Firsts from Faraway Lands | San Diego Zoo 100
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Rare in zoos, the Goodfellow's tree kangaroos at the San Diego Zoo, a species native to New Guinea, wowed visitors and pleased staff with a joey in 1979. This was the first time this species had reproduced at the San Diego Zoo, and the little one poked its head out for the first time on August 6.
Thanks to a trade with the Kwangchow Zoo in Canton, People's Republic of China, the San Diego Zoo became home to a pair of Chinese dholes, a species rarely seen in zoos, especially in western zoos at the time. There were few studies of this unique canid species, and the Zoo staff looked forward to learning more about their behavior.
Four one-year-old Sumatran tigers went on the prowl at the Wild Animal Park in October 1979, a cooperative effort with the East Berlin Zoo to start a new breeding group of this tiger subspecies in the U.S. At the time, there were only eight other Sumatran tigers in the U.S., and only one was a female of reproductive age. Because it was an endangered species with a population in decline—as it still is today—conservationists felt it was important to have assurance breeding groups in several locations. The Wild Animal Park's tiger exhibit was a three-acre habitat filled with vegetation to allow the young cats plenty of opportunities for exercise and exploration. The keepers were pleased to see the tigers thoroughly engaged in their new home and looked forward to learning much more about this still little-understood big cat.

1979

Conservation 1977 - 1986

 

 

 

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