Tail-end of Eland calving season
New life comes with its own set of challenges, as discovered by this beautiful male Eland calf born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo late last week. Helped by a few nudges from his mother, this newborn calf was able to balance on all four legs with success before too long!
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One lucky family visiting from Sydney witnessed the entire birth, and captured the special footage on their camera.
These photos were taken shortly following the birth, and show the mother Eland licking and coaxing her new calf to stand.
In the wild, antelope species like Eland need to be constantly on the lookout for predators, and mother and calf are especially vulnerable.
This calf is healthy and well, and is developing a strong bond with his mother.
This calf is the tenth Eland baby to be born this year, with a couple more adult females due to give birth before the end of the year.
There are currently 35 adult Eland on exhibit at the Zoo.
Environmental achievement and leadership
Taronga Conservation Society Australia is celebrating after its two zoos, Taronga Zoo in Sydney and Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, were awarded Gold at the NSW Sustainability Advantage Awards.
The Sustainability Advantage (SA) Recognition Scheme — a NSW Government initiative from the Office of Environment and Heritage — awards business, not-for-profits and government agencies for demonstrating their commitment to sustainability.
To secure Gold, Taronga undertook an ongoing three-year audit of operations, strategic commitment and investment in sustainability initiatives. And in a first for the awards, Taronga Western Plains Zoo went from a Bronze award straight to Gold.
Taronga’s environmental sustainability program is driven by a commitment to improving efficiency, integrating sustainability and engaging people and the community to act in a manner that is more environmentally conscious.
Taronga is working to reduce its carbon footprint by ten per cent by 2020, and aims to become carbon-neutral certified organisation by 2025.
“We’ve set ourselves some ambitious targets but we want to lead by example,” says Kehlhofer, Taronga’s manager for environmental sustainability.
“We want to become an industry leader and a role model in sustainability and work with other organisations to help them achieve their own sustainability targets.”
