West African River Experience

Jurek7 · 9 Jul 2009

Thanks for species!

I am not comfortable with this exhibit - indoors, smallish, the ground is all concrete (feet!), only two animals of a social species...

jbnbsn99 · 9 Jul 2009

Would I be completely stoned to death on the forum if I said that I secretly kind of liked this exhibit? The idea of having hippos in an aquarium setting seems actually quite natural to me. If you can have dolphins, whales, seals, and sea lions, why not hippos? As for it being indoors, I know from personal experience talking with many keepers that the animals actually prefer being inside. Maybe a combination of indoor/outdoor exhibit at an aquarium for hippos would be the best solution, but I do like the concept shown here. Ok, now I'll prepare for the bombardment of rocks thrown my way.

PAT · 9 Jul 2009

I don't mind the fact that it is all indoors so much but I hate the fact all of the ground is concrete. Maybe a half indoor half outdoor exhibit would be a better solution so that the outdoor exhibit could have natural substrate.

geomorph · 9 Jul 2009

I certainly enjoyed it from a visitor perspective, and the exhibit isn't terribly tiny, in fact the pool was nicely sized and they were certainly active. I can't recall ever seeing more than two hippos in any exhibit anyway...are there any with three or more?

snowleopard · 9 Jul 2009

According to ISIS in North America Disney's Animal Kingdom has 14 hippos (7.7), Denver Zoo has 8 (6 males and 2 unknown), and there are 4 zoos in Mexico that each have 4 hippos. Worldwide there are many zoos with more than a couple of river hippos.

zooman · 9 Jul 2009

As usual with ISIS they could be very wrong. l would say that there are at least 25% more in captivity than listed. That l know of anyway.

PAT · 9 Jul 2009

These Zoos may also be keeping them over multiple exhibits as well. Dubbo Zoo has 4 exhibits for their hippos and Werribee has Three exhibits for their 5 hippos.

tigertiger · 12 Jul 2009

snowleopard said:
According to ISIS in North America Disney's Animal Kingdom has 14 hippos (7.7), Denver Zoo has 8 (6 males and 2 unknown), and there are 4 zoos in Mexico that each have 4 hippos. Worldwide there are many zoos with more than a couple of river hippos.

Right, but how many of those are on exhibit at the same time? Someone could probably speak for DAK and other zoos but...ISIS amounts don't state on exhibit animals.

Maguari · 12 Jul 2009

There are certainly places in Europe with large groups of hippo on show - West Midland and Emmen spring to mind.

http://www.zoochat.com/219/hippopotamus-family-west-midland-safari-park-37246/

http://www.zoochat.com/165/hippopotamus-exhibit-34324/

johnstoni · 5 Mar 2011

jbnbsn99 said:
Would I be completely stoned to death on the forum if I said that I secretly kind of liked this exhibit? The idea of having hippos in an aquarium setting seems actually quite natural to me. If you can have dolphins, whales, seals, and sea lions, why not hippos? As for it being indoors, I know from personal experience talking with many keepers that the animals actually prefer being inside. Maybe a combination of indoor/outdoor exhibit at an aquarium for hippos would be the best solution, but I do like the concept shown here. Ok, now I'll prepare for the bombardment of rocks thrown my way.

Not rocks, just a simple point that none of the other mammals you mention are grazing animals. Hippos are built to almost submerge in water by day, and graze by night. Its not just this exhibit, here in the UK there are several holdings for pygmy hippo where there is no grazing whatsoever. I don't think a 'natural' substrate such as sand or bark chip, apart from being easier on feet, makes much of a difference to a mammal designed to eat grass.

West African River Experience

Jurek7

jbnbsn99

PAT

geomorph

snowleopard

zooman

PAT

tigertiger

Maguari

johnstoni

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