Chester Zoo Asian Plains
- Thread starter taun
- Start date
Pertinax was right. The rhinos were turning the whole area into a swamp.
taun
Well-Known Member
I wonder if they are going to try and the let the grass grow back or put something underneath to try and help the roots
I am concerned about the drainage of many of the paddocks at Chester. Very few of the ungulates were out on their paddocks on Saturday (just the lechwe, Beisa oryx, sitatunga, guanaco and the Philippine spotted deer whose hooves were sinking into the mud). The open-air enclosures on both sides of ROTRA were very wet too. Even the sand for the onagers and the scimitar-horned oryx looked very wet and muddy. As I mentioned in a previous post, there was a digger and a large hole in the big Tsavo paddock, with water welling up from beside the path near the meerkat sculpture. I can't remember seeing anything like it before.
I know we've had wet weather recently and any zoo can have muddy paddocks at this time of year, but I can't help thinking think that something may be going badly wrong.
Alan
I know we've had wet weather recently and any zoo can have muddy paddocks at this time of year, but I can't help thinking think that something may be going badly wrong.
Alan
It sounds really bad
. Just a quick question, is beisa oryx another name for Gemsbok because the two seem to look extremely similar and i thought that chester only have gemsbok but gentlelemur put beisa oryx as one of the ungulates that were out. The thing that confuses me is that in kenya, we saw some 'Beisa Oryx' as our guide described them but if they are the same, then i thought gemsbok only lived in southern africa?????? Thanks in advance.
Chester's built on very heavy clay soil - that's why they have all the canals and such - it was taking advantage of the local conditions. This does mean, however, that they do get drainage problems. The Asian Plains animals generally had restricted access to the paddock in winter even in the pre-rhino days.
Thankyou ZooMania.
Of course! I did know that, just a brainfart I'm afraid. They did keep Beisa oryx where the warty pigs are now, but that was 50 years ago
Alan
Oryx gazella has traditionally been treated as one species with five subspecies, two of which are the gemsbok (O.g.gazella) of southwest Africa and the beisa (O.g.beisa) of the Horn of Africa. Fairly recently taxonomists have split O.beisa from O.gazella. As is usually the case in taxonomy, not everyone agrees with this split, but for those that do the gemsbok and beisa are now two species (with the latter including the fringe-eared oryx as a subspecies, O.b.callotis)
I won't say I told you so but I knew this would happen. I remember the original(very first) Indian Rhino enclosure at Whipsnade and it used to be a morass of mud in winter, and hard-baked earth in a dry summer. When the Indian rhinos first arrived there (before even my time) I've seen photos and the enclosure was good pasture, but these animals are so heavy they churn up any paddock, let alone one on clay and prevent any grass growth permanently for as long as they use it. Whipsnade's current Indian rhino enclosures are much, much larger and now stay green apart from the regular pathways they use and the areas around their wallows.
If I were Chester I would not try and keep them with the deer and antelope anymore.
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the first (and sadly only time) i've been to chester i didn't think the indian rhinos were out, until i was later informed by my sisters that the rocks were in fact the rhino's in the mud wallow. at first i didn't believe her at all...up until the point bubbles appeared from beneath the mud and i could finally see the rhino!
2 sections of Asian plains were fenced off today
- the sandy area close to the elephant bridge
- the area with the mud wallows
It looks they are letting the grass in the middle section grow back again by allowing the hoofstock access to the sandy bit and the rhino access to the wallows.
- the sandy area close to the elephant bridge
- the area with the mud wallows
It looks they are letting the grass in the middle section grow back again by allowing the hoofstock access to the sandy bit and the rhino access to the wallows.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Was like that yesterday as well forgot to note it in here so thanks czjimmy for doing it some how don`t think itwill work unless we get a dry spring and summer!!!!
taun
Well-Known Member
You're right it wont work unless they seriously look at investing in some decent drainage. However 2 tonne of rhino walk over the top will probably break any pipe they lied under ground. Even soakaways or filter drains would not help enough.