Zoo København Copenhagen Zoo News 2014

Hvedekorn

Hvedekorn

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I guess some of you (at least Danes) know by now, but two of the crocodiles in Copenhagen Zoo (1,1) have been determined to be West African crocodiles (Crocodylus suchus) instead of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) as previously thought the last 32 years.
 
Now *that* is excellent and intriguing news. Shame they are getting on in years a bit.
 
So are all their Nile Crocodiles now West African Crocodiles, or do they have further Nile Crocodiles too?
 
From what I understand from the article (and remember from visiting), they do have more than two crocodiles (possibly three or four). But the last two of the crocodiles they received in 1981 are West African crocodiles. Any later arrivals have been Nile crocodiles.
 
Hvedekorn said:
From what I understand from the article (and remember from visiting), they do have more than two crocodiles (possibly three or four). But the last two of the crocodiles they received in 1981 are West African crocodiles. Any later arrivals have been Nile crocodiles.
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Thanks. I just had a look at my photos from my visit and I can only see two crocodiles, which were together in the butterfly house. Is this where all their crocs were kept or were some elsewhere too?
 
zooboy28 said:
Thanks. I just had a look at my photos from my visit and I can only see two crocodiles, which were together in the butterfly house. Is this where all their crocs were kept or were some elsewhere too?
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Based on the article in Politiken, there are only two remaining crocodiles in Copenhagen; both living in the butterfly house and both West African.

"Da der forelå gennemarbejdede dna-profiler af såvel C. niloticus som C. suchus, besluttede Zoo, at nu ville man have artsbestemt de to københavnerkrokodiller – havens eneste diller."
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"With the availability of DNA profiles for C. niloticus and C. suchus, the zoo decided that they wanted to identify the two Copenhagen crocodiles – the zoos only crocs."

Very nice! This means that all species in the crocodile order can be seen if combining Copenhagen with Krokodille Zoo; quite easy to reach from Copenhagen.
(At least until the dwarf crocodile finally is split into several species, and the Bornean crocodile gets full recognition, although the latter split seems less certain based on present evidence.)

I might add that I think the case for separating West African as a species instead of subspecies is very strong (despite some people suggesting otherwise). After all, we now know the Nile is more closely related to the American crocs (American+Cuban+Morelet's+Orinoco) than it is to West African: American crocs diverged from Nile approx. 5.5 million years ago; West Africa diverged from Nile+American approx. 8 million years ago (Hekkala et al. 2011).
 
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condor said:
Based on the article in Politiken, there are only two remaining crocodiles in Copenhagen; both living in the butterfly house and both West African.

"Da der forelå gennemarbejdede dna-profiler af såvel C. niloticus som C. suchus, besluttede Zoo, at nu ville man have artsbestemt de to københavnerkrokodiller – havens eneste diller."
=
"With the availability of DNA profiles for C. niloticus and C. suchus, the zoo decided that they wanted to identify the two Copenhagen crocodiles – the zoos only crocs."

Very nice! This means that all species in the crocodile order can be seen if combining Copenhagen with Krokodille Zoo; quite easy to reach from Copenhagen...
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Excellent news! My first new species of the year! :D
 
I believe they had three or four when I visited in March 2012. Of course, that's almost two years ago, and the article just made it sound like they had more than two, but I was probably misinterpreting.
But nice news, it certainly is!
 
The article I read mentioned that they did have four crocodiles intially, all imported via the same dealer from Tunisia (one of these was in Paris before continuing to Copenhagen). This was in 1981; no mention of when four was reduced to two. Knowing a bit about general trade routes in North Africa and that all were from the same dealer, it seems reasonable to assume that all were West African crocodiles.

They also mention that there were no serious attempts of enticing breeding earlier, as they believed they just were generic Nile crocodiles (a common and widespread species). With the new identification revealed, there will be some more serious attempts of enticing breeding. However, if it is judged that there is a bigger chance of breeding elsewhere, they may move to another zoo.
 
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Does anyone have a mammal itinerary for the zoo? I couldn't find much on their website. Am planning on visiting sometime in the summer.
 
Apparently the zoo is set to kill 18 month old giraffe Marius for no other reason than hes genetically well represented. They couldnt find a home for him elsewhere so they are going to shoot him tomorrow to feed to the carnivores.

Maybe its a cultural difference but I find this stupid. Hes perfectly healthy. I know inbreeding is a potential problem but why couldnt they try castrating him. I dont know how that would work or if its possible on a giraffe but wouldnt it be worth trying to potentially save his life. I mean its not his fault he exists. The zoo allowed his parents to be together were they could produce a genetically hard to place calf. They owe the Marius a chance. I hope that if they do have to kill him that they do something to prevent those giraffes from breeding again because killing a healthy animal is unacceptable in a zoo setting. They owe the animals they create every chance at life.

BBC News - Campaign for giraffe facing death at Copenhagen zoo
 
As a giraffe lover i find this heartbreaking and quite frankly completely the fault of the zoo for the fact that this giraffe is here at this young age being faced with death purely because a breeding occurred and produced this hard to place animal.
He is beautiful!
Wonder why they are simply not neutering him as i know this has been done successfully with hybrid herds at other zoos, and also whether they have indeed exhausted every other collection in which he could be placed.
 
After this sudden exposure and publicity its likely somewhere will offer him a place- that has happened in similar circumstances before.
 
Two possible places are Zoo Lodz, where several giraffes recently died in accident, and Zoo Borysew, a small but quickly developing non-EAZA zoo in Poland, which got giraffe building and first giraffes in 2013.
 
Aren't the giraffes at this age too tall to be transported?
Hope that non-meat parts of giraffe would be preserved (skin & bones). But poor skeleton is likely to be munched on by lions being cut to pieces before :(
Everyone is eager to protect Marius because he's a giraffe, a species considered to be especially beautiful and 'exotic'. If he was a deer or wild boar at the game farm, there would be no protectors - native animals are not so appealing.
 
Elephas Maximus said:
Aren't the giraffes at this age too tall to be transported?.
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Giraffes are never too tall for transport unless the planned move is to be done by air. A special trailer with a raised roof is normally hired and the roof is simply lowered for going under bridges etc. This system allows even full grown males (18ft) to be safely moved around Europe. It's obviously easier to move them whilst younger (and shorter) but this isn't always possible

Some photos below of a trailer in action
EKIPA - vehicles giraffe
 
Anyone heard the news about Copenhagen Zoo - "Animal rights campaigners in Denmark are trying to save a healthy young giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo from being destroyed.

The zoo says it cannot keep the animal, named Marius, because of European rules to avoid in-breeding, and that attempts to find it a new home have failed.

Copenhagen Zoo says it needs to kill the giraffe before it becomes an adult and attempts to mate.

Campaigners say to do so would be barbaric." - BBC News.
 
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