ANNUAL REPORT 2006 - Denver Zoo

CARNIVORE ANDPRIMATE DIVISIONBeth Jo SchoeberlCurator of Primates and CarnivoresIt was another big year for bears in thecarnivore division. In January, our Asiaticblack bear Tenzing gave birth to threehealthy cubs, two males Chai and Thaiand female Omai. During the monthsto follow we had to occasionallyassist Thai, the smaller ofthe cubs, as his siblingsdominated him and the food. The cubsmade their exhibit debut in early May andwere quite the crowd pleasers throughoutthe year. They left in late fall to join theirolder brother at a zoo in Virginia. Polar bearshipments were abundant this year. Ourtwo-year-old cubsKoda and Nukaleft for anewly-constructed exhibit at the PittsburghZoo, and sire Kavek was sent to Tulsa Zoo.We in turn received new breeding maleFrosty from the Tulsa Zoo to pair withfemale Voda. We hope to see polar bearcubs in our future!In the feline section, three-year-old Amurleopard male Hari finally took an interestin female Dazma and bred. Mariette ourfemale Amur tiger from the 2003 litter leftfor Henry Vilas Zoo. Her dam Katarina,at 15 years of age, got a breedingrecommendation for 2007. Wereceived a new male Pallas’ catAlexey from Cincinnati Zoo to pairwith our female ChunLi. A young femalejaguar Caipora wasacquired at the endof the year fromAkron Zoo.We had another busy year in the primatedivision. We established several newbreeding pairs in Emerald Forest thatincluded golden lion tamarins, emperortamarins, and Goeldi’s monkeys. All thenew pairs are getting along famously sowe are anticipating births in 2007. We alsoacquired a male elephant shrew to pair withour two females. To date, one of the femaleshas had three pregnancies. Unfortunately,none of the offspring have survived. Thisis a challenging species to reproduce incaptivity. We learn and make changes witheach litter and hope to have a success inthe coming year. Our giant anteater pairhad their first offspring on Mother’s Day.What a unique species to work with! Theinfant, cute as can be, has to work hard toget up on mom’s back to get around. LuckilyMonita is an experienced mom and alsovery tractable. Having a female like thatmade it easier to intervene when infantLeft | Emperor tamarinRight | Kapaji, a playful red-capped mangabey infantMiddle Right | A litter of spotted hyenas was born in PredatorRidge. Young are charcoal black in color at birth; over time theydevelop a light coat with spots.Far Right | One year old gorilla Tinga