Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2013

Devi said:
Would it be usual to have the male quite a bit younger? I thought that was the problem with the lions?
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Well if they'd chosen a mature male, then there's a good chance she'd have been killed by him... She's humanised to a point where a mature male might not tolerate some of her behaviours. But I think the theory with this male is that he's still young enough to be in the "cubby" phase of mind (in other words - just wants to play rather than do anything else) so there's a better chance of it being successful...

Obviously breeding is another matter (he won't be mature enough for that for at least another 18 months or so) and it's possible he'll still have to be exchanged in the future if a similar situation happens as it did with the lions. But hopefully by then she'll have picked up a few more tiger social skills from him by then... so time will very much tell
 
Nisha said:
Well if they'd chosen a mature male, then there's a good chance she'd have been killed by him... She's humanised to a point where a mature male might not tolerate some of her behaviours. But I think the theory with this male is that he's still young enough to be in the "cubby" phase of mind (in other words - just wants to play rather than do anything else) so there's a better chance of it being successful...

Obviously breeding is another matter (he won't be mature enough for that for at least another 18 months or so) and it's possible he'll still have to be exchanged in the future if a similar situation happens as it did with the lions. But hopefully by then she'll have picked up a few more tiger social skills from him by then... so time will very much tell
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So do the same worries apply to Tschuna meeting her new male at YWP? She is also humanised.
 
Nisha said:
Well if they'd chosen a mature male, then there's a good chance she'd have been killed by him... She's humanised to a point where a mature male might not tolerate some of her behaviours. But I think the theory with this male is that he's still young enough to be in the "cubby" phase of mind (in other words - just wants to play rather than do anything else) so there's a better chance of it being successful...

Obviously breeding is another matter (he won't be mature enough for that for at least another 18 months or so) and it's possible he'll still have to be exchanged in the future if a similar situation happens as it did with the lions. But hopefully by then she'll have picked up a few more tiger social skills from him by then... so time will very much tell
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Ohhh, thanks for that Nisha, I hadn't thought of that.
 
Tigers:
The Sumatran female is human imprinted? That is not too good news ...! What is the history of breeding from this type of tiger in the Sumatrans?

Giraffes:
Checked ancestry in them large portion among the hybrids was rothschildi and parts reticulata AND tippelskirchi in them. A good mix of hybridisation from collections Marwell, London RP and Dudley (M Simon of old who was a reticulataxtippelskirchi hybrid). And for education's sake: reticulata and tippelskirchi do not have overlapping ranges in the wild!
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Tigers:
The Sumatran female is human imprinted? That is not too good news ...! What is the history of breeding from this type of tiger in the Sumatrans?
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Not good tbh - Studbook analysis reveals very few have ever managed to successfully rear a litter (majority reject cubs at birth and will carry on doing that throughout there (normally short) breeding careers) although several others who do get the hang of things after losing a first or 2nd litter

But these situations can be unpredictable in a positive way... Dublin's 2003cub (Ratna) was handreared from birth before being shipped to Chessington at 12 months old and integrated with a male of the same age. She had her first litter in 2006 (0.3) and reared them perfectly without invention despite being handreared herself. Yet there are several parent reared females in Europe who also don't rear there own cubs

I think the problem with Dudley's twosome has been that afaik neither have ever seen another adult tiger apart from themselves (they were in a separate exhibit in Wuppertal to the resident breeding pair) and hence why they might have missed out on developing normal tiger social skills. It's going to be interesting to follow developments as they are integrated with males (particularly with Tschuna being placed with an older adult male) but as long as both collections involved don't rush things, then they should hopefully not have too many issues. YWP took 9 months to fully integrate there current Tiger pair so I'd assume they will look at a similar time frame for putting Tschuna in with Vlad.....
 
Black and white lemur

Male black and white lemur, Aramis, has left DZG for Howletts as part of a European breeding programme.
 
Farewell Tschuna

Tschuna (Amur tiger) left DZG yesterday for Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
 
Walked past the zoo today, looks like they are still working on the gift shop and have started work on the iconic entrance.
 
Sumatran male due next week

Male Sumatran tiger, Joao, is due to arrive at Dudley "sometime next week".
 
Angel said:
Male Sumatran tiger, Joao, is due to arrive at Dudley "sometime next week".
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Joao and the girls (who are going in the same transport to Welsh Mountain) left Krefeld this morning and are expected in the UK sometime tomorrow
 
Joao's arrival is imminent from local news report. Dudley hopes to continue breeding record for Sumatran Tigers; 8 cubs born between 2000 and 2005, which increased world population of sub-species by 2% (according to zoo website).
 
Also, according to the zoo website; three-year-old Daseep is ranked as the world's second most important female Sumatran Tiger!
 
Joao the male sumatran tiger

has apparently left krefeld and is en route to dudley, hope daseep and joao hit it off and his arrival helps her sadness at being parted from tschuna
 
He's here!

Male Sumatran tiger, Joao, arrived at Dudley yesterday. He'll be held off-show until next week to allow veterinary staff and curators to monitor his behaviour and introduce him to Daseep. His arrival was well reported in the local news.

BBC News - Rare Sumatran tiger winched into Dudley Zoo enclosure

BBC iPlayer - Midlands Today: 14/11/2013

at 22mins 20secs

Dudley Zoo welcomes latest addition | Central - ITV News

Excitement at Dudley Zoo as rare Sumatran tiger arrives (From Stourbridge News)
 
Does anyone know if the Zoo tends to stay open when it snows? I'd like to go have a look when/if it snows.
 
lamna said:
Does anyone know if the Zoo tends to stay open when it snows? I'd like to go have a look when/if it snows.
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I think it may have been shut twice on exceptionally bad days but that's been within a three year time frame. As a rule snow is ok, may be tricky navigating the hill though! :)
 
They did shut early (2pm) one day in January this year due to heavy snow but I think they try and stay open if possible.
 
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