Mating In Mandai

Jan 25 2007 (TODAY)

It's boom time as endangered species have babies here

Lin Yanqin
yanqin@mediacorp.com.sg

THEY may not be answering mating calls out in the wild, but at Mandai, it
seems some endangered species are having a baby boom.

More than 180 animals were born in the Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari
last year under the parks' captive breeding programme. And of these, 14
per cent are endangered in the wild.

Doing spectacularly well last year were the primates, who saw three
proboscis monkeys, two douc langurs, one Bornean orang utan, one
lion-tailed macaque and four cottoned-top tamarins join their tribe last
year - all of which are on the endangered list of the World Conservation
Union.

Other animals born last year include three Nubian Ibexes - also
endangered - and a Malayan Tapir, two Jackass penguins, and a pygmy
hippo - all animals considered vulnerable to endangerment.

The zoo is also the only zoological institution to successfully breed the
douc langur outside its home range countries of Vietnam and Laos.

"As we have been very successful in the breeding of primates, we will
continue to focus our efforts on this group of animals," said the zoo's
assistant director of zoology Mr Biswajit Guha. "We will continue to focus
on threatened species such as Komodo dragons, and also on tropical
rainforest animals, in line with evolving into a rainforest zoo."

The parks' executive director Ms Fanny Lai attributed the success of the
breeding programme to "sound husbandry practices, expertise, and
dedication of our zoologists and vets".

Every aspect of the animals' lives is monitored carefully to ensure that
the animals breed successfully - their temperatures are monitored every
day, their diet is carefully designed to provide maximum nutrition, and
minerals and vitamins are given as supplements.

The zoo also tries to stimulate the animals mentally and physically by
simulating as free and natural an environment as possible.

For example, the orang utans have a free-ranging area where they can move
about, explore, and behave as their counterparts would in the wild.

Last year, the zoo also set up the Wildlife Healthcare and Research
Centre, with a new ultrasound machine to better detect pregnancies and
internal ailments.

But even with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, some things are
just beyond human control.

Said Mr Guha: "Even if we have both male and female species in the same
habitat, it may be a case of not having 'chemistry', much like the way it
is with humans."

The captive breeding programme, in place since the zoo's inception in
1973, was set up to contribute to the population of threatened species by
breeding them in captivity.

Notable successes of the programme include Inuka, the first polar bear to
be bred in the tropics, in 1990, and a giant flying squirrel, believed to
be the first to be born in a zoo in Asia, in 2004.

The well-loved Inuka has been hogging media headlines recently following
the zoo's announcement that he will move to a zoo in a temperate climate
once his mother, Sheba, dies.

That may not be too far off, as the 29-year-old mother is now already too
old to move, having passed the average life- span of 25 years for captive
polar bears.