I was pondering about that before I read your post but really don’t know.
Inevitably, going back many years, there are a number of records of the species breeding in London Zoo but, in recent decades, there have been very few spotted hyaenas in the UK.
Did spotted hyaenas ever breed in Dudley? (I’m not aware of any being born at Chessington.)
Inevitably, going back many years, there are a number of records of the species breeding in London Zoo but, in recent decades, there have been very few spotted hyaenas in the UK.
Did spotted hyaenas ever breed in Dudley? (I’m not aware of any being born at Chessington.)
Since my comments yesterday, I spent a while this afternoon checking the breeding records in several decades’ worth of International Zoo Yearbooks.
As expected there were very few entries for spotted hyaena births in the UK and I didn’t encounter any for spotted hyaenas being born in Dudley; indeed the only entries I found for spotted hyaena births in England were at Flamingo Land in 1970, 1971 and 1972. Possibly “Parrotsandrew” can supply further details as I think he is a very regular visitor there. (I didn’t have time to check these books quite as thoroughly as I would have liked so it is not impossible that I missed an entry or two.)
Subsequent to the Flamingo Land births, the species was also listed as being bred several times at Belfast Zoo during the 1980s.
(NB Spotted hyaenas bred at London Zoo as long ago as 1868.)
