Penguins in the UK

Jurek7 said:
Zoo penguins generally are suspectible to respiratory diseases, esp. aspergillosis. Most species thrive only in rooms which are cooled, and perhaps more importantly - have filtered air. I guess not many in UK. Even in mainland Europe, many such rooms are too small and suffer from construction mistakes (e.g. Berlin has floor cooling which kills eggs of king penguins).
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I am aware of the problem with aspergillosis (which sometimes rears its ugly head due to the unsavoury conditions of nest boxes and artificial burrows), but most (all?) penguin colonies in the UK are kept outside. This was why the avian malaria was such a problem to contain.
 
There are major issues with early detection and the related protocol surrounding avian malaria. This also is directly connected to available/suitable isolation facilities at the zoo, and the level of monitoring/ testing carried out on the group. It isn't just that a zoo is unlucky to lose all their penguins to this disease. Not all UK collections provide the same level of care on this issue.
If Edinburgh does contain it's penguin exhibit under a temperature-controlled dome it may benefit them, but right now they are the main world breeding centre for gentoos, and do very well with them. It would be a great shame if for some reason the alterations impacted negatively on their breeding rates.
Much better to build on a success when it happens than spend huge amounts of money on new exhibits that may not yield much breeding due to one overlooked factor or another.
 
So whipsnade has gentoo penguins. I'm hopeful for them as the zoo does well with other species, but it seems a strange choice given that belfast have lost chicks due to the heat and that the heat was also a factor in living coasts giving up their gentoos. Maybe its a little cooler up on the chilterns?
 
Whipsnade's penguin pool gets a cooling breeze which blows up the escarpment. It is also well away from the rest of the park so there is nothing in the way to deflect the wind when it blows from another direction.

There is an aerosol spray available to prevent aspergilliosis, which is sprayed into the burrows and next boxes. It seems to be effective.
 
johnstoni said:
Maybe its a little cooler up on the chilterns?
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That's an understatement- Whipsnade can be like the Arctic sometimes...

As Bongorob said, the Penguin area at Whipsnade is sited on the top of the scarp slope of the downs in an open area- it is completely open to Northerly winds, possibly the most suitable penguin location in the UK...
 
that's interesting, I wonder how many recent penguin exhibits have been designed with aspect in mind?
 
At Birdland we keep our group of 19 Kings (12 male, 7 female) cool with a combination of blocks of ice and a sprinkler system. We have bred 5 in the past 4 seasons, although this year looks like it will be a blank. As with Whipsnade in the past we seem to breed 1, lose one. We also have a small group of Humboldts that have bred for the first time in 10 years this year.
 
can I ask, how long has it been since new blood came into the King penguin group? Both you and Edinburgh seem to have a considerable bias towards males and I wondered if more of your chicks have turned out to be males recently, or have you just lost adult females in recent years?
 
We certainly haven't had new blood in the 6 years I've been there, and the records suggest the last incoming was in 1992. The previous owners used to own a couple of the smaller Falkland Islands and would go out once a year and collect eggs (of various species) for Birdland and other collections.
In terms of the males, 9 of the last 10 bred have been male and we have lost 3/4 females over that period of time.
 
wow, if you own a bird garden with penguins I guess it helps to OWN some of the Falklands! I wonder why egg collections aren't done so much these days, especially when the eggs collected are ones laid late where the chicks would likely never survive.
 
Birdland king penguins

I visited Birdland on a wet day back in May and was very impressed by the condition of the penguins .The keeper talk was very good with details of husbandry and history of individual birds - some unusual sexual combinations .
The enclosure is tiny compared to Edinburgh but obviously works . Interesting to be told the penguins dislike the rain - don't we all .

I remember the original smaller Birdland with many penguin species and on one visit , a flock of ****-of-the -rocks . Oops - guess you know what I mean !
 
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Unfortunately, when the original owners went bankrupt they sold the island. Re. eggs they are all artificially incubated and the birds given dummies
 
Len Hill didn't, but when he passed away, his son Richard took over and he did go bankrupt
 
Pertinax said:
Do you think that's got anything to do with the temperature the eggs are incubated at in what has to be an artificial environment?
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I was going to say that I'd never heard of this in birds and wouldn't expect it as birds are homeothermic and the eggs would therefore be incubated at the body temperature of the parents which should be constant. Then I found this reference which kind of supports this as the megapode's eggs are incubated environmentally like a reptile's

Temperature-dependent sex ratio in a bird
 
Pygathrix said:
I was going to say that I'd never heard of this in birds and wouldn't expect it as birds are homeothermic and the eggs would therefore be incubated at the body temperature of the parents which should be constant.
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I hadn't heard of it either till quite recently- when I read an article about captive breeding of Choughs where it was suggested that skewed sex ratio in the chicks, with no males(?) being produced, was potentially due to the artificial wooden nest surroundings the parent birds were incubating under.
 
Ajkwba said:
Len Hill didn't, but when he passed away, his son Richard took over and he did go bankrupt
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Oh, I see....:(

Is it correct the park is now at a different location to what it was in their day?

Can you tell us if you have any Hornbill and Toucan species nowadays and which numbers/species?
 
Pertinax said:
Oh, I see....:(

Is it correct the park is now at a different location to what it was in their day?

Can you tell us if you have any Hornbill and Toucan species nowadays and which numbers/species?
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Yep, we are now a bit further down the Windrush nowadays.

Re. Toucans & Hornbills we currently house:
1.1 Red Billed Toucan
1.1 Bearded Barbet
1.3 Southern Ground Hornbill (1 female to go abroad soon)
1.0 Crowned Hornbill
0.1 Trumpeter Hornbill (just lost male)
0.1 Tarictic Hornbill (male died in February floods)

plus bee-eaters, rollers and kookaburra
 
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