Coyotes in UK zoos?
- Thread starter coyzoozoo
- Start date
Zootierliste does not list any coyote currently in the UK; nor does it list Port Lympne as ever having had the species.
The only zoo in the UK where I've ever seen coyote is London Zoo and that was many years ago.
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I agree with Tim. London Zoo had several species of dogs, including coyotes,opposite the Bird House. This area was incorporated into the 'Lion Terraces',which was recently replaced by 'Land of the Lions'.
Zootierliste lists the following dogs that London Zoo kept in the 1960s and 1970s: Arabian, Arctic,fennec and crab-eating foxes and the wolf. It does not list coyotes, but,like Tim, I reckon I saw them. I also remember seeing at least one species of jackal, as well as New Guinea singing dogs.
Zootierliste lists the following dogs that London Zoo kept in the 1960s and 1970s: Arabian, Arctic,fennec and crab-eating foxes and the wolf. It does not list coyotes, but,like Tim, I reckon I saw them. I also remember seeing at least one species of jackal, as well as New Guinea singing dogs.
The area opposite the Bird House was the old Deer & Cattle Sheds; the dogs were moved there from the North Mammal House after the deer were rehoused on the Cotton Terraces.
Subsequently, some of the dogs were moved to the area behind the sea-lions where the gibbons are now.
Incidentally, the old Deer & Cattle Sheds also housed a maned wolf and a bush dog during this era.
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I think I might have a poor photo of a coyote at Regent's Park from the early '70s. But I may have to send out search parties to find it. I do have photos of the old bushdog and maned wolf, which were the only one in the UK at that time, and I remember raccoon dogs in the old Deer & Cattle sheds as well as most of the species that Dassie Rat mentioned.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Coyotes were first received at London Zoo in 1843, or possibly in early 1844. Between 1909 and 1927, 38 were born, with "many of them successfully raised". At least 13 were born at the zoo in the 1960s, but the species left Regent's Park in 1983. I doubt very much they will ever return, to London. A shame: they're an iconic species, with a fascinating story to tell, and I would love to see them in the UK again.
There were both New Guinea singing dogs and dingoes as well as hybrids between the two....
Three side-striped jackals were received in 1964.
(In addition to the species already mentioned, there was also a bat-eared fox in the old Deer & Cattle Sheds back in the days when London Zoo had a big collection of canids.)
There were, I believe, exactly thirteen coyotes born at the zoo in the nineteen sixties: one in 1962, three in 1966, seven in 1967 and two in 1968.
I do remember an old 'Zoo Time' TV show from London Zoo with an American zoologist explaining to Desmond Morris that the word coyote should be pronounced "kai oot".
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Thanks for this Tim; I'm missing one annual report for the 60s, hence my equivocation. Those reports do speak of an extraordinary number of animals churned out by London Zoo - with he same caveat as for the Coyote figure, at least 40 Pumas born in the decade always strikes me as an extraordinary figure. Where did they all go? (Possibly best not to know).
Nobody I know over here pronounces the word that way. Maybe it is a regional pronunciation.
How do you pronounce it, then?
kai-oh-tea
Continuing this digression from coyote:-
There were actually forty-five pumas born at London Zoo during the 1960s which, as you say, is an extraordinary figure.
(Fortunately, I have the complete run of ZSL Annual Reports for the 1960s but, frustratingly, I am missing one from the 1950s and three from the 1940s. Every year at ZooHistorica, I always hope I'm going to acquire the missing editions needed to fill those gaps but, sadly, never do.)
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That is pretty much how it is pronounced here. In Wisconsin, different people call it either kai-oot or kai-oh-tea but not because of different pronunciations - Coyot is short of Coyote. I believe it has been that way for a long time.
Yeah that's just about how I've always heard the two names used.
Given the extensive hybridization of Coyotes and native wolf species in the United States, does anyone know where the European populations originated from?
~Thylo
When you guys are spelling kai-oot - is that pronounced with the last syllable rhyming with boot? I've only heard the short form as kai-oat to rhyme with boat.
FunkyGibbon
Well-Known Member
I have to confess if I didn't think about it I would say koi-oh-tea.