ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Whipsnade; 2012 and beyond

Sapo.

I was kind of hoping he'd of gone to Marwell as they currently have 0.2 and the last I heard were trying to bring in Bristol's male on-loan however this was two years ago so things have presumably changed.

Anyone know how old the new Pygmy Hippo calf is?
 
IanRRobinson said:
How I wish Whipsnade would build a new Common Hippo facility.
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Maybe they should move them to the 'Rhinos of Nepal' building. Its half empty all the time and they might make better use of the indoor pools and stalls than the Rhinos seem to.;)
 
Pertinax said:
Maybe they should move them to the 'Rhinos of Nepal' building. Its half empty all the time and they might make better use of the indoor pools and stalls than the Rhinos seem to.;)
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Interesting idea. What would you do with Hugo then? I think he does get fairly good use out of it, he does use the pool (though I have only seen him in it once, that means he uses it :P) and generally always has access to two of the stalls.

We had a discussion about it a while ago and I think one of the answers you have all been waiting for as to why only one animal has really ever been in the new building is that the is only 1 large outside bark-chip yard instead of having three - one for each stall - therefore if three animals were to use the three areas, at least one or two animals would have to be kept inside...
 
AdamD601 said:
Interesting idea. What would you do with Hugo then? I think he does get fairly good use out of it, he does use the pool (though I have only seen him in it once, that means he uses it :P) and generally always has access to two of the stalls.

We had a discussion about it a while ago and I think one of the answers you have all been waiting for as to why only one animal has really ever been in the new building is that the is only 1 large outside bark-chip yard instead of having three - one for each stall - therefore if three animals were to use the three areas, at least one or two animals would have to be kept inside...
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Yes, the suggestion was really only made half-seriously, but that building still appears to be two-thirds empty several years after it was built. Hugo does definately use the indoor pool(s) but I think he's the only one, even after all this time.

If that is correct about the single yard at the rear of the House being the reason, why on earth didn't they design it differently or add extra yards now? To have such a costly/large building so underused seems just ridiculous.:confused:

I was previously given to believe it was something to do with the calves and safety factor of the indoor pools, but that may be another shortcoming, I don't know.:confused:
 
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JamesB said:
Does anyone have a list and numbers of who lives in the rock dens? When I went I saw one golden cat, two wolverines, several leopards/jaguars. Wondered if anyone had a recent list or a guess at what it is at the moment?
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Do you have the right thread here? If so, what are the rock dens at Whipsnade, and when did they keep golden cat?

It sounds more like this is supposed for the Edinburgh thread, as the species and description sound like Carnivore Row?
 
Javan Rhino said:
Do you have the right thread here? If so, what are the rock dens at Whipsnade, and when did they keep golden cat?

It sounds more like this is supposed for the Edinburgh thread, as the species and description sound like Carnivore Row?
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Does sound like an Edinburgh question. I've a pretty up-to-date list of what is on carnivore row if so, but best it be posted on that thread if indeed this is what you wanted to know.
 
went to whipsnade on saturday made a few observations

on the bird front they now fly in the half 1 show the red legged seriema , blue winged kookaburra , harris hawk , african grey parrot and the macaws minus the military 1s they are also recieveing another hyacinth macaw to go with the 1 they have atm so they should hopefully be up and flying soon

saw all 3 gaur in the same paddock and some of the elephants and only saw 1 amur tiger which i belueve its all they have now any guesses if they will bring in new 1s etc and i also saw the lynx eyeing up a squirrel
 
One small but significant piece of news on the Asian rhino front - young male Ajang has now been seperated from mum Behan for about a week. He is now sharing the new house with Hugo, so for those of you who complain about the new house being consistantly underused, get yourselves to Whipsnade now while there is more than one rhino in there! :P
 
AdamD601 said:
One small but significant piece of news on the Asian rhino front - young male Ajang has now been seperated from mum Behan for about a week. He is now sharing the new house with Hugo, so for those of you who complain about the new house being consistantly underused, get yourselves to Whipsnade now while there is more than one rhino in there! :P
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That is interesting news. Good to see another rhino in the 'new' building but I still don't quite understand why the two adult females don't live in there permanently, as it must have been built/designed to house the three breeding adults. So one might expect the young male when weaned would be moved(temporarily) to the old quarters- instead of the other way round.:confused:
 
Pertinax said:
That is interesting news. Good to see another rhino in the 'new' building but I still don't quite understand why the two adult females don't live in there permanently, as it must have been built/designed to house the three breeding adults. So one might expect the young male when weaned would be moved(temporarily) to the old quarters- instead of the other way round.:confused:
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I think despite building the new house, the layout actually works best with two in the old house and 1 / 2 in the new house when it comes to outdoor space. Since the new house is surrounded by/has direct access to just one paddock it would be a big old job to manage to move all the rhinos around every morning so that they all have access to a paddock/yard. I would have thought that if the old building was empty, it would either render the back single paddock useless or would involve a lot of moving around to get rhinos from the new house into that paddock. It would also be difficult to move rhinos from the large paddock joining the new house to the adjacent paddock...

There is also another piece of should I say news? Was looking at the jobs section on the ZSL website and came across this elephant keeper job (http://www.zsl.org/about-us/jobs/current-vacancies,114,AR.html#sek) which states:

'Plans are currently underway to build a new open indoor facility in 2014 to accommodate the growing herd and to provide an improved area for the cows and young. This will add to an already comprehensive facility with over 20 acres of grass paddocks, a bull paddock, an all weather sand-yard complex and indoor stables for the cows and young and the breeding bull.'

Obviously plans change, but still, it is interesting news!
 
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Have both adult female rhinos been mixed with bull Hugo at all?

The elephant development sounds exciting and will perhaps provide another inside location for people to enjoy.
 
Interesting news about Ajang. I presume they plan to move him on? I don't think they'll breed him with the other female (Beluki?). How many times do they want to breed from Hugo? The old bull Raffna (?) was only bred from once before he was sent away.
 
Interesting news re: the elephants , a better indoor facility may be an advantage to the visitor in winter, but personally i'd be more excited by a new exhibit for a new species or a new common hippo exhibit, the current elephant exhibit is way above average already!
 
longleat diego said:
what is whipsnades wolverine exhibit like
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As a regular visitor i would rate this their best new exhibit of recent times, replacing what was frankly a boring stork/wallaby exhibit with wolverine to compliment the brown bear on the other side of the raised walkway was a masterstroke, though if they are inactive its like any other no show exhibit! Its spacious, with a few trees and fallen ones added, not totally naturalistic yet but in time it will be excellent.
 
Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
Interesting news about Ajang. I presume they plan to move him on? I don't think they'll breed him with the other female (Beluki?). How many times do they want to breed from Hugo? The old bull Raffna (?) was only bred from once before he was sent away.
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Ajang probably won't stay long term (depends on studbook recommendations and that as to when/where he does go)

"Jaffna" came on loan from Basel in 2004 (who had pregnant cows at the time and hence could spare him) Four years later, Basel's cows were ready to breed again and hence they asked for Jaffna back. Just timing that meant that Jaffna hadn't been able to cover the Whipsnade cows again before departure (I'm sure having the cows covered again before losing him would have been Whipsnade's prefered option but it wasn't to be)

Hugo is hopfully on a longer term loan then Jaffna was....
 
pipaluk said:
Interesting news re: the elephants , a better indoor facility may be an advantage to the visitor in winter, but personally i'd be more excited by a new exhibit for a new species or a new common hippo exhibit, the current elephant exhibit is way above average already!
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I disagree, I think this development is probably overdue. The elephant exhibit is not very good. You can get good views of the cows and calves in their paddock and of course when they are giving their shows and walking around the zoo - but I have never had a good view of Emmet or of the indoor quarters.
I remember that the cow's barn was built for the white rhino herd and it used to be open for viewing then, but have visitors ever been allowed inside since the elephants were moved there?
I suspect that it is very cramped for the growing herd and I am sure it is very unattractive if the animals have to be kept inside in winter.

BTW the wolverine enclosure is a very large section of the downs, with several trees and a pool. I think they are still fed at 11 am and it is well worth seeing that as they can be very active and entertaining at that time.

Alan

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I disagree, I think this development is probably overdue. The elephant exhibit is not very good. You can get good views of the cows and calves in their paddock and of course when they are giving their shows and walking around the zoo - but I have never had a good view of Emmet or of the indoor quarters.
I remember that the cow's barn was built for the white rhino herd and it used to be open for viewing then, but have visitors ever been allowed inside since the elephants were moved there?
I suspect that it is very cramped for the growing herd and I am sure it is very unattractive if the animals have to be kept inside in winter.

BTW the wolverine enclosure is a very large section of the downs, with several trees and a pool. I think they are still fed at 11 am and it is well worth seeing that as they can be very active and entertaining at that time.

Alan

Alan
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When the elephants are shut outside in reasonable weather the indoor area is generally locked, but if they're inside i've always been able to get in to see them, and if
Emmet is outside i've always seen him too. The indoors admittedly isn't great, but at whipsnade surely the emphasis is on the outdoors, which is by far the best in my opinion, for visitor & elephant.
Re: wolverine, thats my experience too, they are sometimes fed after the bears and are very active whilst waiting for the bear feed/talk to finish.
 
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