ZSL Whipsnade Zoo whipsnade 2013

The pelicans are immature Eastern Whites (the brown plumage will be replaced by white), the same species as at London, however these won't be from London as they have a small, non-breeding group (unless anyone knows something I don't). Its likely these were imported from one of the Eastern European collections that are breeding them in large numbers - similar imports at Belfast and Edinburgh recently.

I can only assume its something to do with our oceanic climate that means the UK has such a poor breeding record with pelicans. Over the last 10-15 years there have been a number of significant imports of pelicans, but virtually all have never bred. The only anomaly seems to be the Pink-backed group at Longleat, plus I know of one chick at Bristol a few years back.

The only successful rearing of the Eastern White in the UK AFAIK was 2 or 3 years ago when Blackpool raised a chick. Maybe Whipsnade will have more success.
 
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

There is a suggestion that continental zoos do better with Pelicans in general, because they feed them on freshwater fish, which is more natural for most species. UK Pelicans have traditionally been fed sea fish because it's more available. I do know that some UK holders have changed to freshwater fish in recent years, which may explain recent breedings. No Pelican was bred in captivity in the UK until comparatively recently, although a pair [I forget the species] laid eggs in the Tower of London about 200 years ago. That sounded as though I was there; I'm not THAT old...
 
FBBird said:
No Pelican was bred in captivity in the UK until comparatively recently, although a pair [I forget the species] laid eggs in the Tower of London about 200 years ago. That sounded as though I was there; I'm not THAT old...
Click to expand...

According to E. T. Bennett's book The Tower Menagerie (1829) the female Pelecanus onocrotalus is currently sitting on three eggs.....

Incidentally this book states that the birds came from Hungary and are fed on three dozen small live plaice each every day.
 
ZSL Whipsnade Park

If it had been three dozen small carp, perhaps those eggs might have hatched.
 
An update:

johnstoni. said:
The pelicans are immature Eastern Whites (the brown plumage will be replaced by white), the same species as at London, however these won't be from London as they have a small, non-breeding group (unless anyone knows something I don't). Its likely these were imported from one of the Eastern European collections that are breeding them in large numbers - similar imports at Belfast and Edinburgh recently.
Click to expand...

Apparently their origins are in Belfast. Don't know what Belfast's situation is but that's what I was told yesterday :)

I mentioned that the outside play area was fenced off, well when I left yesterday work had started! One of the big play structures with the slide had been knocked down! Was quite a sad sight seeing as it has been there since I was young but I guess development and modernising was needed. There is also a sign saying something along the lines of 'Hullabazoo Adventure Play. Opens 25th May 2013'.

Can anyone tell me the last time the flamingoes bred at Whipsnade? I don't recalled ever having seen nests, eggs or chicks...
 
went to whipsnade yesterday for a brief visit and made the following observations

  • where the crocodiles are they now have dung beetles in an old ant area

    the burmese python exhibit is still being renovated as is the yemen chameleon exhibit near the education bit

    the yemen chameleon is in with the spiny hill turtles as well now

    the zoo seemed to be clearing a lot of trees away recently so it now looks more open

    salt the sealion appears to still be alive either that or they havent removed the sign

    saw the pelicans swimming in the lake and using the new ramp they have there guessing its for them specifcilly

    only saw one amur tiger lying asleep in the main exhibit as well

 
AdamD601 said:
6. Group of ring-tailed lemurs in the house on the B&W ruffed lemur island. No sign of any B&W ruffed, though I don't recall ever seeing them on that island! Not sure what's going on there...
Click to expand...

This question has been answered by the zoo's Facebook page. The group I saw on the island were a new group of 6 female lemurs in isolation from the Netherlands. The zoo is apparently hoping to create a breeding group.

I'm not too sure what the long-term plans for the exhibits are. It would seem that they have renovated the island for the females with new ropes etc. Moving the males to the island would make In With the Lemurs obsolete so I assume they won't be doing that and creating two groups with some of the existing males in the walkthrough and a breeding group on the island would seems like a huge waste of space. I'm guessing they will move the females to the walk-through in time and maybe then use that island for something else... The 2012 inventory still lists 1.1 B&W ruffed lemurs but I don't know if that is still correct. I'm assuming if it is then they are being kept off show and will return to take advantage of the new climing equipment.
 
One of the more obvious gaps at Whipsnade is a tapir species. A South American exhibit with Brazilian Tapir with Capybara, using the primate housing for the group of Red-faced Spider Monkeys that are so unusual but seemingly awaiting rehousing at London, would both bring the Lubetkin Elephant House back into use and commemorate Gerald Durrell with species that were present at Whipsnade when he was a keeper.

Just a thought..;)
 
IanRRobinson said:
One of the more obvious gaps at Whipsnade is a tapir species. A South American exhibit with Brazilian Tapir with Capybara, using the primate housing for the group of Red-faced Spider Monkeys that are so unusual but seemingly awaiting rehousing at London, would both bring the Lubetkin Elephant House back into use and commemorate Gerald Durrell with species that were present at Whipsnade when he was a keeper.

Just a thought..;)
Click to expand...

Sounds a sensible suggestion to me- Whipsnade lacks South American mammals in the main and primates.
I've often thought that if London aren't going to build something for the primates on the cat terraces then they could move them to Whipsnade, thus freeing the cat enclosures for cats or other carnivores and boosting Whipsnade's primate collection.
A house could be built with access to the island for primates( the macaques maybe), other than the ruffed lemurs- they're not even on the map & noone notices them!
 
It does seem odd to have Primates in the two different locations at ZSL, while Whipsnade have no larger Monkeys at all- and haven't for many years. The 'non-African' Monkeys living on the cat terraces at ZSL seem very out of place there and I think for visitors there are enough to see in the ex Sobell area aound the Gorillas, so that the others probably get overlooked to a large extent.

It would be good if Whipsnade were able to take one or more of the non-African species from ZSL, though I did read somewhere they want Geladas at some stage, perhaps taking into account Whipsnade's chilly climate, but that might take a long time to come to fruition.
 
I visited today and for a cold day it was busy, had trouble parking at more than one stop off point.

Just a few minor observations:

Penguins off show due to recent extreme weather! Saw some in the bird garden pool through the fence.

all giraffes shut inside & house closed

Tigers still seperated

Adult male indian rhino confined to new house & yard behind, older youngster & his mother had access to newer paddock that is accessed from old house. Newest calf on neighbouring yard.

Very active red panda trio & sloth bears. The highlight for me was watching hoover & nigna the common hippos for a good 20 minutes in the indoor pool- not sure whether he was just playing or it was a mating ritual, but he seemed to be winding her up a bit , there was a lot of splashing and opening of jaws and hoover kept rolling over & lying on his back for several seconds with his feet sticking out of the water.

Spotters cards are being given out with the maps illustrating the animals in passage thru asia.

The window where the vicuna could be seen is now boarded up.
 
pipaluk said:
Adult male indian rhino confined to new house & yard behind, older youngster & his mother had access to newer paddock that is accessed from old house. Newest calf on neighbouring yard.
Click to expand...

This seems to be an almost permanent arrangement ever since the 'Rhinos of Nepal' building first opened- bull in new house, all the others living in the old building. As I've commented previously I'm at a loss to know exactly why the new(er) accomodation is so much underused- with three indoor areas and only one animal using it, it seems never to be used at more than a third of its capacity. Is the problem in the new building with the watermoats, the young calves and deep water, or the lack of yards, or all of these, or something else as well? It seems the design is floored badly somehow if they can never use it more than this.
 
Sorry, i have realised now i have possibly got it wrong since Behan is the mother of both calves, i doubt that Beluki (other female)was with Ajang the 3 year old male.
Beluki was in the old yard next to Behan & new calf, with access to the smaller of new paddocks behind. I think Ajang was probably locked outside in the main paddock(unless the 2 paddocks are accessible as one).
Hugo definitely only had the left & middle stalls in new house & yard behind, but it is possible Ajang is using the right hand stall at night.
 
I was going to say that sounded a bit wrong! Ajang has been having the large paddock behind the new house, sometimes shut out there but sometimes with access to the yard and one stall as far as I know, with Hugo having two stalls inside.

As I have said before, when I asked about the reason for the underuse of the new house I was told that it's the outside access situation, which is really a design flaw. Three stalls all accessing one yard and one paddock - that would mean at most one could be shut outside in the paddock, one have the bark yard and a stall and one have two stalls, but that's not ideal... That is unless the connector gate at the far end of the two paddocks was used but it makes more sense to house them in the old house for access to that paddock. Usage-wise there isn't really anything wrong with the old house so with the situation now with 4 individual groupings it still makes the new house worth having.

Some sad news - unfortunately due to an illness, Odin (the previous gaur calf) had to be put to sleep a couple of weeks ago :(
 
AdamD601 said:
I was going to say that sounded a bit wrong! Ajang has been having the large paddock behind the new house, sometimes shut out there but sometimes with access to the yard and one stall as far as I know, with Hugo having two stalls inside.

As I have said before, when I asked about the reason for the underuse of the new house I was told that it's the outside access situation, which is really a design flaw. Three stalls all accessing one yard and one paddock - that would mean at most one could be shut outside in the paddock, one have the bark yard and a stall and one have two stalls, but that's not ideal... That is unless the connector gate at the far end of the two paddocks was used but it makes more sense to house them in the old house for access to that paddock. Usage-wise there isn't really anything wrong with the old house so with the situation now with 4 individual groupings it still makes the new house worth having.
:(
Click to expand...
Thanks for confirming , i hope that when the weather has improved the rhinos will have use of the old paddock again, then Hugo wouldn't be confined to the new house & yard continuously.
 
AdamD601 said:
As I have said before, when I asked about the reason for the underuse of the new house I was told that it's the outside access situation, which is really a design flaw. Three stalls all accessing one yard and one paddock -

Usage-wise there isn't really anything wrong with the old house so with the situation now with 4 individual groupings it still makes the new house worth having.
Click to expand...

The new house is certainly worth having but if that's the problem why don't they simply build on extra yard space at the back so each stall has access to a yard?:confused:

IMO the old housing has always looked very outdated- barn like and cold and draughty (I presume it isn't though) and has no facilities for indoor bathing, which they advertised as the big improvement in the new building and which all Indian Rhino should have. Yet the two adult females(and their small calves) never ever seem to have access to it.
 
Pertinax said:
The new house is certainly worth having but if that's the problem why don't they simply build on extra yard space at the back so each stall has access to a yard?:confused:

IMO the old housing has always looked very outdated- barn like and cold and draughty (I presume it isn't though) and has no facilities for indoor bathing, which they advertised as the big improvement in the new building and which all Indian Rhino should have. Yet the two adult females(and their small calves) never ever seem to have access to it.
Click to expand...

It would make sense to do that! I guess it'd be a lot of money... You'd have thought when looking at the plans someone responsible would've said hang on there's potentially 3 animals here and 1 yard...

Yes the water is a nice feature. What would be good is if they could concrete over the pool of one of the stalls to make the slope almost flat, with say a foot or two depth capacity for water and have that as a sort of maternity stall. Thinking of it now I'm not sure but a very young rhino may be able to wiggle its way under the connecting gates and access gates as they are not all the way down to the floor if I'm imagining it right...
 
AdamD601 said:
It would make sense to do that! I guess it'd be a lot of money...

Yes the water is a nice feature. What would be good is if they could concrete over the pool of one of the stalls to make the slope almost flat, with say a foot or two depth capacity for water and have that as a sort of maternity stall.
Click to expand...

To extend the metal fencing and mulch over the extended area to make more yards would not cost anything like the amount of building the House in the first place! It would be a fairly small scale modification.

While Indian Rhinos in zoos elsewhere in Europe are housed (mostly) nowadays with indoor bathing facilities etc yet Whipsnade still seem to have had continuous problems with their design of this 'state of the art' building to the degree the females and calves are still living in obselete housing from years back. After several years of this it just seems madness to me that they don't make whatever alterations are needed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top