In the ISIS global database there are a pair of pygmy hippos in Whipsnade. The male is 3 years old and he arrived to Whipsnade from Aguilas Jungle Park, Spain at July 2008. The female 12 years old and she arrived from Aalborg, Denmark at October 2008.
For some reason it always seems to be hippo exhibits that excel in displays of pointless and out-of-reach foliage serving to accentuate rather than conceal the otherwise concrete and metal enclosures. If modern zoo exhibitry is conservation theatre, then hippo houses must be the equivalent of the infant school-play.
While it is brave (and exciting to zoo nerds) for Whipsnade to allow visitor access to the indoor area, the pool in the foreground is a good example of why indoor hippo pools don't make particularly good exhibits without powerful filtration. I hope one day Whipsnade invest in a really modern exhibit, with an indoor hippo pool that has underwater viewing, filtration, and even fish, in a tropical-house setting.
High tech expensive exhibits is not what Whipsnade is about. It's essentially a paddock zoo; hippos do extremely well there under the existing conditions. A fancy display would take money away from [for example] the capital needed to house and maintain [for example] several Indian Rhinos and a breeding herd of Asian Elephants.
High tech expensive exhibits is not what Whipsnade is about. It's essentially a paddock zoo; hippos do extremely well there under the existing conditions. A fancy display would take money away from [for example] the capital needed to house and maintain [for example] several Indian Rhinos and a breeding herd of Asian Elephants.
I disagree that Whipsnade is just a 'paddock zoo'....when the Tecton elephant house was built, it was considered at the forefront of zoo design, similarly when the marine mammal centre was built, it was seen as very forward-thinking. Certainly a light, modern, immersion-style hippo house could be constructed to be low-impact both aesthetically and in terms of materials.
Budgets for maintaining existing stock and enclosures are not usually raided in order to pay for new capital expenditure projects, so I would also disagree with the idea that a top-rate exhibit at Whipsnade would somehow 'take away' from the zoo's existing ability to house the species you mention.
In some ways I agree with you about 'fancy exhibits' - the Whipsnade hippo house attempts to make an 'exhibit' out of the hippos, when perhaps a house with a simpler row of indoor stalls and pools, perhaps with outdoor viewing windows rather than access into the house for visitors, would have sufficed.
