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NEWS FROM THE ZOO
Here's the latest goings on at Franklin Zoo  Tommy, our cute otter, is soon to be joined by another friendly otter named Paddles. Read about it in our August Zoo Diary. |
Zoo Diary April 2008
Franklin Zoo farewelled one of its most famous residents last month when Sam the Serval died at the age of 20 years. Hes lived eight more years than he would have in the wild, and most visitors will miss watching Sam demonstrate his amazing hunting skills during Franklin Zoos daily Wild Encounters. We would like to thank all of you who have expressed your sympathies on his passing.Last week I returned from Sydney after attending the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA) conference held at Taronga Zoo. This years conference focus was on Zoos and Aquaria in the 21st Century - Global Powerhouse for Conservation.
Over four days, papers and workshops were held to explore how Zoos and Aquaria in the region can lead conservation endeavors, unite as an industry voice and communicate the issues affecting our organisations. Of all the conservation issues, the disappearance of species as they become extinct and the effect of global warming was the most alarming. Zoos across the region do wonderful work in engaging visitors to think about the natural world and also have the ability to educate and motivate people to take greater care of our natural world starting in our own back yard.
The conference also focused on 2008 - The year of the Frog (on the conservation calendar). The Amphibian Ark is an initiative launched this year to address the amphibian extinction crisis across the globe. Its aim is to establish international communication networks, build partnerships, and facilitate species priority management along with raising awareness and funds. Check out www.amphibianark.org!
As an example in our backyard, we originally had seven species of native frog; three species have become extinct since the arrival of humans and animal pests, like rats, into New Zealand. The four remaining species are the Hochstetter's frog - the most widespread (upper half of the North Island), the Archey's frog - found only in the Coromandel and in one site west of Te Kuiti, the Hamilton's frog - one of the world's most endangered frogs found only on Stephens Island in the Cook Strait, and the Maud Island frog - found on Maud Island in the Marlborough Sounds.
There are also three introduced species of frog in New Zealand. These species are easily distinguished from native frogs because they have loud mating calls and pass through a tadpole stage.
New Zealand's native frogs have several distinctive features, which make them very different from frogs elsewhere in the world: They have no external eardrum, have round (not slit) eyes, they don't croak regularly like most frogs, they don't have a tadpole stage, they hatch as an almost fully-formed frog, and most species are cared for by their parents.
After the conference I visited Mogo Zoo, a private zoo south of Sydney just out of Batemans Bay. It is a great zoo with very healthy animals, many of them elderly like ours! Mogo Zoo has been operating privately for 16 years, has won tourism awards and has had great success in breeding animals especially two beautiful snow leopard cubs.
This zoo had a similar beginning to Franklin Zoo and with amazing hard work and local support; it has grown into a wonderful resource for the region. I had the opportunity to meet two of the zoos five week old serval kittens -very heartwarming after saying farewell to Sam!
Coming up in May we have a festival day planned with a few surprises- well tell you about that next time!
Franklin Zoo a special place. We are open every day 9am 5 pm with Wild Encounters every day at 2pm.
Helen Schofield
Zoo Operator
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| Sam, our serval |
| Sadly, Sam, our serval, died in March this year. He was an excellent hunter. His erect ears worked like antennae so he could hear his prey rustling through the long grass. He could leap 3 metres in the air to catch birds and bring them down to eat. We encouraged Sam to hunt by hiding his food in cracks and crevices around his enclosure high up and low down. Thousands of children and their parents watched Sam's hunting demonstrations at our daily Wild Encounters. He was a great teacher of conservation and he's sorely missed by all of us. |
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