If you could go back in time...

kiang said:
...Mountain nyala at Napoli.... )
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That's a very interesting comment.

I'm only aware of mountain nyala being kept in Berlin Zoo in the 1930s & 1940s; when were there mountain nyala in Naples ?
 
Panthera1981 said:
A bit of fun here-

If you could travel back in time and visit any zoo (or even your favourite zoo) where would you go and what point in time would you choose?

I fondly remember my first visits to the Aspinall parks in the early 1990's (when the collections were unique), so I'd visit at a point where I could see those frustratingly elusive (for me) Sumatran rhinos! I never saw them, and will probably never have another opportunity to see the species.

I'd also want to visit London at a time when the collection was at it's peak (50's/60's?) though I'd probably need some help from fellow 'chatters as to exactly what time to pick!
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I would want to go to the San Diego Zoo to see the Horn and Hoof Mesa.
 
I would want to go back to early 2013 to see the sumatran rhino at White Oak Conservation Center. They are only three hours from my house, and I missed them!
 
elefante said:
I would want to go to the San Diego Zoo to see the Horn and Hoof Mesa.
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Same. SDWAP and SDZ defiantly had a wide diversity of hoof stock around the 2000s that they do not have today. I would also go back around this time to see the pacarana on exhibit.

Although not a zoo, I would go back around the 60's or 70's to Melanesia in order to search for the many arboreal rodents that are probably extinct today.
 
Tim May said:
That's a very interesting comment.

I'm only aware of mountain nyala being kept in Berlin Zoo in the 1930s & 1940s; when were there mountain nyala in Naples ?
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Forgive me Tim, I am sure I read it in an article in IZN. The said article was actually about the history of Rome zoo and therefore it could actually have been Rome they were in, mentioned was that the animals were presented by an Italian general from Somalia (this could all be muddled thinking and the animals may never have survived).
 
kiang said:
Forgive me Tim, I am sure I read it in an article in IZN. The said article was actually about the history of Rome zoo and therefore it could actually have been Rome they were in, mentioned was that the animals were presented by an Italian general from Somalia (this could all be muddled thinking and the animals may never have survived).
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Many thanks, “Kiang”, for your very interesting reply.

I’ve read in various places that the mountain nyala that arrived in Berlin Zoo in the 1930s (and which were killed when the zoo was bombed in 1944) were the only ones ever kept in a zoo, so I was intrigued by the mention of the species in Italy.

I’ve looked into this a little more and found an article on-line “A List of Wild Mammals Breeding at the Zoo of Rome from its Foundation (1911) to 1991” (Andreina d'Alessandro & Spartaco Gippoliti ) which contains the following:-

"....Incidentally, the beginning of the war surprised an expedition in Ethiopia lead by Dr. Taibel, which should have brought a group of antelopes, including the legendary mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni to Rome......"

I’ve also found some editions on-line of “Gnusletter” the newsletter of the IUCN Antelope Specialist Group. One edition, rather confusingly, referred to an article about mountain nyala in the Rome Zoo; however a subsequent edition corrected this and said the animals in question were not in Rome Zoo but briefly held Ethiopia “by someone associated with Rome Zoo”.
 
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In old Italian references concerning the Mountain Nyala, there is reference to a specimen held at Il Cairo Zoo after the II WW
 
Tim May said:
Many thanks, “Kiang”, for your very interesting reply.

I’ve read in various places that the mountain nyala that arrived in Berlin Zoo in the 1930s (and which were killed when the zoo was bombed in 1944) were the only ones ever kept in a zoo, so I was intrigued by the mention of the species in Italy.

I’ve looked into this a little more and found an article on-line “A List of Wild Mammals Breeding at the Zoo of Rome from its Foundation (1911) to 1991” (Andreina d'Alessandro & Spartaco Gippoliti ) which contains the following:-

"....Incidentally, the beginning of the war surprised an expedition in Ethiopia lead by Dr. Taibel, which should have brought a group of antelopes, including the legendary mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni to Rome......"

I’ve also found on-line some editions on-line of “Gnusletter” the newsletter of the IUCN Antelope Specialist Group. One edition, rather confusingly, referred to an article about mountain nyala in the Rome Zoo; however a subsequent edition corrected this and said the animals in question were not in Rome Zoo but briefly held Ethiopia “by someone associated with Rome Zoo”.
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Tim, many thanks for the delving, I too saw this reference, this looks to be the end of the trail and in fact the animals never made it as far as Italy.
Perhaps there is a case that rather than shooting males for trophies a few males could be exported to "western" zoos as ambassadors for their species.
 
colobus said:
In old Italian references concerning the Mountain Nyala, there is reference to a specimen held at Il Cairo Zoo after the II WW
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Thanks for this,"Colobus"; very interesting. Do you have any further details about the animal at Cairo Zoo?
 
Sorry, kiang...

But there weren´t any mountain nyalas in Napoli, the only pair, that was ever displayed in a zoo was shown in Berlin Zoo.
 
Joker1706 said:
Sorry, kiang...

But there weren´t any mountain nyalas in Napoli, the only pair, that was ever displayed in a zoo was shown in Berlin Zoo.
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Correct as I have had it confirmed to me

No, mountain nyala has only be kept in Berlin actually. Three youngs were capitured for Roma before the War but two died of rinderpest in Addis Ababa and the last was let free during a battle between italians and Ethiopians in 1940
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Tim May said:
London Zoo in the Victorian era:-

quagga; thylacine; Falkland Island "wolf"; Javan rhinoceros; Schomburgk’s deer;
bubal hartebeest......

Unfortunately there was never a time when all these were on exhibit simultaneously
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I'd go see Lord Derby at Knowsley, and see if he'd let me have a breeding stock of Passenger Pigeons. And maybe that Quagga.
 
FBBird said:
I'd go see Lord Derby at Knowsley, and see if he'd let me have a breeding stock of Passenger Pigeons. And maybe that Quagga.
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The Knowsley quagga is probably the quagga in the Tring Zoology Museum so it is likely that you can still see it.
 
Jersey Zoo/Durrell Wildlife Park in the late 1970's. He was an icon to me and heavily influenced my thinking on zoos as a young person. Seeing the park at that time, when he was alive and there, would be incredible.
 
Tim May said:
The Knowsley quagga is probably the quagga in the Tring Zoology Museum so it is likely that you can still see it.
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My idea was to go back in time more than once, and Hoover up a breeding stock of Quaggas from London, Knowsley and elsewhere. Might pick up a few Whooping Cranes on the way, just for fun.
 
tampasteve said:
Jersey Zoo/Durrell Wildlife Park in the late 1970's. He was an icon to me and heavily influenced my thinking on zoos as a young person. Seeing the park at that time, when he was alive and there, would be incredible.
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I went in 1978. Just wish I'd tried a bit harder to get a job there.
 
vogelcommando said:
If it was possible I would do a lot of time-traveling - but I hope I'm allowed to take my digital camera with me !
Rotterdam at the end of the 1970-ties - beginning 1980-ties just to take photos of their rare cat-collection, their birds of Paradise, the Yellow-headed picathartes and so on !
After that I would visit Walsrode around the same period.
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Been there and done that, at least for Rotterdam in 1973 and 1974, and I did my best to get photos. Unfortunately Walsrode wasn't on my itinerary. But they are both good choices. If I had to go back somewhere at that time it would be to Frankfurt - I've always regretted never even trying to photograph the Haitian solenodon, although I would need the camera I use today to get a decent image :)
I know this is a reply to an old post, but since it was first posted I have uploaded my photos of these species to our Gallery.
 
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