ZSL Whipsnade Zoo History of Whipsnade Deer/Antelope Herds.

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Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
A question aimed at our newer members who are also ZSL experts;

In another thread the herd of Black Fallow deer at Whipsnade have recently been mentioned. Does anyone know where the two seperate and differently coloured (Black and Menil spotted) herds of Fallow deer at Whipsnade originally came from? Both breed pure without other colours appearing, so they must have been 'closed' for many years, probably before they came to Whipsnade. (I don't think they came from nearby Woburn whose Fallow are a 'many- coloured' herd, unless they had undergone rigourous selection ever since?)

I know the Pere David's Deer originated from Woburn but would also be interested to know where stock of any of the other longterm Whipsnade Deer/Antelope herds(nowadays) in the Asian Plains area came from initially-or were they imported from abroad?

Fallow Deer- (2 seperate herds).
Swamp Deer.- Woburn?
Hog deer.
Nilgai.
Chital.- Woburn?
Formosan(?)Sika.
Blackbuck- London only?
 
Very interesting query. I don't know, but I strongly suspect that Swamp Deer, Hog deer, and Chital have all been ticking over since the 1930s on the strength of the original stock from Woburn.

No wonder that their numbers have been gradually dwindling - I think that the Nilgai have actually now died out.
 
IanRRobinson said:
Very interesting query. I don't know, but I strongly suspect that Swamp Deer, Hog deer, and Chital have all been ticking over since the 1930s on the strength of the original stock from Woburn.

No wonder that their numbers have been gradually dwindling - I think that the Nilgai have actually now died out.
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Yes, and I doubt they have ever introduced unrelated animals to any of these herds! Not surprising if they are lacking in virility by now :( Mind you, all Pere David's are descended from between 10 & 18 animals and still seem healthy, so maybe its not too harmful in other species either..

If the Nilgai have gone, that's another sad loss, and I think the Blackbuck may have gone too?
 
Pertinax said:
If the Nilgai have gone, that's another sad loss, and I think the Blackbuck may have gone too?
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I don't believe that there have been any nilgai at Whipsnade since 2008.

The most recent ZSL Animal Inventory still lists 2.1 blackbuck at Whipsnade as at 1st January 2011.
 
Pertinax said:
In another thread the herd of Black Fallow deer at Whipsnade have recently been mentioned. Does anyone know where the two seperate and differently coloured (Black and Menil spotted) herds of Fallow deer at Whipsnade originally came from? Both breed pure without other colours appearing, so they must have been 'closed' for many years, probably before they came to Whipsnade. (I don't think they came from nearby Woburn whose Fallow are a 'many- coloured' herd, unless they had undergone rigourous selection ever since?)
Click to expand...

The Whipsnade Zoo guides for 1961 and 1962 state that the black fallow deer originated from Epping Forest.

I’m not sure when the founder animals arrived, but the ZSL Annual Report for 1959 lists three fallow deer (dark variety) as being born at Whipsnade that year.
 
Tim May said:
The Whipsnade Zoo guides for 1961 and 1962 state that the black fallow deer originated from Epping Forest.
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Thanks Tim. The Epping Forest Fallow are also(or used to be- are they still there?) an all black herd, which explains why they breed pure at Whipsnade too.

The other herd in Asian Plains are all the Menil (bright spotted) variety and they breed pure too. So probably originally obtained from a Park which only keeps this variety.
 
Hi,

I am really interested to learn all the basic information about the Deer and Antelope species at Whipsnade Zoo. Could anyone help me please?

Many thanks,

s_gale
 
s_gale said:
Hi,

I am really interested to learn all the basic information about the Deer and Antelope species at Whipsnade Zoo. Could anyone help me please?
Click to expand...
What sort of "basic information" are you particularly interested in?
 
Tim May said:
I don't believe that there have been any nilgai at Whipsnade since 2008.

The most recent ZSL Animal Inventory still lists 2.1 blackbuck at Whipsnade as at 1st January 2011.
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The 2022 Whipsnade stocklist (01.01.2022) has 2 female Blackbuck and 2 male 7 female Nilgai.
 
Tim May said:
My comment that there hadn't been any nilgai at Whipsnade since 2008 was correct, when posted in 2011. Fortunately nilgai subsequently returned to the collection.
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Sorry, my mistake I hadn't noticed this was a revived thread and didn't look at the dates of the posts.
 
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