West Midland Safari and Leisure Park 'Big' news from West Midlands

RTB1987;302080 Despite people thinking that they'd have to go down the Edinburgh route of having 2 males the article shows in fact they've received a breeding pair.[/QUOTE said:
'Sophie' is from Rotterdam I think? (without looking- correct me if that's wrong) while I know 'Rap' is the name of the young male from Whipsnade.

Maybe they will change males when Sophie is ready to breed as this male is three years younger than her so will mature later- or perhaps send her away for mating the first time around. But they'll make good display anyway.
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Sophie originated from Rotterdam-Blijdorp Zoo and is actually 4 years old (b. 12/2005 - Planckendael x Basel) and already able to conceive. She had been at Whipsnade for some time on depot.

Rap is the 2 year old male born at Whipsnade (b. 11/2007 - SD-Zoo x Nepal founder). He is definitely not mature and will not breed for another 5-6 years. He is extremely valuable to the breeding programme though ....

I cannot yet think of a suitable candidate from within the EEP to pair with Sophie ... yet.


As to the reasons for not considering bachelor males only as a collection enters the Indian rhino EEP: I suspect that the ratio of M / F has something to do with this ... as probably will the fact that both latest new holders (Beauval and Bewdley have previous experience of a rhino species management .. and breeding).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Sophie originated from Rotterdam-Blijdorp Zoo and is actually 4 years old (b. 12/2005 - Planckendael x Basel) and already able to conceive. She had been at Whipsnade for some time on depot.
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So Whipsnade only had Sophie temporarily to pair up with their young male before they went on to West Mids. Could she go back to Whipsnade to be bred with Hugo or are they too closely related?

Or how about with Chester's new male? (geneticwise)
 
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wmsp have released a statement on their website stating that the rhinos are now on shw and they are called sophie and rap sorry if already mentioned
 
Nisha said:
Rap is a half brother to Chester's new bull. So that could work?
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Really, from a genetics point of view Rap is the best combination with Sophie currently possible in Europe. It is rather unfortunate that he is 2 years junior to Sophie .... All other combinations carry genes from the far over-represented breeding lineages of Basel.

There would be not much difference in taking Baabuu .. as he is even more related to the Basel lineage. Chester do well to breed him to the unrelated SD-Zoo female Tanaya to come in later this year.


Alternative options:
A) I would favour a similar swap for some unrepresented lineages (NY Bronx and Toronto) becoming available to European studbook holder.

B) Another grand opening would be to take in some of the non-breeding wild born bulls from Indian zoos (and swap for some cows of overrepresented lineages).
 
Thanks for that kiang - frankly I'm surprised they've taken this long to jump on the meerkat/lemur bandwagons.


Although it will ruin one of the oddest collection balances in the UK - a zoo whose only primate species is an Aye-Aye!
 
A little more meat on the bones, regarding the new African village exhibit.

A NEW walk-through attraction, in the style of an African village, is planned for West Midland Safari Park, in Bewdley.

The village and woodland walkway would house small animals including lemurs, meerkats, sheep, Gambian pouched rats, goats and tortoise.

It would comprise an entrance building and giftshop, nine small buildings for animals and six buildings for visitor viewing platforms or storage.

The proposal will go before Wyre Forest District Council planning committee on Tuesday, November 9 and planning case officer Emma Anning has recommended approval, subject to conditions.
 
Is the development part Childrens Play and Animal Touching Area and part savannah type liased exhibits for meerkats, pouched rats and tortoises?

Incidentally, any idea which species of tortoise? Are we talking Madagascans or Continent (spurred or leopards)?
 
Ring-tailed lemurs, white-fronted brown lemurs, red-bellied lemurs and black and white ruffed lemurs are the new species of lemur confirmed for the new lemur woods exhibit.

West Midland Safari Park
 
Phillipine Deer in UK.

Nisha said:
A female Philipine Spotted Deer has been born and an additional male is due in from Poland shortly
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ISIS lists the Phillipine Deer in the UK as follows;

Chester 0.3
Colchester. 1.3
Newquay. 1.2.1
West Midlands. 2.1.1

Did Chester send some males to Knowsley? (not listed) So do Chester currently only have three females now?
Newquay I think had 2.1, rather than 1.2.
West Midlands presumably now- with this recent female birth- have either 2.2 or 3.2, or is that incorrect too?:confused:

If a new male arrives from Poland, will one of the current males from West Midlands be sent to Chester, or don't they in fact need one?

Any update on these numbers at any/all locations would be welcome.:)
 
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Is it just me or are there no references at all to leopards now on the West Mids website? Not on the map, not in the animal A-Z or the Discovery Zone page. Are they now leopardless?
 
Maguari said:
Is it just me or are there no references at all to leopards now on the West Mids website? Not on the map, not in the animal A-Z or the Discovery Zone page. Are they now leopardless?
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Good point. They're still in the photos advertising the Discovery Trail, but they're no longer listed on ISIS.
 
Thought I would e-mail the park about the leopards as I love big cats and was interested to know if they had moved them on and what was now in the glass box this is the reply I recieved ths morning (20-02-2011)

Dear Adrian.
Thank you for your enquiry. The two Amur leopard brothers were moved to an off show enclosure at the end of 2010. They now have a larger inside area than they used to and an outside area where they are not disturbed by the public. It is unfortunate that they are not able to be put on display at the moment to educate the public about this endangered big cat, but the environment in the discovery trail was not ideal for them.
Keepers are monitoring how they settle in their new environment. WMSP is still contributing to research projects the results of which will aid the Amur leopard reintroduction programme. Currently our Ring-tail Lemurs occupy this space until the African Village is ready for them at Easter.

I hope this helps
 
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