
are terrariums with snakes used in this advertising campaign.
The AENA Company (who manages the airport) answered that the
snakes were housed in good enclosures and supervised by specialists.
They informed us the complaint letter was redirected to the department
who supervised the animals. The Mister Guau Center Company,
answered the animals were fine and El Prat Airport was a good place for
people to get to know a little more about these animals and appreciate
their beauty.
To these answers we argue that there is no information available for
people about the species, biology, and conservation status, or about the
annual animal illegal trafficking done through airports.
The advertising company Volkswagen answered that the animals were
supervised by Clinica Veterinaria Exotics (Barcelona) who are experts in
reptiles. it was not their intention to exhibit the animals in a degrading
way. This veterinary clinic has not answered our emails at this time . We
are also waiting on an answer from Generalitat de Catalunya and the
departments in charge of these matters at the Gobierno Central and
European Union.
Front page of magazine, Actress Sharon Stone with tied tiger
To Antena 3 for their intentions of using a Chimpanzee on their
new TV contest show ‘Involution’. A letter was also sent to The
producer, the presenters and the comedians on that show,
informing them of the conditions these animals live in and their
treatment when used in the business industry. We are still
waiting on an answer.
To the Generali Seguros Company for their TV advertisement.
They used several different aged lions (cubs and adults). A letter
was also sent to the Producer and the Manager that coordinated
the event.
Snake publicizing the car, Barcelona Airport, Spain
We are contactable through AICAS. Do not hesitate in writing to us with
any ideas, opinions or complaints, together we can change situations.
ICZ Keeper Notes
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ASZK
The ASZK is holding a workshop in lieu of its Annual Conference to
encourage as many of our members to go to the ICZ Singapore
Conference. The workshop is being held from 12 -13 May, 2012 at the
Penrith Panthers in Sydney.
The workshops include:
Bird Training and Conditioning with Ravi Wasan
Welfare – keepers making a difference facilitated by Graeme Phipps
Going with the flow – exploring concepts of ‘flow’ and ‘challenge’
facilitated by Margaret Hawkins and Vicky Melfi
Reptile Management and Handling, including venomous species,
facilitated by staff from The Australian Reptile Park. For further
information, go to our website: www.aszk.org.au
Over the last few months, ASZK has covered the postage of sending
clothes to the Philippines. Two lots of boxes of ex-Zoos Victoria work
shirts were sent to the Philippines to be given to their workshop
participants (see the ZAP article). ASZK was also asked to pay
postage for t-shirts to clothe the people that had been victims of the
recent floods. These too, were covered by ASZK. Although we could
not do a lot for these flood victims, every little bit helped.
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2012 Annual
Symposium a
success!!
Each year during the first weekend in March ABWAK holds
its annual symposium and AGM. This is our flagship event
and gives us the opportunity to bring members together for
two days of presentations, workshops, zoo visits and of
course socialising.
This year the annual symposium was hosted by Bristol
Zoological Gardens. Bristol Zoo were fantastic hosts and are
incredibly lucky in having a great venue for such meetings.
The Zoo, in particular John Partridge, Senior Curator of
animals and long time ABWAK member, looked after all of us
and were kind enough to provide excellent tours of their
facilities. The success of any meeting lies with the quality of
the presentations and this year we were very fortunate to
have some excellent speakers. It would be impossible to list
them all here, but I’ll mention a few that really stood out.
Our Keynote Speaker this year was David Field, Zoological
Director ZSL and Chair of ISIS and BIAZA. David gave an
inspiring address about the importance of zoo keepers. This
was followed by Greg Clifton, zoo keeper at Twycross Zoo
and ABWAK Council Member, on how he literally followed his
dream from being a student to becoming a zookeeper. Both
presentations were excellent motivators for those wishing to
pursue zoo keeping as a career and those who have been
doing this job for a long time. Perhaps one of the standout
moments for me was the presentation by Simon Bell from the
BBC Natural History Unit. Simon began his presentation with
a short film comprised of clips from the Natural History Unit
archives. The stunning footage and stirring soundtrack had
many members of the audience close to tears.
Another excellent presentation was by Darren Beasley,
Longleat Safari Park, and some of his team, on making your
animals, visitors and zoo directors happy. A fun presentation
with a very pertinent message about the important balance
that the modern zoo tries to achieve. Of course it wouldn’t
have been an ABWAK Symposium without some time for
socialising and fun and games. This year we had a quiz
which included guess the x-ray, thermal image, animal sound
and aerial photo rounds.
Feedback from all attendees was excellent with close to
100% ranking the quality of the symposium as good or very
good. Next year our annual symposium will be hosted by
Edinburgh Zoo, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Ross Snipp
Chair of ABWAk
Our AGM will be at the ASZK workshops on Saturday 12 May,
2012 from 4:00-5:00pm. We hope that all the members
attending the workshop will attend this event. As there is no
conference dinner, the awards will be presented at this meeting.
Carla Srb
ICZ Keeper Notes
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Animal Notes
MARABOU STORKS IN
AMSTERDAM
In cooperation with the EAZA Marabou Stork ESB program,
Amsterdam Zoo is gradually setting up a group of marabou storks,
eventually planning to hold 3.3. The marabou storks will be held fullflighted in an aviary as per recommendations.
The first marabou stork to arrive at the end of 2009, was a male
hatched in Emmen Zoo the same year. Knowing that marabou storks
are social animals, the staff gave him a mirror for company whilst in
quarantine. Mirrors are used with a variety of birds in Amsterdam Zoo,
and do seem to reduce the stress. The marabou stork definitely slept
next to his mirror image, and when he left quarantine, his mirror went
with him. Before leaving quarantine his feeding regime was adapted
to a new diet to make the transition easier.
However the younger male seemed timid and not at all
exploratory when in the outside area with the other male, so it
was decided to let him out alone for awhile first in the morning,
and to allowed him to stay half an hour longer than the other
male to build up his self-confidence.
The introduction was carried out in stages. During the first
stage, the keeper remained with the animals, able to intervene
if necessary. When all seemed to be going consistently well
and the animals were calm the keeper leave the enclosure to
do things but staying close by. The keeper then could start
leaving the immediate vicinity, just walking by every 20 minutes
or so to make sure all was well. With this procedure the
marabou storks went from spending 20 minutes to the whole
day together.
How long each stage lasted in such an introduction depended
on the animals involved. It was found that having a consistent
regime in the order the marabous were moved, fed and
cleaned, seemed to be important, and related to their
hierarchy. Marabou storks have a very clear and strong
hierarchical structure, and the keeper acts as the alpha animal,
determining what the others do.
The younger male was sometimes seen laying down out of
visual contact of the more dominant male, which appeared
related to his subordinate position. It was good that part of the
barrier was sealed, but at the same time it was important that
the birds did have some visual contact at night so that they
could maintain their relationship at all times
Around six months later, a much older male that had lived in a
marabou stork group, arrived from Wels, Austria. He was placed next
to the young marabou stork male, and the mirror was taken out of the
younger bird’s enclosure so he could focus on the new male. A
barrier separating the two enclosures was had the first meter
extending from the floor was sealed so that the two males could get
out of each other’s view. The barrier above this sealed section
consisted of 2cm x 2cm mesh, allowing visual contact. Both of the
indoor enclosures were connected to the same outdoor area, and
initially the order that the birds were allowed out was random.
ICZ Keeper Notes
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Visayan Tarictic Hornbills
Penelopides p. panini
in Europe
Bird park Avifauna in Alphen aan de Rhijn in the Netherlands and
Chester Zoo in the UK has had a Memorandum Of Agreement with the
Philippine Authorities to support the Philippine Hornbill Conservation
Program (PHCP) for many years. Financial and scientific support are
provided, and it was agreed that a backup population of two threatened
endemic species, the Visayan tarictic hornbill Penelopides panini panini
(Endangered) and the Visayan wrinkled hornbill Aceros waldeni
(Critically Endangered), would eventually be established as EAZA
breeding programs.
In 2005, when breeding of tarictic hornbills was regularly occurring in
two Philippine breeding centers, it was decided it was time to start the
EAZA population by sending two pairs to Chester Zoo and two to
Avifauna, with another four pairs to be sent to Europe at a later date to
add new genetic material. The hornbills arrived in the UK in 2007, after
two years of preparations, fulfilling veterinary requirements and
paperwork, with two pairs were sent on to Avifauna after quarantine
arranged by Chester Zoo. Visayan tarictic hornbills are sexually mature
at two years (and can live to be 30), and the birds sent were between
two and four years of age. Chester Zoo already had a breeding
success with one pair in 2008, and both pairs bred in 2010 and 2011.
Unfortunately one of the females in Avifauna died of stress in 2009
after being attacked by her mate. A young female from Chester was
sent to replace her, but while the new pair showed some activity in
2011, she will not be old enough to breed until 2012. The second pair
in Avifauna never indicated that they were a particularly good pair, or
were even interested in breeding, so the staff were quite surprised
when the female sealed herself in the nest at the end of May. Four
eggs were seen during a nest inspection two weeks later.
About that time the keepers began feeding the male day old chick
thighs and balls made from ground beef heart mixed with Universal
softbill mix, as well as Zophobas morio larvae, in addition to the
chopped fruit and Versele Lage T16 diet that the adults received, so
that he could become accustomed to feeding these to the female and
the young. Nestlings were clearly heard on 10 July, and four were seen
during a nest inspection on 14 July. One had died by the next nest
inspection 10 days later, but the remaining three were healthy when
ringed during the nest inspection thereafter. It is already possible to sex
the young in the nest, as the males’ first plumage is already much
lighter in colour than that of females, who are black. This of course
facilitates making transfer and breeding recommendations within
breeding programs!
Currently there are 10.9 Visayan tarictic hornbills in the EAZA
population. In 2012 Frankfurt, London and Bristol Zoos will receive
pairs and another, presently undetermined, zoo will also receive 1.2, so
that the male can choose between the two females. Eventually some of
the birds bred in the EAZA population will return to the Philippines, and
some of the Visayan wrinkled hornbills, now also bred in the
Philippines, will be sent to Avifauna and Chester to initiate a similar
program.
ICZ Keeper Notes
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Upcoming events
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Mark your calendars for the ICZ Member & Partner
Institution happenings!
ICZ Keeper Notes
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Dear Collegues,
Apenheul Primate Park and Gaiapark Zoo are proud to invite all Gorilla specialists to join us for the 8th International Gorilla
Workshop. It will be held from 11 to 15 June 2012 in the Netherlands. The first three days will be spent in Apenheul
Primate Park and the last day in Gaiapark Zoo.
Behind the scenes an enthusiastic team of staff from both zoos is already very busy preparing to make this Gorilla
Workshop just as successful as its predecessors. The main topics of the conference ensures that it is going to be a
meeting with surprising insights, fruitful discussions and up to date information concerning conservation both in situ and ex
situ; all topics that will make this International Gorilla Workshop a memorable event that will motivate and inspire all
participants. And I hope that we can welcome a large number of them. You can use the attached poster to announce the
workship within your institution – or elsewhere.
For more information, subscription and further communication we created a website that will be updated regularly:
http://www.igw2012.org
Much looking forward to seeing you in Apenheul next year.
Yours sincerely,
Tjerk
Tjerk ter Meulen
Teamleider dierverzorging
ESB coordinator Allen Swamp Monkeys, Black Mangabey
"Next Generation Data Management in Movement Ecology"
will be held at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Berlin, Germany). Master students, PhD students,
PostDocs and researchers are invited to participate in this one-week course and to become familiar with the general
framework (concepts, problems and solutions) of wildlife GPS-tracking data in the context of both research and wildlife
management and to learn how to develop a basic tracking data management system for their own data sets.
For further information, please visit: http://www.izw-berlin.de/download/Data_Management_Movement_Ecol-Flyer.pdf
ICZ Keeper Notes
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The ICZ Steering
Committee
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Pep Xarles Ribas
Carsten Knott
Liz Romer
Carla Srb
The steering committee is composed of representatives
from the following institutions:
AAZK
ABWAK
AFSA
AICAS
AKAA
ASZK
BdZ
De Harpij
ZAP
Norah Farnham & Sara Wunder Steward, USA
Paul Howse & Richard Barnett, Britain & Ireland
Virginie Roy & Damien Lerasle, France
Pep Xarles Ribas & Albert Pamies Panzuelo, Spain
Robynn Ingle-Moller & John Werth, Africa
Carla Srb & Liz Romer, Australasia
Carsten Knott & Irene Tomaschek, Germany
Rolf Veenhuizen & Renee Higler, The Netherlands
Emilia Lastica & Leo Jonathan Suarez, Philippines
ICZ Keeper Notes