Altina Wildlife Park Altina Wildlife Park News 2024

Tiger91 said:
Considering how dominant female meerkats can act to other females. Bellatrix would be fitting if she were to be put into a breeding situation lol. Just as zoo fan said, they can be quite ruthless.
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Meerkats are indeed ruthless; but what’s interesting is pregnant subordinate females are just as inclined to kill the newborn pups of other females (including the dominant female). The dominant female will therefore evict pregnant subordinates to ensure the survival of her litter. Sometimes they’re allowed back; but more often, they disband and form their own group. Studies have found it’s typical for a group to contain a dominant female several years old and multiple females under two; but no two year old, three year old subordinate females etc.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Meerkats are indeed ruthless; but what’s interesting is pregnant subordinate females are just as inclined to kill the newborn pups of other females (including the dominant female). The dominant female will therefore evict pregnant subordinates to ensure the survival of her litter. Sometimes they’re allowed back; but more often, they disband and form their own group. Studies have found it’s typical for a group to contain a dominant female several years old and multiple females under two; but no two year old, three year old subordinate females etc.
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Meerkat manor covered this exceptionally well. While they added a story line for the drama. They actually documented and displayed meerkat social dynamics exceptionally well. While of memory publishing papers of there work. Meerkats are typical of the mongoose family, cute but ruthless.
 
Tiger91 said:
Meerkat manor covered this exceptionally well. While they added a story line for the drama. They actually documented and displayed meerkat social dynamics exceptionally well. While of memory publishing papers of there work. Meerkats are typical of the mongoose family, cute but ruthless.
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Meerkat Manor was by no means a bad series, but was pitched at the level of the general public and by their own admission, used composite footage sometimes to portray a storyline.

What I LOVED was the accompanying book by Tim Clutton-brock. It comprehensively covered the entire history of the group with countless details missed out in the series (including infanticide) to make it family friendly. It included detailed information regarding the social structure of the species and findings of their research, which spanned several years. It’s well worth a read if you get a chance.
 
Zoofan15 said:
What I LOVED was the accompanying book by Tim Clutton-brock. It comprehensively covered the entire history of the group with countless details missed out in the series (including infanticide) to make it family friendly. It included detailed information regarding the social structure of the species and findings of their research, which spanned several years. It’s well worth a read if you get a chance.
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I remember reading that many years back! Was certainly one of my favourite books for quite a period of time - would also recommend it as not many publications delve into as much depth as Tim did with his research into Flower's family.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Meerkat Manor was by no means a bad series, but was pitched at the level of the general public and by their own admission, used composite footage sometimes to portray a storyline.

What I LOVED was the accompanying book by Tim Clutton-brock. It comprehensively covered the entire history of the group with countless details missed out in the series (including infanticide) to make it family friendly. It included detailed information regarding the social structure of the species and findings of their research, which spanned several years. It’s well worth a read if you get a chance.
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I will have to get the book and have a read sounds good! thanks for the suggestion!.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Slender-tailed meerkat pup named:

The female pup has been named ‘Hermoine’.

0.1 Hermoine (08/12/2023) BOP x Padfoot

She joins BOP, Padfoot, Mooney, Tilly, Remus and Weasley.

Let’s hope a Slytherin name for the male pup can turn the tide!
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The male meerkat pup has been named Fred:

50 points each will be taken from Gryffindor.

The family are therefore as follows:

1.0 BOP
0.1 Padfoot
1.0 Weasley (09/03/2023) BOP x Padfoot
0.1 Moony (09/03/2023) BOP x Padfoot
1.0 Remus (08/07/2023) BOP x Padfoot
0.1 Tilly (08/07/2023) BOP x Padfoot
1.0 Fred (08/12/2023) BOP x Padfoot
0.1 Hermione (08/12/2023) BOP x Padfoot

At this rate, it might not be long before we hear news of a new litter to this successful breeding pair.
 
Abbey said:
Via Facebook, Altina has had another successful birth of a species in their care for the first time, with the species in question yet to be revealed.

Spotted hyena is a strong possibility, given that's what we've guessed in the past.
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Hyena's certainly a strong possibility imo, especially with the recent pairing.

Other than that the only other species that comes to mind is the White Rhinos, which would be great news if they have finally managed success with either of their two girls.
 
Abbey said:
Via Facebook, Altina has had another successful birth of a species in their care for the first time, with the species in question yet to be revealed.

Spotted hyena is a strong possibility, given that's what we've guessed in the past.
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Jambo said:
Hyena's certainly a strong possibility imo, especially with the recent pairing.

Other than that the only other species that comes to mind is the White Rhinos, which would be great news if they have finally managed success with either of their two girls.
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Spotted hyena or Southern white rhinoceros are the dream, but the pre-announcement seems somewhat understated, so my money is on something smaller. An achievement no doubt, but not as ground-breaking as either of those two species.

Perhaps a primate speices…
 
Zoofan15 said:
Cotton-top tamarin infant named:

The infant has been named ‘Chica’ meaning ‘young lady’ in Spanish.

0.1 Chica (29/01/2024) Mateo x Cali
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I find it funny how Zoos give species from Central and South America Spanish or Portuguese names. It's like giving species from South Africa, Tanzania or Kenya, English names.

At the end of the day, I think Zoos just want unique or exotic-sounding names, to differentiate their animals from pets or circus animals. Rather than actually care about the exact location a species originates and the indigenous languages to said location.

A Cheetah called 'Bobby' petifies it too much
 
Swanson02 said:
I find it funny how Zoos give species from Central and South America Spanish or Portuguese names. It's like giving species from South Africa, Tanzania or Kenya, English names.

At the end of the day, I think Zoos just want unique or exotic-sounding names, to differentiate their animals from pets or circus animals. Rather than actually care about the exact location a species originates and the indigenous languages to said location.

A Cheetah called 'Bobby' petifies it too much
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To be fair, Spanish is spoken by over 99% of people living in Columbia, while South Africa, Tanzania etc. also have African languages that are widely spoken. In Columbia, I see many of their rivers and cities etc. are named in Spanish too, which often inspire the names of zoo animals from South America.

In this particular instance, the name was chosen by a supporter of the zoo.

It’s interesting to see a recent trend of conservation field workers choosing names for zoo animals. Hamilton Zoo have done this for Nepalese red panda and Sumatran tiger; and Perth Zoo with tree kangaroo. I think this is a great idea as we get more original names than the generic lists you find on baby name sites (Berani, Zuri etc) and we get names that pay homage to the species native range. It’s also a nice way to highlight the link between zoos and conservation.
 
Zoofan15 said:
To be fair, Spanish is spoken by over 99% of people living in Columbia, while South Africa, Tanzania etc. also have African languages that are widely spoken. In Columbia, I see many of their rivers and cities etc. are named in Spanish too, which often inspire the names of zoo animals from South America.

In this particular instance, the name was chosen by a supporter of the zoo.

It’s interesting to see a recent trend of conservation field workers choosing names for zoo animals. Hamilton Zoo have done this for Nepalese red panda and Sumatran tiger; and Perth Zoo with tree kangaroo. I think this is a great idea as we get more original names than the generic lists you find on baby name sites (Berani, Zuri etc) and we get names that pay homage to the species native range. It’s also a nice way to highlight the link between zoos and conservation.
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While that's true, aztec languages are spoken still, and would be a better fit. Using Spanish is like using English names for all the native animals we use indigenous names for.
 
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