Paignton Zoo news at Paignton zoo

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Red River Hogs.

That is an interesting exchange. So you now have Chester's original breeding pair- expect an increase soon perhaps? These pigs look great the more there are of them in a group. I'm glad the Paignton male has got a couple of females at Chester too.
 
Pertinax said:
That is an interesting exchange. So you now have Chester's original breeding pair- expect an increase soon perhaps? These pigs look great the more there are of them in a group. I'm glad the Paignton male has got a couple of females at Chester too.
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Also be prepared to expect dissappointment as she has rolled over and killed a couple of litters in the past at Chester.
 
As czjimmy says it is a completly random thing just have to make sure they have the birthing area set up as you would for rearing domestic pigs.
 
Do you mean a farrowing crate? I still haven't recovered from seeing these in use for intensively reared pigs 12 years ago :(
 
I'm sure it would have to be a specially modified one designed for these considerably smaller pigs-perhaps with a creep system for the piglets?

Its odd that she rolled on piglets after successfully rearing some- usually its the other way around...:confused:

There seem to be several zoos in the Uk now with increasing numbers of Red River Hogs, which is nice to see.
 
The hog house may not be big enough to accommodate some sort of crate. It has two sections so the hogs can be kept apart if need be.Their neighbours, the collared peccaries, have managed to produce and raise litters surrounded by all the other members of the family.
 
The RR hogs should be able to do so too- if they can increase the group size initially. You'll just have to wait and see what transpires.... If this female is suspect when it comes to rearing young that might be why Chester kept the daughters and got 'Rick' as a new male, while Paignton have received the original pair -rather than the other way around.

All these pig and peccary species look best when they are kept in large groups in my opinion, as that's how they live in the wild ('sounders'). I saw a shot of wild red river hogs on a TV nature programme- it was an enormous group...
 
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Is there a good reason why more zoos don't mix the central african ungulate species together more (ie forest buffalo, bongo, river hog, pygmy hippo, sitatunga etc)? I realise the sitatunga and bongo can and do interbreed...
 
Pertinax said:
Thats interesting. Do you know what happened to the 1.3 Hamlyn's Owl faced Monkeys that were also in the Giraffe House (monkey) enclosure and were replaced by the Diana Monkeys? They were not there very long...
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Hi - finally had a chance to look for information regarding the Owl faced Monkeys at Marwell

In the Winter/Spring 2000 Magazine it says - Momma and Nicki (mother and daughter) came from St Louis Zoo, Katinka (female) from Philedelphia zoo and they are expecting a male (Kitwit) to arrive from Edinburgh.

In Spring 2002 the magazine said Nicki died. Kitwit went to London and Katinka was going to Twycross. I think Momma had died in 2000/1
 
SWA said:
Hi - finally had a chance to look for information regarding the Owl faced Monkeys at Marwell

That is brilliant information. I know this is the wrong thread to discuss this but it won't be going any further now. It seems the group fizzled out pretty quickly but I think the 3 females from America were old ones. Kikwit may have been the final animal at London that later went to Antwerp. The female that went to Twycross I think was also moved to Europe and isn't the one they have now. Many thanks for the reasearch.
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The Diana Monkey has given birth in the last week.I don't know the sex of the baby yet.
The Pygmy Marmosets have produced twins, unfortunately not in view when I was there as I'd like to have seen just how small they are.
Two female Rothschilds Giraffes are due to arrive from the Czech Republic on 8 September. As usual, the advice is not to hold your breath!
Orangutans Demo and Mali are going outside now and doing a lot of climbing, including doing tightrope walks along the high ropes. Look Mum, no hands!
Half of the tiger viewing window was boarded up a while ago and I've discovered the reason. Some visitors threw a bench at it and cracked it. One can only hope that had the tigers got out, they'd have eaten the culprits first and been too full to bother with anyone else. My idea for IQ tests at the zoo gate doesn't seem so radical now.
 
Gigit said:
The Diana Monkey has given birth in the last week.I don't know the sex of the baby yet.
Some visitors threw a bench at it and cracked it. One can only hope that had the tigers got out, they'd have eaten the culprits first and been too full to bother with anyone else.
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This is a very productive pair. Is it too much to hope they'll keep(all) the young so we can see a nice big group form here? Nowhere in Uk has more than about four Dianas in a group and that is only at Edinburgh or Howletts/Port Lympne. Both Newquay & Chessington had groups of six in the past but no longer.

That's the 2nd incident of this type in a UK zoo this summer. There was one at Cotswold where some Chinese students broke a window at the lion enclosure. Isn't August called the 'silly season'?
 
Pertinax said:
All these pig and peccary species look best when they are kept in large groups in my opinion, as that's how they live in the wild ('sounders'). I saw a shot of wild red river hogs on a TV nature programme- it was an enormous group...
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Indeed, and peccaries are also known to forage in groups over 100 strong. Natives of the Amazon fear them more than jaguars.
 
johnstoni said:
Is there a good reason why more zoos don't mix the central african ungulate species together more (ie forest buffalo, bongo, river hog, pygmy hippo, sitatunga etc)? I realise the sitatunga and bongo can and do interbreed...
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Possibly a combination of lacking a focal charismatic species (none fall into the same category of giraffe, zebra, rhino, elephant etc) and concern about how it would display. There are potential aggressive species with the buffalos and the hippos (in fact I would probably leave them out of the picture), destructive species (would there be any grazing if you had a small herd of hogs in the paddock) and delicate species (bongos or sitatungas; they probably interbreed). My suggestion would be to favour the more common sitatunga over the bongo, and mix with the buffalos and possibly add a primate. Guenon, colobus or even mandrill (maybe too risky).

Given more space it would be interesting to add gorillas to the mix. If it worked it would make a very interesting interactive exhibit.
 
Pertinax said:
That's the 2nd incident of this type in a UK zoo this summer. There was one at Cotswold where some Chinese students broke a window at the lion enclosure. Isn't August called the 'silly season'?
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I think it's the 3rd actually (although not with big cats), someone cracked one of the windows in Realm of the Red Ape at Chester
 
Baboon Rock.

I can remember when Baboon Rock was being built. At first the completed exhibit looked rather like a multi-layered wedding cake, with the colours very bright, but it improved as the rockwork weathered. I've always thought it was a good display except that flower beds prevent you approaching the wall so the lowest part of exhibit, and any baboons in it, are completely out of sight of visitors.

No doubt they were worried someone might fall in or drop items over the wall, but it also prevents you being able to watch the animals at leisure as you could if you could lean on the wall. I hope if they do redo this exhibit they can make it a bit more visitor friendly, & perhaps open up the deep bowl shape the rock stands in. The exhibit itself works well I think.
 
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