ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Hoof-stock at Whipsnade

[kiang]

I was inspired to start this thread by a passage from Tim Browns excellent new book The IZES guide to British zoos and aquariums.
Within the review of Whipsnade is one line that caught my eye, and got me thinking, and i quote.

"I still think that more could be done with rare ungulates at Whipsnade. This isn't a place that should compare poorly with Tierpark Berlin's collection of hoof-stock, but it does."

I read this and thought Tim is spot on with his wording here, Whipsnade is recognised as possibly the UK's premier hoof-stock collection, but within that collection there is precious little to get the hardened zoo enthusiast excited, as was said compared to the truly eclectic collection at the Tierpark.
Yes there is, at the moment the largest group of Indian rhino in Europe, a highly successful herd of Grevy's zebra, along with the herd of Iranian onager.
White rhino still breeding well, the UK's only gaur, rarely seen nowadays hog deer.
Massive herds of Nile lechwe and barasingha.
But where are the, what we would consider more unusual, left field species, that these glorious 600 acres would so ideally suit?
The Tierpark really is a shining light when it comes to its magnificent hoof-stock collection, with such rarities as Somali wild ass, kiang, kulan, Hartmann's zebra, Baird's tapir, mountain reedbuck, mishmi takin, Afghan urial, musk oxen, white lipped deer, Bactrian wapiti, Tule elk and Vietnamese sika deer amongst others.
Therefore i wondered what other zoochatters views were on this situation, are you happy with the collection as it stands?, what species would you bring in?

 

[Cat-Man]

i think one of the first answers would be musk ox
i have also heared rumors of Barids tapir coming to whipsnade

 

[CiaranDUK]

You forgot that they have a large variety of Deer and the fact that they have Yak! I would like to see more desert/scrub hoofstock at Whipsnade as the Scimitar Horned Oryxes have a very large enclosure all to themselves! Maybe Gerenuk? I would also like to so them acquire Giant Sable Antelope too.

 

[Pertinax]

the herd of Iranian onager.
, the UK's only gaur, rarely seen nowadays hog deer.
Massive herd of barasingha.
are you happy with the collection as it stands?, what species would you bring in?

I agree Whipsnade nowadays is rather a shadow of its former self regarding Ungulates. Also, the 'herd' of Iranian Onager is only 1.3 plus 1.0 bred there, with two of the females only arriving recently. The Gaur are constantly teetering on being lost, with currently only a female and her male offspring. The Barasingha number 25-30, small in comparison to e.g. Woburn's herd and also probably now very inbred with no infusion of unrelated stock ( this probably applies to many of their ungulate herds generally). Blackbuck, previously a thriving herd, now number 2.1. Nilgai have dwindled. The largest herds of deer are Chital, Hog Deer(fewer)Fallow, 'Manchurian' Sika and Pere David, all retained primarily to fill up the Asian Plains area.

There are any number of species which it would be interesting to see them acquire, however I can't remember the last time anything new in the ungulate line arrived(rather than left) at Whipsnade.

 

[lechweoryx]

I agree. I think Whipsnade should feature gazelle species like Mountain, Dama or Dorcas.

Also are Dama and Mhorr gazelles the same as they look exactly the same apart from Mhorrs have more chestnut colouring?

 

[CiaranDUK]

Whipsnade should invest into getting Walruses! God knows they've got the space and that'll bring everybody in the UK through their doors!!

 

[Richie Hell]

Another problem with Whipsnade is a large proportion of the deer, the Yak, the Blackbuck, and the Lechwe and Arabian Oryx (when I went) are only properly visible from the drive through area, which costs a lot of extra money for an expensive car ticket, or expensive train ride.

Ends up you miss out on a large amount of the hoofstock. I only managed to get a look at the Pere David's Deer from the path.

 

[CiaranDUK]

Another problem with Whipsnade is a large proportion of the deer, the Yak, the Blackbuck, and the Lechwe and Arabian Oryx (when I went) are only properly visible from the drive through area, which costs a lot of extra money for an expensive car ticket, or expensive train ride.

Ends up you miss out on a large amount of the hoofstock. I only managed to get a look at the Pere David's Deer from the path.

Yeah that is a problem!

 

[zoogiraffe]

i have also heared rumors of Barids tapir coming to whipsnade

I`ve heard some rumours about Whipsnade but this is a new one on me!!

 

[kiang]

I`ve heard some rumours about Whipsnade but this is a new one on me!!

There was certainly a rumour on here not so long ago, of a Brazilian tapir coming to Whipsnade.

 

[zoogiraffe]

There was certainly a rumour on here not so long ago, of a Brazilian tapir coming to Whipsnade.

That would make more sense than them getting a Brazilian as opposed to a Bairds!Although I believe its all gone quiet on the front of them getting Tapirs now!

 

[Cat-Man]

Whipsnade should invest into getting Walruses! God knows they've got the space and that'll bring everybody in the UK through their doors!!

actually, cotswold plan to aquire walrus in the near future

 

[kiang]

actually, cotswold plan to aquire walrus in the near future

And your source for this is?

 

[zebedee101]

Nobodys mentioned the Kudu yet. Was there at the weekend and there seemed to be 2:2 blackbuck but 10 years ago had a huge herd with a bachelor group where the sloth bears are now.

 

[mammalguy]

okapi and dromedray camels

 

[Paradoxurus]

It would appear that species such as the Blackbuck, Nilgai and many of the deer are being passively 'phased out' as, lets face it, none of these are EEP species. What doesn't make sense is that as each of these populations die out, they are not being replaced with anything - worthwhile or not.

The Bison have never flourished, Moose didn't (despite a UK first breeding), Musk Ox didn't. Thompson's Gazelles, Bontebok, White-tailed Gnu etc. have all died out.

If you think about it, species that the park still maintains are relatively hardy. Perhaps the geography of Whipsnade is not conductive to the successful husbandry of many hoofstock species. If you consider the facilities that ungulate-rich zoos such as Dvur Kralove have to over-winter their animals, perhaps a comparable collection is out of bounds for Whipsnade. Or perhaps the idea of Whipsnade being the UK's premier ungulate collection is not at the forefront of the current managements mind.

 

[Zambar]

Cat-Man, how did you get that rumour? Are you just picking out random animals and collections out of the hat?

I think Marwell is currently leading the way in terms of ungulates: 34 species including the UK's only Sable Antelope, Dama Gazelles and Dorcas Gazelles along with rarities like Somali Wild Ass, Hartmann's Zebra, Arabian Oryx, Addax, Roan Antelope, Black Wildebeest, Mishmi Takin and a breeding group of Okapi. However I do feel that Whipsnade is still capable of managing equally impressive numbers and I'd love to see both import other rarer hoofstock over here, such as Bontebok, Thomson's Gazelle, etc. However, I think Paradoxurus is right in saying that it wouldn't be a current management priority, especially when they are generally overlooked by regular visitors.

 

[Tim May]

Whipsnade is probably my favourite UK zoo but, given that Whipsnade has lots of space for herds of ungulates, the hoofed-stock collection is a little disappointing these days; it is nowhere near as good as it used to be. I would certainly like to see ungulate collection enriched.

i think one of the first answers would be musk ox

Agreed; I would love to see musk-ox back at Whipsnade.

In addition to the musk-ox, I would like to see black rhinoceros return and I hope that a replacement male hippopotamus is acquired. I also agree that a gazelle species would be good; I miss the Thomson’s gazelles that used to be there.

It would also be nice to get some more rarely seen Asiatic ungulates; perhaps kiang, takin and white-lipped deer.

I can't remember the last time anything new in the ungulate line arrived(rather than left) at Whipsnade.

Weren’t the Nile lechwe the last really significant new ungulate species at Whipsnade?

 

[Pertinax]

It would appear that species such as the Blackbuck, Nilgai and many of the deer are being passively 'phased out' as, lets face it, none of these are EEP species. What doesn't make sense is that as each of these populations die out, they are not being replaced with anything - worthwhile or not.

The Bison have never flourished, Moose didn't (despite a UK first breeding), Musk Ox didn't. Thompson's Gazelles, Bontebok, White-tailed Gnu etc. have all died out.

Or perhaps the idea of Whipsnade being the UK's premier ungulate collection is not at the forefront of the current managements mind.

I think that is exactly what is happening.

 

[Pertinax]

Weren’t the Nile lechwe the last really significant new ungulate species at Whipsnade?

Probably so. Someone mentioned the Kudu- for many years there were just five/six females- remnants of the ZSL Cotton Terraces group. I heard they tested positive for some (nonlethal) disease and were deliberately not being bred from. However on my visit this last summer a new young male Kudu has appeared so maybe it indicates a deliberate intent to breed from them again.

I also hope they bring in another male Hippo.

Not so sure about Black Rhino. They have a pretty abysmal record with them, both during the period when they bred them and particularly since then. If they did have them again, I think they should construct a decent house/enclosure first. The primitive 'barns and yards' system is not really good enough for them.

As I said previously, another consideration is that I believe some (most?) of the ungulate herds have not received new blood for many generations. Possibly inbreeding is why species like Blackbuck have dwindled to almost nothing. Some of the Barasingha have 'wall eyes' and the stags have degenerated antler growth compared to wild specimens.