Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo News 2020

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and National Museums Scotland are playing a central role in the establishment of the UK’s first national zoological biobank with the launch of their biobank facilities. Located at the National Museums Collections Centre and Edinburgh Zoo, the infrastructure will improve storage and distribution of animal genetic material for conservation and research:

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and National Museums Scotland contribute to UK’s first zoological biobank | Edinburgh Zoo
 
Young male Red Panda , Ruaridh, will make the journey to Zoo de Lille in France as part of the breeding programme this week.
 
Quincey said:
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is celebrating a record breeding year after 57 wildcat kittens were born within the UK conservation breeding programme in 2020:

Record breeding year for critically endangered wildcats | Edinburgh Zoo
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That is an incredible number and a huge boost to the in situ efforts. A mean just over 2.5 cubs per litter.

Can someone tell me how pure-bred the current captive stocks are?


BTW: I have always been inclined to believe that Scottish wild cat Felis sylvestris grampia is a relict subspecies of the more common European wild cat Felis sylvestris sylvestris. I have read here and there they had been considering bringing in European wild cat from the Continent (do not know how realistic and true though).

These sources seem to signal as much:
1) European Wildcat (Felis silvestris) Classification ~ Wild Cat Family
2) European Wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) - Wild Cats Magazine
3) https://wildcatconservation.org/wild-cats/wildcat/

The IUCN Red List has been updated as much separating the Felis sylvestris into 2 subspecies with one Turkey-Caucasus and the other Continental, including Scotland

I would welcome any fundamental genetics study on the individual relationship of museum specimens of Scots wild cats (Kellan) with the those from the European Mainland to suggest otherwise.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Can someone tell me how pure-bred the current captive stocks are?
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None of the captive population are 100% pure. But because the founders entered captivity some long time ago they(or their descendents) are considered of higher purity (from DNA testing) than many/most of the remaining 'wildcats' that are still living wild. It still all seems a bit of a grey area really...
 
Pertinax said:
None of the captive population are 100% pure. But because the founders entered captivity some long time ago they(or their descendents) are considered of higher purity (from DNA testing) than many/most of the remaining 'wildcats' that are still living wild. It still all seems a bit of a grey area really...
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Right, a strategy used also for the Amur leopard captive program and succeeding of late.


However, I wish they would include large scale trapping of all wild cats across the Scots Glenns and forests, so we can have a restart. I admit you would have to be ambitious, but bringing back the wild cats from the brink is a good cause to fight for.

I know they cordoned of a segment as protected Scots wild cat territory, but I would like them to be more ambitious and get to the heart of the hybridisation issue. It is a question of numbers coupled with populations versus occupied territories coupled with individuals. Feral cats should be trapped out as should all domestics around wilderness areas (of which Scotland has a darn good landscape, if in part modified by the grouse/deer hunting communities).

Rewilding Scotland look out for that! They are reforesting some areas with original tree cover.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
However, I wish they would include large scale trapping of all wild cats across the Scots Glenns and forests, so we can have a restart. I admit you would have to be ambitious, but bringing back the wild cats from the brink is a good cause to fight for.
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There has been talk of bringing more pure wild cats into the captive population but the problem is they don't appear to be able to find any...all the wildcats that are trapped and tested prove to have at least some % of domestic blood. There is a strict scale of 'purity' evaluation, but it has not helped discover any populations, at least so far, which are completely clear of any hybridisation at all.
 
I would though think it is imperative that all feral cats and domestic cats wandering about the wilds are trapped and removed. It will be a huge effort, but it will be quite worth it.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
I would though think it is imperative that all feral cats and domestic cats wandering about the wilds are trapped and removed. It will be a huge effort, but it will be quite worth it.
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There is a major trap/neuter/release programme for feral cats in force across the several 'high' priority areas where its though genuine wildcats( or close to) may still be living, including free(?) neutering of domestic pet cats. The TNR scheme works on the premise that if the neutered cats are re-released rather than being 'removed', they will retain the territories that other non-neutered cats would move into if they were absent. So it is labour-saving in the long run as it doesn't have to keep being done over and over again. At least that's the theory.
 
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@Pertinax, thanks for sharing. They certainly have a point there (it is similar to red fox here in competition with grassland and meadow birds. The foxes are not the issue, the management of the grassland by intensive farming practice is ...., yet the foxes get to be blamed (sometimes, unfortunately). Well, feral and wandering domestic cats remain a problem and not just in wilderness areas.

Do you care to mention which areas are part of the project program?
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
@Pertinax, thanks for sharing. They certainly have a point there (it is similar to red fox here in competition with grassland and meadow birds. The foxes are not the issue, the management of the grassland by intensive farming practice is ...., yet the foxes get to be blamed (sometimes, unfortunately). Well, feral and wandering domestic cats remain a problem and not just in wilderness areas.

Do you care to mention which areas are part of the project program?
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Just look on 'Scottish Wildcat Action', or (its now been updated to a new organisation) 'Saving Wildcats' website or FB pages. Its all explained there. There are five(?) main ares they are concentrating in, Morvern in West Scotland and four others in the Central/Eastern Highlands.
 
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Zoo Seeks to Extend Giant Panda Loan

Most of this article is stuck behind a paywall, but the long and short of it is the zoo wants to extend their loan on their Giant panda (which expires 2021).

Personally, I feel resources could be better spent elsewhere; especially considering this pair has failed to breed in the decade they’ve been at the zoo.

Zoo seeks talks with China to extend panda pair’s loan deal | Scotland | The Times

Edinburgh Zoo wants to extend the loan of two giant pandas, which are due to be returned to China next year.

David Field, chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns and operates the zoo, said that formal talks with the Chinese authorities were set to take place in the new year.
 
I had wished they would return to China so the zoo can focus on the rest of their collection and maybe even do some conservation on the side
 
Zoofan15 said:
Personally, I feel resources could be better spent elsewhere; especially considering this pair has failed to breed in the decade they’ve been at the zoo.
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Completely agree. I can understand the appeal of wanting to keep the Giant pandas, but a better outcome would be for the pandas to return to China so that the zoo can introduce other threatened species. The pandas staying at Edinburgh Zoo just seems pointless.
 
Mattaki said:
Why the hell are they doing this
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Because in an ideal world they’d get a baby and that means money, it’s incredibly risky and in my opinion stupid as they’ve not had a baby to date, they’ve also become a staple of Edinburgh zoo and they’d have to change their branding and the panda area, which only opened the other year.
 
Jude T said:
Because in an ideal world they’d get a baby and that means money, it’s incredibly risky and in my opinion stupid as they’ve not had a baby to date, they’ve also become a staple of Edinburgh zoo and they’d have to change their branding and the panda area, which only opened the other year.
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It's more than incredibly risky I would agree it is in fact incredibly stupid.
 
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