Safaripark Beekse Bergen Safaripark Beekse Bergen

The old Gibbon island is now home to the parks Belted black and white ruffed lemurs.
I ( and several other persons ) had expected this enclosure would become the new home of the L'Hoest monkey's because I've seen this species in the indoor enclosure of this island but now the park has choosen for the Belted black and white lemurs. Don'tknow were the L'Hoest monkey's will be housed ...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=367324927910944
 
vogelcommando said:
This week a female Giraffe has been born at Beekse Bergen to female Gerda. In the media its said that the calf should be a Nubian giraffe but this species should not be kept anymore at all in European zoos - somebody with more information about this ?
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Last I heard, Nubian and Rothschild’s are seen as the same subspecies. So they will have meant a Rothschild’s giraffe calf :)
 
vogelcommando said:
This week a female Giraffe has been born at Beekse Bergen to female Gerda. In the media its said that the calf should be a Nubian giraffe but this species should not be kept anymore at all in European zoos - somebody with more information about this ?
Click to expand...

See the discussions on page 14 of this thread.
 
ShonenJake13 said:
Last I heard, Nubian and Rothschild’s are seen as the same subspecies. So they will have meant a Rothschild’s giraffe calf :)
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More precisely, Nubian/Rothschild's giraffe are part of the northern giraffe complex to which also Kordofan and West African giraffe are extant subspecies. In between are the distinct reticulated and Massai giraffe both being species in the own right. And at the bottom, there are South African and Angolan giraffe in the southern giraffe species. There is potentially also the Thornicroft's giraffe however it remains an unresolved scientific issue.

Thus it is all the more perplexing that in the last few years ex situ conservation breeding in Europe has come to a virtual standstill. Not good over time with the consequences in having an unstable age/sex pyramid over time. Aside, when you are successful in ex situ breeding is the time to look at restocking Africa's highly endangered giraffe taxa with unrepresented bloodlines from captive sources and opportunities to exchange animals for captive breeding.

Further, and the subject keeps coming up, it is highly questionable and disconcerting that "advanced" regions like North America (hybrid reticulated/Nubian), Australasia (hybrid Nubian/zoomix) and Europe (various ssp/zoo mix hybrids, allthough this issue should be managed to extinction over time) continue to have a high percentage of hybrid giraffe populations. I really think in Europe it is time for a new studbook holder to take over management and take it on a more positive footing.

I am glad that SBB continues to breed though. @vogelcommando, do you know the dam and sire of the new female giraffe calf?
 
vogelcommando said:
This week a female Giraffe has been born at Beekse Bergen to female Gerda. In the media its said that the calf should be a Nubian giraffe but this species should not be kept anymore at all in European zoos - somebody with more information about this ?
Click to expand...


Explanation from the Beekse Bergen about their naming of the giraffes:
There are many different theories when it comes to the number of giraffe species. Some researchers say there is one species of giraffe that is divided into six subspecies. Other researchers say there are four species of giraffes with two types of giraffes divided into subspecies. In the Safari Park, like the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, we stick to the second theory. We distinguish four types of giraffes that have different subspecies:

Giraffa tippelskirchi (Masai giraffe)
Giraffa giraffa (Southern giraffe)
- Giraffa giraffa giraffa (South African giraffe)
- Giraffe giraffa angolensis (Angolan giraffe)
Giraffa camelopardalis (Northern giraffe)
- Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum (Kordofan giraffe)
- Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis (Nubian giraffe)
- Giraffa camelopardalis peralta (West African giraffe)
Giraffa reticulata (Reticulated giraffe)
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@Kifaru Bwana I think the issue is rather to look at zoo level directors, who want to keep breeding baby giraffe for exhibit and "saving endangered species", rather than from the coordinator don't you think ?
 
Therabu said:
@Kifaru Bwana I think the issue is rather to look at zoo level directors, who want to keep breeding baby giraffe for exhibit and "saving endangered species", rather than from the coordinator don't you think ?
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We seem to disagree on principles. That is fine. Just when conservation breeding has become successful you should use that clout and be more ambitious than some wish to go. Going forward we do need reintroduction programmes supported by ex situ either capacity, animals or other to save biodiversity and secure that species do not go extinct in the wild.

Sound population management is impaired by years of non-breeding endangered species. If so, we may end up where some have ended up again at the bottom of the endangered species listing. Plenty of examples where ex situ conservation lost interest in sustainably breeding targeted species which in my personal view is not happening with giraffes right now.

Further, biodiversity conservation and securing habitat for One Healthy Planet are issues that are not happening now under CoVid restrictions with our wilderness areas. Everyone is clamouring for financial assistance as ecotourism and alternative income sources dry up or are dead in the water.
 
I meant zoo directors who keep breeding hybrid girafe.
It definitely does impede ability to expand valuable populations of endangered subspecies.
The coordinator cannot create new exhibits as he wish, he has to adapt to space availability and this variable is decided by zoo directors.
Maybe you have information that I do not have and that entice that the breeding of hybrid giraffe or unwanted species (Southern group) is not sufficiently prohibited/condemned by the coordinator ?
Otherwise, I think they are quite ambitious, aiming at keeping at least three different "types" of giraffe (Rothschild, Antiquorum and reticulated). I do not see zoos getting uninterested or unable to breed more girafes in the future as it is much more popular than the examples you are mentionning (Calamian deer in the US for example).

As for reintroduction, I am not aware it is needed or recommended by specialists. Is it the case ?
Given the number of girafe in captivity and the culling policy some zoos have, I am quite sure they would be happier to send their girafe back to Africa if they could and it would be helpful.
When protected, it seems that girafe populations are able to bounce back quickly (cf. peralta girafe in the Kouré area in Niger).
 
OK, in Europe most zoos and certainly those accredited to EAZA by and large adhere to a non-breeding phase out policy for hybrids. Outside the EAZA network there have been various herds of hybrid origins that continue to breed.

I know of at least one example where the (current) studbook keeper refused to provide pure-bred breeding stock where the requesting non EAZA zoo had a pure-bred individual male (that could be traced back to the EAZA studbooks ...) and has since acquired females of hybrid origins and is now breeding.
 
GorillaBoy said:
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A Facebook post from the park stating they are constructing a new facility which will be able to house additional Black rhino.
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Presumably the male for the pair that the zoo wish to acquire will be the one currently living in one of the guest-only access Resort mixed exhibits...unless the zoo plan on getting a new male as well.
 
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