Last year, four male hyenas were relocated from Monarto to Perth Zoo and Altina Wildlife Park. This left two males and two females and over the last few months we have been introducing these animals to begin a new clan. Our aim was to establish all four animals, with the hope that the dominant females would put the males in their place allowing the group to live harmoniously. This, of course, was not to be, but as there is not a lot known about hyena introductions and captive clan dynamics we had to give it a go.

Hyena inrtoductions were a gradual process at Monarto Zoo.

Our Giant Panda introductions continue to progress well. Here are some photos from Day Two, which shows our Wang Wang and Funi getting along very well. There hasn't been a mating yet but signs are looking great :-)

I wonder what Funi is saying to Wang Wang?

Hi everyone

We have been very busy getting ready for Spring here on pandas. Spring means possible Wang Wang and Funi introductions! We are all starting to get excited and there is a real buzz happening in the panda building.

We have been very busy preparing our introduction and breeding plans as well really concentrating on our panda training. Some time ago I wrote about our new training cage that was specially made for Wang Wang and Funi. The materials were donated by Mayfield Engineering Company (Leightons contractors) and an employee of theirs, Nick Atkinson, spent hours putting the materials together. 

G'day everyone and welcome to the new Carnivore Department blog. I'm Steve McKee and I am one of the Big Cat keepers at the Adelaide Zoo. I'm a Carnivore keeper which means some days I work with Big and Small Cats; other days I work with Australian Sealions and African Wild Dogs; and sometimes I work with Otters, Meerkats...and Giraffes (?)...just to keep me on my toes.

Our Lion introduction has been taking place for sometime now so I'll start this blog with a bit of history and how we got to where we are now.