Singapore. » Singapore Zoo

06-03-2007

What's touted as the world's largest oceanarium will open in Singapore in 2010. It will hold 20 million gallons of saltwater habitats. It will feature whale sharks, tiger sharks, dolphins and over 700,000 fish. They plan to have 'swim with whale sharks' program among others.

It's being built as part of a huge resort development which will include a Universal Studios theme park as well. The oceanarium will be run by a private company.

New Orang Utan Free-ranging Area
09-03-2007

Phase 3 of the orang utan free-ranging programme has been opened and its the largest and most spectacular area of all. It comprises 8 large trees, including a huge 35metre high kapok tree (Ceiba petandra) which is decades if not a century old. The crown spread of that tree covers more than half a soccer field. The rest of the trees average a height of 20 to 25 metres.

12-04-2007

Didn't Singapore zoo used to have Sulawesi warty pigs? I'm very interested in them at the moment.

12-04-2007

That was a long long time ago writhedhornbill. We no longer house this species

12-04-2007

Why? were they difficult to manage?

14-04-2007

Not sure why but they were phased out more than 20 years ago i believe. Probably because it was hard to get new animals.

14-04-2007

There aren't any in zoos anymore. I haven't seen a picture. They must be hard to find

17-04-2007

Do you know why the singapore zoo "new births" section is only updated every year, if you're lucky? Has there been any developements in the Douc langur group since the birth of 20/08/'05? I would love to know a little bit more about them...

17-04-2007

I've sent numerous emails to the director about the sad state of the website (almost half of the info there are dated), but inot much is being done. A new website is being planned i believe, hence not much effort on maintaining the current one.

About the doucs, the latest births were in May and August 2006, not sure about the sexes, but official press release states that the August baby is a second generation animal. Births seem to be a yearly affair, with an average of 2, 3 born per year.

17-04-2007

A little update about the orangs; Their island enclosure is being upgraded now and live trees are being planted on it for the first time. Large, mature ficus trees have been transplanted and will be allowed to take root for the next couple months before the orangs go back on display.

With the experience of the free-ranging program, it seems that orangs aren't as destructive to live trees as was widely believed. They've done surprisingly little damage. Perhaps the only concern with using live trees is the orangs snapping branches and falling. Fortunately it hasn't happened here and i guess this can be prevented through careful pruning as well as choice of trees. Perhaps its time for zoos to relook at orang exhibit design, and several zoos in Europe have already incorporated live trees in new exhibits.

18-04-2007

Yes. Chester zoo is doing that and from memory I think Colchester has had a go. They only have 2 Orangs

__________________
Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

(Join the hornbill group-www.zoobeat.com/group.php?groupid=2)

04-05-2007

Okay, so the Singapore Zoo bosses have made a u-turn about the polar bear decision. While no more polar bears will be imported, the younger of the pair (Inuka) will not be moved to the temperates when the older one (Sheba) dies. A public opinion poll of 5300 people showed over 67% of respondents objecting to the decision of moving the bear. I'm guessing the Zoo bosses got swayed by this poll...

Anyway, here's the official statement from the Zoo's Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee:

During a committee meeting on January 27, 2007, Wildlife Reserves Singapore’s Animal Welfare & Ethics Committee (AWEC) has made a recommendation that Inuka the polar bear should remain in Singapore and not be relocated to a temperate country following his mother’s demise. AWEC made the decision after considering several factors:

The life span of both Inuka (17 years old) and his mother Sheba (30 years old) indicate that both polar bears are faring well in this environment. Moving Inuka to a temperate facility after losing his mother will add further stress, since he will be removed from an environment that he is already familiar with.

The transport of a full grown polar bear to an institution in a temperate country will be a stressful situation and carries its own share of risks; most extreme being that Inuka may die during transportation or during the introduction process in the new facility.

Depending on when Sheba passes on, Inuka may have only limited breeding potential because of his age, and if sent to a temperate institution, will probably not contribute to the captive breeding effort.

While the initial decision was to move Inuka to a temperate country upon the demise of his mother Sheba, the AWEC committee believes retaining Inuka in Singapore Zoo was in his best interest, considering that Sheba is still very healthy and Inuka has only three years left to be sexually reproductive.

AWEC members weighed heavily the pros and cons. On one hand, logic prevails that Artic animals should reside in temperate climates as they thrive better. On the other hand, mother polar bear Sheba has thrived beyond the average lifespan and Inuka who was born here in the tropics is now 17 years old. Initially, it seems more humane to relocate Inuka after his mother’s passing away.

However, as Singapore Zoo and AWEC continue to study and review the matter, it became clear that it may be more distressing for Inuka to lose not only his mother but also the home and keepers he has had since he was born in Singapore.

AWEC and Singapore Zoo, nevertheless, will continue to keep an open view. With new discoveries every so often in veterinary science, captive animal breeding and management around the world, there will be a need to again assess the situation at that point in time when Sheba passes on.

04-05-2007

i personally think that despite his age, he would probably be happier with the stimulus of other bears (be it in close contact or not) than on his own.

ideally, both bears should have been relocated together long before they got so old.... i imagine gold coast seaworld would be a much improved, yet not dramatically different home for a bear born on the equator...

04-05-2007

I agree with you Patrick. i'm in favour of moving the male bear.

The old zoo management team prior to 2001 actually had no desire to phase out polar bears. It was only after the new team stepped in that they decided to do so.

Somehow i'm not too convinced by the reasons they gave for keeping the bear. I feel there's more to it than that, but the politics of the bosses is way beyond my level.