Werribee Open Range Zoo Baby hippo at werribee

patrick said:
cairns is not currently an ARAZPA member zoo.

well if they do go to seaworld (that australia's seaworld) which is an ARAZPA member, hopefully that will open up a doorway to distribute genetics between the two lineages. however, we're told the new owner of CWSR does want to join the regional association and so i have little doubt that when that happens, they will follow recommendations that will see vital pygmy and common hippo transfers between the zoos.
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1. I am surprised. I checked the ARAZPA site before I wrote my queries and Cairns was actually on that very list. I looked again just now and the Cairns site is the Cairns Tropical Zoo. So forgive me, for being wrong here!

2. CWSR joining ARAZPA would be the way to go! I find the suggestion to move pygmy and common hippos to Sea World a little bit outlandish though. Do the CWSR hippos have an inate love of seawater or what ..:D?
 
oh ya know, i guess its just seaworld desperate for another animal attraction. it was only common hippo, not pygmies that were mentioned in article i read.

i would probably be more inclined to guess that both werribee and dubbo will acquire a new breeding male from cairns and that in return they will send a bull to mate the cairns female. that should have things covered for a few decades with this long-lived species..

prior to developing the new "hippo river", werribee kept its hippo in a drive-through paddock with two large (separated) dams. these enclosures still exist, now diverted off the tour. so the zoo has plenty of room to expand its hippo herd long term.

hopefully the new calf is female as there are two males at cairns.
 
oh yeah, i think you told me that already.... i read the incorrect 2.1 back on the old website (seems david gill didn't even know what he had!) and it just stuck. think i've asked you this before bigcat, but if you don't mind, is that a pair and a female offspring?
 
glyn, I know you're right, mate, about our quarantine laws;and the recent equine 'flu problems confirms it.

I reckon though that if Australia had a multi-million dollar hippo racing industry, hippos would be coming in and going out of the country with no restrictions! ;)
 
@patrick
2 adult females and the male is the offspring of the older of the 2 females he is still young only 6ish
 
bigcat said:
@patrick
2 adult females and the male is the offspring of the older of the 2 females he is still young only 6ish
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Forgive us for counting ...! :) Is it just the 2 of us or yet 3 again? (I assume you are totally right, though this post is a little confusing)

In the earlier post you mentioned they have just 0.2 common hippo and 1.1 pygmy hippo at Cairns. In your latter post you say he is still youngish at 6 (and very much alive and kicking I suppose).

But, if he has done a runner which is entirely likely (lol), what on earth has happened to the little guy? Is he alive and so where for goodness sake is yours truly then?

Appreciate the added info! :cool:
 
jelle, i think you have misread bigcats post.

CWSR have 2.1 pygmy hippo and 1.2 common hippo.

regarding the common hippo one female is the mother of the male.

in the case of the pygmy hippo, one male is the offspring of the other two.
 
Zoo_Boy said:
the herd is kept apart- the mother of latest calf, and her 5 yr old, presumable the new infant as well after time, the older female- is kept separate from the rest of herd, didn't she kill some other females calfs ?
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Brindabella is the same age as Primrose the mother of Tulip and the new calf. I have read the Brindabella did kill another hippo but it didn't say the individual. It is most likely what jay said is that Brindabella and Harry just don't get on. or Harry has been mating with Brindabella and she just hasn't got pregnant which is unlikely.
 
i'm very confused - since i'm sure i heard it was primrose who killed brindabella's calf. in fact i distinctly remember seeing that rove mcmanus joke on his show about how they only sponsored killer animals such as primrose.

in any event if brindabella is unrelated to other breeding hippo in australia, then she should continue to be bred, whether their is a history of calf mortality or not.

if the above is correct and the issue is that she doesn't get along with harry, then werribee should be making arrangements for her to be mated to another male asap.

remember - werribee zoo have two empty off-display hippo paddocks/dams...
 
patrick said:
i'm very confused - since i'm sure i heard it was primrose who killed brindabella's calf. in fact i distinctly remember seeing that rove mcmanus joke on his show about how they only sponsored killer animals such as primrose.

in any event if brindabella is unrelated to other breeding hippo in australia, then she should continue to be bred, whether their is a history of calf mortality or not.

if the above is correct and the issue is that she doesn't get along with harry, then werribee should be making arrangements for her to be mated to another male asap.

remember - werribee zoo have two empty off-display hippo paddocks/dams...
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That you for that info so the cold-blooded killer is Primrose and sorry Brindabella. No wonder they don't put the two together. If Harry did breed with Brindabella once there is a very high chance that Harry with mate with her again. And probably Brindabella will raise the calf alone. How recent was Brindabella's calf death?
 
May 2002 hippos at Werribee. Both primrose and Brindabella had a calf. Primroses was just 2 weeks old and Brindabellas15 months. Primrose crushed her calf to death (rolled on it) and then two weeks later she and the male killed the Brindabellas calf.
 
jay said:
May 2002 hippos at Werribee. Both primrose and Brindabella had a calf. Primroses was just 2 weeks old and Brindabellas15 months. Primrose crushed her calf to death (rolled on it) and then two weeks later she and the male killed the Brindabellas calf.
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That's harsh. Poor Brindabella. Her mate and her housemate turned against her.

I wonder though, in the wild male hippos kill calves that aren't their offspring but wasn't the calf Harry's?

P.S Thanks you info
 
thanks jay! thats right, what i heard! she "killed" two calfs.

if thats the case then it means.

a)harry and brindabella are a compatible pair
b)brindabella is fertile and breedable
c)brindabella has at some stage gotten a recommendation to breed (unless it was an accidental pairing), and
d) that brindabella is not a bad mother that we know of.

so the question is... why has she never had another calf?
 
patrick said:
thanks jay! thats right, what i heard! she "killed" two calfs.

if thats the case then it means.

a)harry and brindabella are a compatible pair
b)brindabella is fertile and breedable
c)brindabella has at some stage gotten a recommendation to breed (unless it was an accidental pairing), and
d) that brindabella is not a bad mother that we know of.

so the question is... why has she never had another calf?
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Possiblity that Harry mated with her but she hasn't got pregnant. Or There is a possiblity that after Primrose and Harry killed the calf, Harry has just lost interest. But true Brindabella isn't the bad mother that we have talked about, can realate to her being bullied and beaten.
 
I know that hippos in the wild live in herds (pods? mobs? groups?) and so people prefer to see them in the same way in zoos, but in view of their scarcity in this region every individual is vital. Females should therefore be housed individually and the male introduced to them under supervision to maximise the chances for any resultant young.

Hippos in the wild kill each others babies. It is negligent to allow them to do so in captivity.
 
This birth is five years after the last. I wonder why it has been so long?
Maybe Werribee was waiting for the new exhibit to be built.
 
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