Hamerton Zoo Park Hamerton News 2022

pipaluk

pipaluk

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
I thought there must already be a 2022 Hamerton thread but couldn't find one.
Sadly 2022 starts with the inevitable news that the last tiger quoll has died.
On a visit today all signage removed from the exhibit apart from the model thlacine, devil and quoll!
Not much else to report
 
pipaluk said:
I thought there must already be a 2022 Hamerton thread but couldn't find one.
Sadly 2022 starts with the inevitable news that the last tiger quoll has died.
On a visit today all signage removed from the exhibit apart from the model thlacine, devil and quoll!
Not much else to report
Click to expand...
How unfortunate :(
 
pipaluk said:
I thought there must already be a 2022 Hamerton thread but couldn't find one.
Sadly 2022 starts with the inevitable news that the last tiger quoll has died.
On a visit today all signage removed from the exhibit apart from the model thlacine, devil and quoll!
Not much else to report
Click to expand...

That’s a shame, we were lucky to see them here. Thanks for the update.
 
I also saw the quolls both times I went to the zoo...
I do hope that someone tries to re-start dasyurid holding in the UK - though I guess a drawback to this is that they don't tend to live too long..!
 
pipaluk said:
I thought there must already be a 2022 Hamerton thread but couldn't find one.
Sadly 2022 starts with the inevitable news that the last tiger quoll has died.
On a visit today all signage removed from the exhibit apart from the model thlacine, devil and quoll!
Not much else to report
Click to expand...

Very sad news, even if it was expected. I hope the zoo can get some more of this fantastic species, but appreciate that this is not simple. Whatever happens, I'm very chuffed that I was able to see them not long after they arrived at Hamerton - I didn't get the best view, but nonetheless I'm very grateful to the zoo for importing them and allowing more people to see them!
 
A real shame. I always loved seeing the quoll there, and honestly, I'm so grateful I've been able to see such an unusual and rare animal. Many people outside Australia may never have seen a quoll, yet I've been lucky to see two (also counting the Eastern Quoll that Linton used to have).

Hopefully Hamerton will find something else, although I do understand that another quoll might not be that simple, even for a zoo like them.
 
CrashMegaraptor said:
A real shame. I always loved seeing the quoll there, and honestly, I'm so grateful I've been able to see such an unusual and rare animal. Many people outside Australia may never have seen a quoll, yet I've been lucky to see two (also counting the Eastern Quoll that Linton used to have).

Hopefully Hamerton will find something else, although I do understand that another quoll might not be that simple, even for a zoo like them.
Click to expand...
It is possible both Hamerton and Linton will try again, time will tell.....
 
Strix said:
Didn’t one of the German holders of eastern quolls breed them last year? if so, we might see quolls back in the UK soon.
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Leipzig have been very successful with breeding the species of late, and have a very large holding. Frankfurt, while only holding a small number, have also been successful.
 
We have actually seen the same pattern for Eastern quoll than with rufous elephant shrew (Elephantulus rufescens) with good breeding results at the beginning, the species quickly spreading in other facilities from one collection (Köln in this case) and then suddenly fall.

I think that being very short-lived animals, the population management is not adapted to the typical housing of one or two couples per zoo. It imply too much time lost in transfers and would explain the choice of Leipzig of having large breeding populations concentrated in the same place. But maybe my suggestion is wrong and that would be linked to an issue with second-generation breeding. Still, that do not explain why the "home institution" keep breeding well with large groups and other zoos don't.
 
Therabu said:
We have actually seen the same pattern for Eastern quoll than with rufous elephant shrew (Elephantulus rufescens) with good breeding results at the beginning, the species quickly spreading in other facilities from one collection (Köln in this case) and then suddenly fall.

I think that being very short-lived animals, the population management is not adapted to the typical housing of one or two couples per zoo. It imply too much time lost in transfers and would explain the choice of Leipzig of having large breeding populations concentrated in the same place. But maybe my suggestion is wrong and that would be linked to an issue with second-generation breeding. Still, that do not explain why the "home institution" keep breeding well with large groups and other zoos don't.
Click to expand...
Linton only had 3 males, how many potential breeding groups have there been & how many zoos have had success from those groups?
 
pipaluk said:
Linton only had 3 males, how many potential breeding groups have there been & how many zoos have had success from those groups?
Click to expand...

From memory....

Paris Jardin des Plantes, Jihlava, Bristol and Moscow all had mixed groups and bred once apiece.
Pizen and Zagreb had mixed groups but never bred.
Budapest, Madrid and Linton all had single-sex groups.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
From memory....

Paris Jardin des Plantes, Jihlava, Bristol and Moscow all had mixed groups and bred once apiece.
Pizen and Zagreb had mixed groups but never bred.
Budapest, Madrid and Linton all had single-sex groups.
Click to expand...

With the exception of Bristol and Frankfurt, all the births outside of Leipzig were from animals imported pregnant from Leipzig. Apart from Leipzig, only Frankfurt has bred this species more than once.

This shows how difficult it is to maintain such a species and while it is sad the last individual died in Hamerton, this import was probably doomed from the start and from all the Australian imports this was one of the most foolish...
 
lintworm said:
while it is sad the last individual died in Hamerton, this import was probably doomed from the start and from all the Australian imports this was one of the most foolish...
Click to expand...

I would be inclined to disagree with you there, to an extent - although breeding may never have been on the cards either way, I think that chances *would* have been a lot higher had the import happened when originally intended; politics and red tape meant that the import was delayed by three or four years, and therefore the animals earmarked were already approaching post-reproductive status by the time they arrived. I have a feeling there were originally going to be more individuals coming in, too - again thwarted by red tape.
 
I do think that with mammals with short life spans, the founding colony must be of a large number and the breeding intensive, almost battery farm method, to have a healthy base for future generations.
I'm not sure if many zoos would have the space or money required to sustain this, and if the public would have an interest in this, unless it was a very endangered species.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
- although breeding may never have been on the cards either way, .
Click to expand...

I seem to remember when Andrew Swales was a member on here that he mentioned a problem with trying to breed from them- I can't remember what it was exactly but I think they came into condition and mated, but with no pregnancies. He also queried whether the pairs needed more spatial distance from each other I think it was. Perhaps instead, advancing age was already the problem.
 
lintworm said:
With the exception of Bristol and Frankfurt, all the births outside of Leipzig were from animals imported pregnant from Leipzig. Apart from Leipzig, only Frankfurt has bred this species more than once.

This shows how difficult it is to maintain such a species and while it is sad the last individual died in Hamerton, this import was probably doomed from the start and from all the Australian imports this was one of the most foolish...
Click to expand...

Well I'm very glad that Hamerton acquired the quolls, as I'd never have seen one otherwise! I do hope they get more of this species at some point, but accept that this may not happen.
 
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