Banham Zoo Banham Zoo Mixed African Paddock?

Jacobea said:
On that topic (but slightly off Banham) - are there any African Buffalo in captivity anywhere or are they just too dangerous :confused:
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Cape Buffalo are mixed with African Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Antelope and Ostrich at Boras Zoo in Sweden. They have also been mixed with hippos at Longleat and the African Experience stock at Port Lympne in the past.
 
Zambar said:
Cape Buffalo are mixed with African Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Antelope and Ostrich at Boras Zoo in Sweden. They have also been mixed with hippos at Longleat and the African Experience stock at Port Lympne in the past.
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The buffalo were shipped back to Africa before the African experience was opened, they were mixed with the black rhino in their breeding enclosures
 
I thought Port Lympne had some Beisa oryx amongst the hoofed stock they imported for their African Experience .
 
Cheers all :) That's something new I've learnt, since I've been calling them "African Buffalo" for years and thought that the Cape ones were a sub-species of some sort! They're commoner than I thought.
 
Jacobea said:
Cheers all :) That's something new I've learnt, since I've been calling them "African Buffalo" for years and thought that the Cape ones were a sub-species of some sort! They're commoner than I thought.
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I thought that "African Buffalo" (S.caffer) was the species, then the Cape Buffalo and Forest Buffalo were both subspecies.

EDIT: a quick check of the scientific names seems to indicate that they are both subspecies of S.caffer and a look at ISIS has WMSP down as Cape Buffalo and Knowsley down as just African (although i'm inclined to believe zoogiraffe on this one that both groups are Cape)
 
CZJimmy said:
I thought that "African Buffalo" (S.caffer) was the species, then the Cape Buffalo and Forest Buffalo were both subspecies.

EDIT: a quick check of the scientific names seems to indicate that they are both subspecies of S.caffer and a look at ISIS has WMSP down as Cape Buffalo and Knowsley down as just African (although i'm inclined to believe zoogiraffe on this one that both groups are Cape)
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I also thought they were both cape buffalo, but looking at them at knowsley on recent trip they do look quite different from what you expect from a cape buffalo. Where as WMSP do look the part.
 
taun said:
I also thought they were both cape buffalo, but looking at them at knowsley on recent trip they do look quite different from what you expect from a cape buffalo. Where as WMSP do look the part.
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Knowsley claim them as an East African subspecies (I believe), but yes they are what most people refer to as Cape/African Buffalo (the short-tempered big black ones). They also have the smaller red Congos too.

Going back to other discussions on this thread:
Gerenuk are a very delicate species, with specific requirements; not a species that would be likely in a rough and tumble mixed exhibit. My suggestion would be a nice tough herd species, impala come to mind, but would obviously require an import.

Caution should also be used in mixing birds in an ungulate-based exhibit for the same reason. Many cranes and storks have suffered at the hands (heads, horns etc) of large mammals. I would avoid the scenario unless there was a suitable 'mammal-free' zone. Egyptian geese and guinea fowl are tough customers that would work though.
 
Anything added to Banham will just seem more suited to Africa alive. I don't really understand why Banham ever introduced giraffe if competition with their sister park was ever an issue (although the enclosure is very good).

Now they have this species, I would suggest nothing they don't have already; use the large area to keep lots oF cranes, guineafowl, with a herd of grevys zebra (or exchange these for the Africa Alive zebra group), some eland, and maybe a group of camels, using dromedary in place of the current bactrians.

Someone made I think the best point already.....banham have historically been well-known for primates (although how successful they have actually been with them as opposed to having kept many species is another matter), and I think the fence could be electrified sufficiently at little cost for a large troop of vervets, or even baboons.

But what I would personally like to see is the existing black and white colobus group join the giraffe, some zebra, and the eland, with possibly a group of crowned cranes, depending on how much space and how many zebra and eland there are.
 
tetrapod said:
My suggestion would be a nice tough herd species, impala come to mind, but would obviously require an import.
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The trouble with impala is that they retain their natural 'flight' instincts into captivity, and can be a bit problematic. John Knowles, founder of Marwell, relates to this in his autobiography when he mentions that the herd they kept when they opened had fatal collisions into chain-link fencing when they were spooked.
 
I've often thought Vultures would be cool in an African paddock, but they'd need to be pinioned (sp?) or a seriously big cage would need building lol.
 
Ha I guess but I've seen more risky mixes.
 
Ash said:
I've often thought Vultures would be cool in an African paddock, but they'd need to be pinioned (sp?) or a seriously big cage would need building lol.
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ZOOM-Erlbeniswelt (Gelsenkirchen) have vultures on one of their big savannahs, along with kudu, sable, springbok and zebra (and guineafowl!). It's quite possible, but as you say, I assume they are pinioned.
 
I thought there's bound to be somewhere that does it. ZOOM certainly looks like an interesting place.
 
Sevaral north american zoos also have pinioned vultures on their savannas. I can't decide whether or not I like it, on the one hand the animals get a dramatically larger area than they would in an aviary, on the other they are unable to fly.
 
They often can't fly anyway though in aviaries, but then if they were ever moved to another zoo where they have the ability to fly. If they were pinioned then the ability to fly is taken away permenantly. Not sure if I agree with it either.
 
I still don't quite understand what pinioning does? Is it basically just sewing up their wings so that they can't be outstretched.
 
It involves the removal of the small bone of the wing that supports the primary flight feathers. The birds can still stretch and open their wings for sunbathing/threat displays etc, but if one wing is pinioned they cannot fly. It's basically wing-clipping but permanent. Of course, the key is that the bird be unbalanced, so that only one wing is ever pinioned (which means that very occasionally a pinioned bird that has moulted on the non-pinioned wing in the right way can make a break for it!)

More info (including a neat summary of the obvious ethical implications) here: [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinioning[/ame]
 
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