Lafone
Well-Known Member
Yes they are by all accounts!
However I have only ever seen the fruit left for the possums. In fact now I think about it and based on my experience, 'possum' may simply be another word for 'apple'.
Hamerton Zoo Park Hamerton News 2022
- Thread starter pipaluk
- Start date
Yes they are by all accounts!
However I have only ever seen the fruit left for the possums. In fact now I think about it and based on my experience, 'possum' may simply be another word for 'apple'.
Ah, I meant Bassauricus astutus, not the ringtail possum!
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Ah, forgive my possum fixation. No I don’t believe the new one is on show yet in that case!
Yes, the male Ring-tailed Cacomistle is indeed on-display.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Yes sorry the male is in with the skunk but I meant the new female - I think she is still off show?
There is one individual at Hemsley - a male, I think. Hypothetically, I assume they will endeavour to get a female - so there may be a future for the species yet.
(Have aardwolves ever been bred in captivity in their native land, I wonder? Sumatran rhinos were notoriously difficult to captive breed in Western zoos, but programmes in Indonesia seem to be quite successful)
According to the death notice of the aardwolves on Hamerton's website, the Southern aardwolves were captive-bred on a game ranch in Namibia (derived from South African animals).
Any hint on what it was called?
Anyway, the Hemsley individual might be joined by a female soon, so there might be a future for the species in Europe yet.
You entirely missed my point upthread, I suspect; that even if a European collection were to end up with a pair of aardwolf, it cannot be brought back from the brink. A single pair will not be sufficient to suddenly re-establish the species, sad to say, and I daresay few (if any) collections would be willing to take the risk to import further fresh blood.... much as I wish matters were otherwise.
Fair enough - I suppose I was being overly optimistic.
Do Hamerton have such plans? They haven't imported for a VERY long time Hamerton Zoo Park - Animal Park Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and dont usually advertise their plans.
I dont think Hemsley have imported AT ALL...
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This really covers two points; firstly, no one is saying Hamerton has plans of this sort, with the discussion applying in broader terms only. Secondly, the IUCN status probably needs some reassessment as a paper was (finally!) published a year ago establishing that southern and eastern aardwolf are a "good" species split, and genetically more distant from one another than species such as red fox and fennec fox, European polecat and Siberian weasel, and grey wolf and African hunting dog. As such, the "real" status of one or both, once the population is reassessed, may shift.
Yes - I think that the Hamerton animals were involved in the paper you refer to.
An even broader point is that IUCN status (even for those species taxonomically secure) is in constant flux, and one days 'least concern' species can very quickly become tomorrows endangered species, making a mockery of the argument that zoos should only keep rare animals. The European Hamster is a case in point.
Question to the people with more knowledge. Hamerton's Oncilla is signed as just Oncilla , but ZTL listed it as a Leopardus tigrinus, together with the animals arrived from Montpelier at Parc des Felins. The animals at Berlin and Dortmund are listed as a Leopardus t. guttulus. Neither ZTL, neither Hamerton recognize the split yet, obviously. But is it possible that Hamerton actually have the Northern Species, different than the one in Germany ?
They do by all accounts
I looked into the matter several years ago - the existing European population prior to the guttulus import were all true tigrinus. Nearly all gone from Europe now, of course.
@ShonenJake13, @TeaLovingDave Thank you both for the fast reply! With what I can say, the animal at Berlin was darker and with more saturated spots. I assume that the last Prague's Oncilla was tigrinus as well?
Updates from Hamerton's website [Hamerton Zoo Park - Animal Park Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire] and social media:
- their elderly male Asian Small-clawed Otter moved to Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Austria to join a female in retirement. The move allows them to complete groundwork in the exhibit and add a new house with on-show sleeping dens for a new family group due to arrive in the summer.
- four (2.2) Javan Binturong were successfully exported to Australia with a pair each for Darling Downs Zoo and Tasmania Zoo. This follows the export of pair for Hunter Valley Wildlife Park a few years ago.
- a new species for the zoo; three Indian Star Tortoises have arrived. The trio only hatched last year and will be going on show in the new tortoise house along with the Egyptian and African Spurred Tortoises.
- the Common Ringtail Possum joey has emerged from the pouch and is fully grown according to a FB post.
I'm hopefully planning on making a trip to Hamerton for the first time either this Saturday or Sunday and was wondering which areas to look out for and what times are best for the more unusual and rarer species to be out and seen. Obviously I know there's so many species there that you can't see anywhere else in the UK so I'm hopeful I can see most if not all of them.