ANNUAL REPORT 2006 - Denver Zoo

ANIMALDEPARTMENTREPTILES/FISHES DIVISIONRick HaeffnerSenior Curator and Curator of Reptiles and FishesIn 2006, Tropical Discovery said good-byeto one of its Komodo dragons. Lacey wassent to the Virginia Aquarium and MarineScience Center. This left six juvenile dragonsfrom the 2002 and 2003 hatchings andCastor, our large male dragon, who attaineda weight of over 110 pounds and a lengthof eight feet. All of the young dragonscontinued to grow and thrive and reachedan average length of six and a half feet andweights of around 50 pounds each.A researcher at the University of NorthernColorado was sent 40 short-tailed fruit batsfor ongoing research on fruit bat behaviorand physiology.One of the male pig-nosed turtles grewlarge enough that it could be placed onexhibit, so a display was modified toaccommodate him. The turtle has been a bighit with visitors, as this species is the onlyfreshwater turtle with flippers.One of the aquarists left the departmentin 2006, and Kristine Davis was hired. Shewas formerly employed as an aquarist atLandry’s Denver Downtown Aquarium.Later in the year she assumed primarykeeper role for the Coral Reef section.Our young arapaimas also grew enoughthat they could hold their own with theother big Amazon fishes. They were puton display and at the end of year they hadreached nearly four feet in length andcontinue to grow.We successfully hatched and raised ablack tree monitor. This was a first forDenver Zoo. We also hatched leopardtortoises, another first. After a “long dryspell,” we were once again successful inreproducing McMahon’s vipers.The biggest news for the department wasthe birth of Violet, a female black howlermonkey housed in Tropical Discovery. Whilemother Rosie tried to care for the baby,she accidentally caused an injury to Violetwho had to be taken to the zoo nursery formedical treatment and hand rearing. Aftersix months, we were able to successfullyreintroduce Violet to her parents and theyare all happily living on display.10