Many of my wonderful Zoo Friends are Grandparents!
I wish a very special Happy Grandparents Day!
to these that I'm aware of :)
Elly :)
Having birthed I believe fourteen calves
Elly has several GrandBabies!
Her GrandSon Belozi :)
shares exhibit space with her.
Belozi also has a Brother named Ajabu :)
both born at San Diego WIld Animal Park
to Elly's Daughter Susan K.
Elly has several GrandBabies!
Her GrandSon Belozi :)
shares exhibit space with her.
Belozi also has a Brother named Ajabu :)
both born at San Diego WIld Animal Park
to Elly's Daughter Susan K.
Belozi :)
Ramona :) and her first GrandBabies
Brooks and Shania :)
whose Mama is Rosa :)
Two weeks after Rosa gave birth
her Sister Rita :) had her Twins
Dakoda and Maverick :)
Making Ramona a Grandma to four kids!
Bawang :)
who became a first time Grandma
when her Daughter Nneka
gave birth in July.
Sukari :)
who became a first time Grandma
when her Daughter Mfisha
gave birth to five Cubs last December
at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.
Bititi :)
who became a Grandma in July
when her Son Dozer sired a calf
at Safari West.
Rigel :)
who is Grandpa to GrandDaughter Renji :)
born in Jan 2011 at the Chattanooga Zoo
to his Daughter Kasmir :)
Renji has moved to Cinncinatti
as part of the breeding program
and will someday soon make Rigel a GreatGrandpa!
Kasmir, gave birth to a second litter
in Chattanooga last Oct 2012.
I had a fun time putting together this post. It gave me the opportunity to share information I've personally gathered through my research of the Family Tree's for some of my wonderful Zoo Friends. Being able to share my passion for these Animals and endear others to them as I have been, is something that was important to me. That was the goal of my first blog http://gooberssfzoofriends.blogspot.com/ .
Hope you enjoyed!
All very precious animals and zoo friends. I am proud of all of them, they are special to me. Happy Grandparents day to Elly, Rigel, Bititi, Ramona, Sukari, Rita and Bwang!!! I love all of you!!!
ReplyDelete@Lee - Thank you for your comment! ... I too am very proud of them and for the contribution to their species they have made! Especially Miss Elly who was kept pregnant for over 15 years of her life birthing babies that are not only in Zoo's but have been released back into the wild. < Something I don't believe in, just noting the range of her contribution! And, Bawang who has gone above and beyond her duty, surrogating Hasani and now will do the same for her new granddaughter. These Animals should be Celebrated by the Zoo, yet they are not. The Zoo Celebrates Humans instead.
DeleteDidn't know what to write at first but now that there are comments, I would like to add to the discussion.
DeleteIt is obviously a way of fundraising for the zoo to have such ways to attract visitors. I think it is a good idea, yet the zoo should note the importance of animal and human grandparents. They should have similar events for the "animal celebration days," such as the vulture awareness day in your other blog. Such could be that wearing apparel that signifies that specific day (for example a shirt with a vulture) for give a discount for visitors.
On your comment about breeding Elly to send to other zoos and to be released to the wild, I believe that it may be necessary because black rhinoceroses are endangered species and need population growth. By breeding her (which occurs frequently in the wild as well), the population would be allowed to grow to a stable size. Which is why the zoo needs to emphasize more on conservation matters.
@ellicruu - Thank you for your comment. ... Yes, events should be made out of these Celebration Days, not only for awareness but for fundraising that event crowds draw. I have been posting about this for a couple years. The Zoo doesn't put value on highlighting the Animals much, unless there is a photo op that might get them some Media attention, such as them always pimping out certain Animals for sport related things. ... Excessive reproduction might very well happen in the wild, but in a controlled environment regardless of conservation I think having one animal pregnant so many times is cruel. As well, I understand the conservation aspect, but when animals in the wild are being slaughtered, I don't think its right to raise them in captivity to release them on a gamble. It makes no sense to me. The only way it would was if the end of poaching were secured. These are my personal opinions on both.
Deletethis is a great idea! Thanks for putting this together. The photos are wonderful! Really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteJoanne T
@Joanne T - Thank you for your comment! ... I'm so glad you liked it! Like I said it was fun to put together. I have all this info in my head that I think people would like to know :) Glad you liked the photos too! Takes time to pull photos so nice when I know they are appreciated :) Your comment prompted me to think of making a collage of them for Flickr.
Deletethanks for posting your wonderful pics and family trees - a lot of work! and a huge thanks to all the zoo grandparents for enriching our lives in so many ways!
ReplyDelete@hazel- Thank you for your comment! ... Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you as well for appreciating the amount of work that goes into some of these posts I make. well most of them. It is time consuming, pulling photos, editing them, finding notes, links, ect. I try to provide as much info as I can. ... YES to these wonderful Animals, as they do enrich our lives!
DeleteThis is a great idea to introduce family relationships to other zoos. Most of the time visitors just know that an animal which was there before was transferred. I think it would be a great idea to have a family tree for these animals as an online resource as most of the transfer logs I have seen are outdated.
ReplyDelete@Michael Groob- Thank you for your comment! ... Glad you like this. I started keeping track and researching family trees of the Zoo Friends in 2008, when I started visiting the Zoo several times a week and getting to know the Animals on an individual level. I started posting my discoveries on my first blog gooberssfzoofriends. I posted about Leanne's first litter of Boys and where they've gone and on Tatiana's Bother and his family. I think I may have also done Wishbone's siblings as I found them all and did a family tree for him. You are right, a lot of the studbooks are out of date and/or aren't accusable. Thankfully there are a good deal :) I got my first three Tiger ones from a former Lion House Keeper, and became obsessed with reading them. It would be coold to have a database that cross ref'd the studbook info into a tree sort of graphic. I too think others would find it interesting to know the relationships with the Animals they see at their local Zoo to Animals at other Zoos. Like the connection between our Zoo's with Sukari (Daughters) and Amanzi (Big's Sister). Maybe this is a project for you :)!
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