A Zoo Story

 This past week I made a visit to the Brevard Zoo. The temperature was in the low 70s and the sun was out. As an annual member, I try to visit twice a month. One of the perks is that Members can enter at 9 AM, a half hour before they officially open. The benefit of this is to see the animals as they are being brought out for the day, and sometimes playful interchanges between the animals and the keepers.

On this day, there were plenty of impalas out but there were no giraffes, zebras or rhinos. I have seen the zebras and giraffes come out, but I had never seen the rhinos arrive. They are usually in their pen or not.

At the time I did not know, but this was the two female rhinos, Uzuri (22 years) and Kibibi (21 years). They seemed to know where they were going but the Impalas looked a little leery of the larger beasts.

I do not know how to distinguish the two females, but one stopped for a shoulder rub on a tree. She did this for about a minute.

For the last 18 months they have been trying too artificially inseminate (AI) the two ladies using sperm from the male Frankie (21 years). From my understanding, this was not successful so recently they stopped.

One of the females on the way to her pen. They say the females were naturally breeding with Frankie, but there were no conceptions and that is why they went to the AI. I think the plan is now to stop trying.

I almost got all three rhinos in on the next shot; that is Frankie on the right, also checking out a tree. In late 2018, the Zoo welcomed the southern white rhinoceros Frankie as part of the AZA Species Survival Plan (SSP) breeding program. Through this plan, Frankie’s genetics were determined to be a good match with the two females, Uzuri and  Kibibi.

The Zoo has had rhinos since 2003. That is Frankie on the left, foraging for some food, (and apparently wasting time) and an unidentified female on the right, heading toward the rhino pen.

The two ladies stopped at the gate under the viewing boardwalk.

Then I hear one of the keepers start yelling "Frankie, come on Frankie!!" The ladies had entered the pen but Frankie was enjoying the freedom. He finally headed in the right direction and joined the ladies. I have seen training and I know that most of the Zoo animals respond to their name. You could see that Frankie was liking the extra attention he was getting for being slow.

Recently I saw this post by the Zoo whom I follow on Facebook:

We are so saddened to share that our 30-year-old male wrinkled hornbill Gomez unexpectedly passed away recently. 

While every animal passing is difficult for our Zoo, this one is especially difficult. Gomez spent two decades at our Zoo. He was one of the oldest members of their species – the median lifespan of which is 10.6 years for females – in a facility accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).  

I had taken this photo in early October. Gomez seemed to like me, or at least my camera. He would always become more active when I took photos of him and his wife Morticia.

In the Zoo blog:

Gomez and his lifelong partner, 30-year-old Morticia, have had over five offspring with us – and they even have grand-chicks at fellow AZA-accredited facilities. 

So this past week, I stopped by their cage, and took this photo of Morticia, all by herself. Gomez was gone. And I felt really sad for her...