Common Hippos in the UK (and Dublin)

C

CZJimmy

Well-Known Member
Following on from the discussion in the Whipsnade report thread, I'd thought I'd create a seperate discussion on the hippo situation in the UK.

Currently the collections featuring hippos are:
- Whipsnade 0.2
- West Midlands 1.8
- Longleat 0.2
- Flamingo Land 1.2
- Dublin 2.1

Total: 4.15

Of that total, 2 males are considered useless for breeding (WMSP and Flamingoland) so that leaves the father and son at Dublin.

Now i'm a little unware of the situation of the female hippos, but I'm guessing that some of females must be getting on in age, so the total will decrease in time.

Anyone know any of the details regarding the females and the Dublin males?

I just hope some hippos from european zoos can be brought in soon.
 
CZJimmy said:
Following on from the discussion in the Whipsnade report thread, I'd thought I'd create a seperate discussion on the hippo situation in the UK.
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You beat me to it CZJimmy.

I know the two females at Longleat are considered to be past breeding age.
 
i think british zoos are more focused on pygmy as they are much more rarer jimmy

and the longleat ones are 1.1 i think cos they always used to refer to them as him and her!
 
Tigerlemurguy said:
i think british zoos are more focused on pygmy as they are much more rarer jimmy

and the longleat ones are 1.1 i think cos they always used to refer to them as him and her!
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Nope Longleat definitely have 2 females. I remember something about them think that they had 1.1 but they later found out is was actually 0.2. Interesting fact that sonia was named after one of the keepers ex girlfriends that he had recently split with when they recieved the two animals. :p
 
taun said:
Nope Longleat definitely have 2 females. I remember something about them think that they had 1.1 but they later found out is was actually 0.2. Interesting fact that sonia was named after one of the keepers ex girlfriends that he had recently split with when they recieved the two animals. :p
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hehe, thanks for that

w00t 350th post too!
 
I think the Dublin males are father and son . The old male is tame , I met him in his enclosure with an IZES group about 10 years ago and put a carrot into his mouth ( he was in his pool ) . I think the breeding female died after being 'fed' a tennis ball when her last baby was quite young . A new young female was later brought in .

Please correct me if I am wrong on this information .

There ws also a male at Woburn which died in 2006 .
 
Tigerlemurguy said:
i think british zoos are more focused on pygmy as they are much more rarer jimmy
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I posted this comment in the Whipsnade report thread, but it's still apt here.

I know you say that zoos are focussing on pygmys rather than common ones due to the rareity, but I think it is more a case of modern UK zoos lacking the facilities for the common hippos (f.e. you can't imagine common hippos at London, Edinburgh or Bristol).
 
The West Midlands females all come from the ones that used to be kept at Windsor before it closed some where along the hippo enclosure they have the family tree but its a bit out of date now,before any one ask don`t have a copy of the family tree.
 
yes i agree they require much bigger facilities, you should see the barcelonas ones they have a terrible cramped pool :(

and i recon i could see london having common hippos, isnt the outdoor pool big enough you recon?
 
Bele said:
I think the Dublin males are father and son . The old male is tame , I met him in his enclosure with an IZES group about 10 years ago and put a carrot into his mouth ( he was in his pool ) . I think the breeding female died after being 'fed' a tennis ball when her last baby was quite young . A new young female was later brought in .

Please correct me if I am wrong on this information .

There ws also a male at Woburn which died in 2006 .
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woben had a hippo, were was it kept, how long did thay have it, where did it come from
 
does anyone else recon that london could fit a few common hippo in thier outdoor pool?
 
CZJimmy said:
Anyone know any of the details regarding the females and the Dublin males?
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I keep forgetting the two at Longleat, don't know why.

Regarding the other females, I think Flamingo Park's two are from the West Midlands Group.

Whipsnade's are Nigna(oldish/middleaged) and the latest daughter(Ema?) aged about 3 years. I think the last calf was a female too- it was called 'Etosha' she left Whipsnade at about the same age this one is now- presumably they sent her to Europe?


West Midlands- females are various ages, some do not appear to be full grown. Not sure why the male doesn't breed- he may still be too young?

Common Hippo is a good exhibit species- much better than the more popular Pygmy in my opinion. but expensive to house properly and being non-endangered makes them less desirable for many zoos. I hope Chester really do exhibit them again in future.

Taun mentioned Chester stil 'own' two common hippos. Where are they?
 
Pertinax said:
Taun mentioned Chester stil 'own' two common hippos. Where are they?
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I havn't got a clue, but I read on here somewhere when discussing Chester potentially getting Hippo's back that they still owned two.

I would of thought Ben was one, but he has now passed away. So I gather his mother was the other one? But some of this is guess work between what has been discussed here, am sure someone else will beable to correct me or fill in any gaps?
 
Would love to see a world class common hippo enclosure in the Uk, something to rival the exhibits at Berlin, Copenhagen, San Diego or Disney WAK.
The one thing that makes all these exhibits is surely the inclusion of underwater viewing which in return requires one hell of an expensive filtration system, or else u can get a 10,000 gallon tank of pea soup!

I have always thought to truly replicate a wild hippo group would be the provision of night time grazing, obviously a cold climate zoo could not provide such an area in the winter but perhaps with late opening of a zoo this could be made a feature as in the willd they come out of the water to feed after dark.
Does this happen at the night zoo at Singapore?
 
taun said:
I havn't got a clue, but I read on here somewhere when discussing Chester potentially getting Hippo's back that they still owned two.
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Its quite possible when Chester went out of Hippos originally that their animals were placed in other zoos and the 'loan' is still existing even if the animals have since died. So they could be given replacement animals because of that. Mind you, they aren't difficult animals to source really.
 
kiang said:
Would love to see a world class common hippo enclosure in the Uk, something to rival the exhibits at Berlin, Copenhagen, San Diego or Disney WAK.
The one thing that makes all these exhibits is surely the inclusion of underwater viewing which in return requires one hell of an expensive filtration system, or else u can get a 10,000 gallon tank of pea soup!

I have always thought to truly replicate a wild hippo group would be the provision of night time grazing, obviously a cold climate zoo could not provide such an area in the winter but perhaps with late opening of a zoo this could be made a feature as in the willd they come out of the water to feed after dark.
Does this happen at the night zoo at Singapore?
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Does the Night Safari have hippos??? I don't remember seeing them. Anyway from what I understand the the exhibits of all animals are on the small side to encourage them close to fences and windows. You just cannot tell because of the clever lighting system.
 
CZJimmy said:
If you're referring to the old sealion pool, then absolutely no! There is no where near enough room in both the pool and on land.
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But it the old sealion pool is bigger than the whole area that the hippos had when Dudley Zoo had them,and with that i mean the house,outdoor pool and land area,i only saw it with a pair of Brazilian Tapirs in and it wasn`t very good for them.
 
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