I believe she is the last of the previous litter, not the litter from 2024.
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter Lafone
- Start date
That would make sense; thank you
Confirmed animal moves:
Elephants Karishma and Elizabeth to Chester Zoo
Billy the cheetah to Edinburgh Zoo to breed
Fred and Robyn the cheetahs to Bristol Zoo Project (to be replaced by Jake and Oscar the cheetahs from the same facility)
Movers and shakers at our conservation Zoos | Whipsnade Zoo
Elephants Karishma and Elizabeth to Chester Zoo
Billy the cheetah to Edinburgh Zoo to breed
Fred and Robyn the cheetahs to Bristol Zoo Project (to be replaced by Jake and Oscar the cheetahs from the same facility)
Movers and shakers at our conservation Zoos | Whipsnade Zoo
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Had a day off today so headed up to Whipsnade on the first day of weekday opening after the closure period. Cold and windy with a few random snow flurries and not many people about.
Work going on at the Whipsnade chalk lion with a small digger parked on the head and the general area being cleaned up, rendering it a lot more visible from the road up through the villages on the way to the zoo.
In real lion news, given the weather and usual luck I wasn't expecting to see the lion cubs and indeed they were shut inside. Malik and Waka were out wandering about though which was nice to see. Lots of animal activity including on the bird lake. Male Mara were busy chasing each other in a dispute over some females.
Quite a bit of new fencing / fence repairs across the site and some new signage dotted around including penguin signs replaced in the new style and some conservation donation prompts
There has been a good amount of tree cutting and clearing and some new knee high wood pile / woven brush fencing around some of the areas frequented by the wallabies etc but you can still wander around into the zones at will. The aviaries in owl wood look to have had a coat of wood preserver.
A bit of work going on in the area near the red pandas used for events / toy landrover driving and what have you in the past that now has a wooden fence around it
while the banner mentions changes might include animal habitats I'd assume this is visitor focused maintenance / changes to that area, getting ready for holiday activities.
Work going on at the Whipsnade chalk lion with a small digger parked on the head and the general area being cleaned up, rendering it a lot more visible from the road up through the villages on the way to the zoo.
In real lion news, given the weather and usual luck I wasn't expecting to see the lion cubs and indeed they were shut inside. Malik and Waka were out wandering about though which was nice to see. Lots of animal activity including on the bird lake. Male Mara were busy chasing each other in a dispute over some females.
Quite a bit of new fencing / fence repairs across the site and some new signage dotted around including penguin signs replaced in the new style and some conservation donation prompts
There has been a good amount of tree cutting and clearing and some new knee high wood pile / woven brush fencing around some of the areas frequented by the wallabies etc but you can still wander around into the zones at will. The aviaries in owl wood look to have had a coat of wood preserver.
A bit of work going on in the area near the red pandas used for events / toy landrover driving and what have you in the past that now has a wooden fence around it
while the banner mentions changes might include animal habitats I'd assume this is visitor focused maintenance / changes to that area, getting ready for holiday activities.
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Charles
Well-Known Member
Is there any reason why the cheetahs are swappping?
Only info I've seen is on the website. I don't know what the BZP has in the way of cheetahs at the moment.
Charles
Well-Known Member
They’ve got 2 males and have had them since 2015
Charles
Well-Known Member
How old are the whipsnade cheetahs?
Rajang-GOAT
Well-Known Member
They were two years old when they arrived in May 2022 (born at Fota Wildlife Park), so still fairly young.
I find this move equally confusing, moving Billy to Edinburgh to eventually breed is one thing, but I wonder what the reasoning for switching his two brothers with an older pair of siblings (who also have a third brother in a breeding situation elsewhere in the UK at YWP) is.
I'm happy to see some confirmation about the elephant move and the reasoning for it. Although it is sad to see the Whipsnade herd shrink, the move seems fully justified if it was an inevitability, and it should be mutually beneficial for both parties.
Hopefully all goes well and I appreciate ZSL putting this information out there.
Really interesting how they frame the reasons for the elephant move - ‚a shift in the collective behaviour of the elephants’ and ‚development of two separate herds‘ sounds so much nicer then ‚they started fighting and were aggressive against each other‘….
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Lafone
Well-Known Member
I don’t think they’ve given a reason but perhaps they don’t have a female to bring in to Whipsnade breeding programme wise. The current males may be split up elsewhere in the end and Whipsnade will house the older males until something changes in terms of allocations. Will be good to have cheetahs still either way.
Maybe, but the whole purpose of the cheetahs relocation within the zoo, and the construction of Cheetah Rock, was to have a game-changing breeding facility for North African cheetah. Personally, that does seem to have fallen by the wayside in recent years.
'Zoo publicity speak'...
We can only hope these two prove compatable with the existing two Chester cows, we know their 'herd' is now badly depleted and that this move will make up the numbers a bit- but I just hope their longer term integration goes smoothly.
One solution that might suggest itself is that (say) Whipsnade's setup might be considered more suitable for future breeding attempts, so they are getting the 'right' animals in place for that. Nothing to say this is the last cheetah move (no inside knowledge, just a clear possibility).
'Zoo publicity speak'...
Fingers crossed. Karishma has always had a rather dominant, sometimes belligerent, personality ever since she arrived from Twycross, which was one of the reasons she was often paired with Mya as she could be kept in check! And with Mya transferred, there was no chance of her breaking up Kaylee and Lucha.
Was her mother the matriarch at Twycross?
Her mother (Minbu) was indeed the matriarch of Twycross's herd. That would potentially explain her rather dominant personality, although this isn't always the case ie. dominant females producing similar natured calves.
Karishma is her mother's only surviving calf, and therefore a very valuable female. The future of her matriline now relies on Elizabeth, who I imagine will get the opportunity to conceive at Chester once they acquire a bull.
There's no telling what will happen. Some years ago now Chester acquired a solitary female Elephant as an adult ('Burma' I think she was called) from a zoo in France where she was living alone. She lived at Chester some years but I don't think she ever fitted in to their (then) mainly matriarchal group and was later sent back to Europe somewhere. The main question here is how Karishma will get along with Chester's older female I guess, the two young cows (Elizabeth and Indali) are probably likely to get along well anyway but anything could happen.
The break within the Whipsnade elephant herd was a long time coming. I saw signs of Karishma challening the older females almost 10 years ago and I am actually surprised she could stay within the group this long. This is what always happens when more then one unrelated female in a group start breeding and have surviving offspring- the different family groups almost always become incompartible sooner or later.
I am absolutely sure that in a couple of years, the same will happen in Chester and either Indali or Beth/Karishma will have to leave. But I understand why Chester is bringing in new females; Maya is almost 60 and will probably die sooner then later, and leaving Indali without any female company is not an option. Lets hope Maya and Karishma will get along…
by the way, Anjan absolutely has to move. Chester does not have a real bull paddock. It makes no sense to introduce him to Karishma since young bulls and adult females are the worst possible mix. Karishma will not accept him, thats a recipe for disaster. And they cant really keep him seperated from the female herd without compromising his welfare due to the lack of a an adequately sized bull paddock. Thats why it is not an option to keep him with the hopefully soon-to-arrive adult bull either. The bull in Chester needs to run with the female herd most of the time or his welfare is severly compromised due to lack of space.
I am absolutely sure that in a couple of years, the same will happen in Chester and either Indali or Beth/Karishma will have to leave. But I understand why Chester is bringing in new females; Maya is almost 60 and will probably die sooner then later, and leaving Indali without any female company is not an option. Lets hope Maya and Karishma will get along…
by the way, Anjan absolutely has to move. Chester does not have a real bull paddock. It makes no sense to introduce him to Karishma since young bulls and adult females are the worst possible mix. Karishma will not accept him, thats a recipe for disaster. And they cant really keep him seperated from the female herd without compromising his welfare due to the lack of a an adequately sized bull paddock. Thats why it is not an option to keep him with the hopefully soon-to-arrive adult bull either. The bull in Chester needs to run with the female herd most of the time or his welfare is severly compromised due to lack of space.
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