Zürich had a breeding group of this extremely rare species in the 1980's. They can not be found in any zoo today.
This picture was taken by Steve Romo. He gave me permission to post some of his remarkable photos here on ZooChat.
Zürich had a breeding group of this extremely rare species in the 1980\'s. They can not be found in any zoo today.
This picture was taken by Steve Romo. He gave me permission to post some of his remarkable photos here on ZooChat.
@Middle Man: Isn't there one or two zoos in India exhibiting this species?
- Anyway: Thank you for sharing this shot with us. I could kick my ass not having taken a picture of them when I was young (although I had only a cheap camera with no zoom at that time)
I am not aware of any pygmy hogs in Indian zoos. Of course it would be nice if there were some, but I had only heard of some captive pygmy hogs in a special breeding project. I believe it was directly at Kaziranga NP.
I may be wrong but I thought they were kept in an offshow area- such as a converted greenhouse? I think they were being quarantined for eventual arrival at Jersey, but never got there.
The Pygmy Hog breeding centre in Assam was/is outside the capital city of Gauhati. Its several hours drive from there to Kaziranga.
I saw Pygmy Hogs there but not at the Zoo in the city.
I may be wrong but I thought they were kept in an offshow area- such as a converted greenhouse? I think they were being quarantined for eventual arrival at Jersey, but never got there.
That's pretty much what happend. Gerald Durrell agreed the transfer of three pairs (3:3) from India to Jersey in 1976 (although as you say they never made it that far). Sadly politics and a lack of communication resulted in only a pair being exported (they arrived in November 76) and in May 1977 a litter of 4:1 piglets were born to this pair, but sadly due to lack of mates for them they couldn't be bred and the last one died at Zurich in 1984
About the exhibit:
IF I remember correctly (I was a child/teenager in that time), the pygmy hog had their exhibit right behind the Exotarium-Building (if you walk uphills from the entrance). This space was later used by the lowland tapirs and is now not used (just bushes and trees) and/or maybe part of the new Pantanal exhibit (I don't have any exhibit plans with metric datas to be sure).
in May 1977 a litter of 4:1 piglets were born to this pair, but sadly due to lack of mates for them they couldn't be bred and the last one died at Zurich in 1984
That's right, I remember now. I think the only female in that litter died young, leaving just males- with a better sex ratio they might have perpetuated them as I believe they aren't difficult to breed once settled- they can be prone to stress I think.
I was reading through the International Zoo Yearbooks and found out that Catskill Game Farm had Pygmy hogs in 1988, does anybody know more about this ?
