EAZA News 57-12 - European Association of Zoos and Aquaria

Bristol united kingdom source
press release and philip knowling
Salome, a western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at Bristol
Zoo Gardens successfully gave birth to a healthy baby after a course of
ground-breaking fertility treatment. The male baby, yet to be named, was
born on 15 December 2006 by natural birth and is suckling well. Salome’s
first baby was born at London Zoo in April 1988. Salome was transferred
to Bristol Zoo Gardens in November 1998.
The birth heralds a new advance in the understanding of captive
breeding for the species. It is the result of pioneering fertility treatment
for gorillas developed and administered by Sharon Redrobe, head of
veterinary services at Bristol Zoo Gardens. For the first time ever, the
condition known as diminished ovarian reserve, a condition also affecting
fertility in humans, has been diagnosed and treated in gorillas using
methods and medicine that still enabled natural mating.
It was discovered that although thirty-year-old Salome (born at London
Zoo on 16 July 1976), had been coming into oestrus and was appearing
to mate successfully, she had not been ovulating. It was a key priority for
the zoo that any fertility treatment ensured that mating and conception
were as natural as possible and minimized human interference. Following
extensive research on the various fertility treatments available, Sharon
Redrobe consulted gynaecologist David Cahill, senior consultant lecturer
in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Bristol.
It was eventually decided to use clomifene, a common fertility drug used
by women to kick start Salome’s ovulation.
Bristol Zoo Gardens is also home to Salome’s companion ‘Romina’, famous
for undergoing the first ever cataract operation performed in Europe on
an adult gorilla. This enabled Romina to interact more effectively with
the other gorillas and resulted in the birth of Namoki in 2005 following
her successful mating with the 24-year-old silverback male Jock.
photo bristol zoo
Randers denmark source
randers zoo
Randers Zoo is the only Scandinavian zoo currently keeping aardvarks
(Orycteropus afer). This species has been kept in the African exhibit in
the ‘Danish rainforest’ since 2002.
On 27 August 2006 the female ‘Maxima’ gave birth. Only six days prior
to this, the male ‘Plucky’ was sent to Berlin Zoo to make space for
a genetically more desirable male from Colchester Zoo. Even though
Plucky is a full sibling of Maxima, it had been initially decided that
they, at Randers Regnskov, should have the possibility to breed, as the
European population is small and there is a need for proven breeders.
Maxima did not have any experience in taking care of her offspring as
this was her first birth. The newborn aardvark was frequently left alone
and was not given an opportunity to suckle. After some hours the staff
decided to step in and to take action. The baby was moved to a heated
box, and studbook keeper Wineke Schoo of Burgers’ Zoo was contacted,
as Burgers’ Zoo has much experience in breeding aardvarks.
The weight of the baby was less than 1200 g, which was alarmingly low
when compared to the records of birth weights at Burgers’ Zoo, and the
staff started to bottle-feed the newborn baby immediately. As artificial
aardvark milk is hard to get, it was decided to begin with a milk
substitute intended for dogs. Later we found that Maxima could
relatively easy be milked, and gradually most of the milk for the
offspring came from Maxima, supplemented with the milk substitute.
births and hatchings
photo randers zoo
During the first 14 days the staff brought the baby home at night and in
the beginning it was bottle-fed every three hours. Additionally, the baby
was introduced to its mother several times a day, and encouraged to
suckle. After two weeks it started to suckle by itself, and at that time
weighed 1540 g. The young aardvark gained weight rapidly thereafter,
and on 15 January 2007, the young aardvark’s weight was 13 kg. It is doing
well together with the mother and the new male from Colchester Zoo
which was introduced on 17 December 2006 without complications.
Even though aardvarks are normally not considered as a flagship species, the
public has shown much interest in this aardvark baby. The baby was mentioned
several times on both television and in newspapers, and never has
Randers Zoo received so many e-mails concerning one single animal.
eaza news 57
2007
19