@toto98 claims to have seen a beisa oryx at the defunt Matecaña City Zoo, in Pereira (Colombia).Thanks @Osedax for the truly fascinating historical information from Australia in regards to some hoofstock in the region. I spent one very long day in Kakadu National Park in 2007 and the number of birds there is extraordinary, but I certainly didn't know about an escape lechwe!
And thank you @nczoofan for posting that map about Dallas Zoo's future African walking track in the old monorail area. I've been on road trips through Texas in 2008, 2010 and 2015, and I have always ranked my top 3 Texas zoos as Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth, in that order. With Houston and Fort Worth having spent an absolute fortune on new exhibits in the past decade, they've risen in everyone's eyes, but Dallas now has a genuine opportunity to be the #1 again as the Safari Trail would be a substantial area with a lot of large mammals back on show to the public. One could make a strong case that Texas is the #1 U.S. state for zoos as the overall quality there is very strong.
In today's post, I will look at TWO very rare species.
East African Oryx, also called Beisa Oryx or Fringe-eared Oryx depending on the subspecies, are rarer in zoos than one might think. According to Zootierliste, there's only 3 AZA accredited zoos in North America with the species (North Carolina, SDZSP, The Wilds) as they've been phased out everywhere else. Total zoos in the world with Beisa Oryx numbers maybe only 25 and of the last 200 new zoos I've visited, I have seen the species only once.
These days, seeing a Hartebeest in captivity would almost be a mythical event as they are gone from close to every zoo in the world. Yet, when I was an extremely young child I saw Hartebeest at Alberta Game Farm in Edmonton, Canada. That zoo actually bred the species and the establishment was the first (and maybe only?) zoo in Canada to achieve that feat.
** If one wishes to gain a tremendous amount of knowledge about Hartebeests in European zoos, then you can purchase Issue 70, Spring 2024 of Zoo Grapevine & International Zoo News. In that particular magazine there's 7 pages of text and photos all about the history of Hartebeest in European zoos and it's a wealth of information.
I've seen Beisa Oryx at 10 zoos:
1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – Beisa Oryx – 1975
2- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – (Fringe-eared) Beisa Oryx – 2006
3- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – (Fringe-eared) Beisa Oryx – 2008
4- North Carolina Zoo (USA) – (Fringe-eared) Beisa Oryx – 2010
5- Gladys Porter Zoo (USA) – Beisa Oryx – 2010
6- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – Beisa Oryx – 2011
7- Hemker Park & Zoo (USA) – Beisa Oryx – 2014
8- Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA) – Beisa Oryx – 2014
9- Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park (USA) – Beisa Oryx – 2018
10- Burgers' Zoo (Netherlands) – Beisa Oryx – 2019
AND...
I've seen Hartebeest at 1 zoo:
1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – Hartebeest (listed as Cape) – 1975
Beisa Oryx look a lot like Gemsbok, especially the distinctive faces. It's the darker flanks and legs that set Gemsbok apart. Here's a Beisa Oryx at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA):
@Julio C Castro
It's amazing that San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) has had many desert antelope species that look alike. Addax, Scimitar-horned Oryx, Arabian Oryx, Gemsbok AND Beisa Oryx have all been at the park at various times. I wonder if SDZSP had all 5 species at once? It seems likely and once again any zoo nerd who lives in southern California is very fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit this zoo on a regular basis.
@Valentinoamor
Back in the late 2000s/early 2010s, Woodland Park Zoo (USA) had Beisa Oryx on their African Savanna.
@Ituri
Here's a single White Rhino and more than a dozen Beisa Oryx at North Carolina Zoo (USA) roaming the Watani Grasslands plains.
@Astrotom3000
That zoo nerd rarity bonanza known as Gladys Porter Zoo (USA) had Beisa Oryx back when I visited in 2010.
Both photos via @Baldur
There's at least 5 Beisa Oryx resting in the shade in my 2023 photo from Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA). Aside from SDZSP, this zoo might be America's premier hoofstock destination.
That Arizona zoo, famed for its ungulates, has had Beisa Oryx for many years.
@Giant Eland
This enclosure for Beisa Oryx is as simple as it gets. Hemker Park & Zoo (USA) had the species when I toured the zoo in 2014 and it was quite a surprise to see them in a region that receives a ton of snow every winter. Someone mentioned earlier on this thread that the antelope at Hemker Park & Zoo are crated and moved south in the colder months.
That same summer, I toured Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA) and a big, grassy paddock had the following 6 species all together: Beisa Oryx, Scimitar-horned Oryx, Greater Kudu, Common Eland, Nilgai and Yak. Wouldn't hybridization be an issue with the two oryx species? Or would this naff Wisconsin zoo not really care about that?
Burgers' Zoo (Netherlands) had a small group of Beisa Oryx when I was there in 2019 and I have no idea if the zoo has had success with breeding or not but they look spectacular in their large exhibit.
Both photos via @KevinB
As for Hartebeest, I was too young to take photos of the Hartebeest I saw back in Canada in the late 1970s (and they were possibly still alive in the early 1980s), but between 2005 and 2013 Burgers' Zoo (Netherlands) held Cape Hartebeest according to @KevinB and here is his photo:
Many hardcore zoo nerds are already well aware that the last Hartebeest in a European zoo died at Wroclaw Zoo (Poland). That could be a sad trivia question.
@twilighter
The closest I've come to seeing Hartebeest again, apart from many times in my early childhood, would be at Taiping Zoo (Malaysia) in August, because a big sign of the zoo's map still lists Red Hartebeest on it even though the species has probably been gone for 20 years! I couldn't resist taking a photo:
Family Bovidae: 52 species so far
American Bison - 104 zoos
Bongo - 58 zoos
Common Eland - 58 zoos
Greater Kudu - 51 zoos
Blackbuck - 45 zoos
Scimitar-horned Oryx - 43 zoos
Waterbuck - 43 zoos
Nilgai - 40 zoos
Impala - 38 zoos
Addax - 36 zoos
Dama Gazelle - 36 zoos
Sable Antelope - 32 zoos
Sitatunga - 29 zoos
Banteng - 27 zoos
Yak - 26 zoos
Nyala - 25 zoos
Southern Lechwe - 22 zoos
Cape Buffalo - 21 zoos (including 7 with African Forest Buffalo)
Kirk's Dik-dik - 21 zoos
Gemsbok - 20 zoos
Gerenuk - 19 zoos
Lowland Anoa - 18 zoos
Thomson's Gazelle - 18 zoos
Asian Water Buffalo - 17 zoos
Arabian Oryx - 16 zoos
Gaur - 16 zoos
Lesser Kudu - 16 zoos
Muskox - 16 zoos
Springbok - 16 zoos
Wisent - 15 zoos
Roan Antelope - 14 zoos
Nile Lechwe - 12 zoos
Grant's Gazelle - 11 zoos
Speke's Gazelle - 11 zoos
Beisa Oryx - 10 zoos
Slender-horned Gazelle - 9 zoos
Guenther's Dik-dik - 7 zoos
Cuvier's Gazelle - 6 zoos
Giant Eland - 5 zoos
Goitered Gazelle - 5 zoos
Soemmerring's Gazelle - 5 zoos
Steenbok - 3 zoos
Cavendish's Dik-dik - 2 zoos
Dorcas Gazelle - 2 zoos
Mountain Anoa - 2 zoos
Royal Antelope - 2 zoos
Hartebeest - 1 zoo (Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park - Canada)
Mountain Reedbuck - 1 zoo (Berlin Tierpark - Germany)
Northern Bushbuck - 1 zoo (Gladys Porter Zoo - USA)
Red-fronted Gazelle - 1 zoo (San Diego Zoo Safari Park - USA)
Rhebok - 1 zoo (San Diego Zoo)
Saiga - 1 zoo (Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park - Canada)
Bonus species: (similar to my New Guinea Singing Dog example)
Gayal - 2 zoos
Indeed, the antelope was labeled as Oryx beisa, though I believe it was a case of a mistaken identity. If you watch any videos where you can see the animal's hind legs, you will notice they were striped, so it could not be an East African oryx.
South African oryx, as I previously mentioned, were also present at Hacienda Nápoles, from where almost fifty animals arrived in Pereira in the early 1990s, when Pablo Escobar was killed by the Colombian police. If this particular antelope belonged to the infamous drug dealer, it was most likely either a pure Oryx gazella or a hybrid between a gemsbok and a scimitar-horned oryx.
If I am correct, there are no records of Oryx beisa being held in South America I am aware for.
Now for the hartebeest! Believe it or not, not one, but two Brazilian zoos have held Alcelaphus buselaphus caama.
São Paulo imported a few from Germany (Hannover, I believe) in 1976. At least one calf was born in 1977. Other two specimens were sent to Sorocaba between said year and 1984. By 1986, I believe there were no more hartebeest in the capital, but they were still kicking it at Quinzinho de Barros, where a birth was recorded in 1995.
@snowleopard the hartebeest at Polar Park were also of the red subspecies.
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