It was longer ago than that. London did have Hartmann's in the 1980s for a while, and even bred a foal. But they wanted to mix zebra with giraffes again, so they went (to Paignton?) to be replaced by Chapman's. Otherwise ZSL involvement with this animal goes back a good 30 years. Tim May might know more.
London had them in the 1960's to as they bred a few foals before the group (whole?) moved to Whipsnade in 1969. I don't think Paignton's mixed as they've always been on the 'hill' paddock.
Blackpool's male is rather aggressive but he is a proven male. Maybe if Blackpool's foal Tebogo would move to either Linton or Marwell and the Linton male to move to Paignton? I
1. Aggression and ability to breed are often related. In a species like this unaggressive males that can't dominate mares are likely to be rejected by them. I think that's the problem at Marwell currently.
2. That's an option for the future perhaps but won't help present breeding. Paignton shouldn't need a male for a year or two now. I would advocate trying Linton's male at Marwell and Blackpool's proven one at Linton (or Marwell) depending on any relatedness with the females.
In the 1960's London/Whipsnade had the only Hartmann's in the UK! At least one foal was born at Whipsnade as there is a postcard. I think they moved between the two Zoos more than once. They were finally moved to Marwell to join that group. They are listed in the Hartmann's studbook somewhere if anyone wants to research the movements/dates.
“Heidi” was born at Marwell in 1992; she was sent to South Lakes in 1996 and then returned to Marwell about three years later. She has been at Linton for almost five years.
I've always thought that Linton's zebra paddock is ridiculously big for only 3 zebra, it puts most elephant/rhino enclosures to shame & covers about a third of the whole zoo!
I am quite surprised that my Linton Zoo photograph has generated so many comments.
However, following on from the points raised:-
I well remember the Hartmann’s mountain zebra at London Zoo in the early days of the Cotton Terraces. (Equids were well represented then as, in addition to the mountain zebra, there were also Grevy’s zebra, plains zebra, onager and Przewalski’s horse - plus lots of other ungulates too; how times change!) As Jordan has already pointed out, London Zoo’s Hartmann’s mountain zebra were transferred to Whipsnade in 1969.
Hartmann’s mountain zebra were kept again at London Zoo during the nineteen eighties; as Ian has mentioned these were sent to Paignton. (This was in 1991.)
There were certainly Hartmann’s mountain zebra at Whipsnade in the nineteen fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties but I don’t think that there were any there into the nineties.
Jordan mentions the animal “Pippa”; the studbook shows she was born at Marwell, was sent to Whipsnade, then transferred to London, then to Paignton and finally returned back to Marwell.
Lastly it is worth mentioning that although I’ve always known Hartmann’s mountain zebra as a sub-species, Colin Groves considers that Cape mountain zebra and Hartmann’s mountain zebra are two distinct species.
It is a great shame that the former leading holder/breeder of Hartmann's in the Uk should currently be in this situation. Isn't it over a decade now since they last had a foal there? And no sign of any current breeding.
