Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo News 2023
- Thread starter Moorhunhe
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Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
I thought the same when I was there last. I have no idea if she is. I wouldn’t think she is as she is a hybrid iirc + from what I was told the zoo has not had a recommendation to breed. I also think she might be on contraceptives but they could always fail and not work properly. I’ll try and find out for you.
Thank you.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
Your welcome! I’d love it if she is pregnant though it would bring more life to the chimps At Twycross if a baby was born. She is the one of the most beautiful chimps At Twycross. You can tell that she’s choppers daughter.
If Twycross did breed the chimpanzees soon I think the best would be Kibali and Josie as they are West African Chimpanzees. But Josie was hand reared so she might not be able to look after her baby as she never learnt how too. But we will wait and see what the keepers come back with.
Oh, Jambo won't be happy lol, but yeah you're right it would be really good to have a baby in the group. It has been a few years now since Chimp Eden opened and we have always been hoping for a new addition since then, unfortunatly all of them aren't the youngest anymore.
Many handreared apes still have good maternal instinct and are able to rear even a first baby perfectly, without any models or the need to copy others. There seems to be a recent trend in believing/thinking apes need to 'learn' maternal behaviour from the example of others, but I know a number of examples of handraised apes which have reared their own babies without the benefit of any prior examples. It may help of course but not essential I don't think. On the other hand, if a female has poor maternal instinct, the example of others may not help at all either.
And she did a great job taking over from Kera looking after Afia.
She did indeed. Strong maternal instinct. Yet Mouila at Howletts in the 1980's had to repeatedly have her babies removed despite being constantly surrounded by other lactating mothers in the group. While the first gorilla baby ever born at Howletts -Kijo- was mother- raised by his mother Juju who had never seen another baby, yet the other three females who all observed her, didn't look after their first babies born later the same year. Its a far more complex situation than just ' learning from others'....And she did a great job taking over from Kera looking after Afia.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
From experience, the educators won’t give out that information. When I spoke to a educator about Valentina the Pileated gibbon being pregnant he had no idea about it, so they aren’t always kept in the loop about things.
No they aren't... but I think Twycross need new younger West African female chimps if they ever want to breed again. I believe Kibale was brought in with that intention, but the pure West African females they had/have were already diminishing in number even then ,so he's had no real opportunity.
Did you ever find out what happened to the 2nd baby Pileated gibbon- died or being handraised?
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
I believe the baby gibbon passed away after talking to a gibbon keeper, but the one that survived is looking healthy. Yes Kibali was brought in to breed with the West African Chimpanzees. Hopefully he will get the chance too in the future.
Charles
Well-Known Member
It would be great if there was a growing population of chimps in the uk as a lot of collections seem to have elderly ones or are phasing them out
I'm going all mystic Meg here but I think Twycross Zoo will be the best zoo in the country in ten years time once all the new ape exhibits have been built. If they continue to match the standards of the gibbon forest, chimpanzee eden, tiger trails and the rhino exhibit. Exciting times indeed!
Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
Which would be like going full circle, as at present, it's not exactly a great place to visit.
I highly doubt that it will compete with Chester sheerly on the experience itself and the species list, but indeed the future is bright
Islands opened in 2015. But by that point Chester already had Fruit Bat Forest, Monkey Islands, Spirit of the Jaguar, Islands in Danger... and had had them for over a decade each. Twycross has one reasonably nice gibbon house that could possibly sit alongside them. I would love Twycross to be competing in 10 years from now, but it's a big ask.
Rajang-GOAT
Well-Known Member
Are there any other pure West African chimps who could/are likely to breed, particularly females that could breed with Kibali, or will Twycross be dependent on new, younger individuals to have a chance of regular breeding of p.t. versus?