Auckland Zoo is delighted to announce the safe and speedy arrival of a healthy baby Bornean orangutan, born on Sunday 20 March to second-time parents Melur and Charlie!

Melur (33) had a quick and straightforward labour without any complications, supported by Charlie and the Zoo’s primate team, and her baby (whose sex is yet to be confirmed) was born at 11.30am.

On the night of November 15th, Auckland Zoo’s Emperor Tamarin Rose gave birth to two gorgeous, healthy babies. Twins are quite common in tamarin pregnancies, with the gestation lasting around 140 – 145 days.

Some of this footage was taken the following day by primate keeper Sam and shows dad Ladino with the babies on his back, with mum Rose taking them for a clean.

Primate keeper Amy Petherick also got some amazing shots of the growing family.

At this stage, the twins are getting all of the nutrients they need from their mum and will start to wean off her milk at around three months of age.

Ladino and Rose are already proud parents to one-year-old female Isla and twins Xoco and Emilio, who were born earlier this year. It’s still too early to know the sex of these babies, but we’ll keep you updated once they’re sexed and named!

What does it take to care for four tiny giants?! In part one of Auckland Zoo's two-part series, we follow curator of ectotherms Don and ectotherm keeper Sonja as they show what caring for Galápagos tortoises entails – from carefully excavating their eggs and incubating them for 110-days, to the excitement when four tiny hatchlings emerged earlier this year. Keepers work to create the ideal environment for these precious juvenile tortoises – ensuring their habitats have optimum humidity, temperature and lighting - as well as providing a species appropriate diet and regularly monitoring their growth. Stay tuned for part two where Auckland Zoo introduces the tortoises to their new specially designed crèche, that you’ll be able to visit when it's safe for the zoo to reopen.

Auckland Zoo is working in partnership with the New Zealand Department of Conservation https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-releases/2021-media-releases/breeding-season-for-rare-tara-iti-offers-hope-for-future/ to conserve New Zealand’s fairy tern – one of the rarest birds in the world.

New Zealand fairy tern / tara iti face many threats in the wild - they nest on low lying shell and sand banks which leaves their nests, and the eggs inside, vulnerable to storms and adverse weather. It also leaves the eggs open to predation and disturbance by off-road vehicles, dogs and humans.

These factors combined have left the species in a critical condition, and despite intensive management, fairy tern have teetered on the brink of extinction since the 1970s. With fewer than 40 adult birds alive today, they have a current conservation threat status of ‘nationally critical’.

To protect potential offspring, DOC rangers will monitor fairy tern nests that are at risk of flooding or other environmental concerns. This breeding season, with severe winds forecast, DOC staff were able to safely collect and bring eggs to the zoo for incubation. This gives the un-hatched chicks the highest chance of survival, but this method only works if the parents return to the nest to take care of the eggs. To ensure this happens DOC rangers will swap out the fertile eggs for artificial ones until the threat to the eggs has passed.

Unfortunately this wasn’t possible for a few of the eggs - the nests were either washed away or despite the precautions, they were abandoned by the parents. For those eggs, the decision was made to hand-rear any chicks that hatched, a management technique that hasn't been attempted since the 1990’s.

Thankfully, a healthy chick hatched and, in collaboration with DOC, our bird team used their skills and knowledge of hatching and hand-rearing rare native species in the past, to raise the chick at the zoo. Once it reached the right stage in it's development, the chick was taken to a pre-release aviary built by DOC staff where it could safely learn how to fish 'on the wing' before being released into the wild. 

Watch the video to see the process from hatch to release unfold!

It's been a privilege for Auckland Zoo to work on this conservation project with DOC and they hope to build on this success in the future so that together they can reserve the fortunes of this nationally critical taonga.

It’s been a long and rewarding journey to get Auckland Zoo's GLT twins, female Aurora and male Raffino, to this point and has required the considerable skill, passion and commitment of the Zoo's primate keepers.

As Primate team leader Amy explains, the decision to hand-rear is never taken lightly as there are always risks involved. The primate team used their expertise, coupled with the best science and the knowledge that the twins would have each other to bond with, to make this decision and without it these critically endangered twins would have simply not survived.

Filmed over the past three and a half months, Auckland Zoo puts their primate team’s mahi on show as they go from feeding the twins around the clock, to weaning them off of milk and onto solid foods like delicious mango, the successful integration with their parents Alonzo and Frida, and finally, welcoming the family unit into their Rainforest habitat!

Auckland Zoo is now one of the few places in the world that can proudly say they've successfully hand-reared golden lion tamarins and will be adding to global knowledge about the species. You can see the new family troop of four at Auckland Zoo this weekend.

Their ungulates team went through 1000+ submissions from the public and chose the name Nyah, which is Swahili for goal or purpose. This is such an apt name for this precious calf who has a very special purpose – connecting with Auckland Zoo’s visitors as well as advocating and raising awareness for her species in the wild.

In this video with ungulates keeper Gemma you can see the calf venture out with mum Jamila into the African Savannah habitat for the first time, and learn how zoo visits and donations help Auckland Zoo support rhinoceros in Africa and Asia.

When a Nyala named Xolani went into labor with her first calf, keepers at Auckland Zoo were thrilled with the opportunity to witness the event – Nyala usually give birth overnight, when no one is there to watch.

As the delivery progressed, the calf’s foot and nose became visible. But when lead keeper Tommy checked on Xolani, he noticed that her labor had stopped. The calf remained only partially delivered.

Photo Credit: Auckland Zoo

Tommy could see that one of the calf’s front legs appeared to be stuck in the birth canal, preventing its delivery. He quickly assessed the situation and approached Xolani, who allowed Tommy to come close. Xolani remained calm and allowed Tommy to gently pull on the calf’s legs, and the calf was safely delivered within minutes.

The male calf, which has been named Usiku, stood within 30 minutes and just a half-hour later, he was nursing. The calf is already integrated into the zoo’s herd of 11 Nyala, which includes one adult male and five adult females, each of whom has one calf.

Tommy’s quick actions are an example of the outstanding care that keepers provide to animals every day. As Tommy explains, “That’s why we’re here!”

Nyala are a large Antelope species native to the woodlands and grasslands of southern Africa. Males sport spiral horns, which are 24-33 inches long. Females do not have horns. Nyala populations are stable, although poaching and habitat loss may impact the species in the future.

See more photos of the Nyala below.

Auckland Zoo is part of ‘Operation Nest Egg’ (O.N.E), a national programme helping to increase Aotearoa’s Kiwi population. The Zoo’s latest fluffy hatchling is the second Kiwi chick this season. The chick is the first to hatch in October, which is also noted as “Save Kiwi Month”.

Photo Credits: Auckland Zoo

Operation Nest Egg (O.N.E.) involves collecting eggs from selected areas around New Zealand, incubating and caring for them from hatch until they are at an age where they can be released to predator free islands or sites. These sites allow the chicks to grow big and strong while not under threat from predators, and then finally, when they reach around 1.2kg – a size where they are better able to defend themselves – they are released back to the mainland on predator-managed sites.

Sadly, only 5% of chicks that hatch in the wild will reach breeding age due to introduced mammalian predators, which has contributed to the decline of New Zealand’s national bird. Auckland Zoo, working together with the Department of Conservation, Kiwis for Kiwi, and Thames Coast Kiwi Care has successfully contributed to the survival of Northland and Coromandel Kiwi.

Auckland Zoo recently welcomed two critically endangered Cotton-top Tamarin babies to the world.

The pair was born on the evening of June 11. It has been 16 years since the Zoo has bred Cotton-top Tamarins.

Primates team leader, Amy Robbins, says that both babies and parents are doing well, so far. “We’re all buzzing about the new arrivals. It’s exciting to have our Cotton-top parents starting to build their troop, and being a critically endangered species makes the babies arrival even more special. They’re showing signs of being great parents, with Mum feeding and Dad carrying them.”

Keepers won’t know the sex of the pair for some time, but the Zoo will be providing updates on their progress.

The new troop are still adjusting to the world, but Amy says they’re becoming more and more confident, so visitors may get a glimpse of the two new babies during their next visit.

Photo Credits: Auckland Zoo

The Zoo’s Cotton-top parents, “Mr. and Mrs. Nuri” (male from Germany and a female from Italy), have settled in well since their arrival in December and share their Rainforest home with three female Agouti’s.

Cotton-top Tamarins are critically endangered in the lowland forests of South America having lost 80% of their original habitat over the last 40 years to deforestation for agriculture, paper and timber supplies.

For this reason, Auckland Zoo’s Cotton-tops have an important advocacy role to help visitors connect with the species and be a voice for their wild cousins. Consumers can help the cause by buying only rainforest friendly paper products to help protect our forests for future generations.

The Cotton-top Tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) is a small New World monkey weighing less than 0.5 kg. They are arboreal (tree dwelling) in wet tropical forests or dry thorn forests in northern Colombia. They live in the mid to lower levels of the forest and have an important role as a seed disperser within their ecosystem.

These primates live in family groups of about 15 animals. Tamarins are monogamous animals (mate for life). Females dominate Tamarin society and only one female has babies at a time in each group. Males care for the babies and even assist at the birth and look after them throughout the early stages.

The specie is currently classified as “Critically Endangered” by the IUCN due to large-scale deforestation and habitat destruction, as the Columbian northwestern lowland forests have been reduced to 5% of their previous area. It is estimated that there are only 6,000 individuals left in the wild.

There’s a new addition to the Greater Flamingo family at New Zealand’s Auckland Zoo. The little chick hatched on January 9 in the Flamingo exhibit as an amazed group of zoo visitors looked on.

Photo Credit: Auckland Zoo

This is the first time a Flamingo chick hatched on exhibit at the zoo, and it’s also the first chick to be parent-reared at the zoo. (All of the other chicks hatched at the zoo have been hand-reared by zoo staff.)

The chick’s parents are Cheviot and Neil, who are also the parents of a young female named Otis. For the first few days after hatching, Cheviot and Neil shared the task of sitting on the chick until it learned to walk. Now, the chick explores on its own, with mom or dad close by.

As you look at these photos of the chick over its first nine days of life, you can see how the chick has changed.  At first, the chick had a gold-colored egg tooth at the tip of its beak. This tiny projection is found in reptiles and some birds and helps the chick to internally pip and break through its eggshell.  It eventually falls off as it is no longer needed.

Just after hatching, the chick had a red bill and plump pink legs. After about a week, the chick’s beak and legs turned very dark purple.