Rare ungulates in Britain

[Maguari]

What dates are we talking about, Kiang ? I may have several mis-labelled photos!

Bontebok were a long time ago - early 90s (they had the UK's last Dingo at about the same time). When you were there they would have been Blesbok!

(fittingly, as the last place to keep Bontebok, Suffolk were the first place in the UK to get Blesbok on their return to these shores)

 

[Maguari]

What is currently the rarest ungulate in a British Zoo and how many does that zoo have and are they breeding them

From memory, all the following are held at only one UK zoo:

(breeding status shown where I'm certain off the top of my head)

Natal Red Duiker (Chester - 1 female, still off show for now)
Blue Duiker (Colchester)
Mhorr Gazelle (Woburn)
Dama Gazelle (Marwell)
Saharan Dorcas Gazelle (Marwell)
Mountain Gazelle (Blackpool)
Sable Antelope (Marwell - breeding)
Lesser Kudu (Edinburgh)
Bharal (Highland)
(Central Chinese Goral - Edinburgh/Highland - effectively the same collection)
Tajik Urial (Highland)
Japanese Serow (Highland)
Gaur (Whipsnade - nonbreeding for the moment)

Siberian Musk Deer (Edinburgh)

Bawean Hog Deer (Edinburgh)
White-lipped Deer (Edinburgh - breeding)
Michie's Tufted Deer (Twycross - recently bred)
Timor Deer (Rusa) (Woburn - deer park)
Forest Reindeer (Highland)

Dromedary (Heythrop - the only confirmed pure animals in the country)

Bearded Pig (London - nonbreeding group)

Eastern Kiang (Highland)





I don't think I've missed any - Colchester's Rocky Mountain Goats have just gone, Moose are at Highland and Alladale and soon Whipsnade. All the other ungulate species in UK zoos are kept in at least two collections as far as I can tell.

 

[Tim May]

What is currently the rarest ungulate in a British Zoo and how many does that zoo have and are they breeding them

When I visited the Rare Species Conservation Centre (Sandwich) on Saturday I was informed that there were two pairs of the chevrotain Tragulus nigricans off-exhibit in the Malayan tapir house.

 

[Maguari]

When I visited the Rare Species Conservation Centre (Sandwich) on Saturday I was informed that there were two pairs of the chevrotain Tragulus nigricans off-exhibit in the Malayan tapir house.

Cannot wait for those to be on-show - I'll be down there like a rat out of an aqueduct...

 

[Tim May]

Cannot wait for those to be on-show - I'll be down there like a rat out of an aqueduct...

Me too; I'll definitely make another visit as soon these chevrotains are on exhibit.

 

[johnstoni]

Bontebok were a long time ago - early 90s (they had the UK's last Dingo at about the same time). When you were there they would have been Blesbok!

(fittingly, as the last place to keep Bontebok, Suffolk were the first place in the UK to get Blesbok on their return to these shores)

I'm not sure this is correct....do you mean to say the previous owners imported bontebok just before they were taken over by Banham? Where in
the park did you see them? They look very similar to blesbok. I am fairly sure the dingo were not alive by the time the current owners took over.

I first saw blesbok down in one of the smaller marsh paddocks in around 1997. There was only one visible. The later herd added to the African Plains suggests to me that more animals were acquired unless the majority of the group were in the shelter when I visited.

 

[Maguari]

I'm not sure this is correct....do you mean to say the previous owners imported bontebok just before they were taken over by Banham? Where in
the park did you see them? They look very similar to blesbok. I am fairly sure the dingo were not alive by the time the current owners took over.

I first saw blesbok down in one of the smaller marsh paddocks in around 1997. There was only one visible. The later herd added to the African Plains suggests to me that more animals were acquired unless the majority of the group were in the shelter when I visited.

Gordon Bennett - what d'you want, a urine sample?

In the 90s Suffolk Wildlife Park kept 2 (I think female) Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus dorcas) in the paddock you indicate, down in the marsh area. These then died out, and some years later (after the rebranding) the park imported the basis of its current group of Blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi).

I've no idea when the actual ownership change happened, but it was Suffolk Wildlife Park when I saw the Bontebok and Africa Alive! by the time the Blesbok were brought in.

The Dingo was there when I saw the Bontebok (I've only been to the park twice, once before and once since the rebranding).


I have a feeling you saw Bontebok in '97. If you have photos, take a look at the patterning on the head of the animal. If the white crown and the blaze down the front are a continuous wide stripe, you've got a Blesbok. If there is a brown bar separating or nearly separating the two, it's a Bontebok.

Blesbok: http://www.zoochat.com/322/blesbok-wilhelma-stuttgart-08-09-06-a-92452/

Bontebok: http://www.zoochat.com/919/bontebok-98808/

 

[Pertinax]

I've no idea when the actual ownership change happened, but it was Suffolk Wildlife Park when I saw the Bontebok and Africa Alive! by the time the Blesbok were brought in.

Suffolk Wildlife Park and Banham Zoo have been under the same ownership for a considerable time now, many years before the change of name to 'Africa Alive' -which is only a change of name, not reflecting a change of ownership(to my knowledge).

 

[Maguari]

Suffolk Wildlife Park and Banham Zoo have been under the same ownership for a considerable time now, many years before the change of name to 'Africa Alive' -which is only a change of name, not reflecting a change of ownership(to my knowledge).

That's my understanding as well.

Does anyone who's a more regular visitor than me remember exactly when the Bontebok died out?

 

[CiaranDUK]

Africa Alive have several rare Ungulates including Barbary Sheep, Addax, Blesbok and Somali Wild Ass.

 

[CiaranDUK]

Suffolk Wildlife Park and Banham Zoo have been under the same ownership for a considerable time now, many years before the change of name to 'Africa Alive' -which is only a change of name, not reflecting a change of ownership(to my knowledge).

I think I remember reading somewhere that the owner of Banham Zoo bought Africa Alive! in 1996 which could possibly tie in with the renaming of the Zoo. I'm not 100% sure about this though.

 

[Pertinax]

That date could well be correct for the change of ownership of what was then Suffolk Wildlife Park.. The 'rebranding' with the new 'Africa Alive' name/logo is a lot more recent though (about 3 years ago).

 

[johnstoni]

In the 90s Suffolk Wildlife Park kept 2 (I think female) Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus dorcas) in the paddock you indicate, down in the marsh area. These then died out, and some years later (after the rebranding) the park imported the basis of its current group of Blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi).

I have a feeling you saw Bontebok in '97. If you have photos, take a look at the patterning on the head of the animal. If the white crown and the blaze down the front are a continuous wide stripe, you've got a Blesbok. If there is a brown bar separating or nearly separating the two, it's a Bontebok.

No, that's great, I just wanted to push you a little bit to be honest, to see how much you knew, as a lot of assumptions get made on here, including mine. Although the likelihood of bontebok making such a brief and recent appearance in the UK is low, I actually agree with you that the animal I remember had facial markings more similar to the bontebok. I remember thinking the animal didn't seem to be in great condition, and the
paddock was slightly waterlogged in places. Not a problem for the lechwe opposite, which were bounding through the water as if in the wild, but possibly not the best location for the bontebok, or nyala.

I have never seen this recollection elsewhere on this forum so the confidence you have in your recollection of this species I would say is valuable to our
collective knowledge of notable attempts to establish new UK populations in recent years. You would have seen the dingo at the end of their days. I think the servals came in the mid 90s to the site of the dingo enclosure.

It sounds like the Goymour group added bontebok
soon after buying the park in 1991. It also sounds like they were unsuccessful in establishing a herd (as was the case for several ungulate species brought to the park during the 90s), be that due to losses or difficulty in obtaining further stock, and eventually sourced the blesbok
group when they opened 'Plains of Africa'. It is interesting to me that the blesbok have done so well at this site, I wonder if it is connected to having more spacious/sturdy indoor quarters.

 

[Bele]

As stated previously on this thread , the Bontebok at Suffolk WP came from Whipsnade which had maintained a small group for some time without much success . Seem to remember them being in the paddock on the slope above where the Sloth Bears are now . I imagine they were not young when they moved to Suffolk .

 

[Maguari]

No, that's great, I just wanted to push you a little bit to be honest, to see how much you knew, as a lot of assumptions get made on here, including mine. Although the likelihood of bontebok making such a brief and recent appearance in the UK is low

No worries - always worth being sure. But I can assure you this is not false memory or wishful thinking - they were Bontebok.

I admit I'm surprised that this has proved so controversial - I thought the presence of these animals at that time was fairly well known.



I've never heard any statement before on where they came from, so Kiang's statement upthread is interesting:

Maguari is quite right, they got their animals from Whipsnade, when Banham took over the running of the park

I would never have associated Bontebok with Whipsnade.

 

[Maguari]

As stated previously on this thread , the Bontebok at Suffolk WP came from Whipsnade which had maintained a small group for some time without much success.

Thanks for the confirmation Bele!

EDIT: That actually fits with my impression that they were the leftovers of a previous population, not an import.

 

[bongorob]

I would never have associated Bontebok with Whipsnade.

I photographed bontebok at Whipsnade 1989-1993, and previously at London in 1985, I assume these were moved to Whipsnade.

 

[kiang]

Whipsnade had imported their bontebok from Rotterdam, a pair i think, and one of these animals was killed in a fire, along with a couple of Grevy's zebra and a Congo buffalo, in what was a newly built stable complex.
And so ended their breeding project for bontebok, and the 2 females were then sent to, the then Suffolk wildlife park, as it was, which was at the time owned by the Goymours, who at the time were beginning to theme the park into an African wildlife park.

 

[robmv]

A few details ...

London received 1.1 Bontebok from Rotterdam in 1985 and these animals were moved to Whipsnade in 1988. In the same year, Whipsnade acquired three additional animals (from where I don't know) but one died, leaving a group of 1.3.

A calf was born in 1990 but did not survive and the male died the following year. The remaining 0.3 Bontebok were sent to Suffolk Wildlife Park in 1994 (so a couple of years before the park was sold). A surprising acquisition, but I suspect it was just ZSL getting out of a species in which they saw no future.

I visited Suffolk Wildlife Park for the first time in 1997, by which time I think they were down to two animals (I remember that one was missing a horn). Here is a photo taken on my next visit in April 1999. By the time I visited for the third time in September 2000 the enclosure was home to Sitatunga.

London and Whipsnade also had the last Blesbok in the country before the recent arrivals, the last animal departing from Whipsnade in 1988 (to make way for the Bontebok?).

 

[johnstoni]

Suffolk Wildlife Park was purchased by the Goymour group around 1991, so ZSL were sending Bontebok to them, not the previous owners.

Bele, thanks for pointing that out, yes I didn't pick up that Kiang was referring to Bontebok in his post. I find this really interesting information as I don't remember ever reading about recollections of seeing this species in the Whipsnade threads on this forum. However, there may have been some mention I have overlooked. Actually, I seem to remember seeing an old photo of a Bontebok in the lowe cotton terraces at London, but I had assumed this was from the 1970s and that these animals did not last for long, which obviously is not the case from information given on here.

I too saw the one-horned animal down in the Marsh paddock.