ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2022

Was in whipsnade today! Good day out despite the weather being freezing cold!!
Couldn’t see any cheetahs so the 1 female they have was hiding
Saw one Pygmy hippo tapon and 1 male common hippo but no sign of female or youngest common hippo …
Elephants - baby maybe due late summer all being well fingers crossed.. along with maybe another white rhino baby???
Couldn’t see the red panda but they do have plans for a female to come soon to join the male
Also a female ostrich may come or whipsnade male ostrich Blue maybe move to be with to be with her it’s still to be decided…
Sub species of lion is planned North American lion is what whipsnade want to bring in and breed from… but it all takes time especially now we have left the EU!
The meerkat new exhibit will open at Easter and they hope in 2 years to have a mob of 25 animals !!
Couldn’t find out if nuru the giraffe is expecting but I would hope so as she is the age that Luna had her first ..
 
FBBird said:
Bison have been gone at least three years. The herd was run down to two or three castrated males. Much missed by me at least.
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After a six year hiatus with no Bison, local residents requested their return to the iconic local landmark of 'Bison Hill'. In response I believe a pair were then sourced from Christopher Marler's Flamingo Gardens. The cow later died and finally the bull, I believe in that order, marking the final(?) end of American Bison at Whipsnade.. Or is that incorrect ?
 
Pertinax said:
Grevy Zebra- with just 1.3 now, this seems another declining species at Whipsnade. I saw around 6 two years ago, and probably aroud nine before that...
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Most definitely… and I wonder if they want them to pass without new foals being born .. as the last foal had a genetic abnormality that made her lame and unable to walk and so she was euthanised so I wonder they can’t breed for this precise reason…
 
Rosie183 said:
Was in whipsnade today! Good day out despite the weather being freezing cold!!
Couldn’t see any cheetahs so the 1 female they have was hiding
Saw one Pygmy hippo tapon and 1 male common hippo but no sign of female or youngest common hippo …
Elephants - baby maybe due late summer all being well fingers crossed.. along with maybe another white rhino baby???
Couldn’t see the red panda but they do have plans for a female to come soon to join the male
Also a female ostrich may come or whipsnade male ostrich Blue maybe move to be with to be with her it’s still to be decided…
Sub species of lion is planned North American lion is what whipsnade want to bring in and breed from… but it all takes time especially now we have left the EU!
The meerkat new exhibit will open at Easter and they hope in 2 years to have a mob of 25 animals !!
Couldn’t find out if nuru the giraffe is expecting but I would hope so as she is the age that Luna had her first ..
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I don’t believe there is a living North American lion to obtain to breed from there haven’t been any in the modern era. Did you mean a different sort of lion?
 
Lafone said:
I don’t believe there is a living North American lion to obtain to breed from there haven’t been any in the modern era. Did you mean a different sort of lion?
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The volunteer just said they didn’t want Asian or African lion but another sub species that are critically endangered and not found in the U.K.
 
Rosie183 said:
The volunteer just said they didn’t want Asian or African lion but another sub species that are critically endangered and not found in the U.K.
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That doesn’t leave any extant options. As far as I’m aware the lion breeding programs have been divided into southern and northern (including Asiatic). So maybe you misheard northern African?
 
AthleticBinturong said:
That doesn’t leave any extant options. As far as I’m aware the lion breeding programs have been divided into southern and northern (including Asiatic). So maybe you misheard northern African?
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They just seemed to say it’s not a quick process to bring in new lions .. but they are going to look for a new breeding group in the future
 
FBBird said:
Volunteers don’t always know everything/anything:)
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Although certain ones may like to think they do, or just simply get carried away in the moment!;)

Perhaps ZSL are looking to source some new blood from the States or Canada like they did with the Asiatics at London? If it’s North African, where do you even begin?

Unless they’ve been watching too much “Tiger King,” and they’re trying to breed back Barbarys!;)

And don’t even get me started on the hoofstock situation. Whipsnade without zebra (particularly Grevys) is a scenario I’d rather not like to think about!
 
Pertinax said:
After a six year hiatus with no Bison, local residents requested their return to the iconic local landmark of 'Bison Hill'. In response I believe a pair were then sourced from Christopher Marler's Flamingo Gardens. The cow later died and finally the bull, I believe in that order, marking the final(?) end of American Bison at Whipsnade.. Or is that incorrect ?
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Indeed after a period with no North American bison on Bison Hill, replacement animals were sourced from Christopher Marler's collection.
Checking the old Animal Inventories:-
  • there was pair of American bison at Whipsnade on 1st January 2014 but by 1st January 2015 only the male remained
  • there was then a solitary bull American bison present at Whipsnade for several years; he was still there on 1st January 2019 but was no longer there on 1st January 2020
 
Tim May said:
  • there was then a solitary bull American bison present at Whipsnade for several years; he was still there on 1st January 2019 but was no longer there on 1st January 2020
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Indeed, I photo'd him around 2018/19 but he was already gone by the time of my last visit literally the week before the pandemic first shut everything down, which was almost exactly two years ago now.
 
Rosie183 said:
Most definitely… and I wonder if they want them to pass without new foals being born .. as the last foal had a genetic abnormality that made her lame and unable to walk and so she was euthanised so I wonder they can’t breed for this precise reason…
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It shouldn't necessarily affect other females in the group breeding. But I'm really surprised at the speed at which this group has suddenly dwindled.
 
Rosie183 said:
The volunteer just said they didn’t want Asian or African lion but another sub species that are critically endangered and not found in the U.K.
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Cool it’s just North American lions were pretty large and went extinct about 10,000 years ago so would be hard to find Brexit or no Brexit :)

Hard to identify another sub species if you take out all Asian and African lions.

I can’t imagine they are thinking Barbary lions.
 
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