ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Whipsnade visit

[johnstoni.]

Nile lechwe wouldn't have been behind the kudu, that would be more kudu! The group is currently split three ways for breeding.

Mohan, the male gaur, is currently housed in one of the stalls in the old Asian rhino house while the female and young male have the two stalls in the gaur house. He is moved through the gate between the paddocks iin the morning so that he can spend the day with the others in the paddock/bark yard then moved back in the afternoon to go back down to his own area.

The Nile lechwe were definitely housed in a paddock behind something else, along the escarpment drive on the right hand-side as you look at the map. If not the kudu then I am not sure what.

The two male gaur were in the yard together, while the female was in the house.

 

[johnstoni.]

Thanks for all the replies to questions I've asked.

 

[BongoHardwood]

The Nile lechwe were definitely housed in a paddock behind something else, along the escarpment drive on the right hand-side as you look at the map. If not the kudu then I am not sure what.

The lechwe are in the Dagnall paddock if you look at the map posted previously in this thread, between the cheetahs and the entrance to the Asian drive-through, and the kudu are in the Holly Frindle paddock. I'm not sure what you saw?

 

[Javan Rhino]

The lechwe are in the Dagnall paddock if you look at the map posted previously in this thread, between the cheetahs and the entrance to the Asian drive-through, and the kudu are in the Holly Frindle paddock. I'm not sure what you saw?

I think there is a separation paddock behind the kudu paddock [opposite the outdoor common hippo enclosures]. I have seen onager in there at one point, so it's possible that it was a lechwe that was seen if that individual needed to be split from the main group.

 

[pipaluk]

I think there is a separation paddock behind the kudu paddock [opposite the outdoor common hippo enclosures]. I have seen onager in there at one point, so it's possible that it was a lechwe that was seen if that individual needed to be split from the main group.

That is the only paddock I can think of that it could be, lately it has usually held emu with either onager or I seem to remember seeing a S-H Oryx in there once. A bizarre mix, but its not labelled and effectively an 'off-show' area that can only be viewed from one small area in the corner. It could well be that there are lechwe in there now.

 

[pipaluk]

The lechwe are in the Dagnall paddock if you look at the map posted previously in this thread, between the cheetahs and the entrance to the Asian drive-through, and the kudu are in the Holly Frindle paddock. I'm not sure what you saw?

As was noted earlier in this thread, at Whipsnade, the odd animal or two have the habit of turning up in a place you wouldn't expect to find them, if only temporarily.
For example in the last few visits i have seen: a lone gemsbok at the end of the bongo house, sitatunga in a yard at the corner of the zebra paddock(opposite the end of the giraffe paddock) and there rarely seems to be the same animals in the former (last) black rhino paddock from one month to the next!

 

[Pertinax]

I think there is a separation paddock behind the kudu paddock [opposite the outdoor common hippo enclosures]. I have seen onager in there at one point, so it's possible that it was a lechwe that was seen if that individual needed to be split from the main group.

Yes, that is an 'offshow' paddock really (though visible obviously) at one time a few years back there was a spare(Whipsnade-born) Onager(or is it Kulan?) male in there as you said.

If they remove male Nile Lechwe from the herd some could have gone in there, but as pointed out above, the main group is in the Paddock between the Cheetahs and the Asian Plains entrance. In the 'old days' this paddock used to hold a sizeable herd of Red Deer.

For a long time there were also a couple of male Lechwe in the smaller paddock adjoining the Asian Plains(behind the Manchurian Cranes). Whipsnade certainly have the room/enclosures for shuffling around their spare hoofed stock.

 

[BongoHardwood]

Yep there is a paddock behind the main kudu paddock, but there are kudu in there (or at least there would have been at the time of the visit). The kudu are currently split:

1.1 Breeding male and female
1.0 Single non-breeding male previously born at Whipsnade
1.3 Think this group is 2 previous daughters of the breeding male plus one female with male calf. There may be another female but I'm pretty sure there are just three in this group plus little Oscar, this year's calf.

The latter is the group which has access to that back paddock behind the main Holly Frindle.

The lechwe are currently:

1.6 Breeding male and 6 females in the main paddock (Dagnall)
1.6 Castrated male currently housed with (90% sure) six females who are in isolation before moving to another collection. These are being kept off-show inside the lechwe stables. The castrated male will go back with the females remaining at Whipsnade when the viable male is taken out. Can't remember a leave date for those females...

 

[Pertinax]

The lechwe are currently:

1.6 Breeding male and 6 females in the main paddock (Dagnall)
1.6 Castrated male currently housed with (90% sure) six females who are in isolation before moving to another collection.

They appear to have cut these down drastically since I was last there when there seemed to be 20-30 of them. If they are keeping just the castrated male with the remaing females, does that mean they are stopping breeding and will let them just die out?

 

[BongoHardwood]

They appear to have cut these down drastically since I was last there when there seemed to be 20-30 of them. If they are keeping just the castrated male with the remaing females, does that mean they are stopping breeding and will let them just die out?

You have to have good eyes to see them that's for sure! They keep to the very back of the enclosure 99% of the time.

There are two males - the castrated male is housed with the females for most of the year, but is swapped at around this time for a few weeks (he must've been with them for a few weeks now) with the breeding male so that the breeding one can hopefully get the females pregnant. The males then swap back again - breeding on his own, castrated with the females - until the next time that they want to breed them.

It's just to have a bit more control over birthing times. The same is done with the oryx and onager (males put with group for a certain amount of time then removed again), and probably other species in the zoo, so that the birth can be sort of determined (within a period of a few weeks).

 

[Pertinax]

It's just to have a bit more control over birthing times. The same is done with the oryx and onager (males put with group for a certain amount of time then removed again), and probably other species in the zoo, so that the birth can be sort of determined (within a period of a few weeks).

That's an interesting insight. I guess they target births among these species(and others) for the Spring/summer months for better survival rates.

Did you mean (above) that the breeding/viable male Lechwe was going with some of the females to somewhere else, or just some females will leave?

 

[BongoHardwood]

That's an interesting insight. I guess they target births among these species(and others) for the Spring/summer months for better survival rates.

Exactly! Some systems (particularly farming, I'm not sure if it is used in zoos) use hormonal treatments to synchronise the oestrus/ovulation and therefore breeding of animals but this is a relatively reliable way of doing it without the hassle of administering drugs, just the hassle of moving the male!

Did you mean (above) that the breeding/viable male Lechwe was going with some of the females to somewhere else, or just some females will leave?

Just the females will leave. The castrated male is in with the movers for company while the viable male is in with the females that are staying at the zoo to breed. When the 6 females leave for the other collection, the castrated male will go back in with Whipsnade's females and the viable male will be taken from the group and housed alone, but still at Whipsnade, as far as I know.

 

[pipaluk]

So are the second group of lechwe on the hardstanding behind the lechwe housing, where the arabian oryx were, by the entrance to asian plains? I saw a group on there a while ago, but couldn't see any in the main field then.

 

[Shirokuma]

Nile lechwe could definitely be seen in their usual paddock from the cheetah viewing shelter. There may be others eleswhere too.

Great review by the way!

On the subject of primates, I would have thought that some open Port Lypne/Howletts style paddocks for a baboon species or colobus would work quite nicely for Whipsnade.

 

[BongoHardwood]

So are the second group of lechwe on the hardstanding behind the lechwe housing, where the arabian oryx were, by the entrance to asian plains? I saw a group on there a while ago, but couldn't see any in the main field then.

The second group, the castrated male and females who will be moved, are housed in the lechwe building, off show and as far as I know without access to the small paddock just inside the Passage Through Asia entrance. I presume they aren't allowed out due to the fact that they are in isolation like I said. That small paddock was where the viable male was kept before he was put with the females to breed and is presumably where he will return to when breeding has finished.

 

[Pertinax]

On the subject of primates, I would have thought that some open Port Lypne/Howletts style paddocks for a baboon species or colobus would work quite nicely for Whipsnade.

As I mentioned on this or the other Whipsnade thread, they have applied to be a future holder of Gelada baboons- probably the species best equipped to deal wih the chilly microclimate there. Howver Geladas aren't that readily available so there could be a waiting list, or alternatively plans might have changed by now.