Founder species

[Pertinax]

Didn't they stop keeping hornbills briefly this year? I thought one had left to be paired with a lone bird at Dublin zoo and new, younger hornbills of the same species were arriving from another zoo. I had assumed this meant one of the old breeding pair had died and that there must have been a recommendation for Cotswold to take on a new young pair as they are one of the few collections with experience of successfully breeding this species, as well as having a new flight aviary built recently for them.

Correct on all counts. Last summer their Aviary contained Blue Touracos, with a notice explaining Giant Hornbills would be returning- they may have done so by now but it has broken their continuum with this species.

They also claim to be the first in the UK( & elsewhere?) to have bred them.

 

[Pertinax]

I visited the Cotswold Wildlife Park shortly after it opened, probably in 1971, when the only enclosures were in the walled garden and the section between the garden and the house.

I think I would include White Rhino for Cotswold, as the large Rhino/zebra enclosure was done pretty soon after they opened. Initially they had Grevy Zebra but these disappeared to be replaced with the Chapmans which have been long term since.

 

[gentle lemur]

I didn't know about the hornbills at Cotswold, the old male was still there when I visited last year.
I think I'm right in saying that the big African paddock was the first major development, a year or two after the zoo opened. I think they had ostrich and zebra initially and then they built the housing for the rhinos a little later.
I remember my initial visit because I had just bought my first SLR camera (a Zenith B) and I shot a 36 exposure roll of Tri-X there. I ought to dig out the negatives, I think the best shots were of the trio of smooth otters in their pen (which is still there, virtually unchanged, but holding small-clawed otters now).

Alan

 

[Pertinax]

I didn't know about the hornbills at Cotswold, the old male was still there when I visited last year.

I went in September/October time, by which time he'd gone. They still had the pair the previous year though.

I think there had been at least one(maybe more) replacement bird since the original breeding too.

 

[Pertinax]

I think they had ostrich and zebra initially and then they built the housing for the rhinos a little later.

You are no doubt right. The first time I went they already had the Rhinos, but I can remember it was Grevy (a pair),rather than common zebras then. They also had by then (I think) the Red Panda exhibit, plus the wooded walk area where the Tapirs etc are and the waterfowl lake- which has always been a funny milky white colour(must be the underlying soil type). In the courtyard area was an enclosure with a small breeding family group of De Brazza monkeys- I was sorry to see them later disappear from the collection.

 

[johnstoni]

Straying slightly away from the topic of the thread, I notice that ISIS lists 1.0 Great Indian Hornbill for Whipsnade. I'm wondering whether this is to be trained for display as with the Toco Toucan there.

 

[Pertinax]

Straying slightly away from the topic of the thread, I notice that ISIS lists 1.0 Great Indian Hornbill for Whipsnade. I'm wondering whether this is to be trained for display as with the Toco Toucan there.

I don't know, but you could still link it back to the thread by listing some Founder species for Whipsnade...

 

[kiang]

The first king penguins to arrive at Edinburgh, came a year later in 1914, the first to be seen in captivity.
The first successful breeding in 1919, a worlds first

 

[Tim May]

The first king penguins to arrive at Edinburgh, came a year later in 1914, the first to be seen in captivity.

Sorry but, no, the king penguins Edinburgh acquired in 1914 were not the first in captivity.

London Zoo had a king penguin as long ago as 1865.

 

[Gary]

I'm glad this idea has been embraced so enthusiastically-lots of new info especially for the young-uns and newbies!

 

[Pertinax]

I'm glad this idea has been embraced so enthusiastically-lots of new info especially for the young-uns and newbies!

Its an interesting concept. I'll try and do one for Whipsnade but its not very easy.

 

[gentle lemur]

I used to have a Whipsnade guidebook from the mid-1930s when my mother visited the zoo with some of her family, unfortunately I think I lost it moving house (or in some similar activity). I remember being surprised to see that they had chimps then, as I don't think they stayed long.
I think that the species most likely to have been kept continuously would include lion, tiger, brown bear, wolf, bactrian camel, lama, American bison, possibly giraffe, yak and some deer species - plus of course the 'liberty' species Chinese water deer, muntjac, mara, Bennett's wallaby, peafowl and helmeted guineafowl. Other birds would include white stork, some waterfowl and perhaps emus.

Alan

 

[Tim May]

I used to have a Whipsnade guidebook from the mid-1930s when my mother visited the zoo with some of her family, unfortunately I think I lost it moving house (or in some similar activity). I remember being surprised to see that they had chimps then, as I don't think they stayed long.
I think that the species most likely to have been kept continuously would include lion, tiger, brown bear, wolf, bactrian camel, lama, American bison, possibly giraffe, yak and some deer species - plus of course the 'liberty' species Chinese water deer, muntjac, mara, Bennett's wallaby, peafowl and helmeted guineafowl. Other birds would include white stork, some waterfowl and perhaps emus.

Alan

Whipsnade has not kept American bison continuously; there was an interval when there were none in the collection and it did seem strange that there were no bison on ‘Bison Hill’.

Incidentally, the 1930s Whipsnade chimpanzees were kept on an island; this island and the surrounding moat was used as a pinniped exhibit until comparatively recently.

 

[kiang]

When London closed the Mappin terraces, the herd of north American bighorn sheep were moved onto bison hill at Whipsnade

 

[BonkersBlake]

Flamingo Land I would assume had flamingoes at the start however I do know they had a break from keeping them up until recently

 

[Pertinax]

I think the species most likely to have been kept continuously would include lion, tiger, brown bear, wolf, bactrian camel, lama, American bison, possibly giraffe, yak and some deer species - plus of course the 'liberty' species Chinese water deer, muntjac, mara, Bennett's wallaby, peafowl and helmeted guineafowl. Other birds would include white stork, some waterfowl and perhaps emus.

That's pretty much the list I would have created too, but I know a few of these species have had a 'break' when there haven't been any for at least a short while at Whipsnade e.g;

Lions(after the old pits were closed)
Tiger? ( " ")
American Bison(approx 6 year break before new pair came)

But I think most of the others Alan lists probably fit the bill, including among the Deer herds; Fallow, Axis, Swamp, Sika and the Nilgai antelope(but not the Blackbuck) What about the Hippos?

 

[Pertinax]

Incidentally, the 1930s Whipsnade chimpanzees were kept on an island; this island and the surrounding moat was used as a pinniped exhibit until comparatively recently.

Was this the small 'rocky' island with concrete moat which is at the end of the 'Cherry Tree' walk? I've often wondered what they did for indoor accomodation- were they put out on the Island in the daytime only perhaps?

 

[Tim May]

Was this the small 'rocky' island with concrete moat which is at the end of the 'Cherry Tree' walk? I've often wondered what they did for indoor accomodation- were they put out on the Island in the daytime only perhaps?

Yes, that's the island. No idea about the indoor accommodation though.

 

[Tim May]

What about the Hippos?

Hippos have been kept continuously at Whipsnade since the prolific and long-lived pair ‘Henry’ and ‘Belinda’ arrived in 1950. (‘Henry’ died 1993; ‘Belinda’ died 1995.)

There were a couple of other hippos at Whipsnade, for a short while, before these two animals arrived, but hippos are not one of the species kept continuously at Whipsnade since the zoo opened.

 

[gentle lemur]

What about Whipsnade's Indian rhinos? Have they kept them continuously since Mohan arrived?

Alan