ZSL London Zoo London Zoo Notes.

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I was at London yesterday and I asked the keeper about mating. She told me that the new female being added to the group has settled everything down, since before she was there, Effie was a bit boisterous... And Bobby is mating both Effie and the new female!!!
 
MARK said:
Jersey have done well in the past breeding Gorillas I am a little surprised they are having problems, they seemed to of had a good track record
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It all went wrong when the original male Jambo died, and they imported Ya Kwanza from Melbourne as their new 'breeding' male. He only seems interested in the one female.:(
 
Papageno said:
And Bobby is mating both Effie and the new female!!!
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That's excellent news. I'm hoping to hear one or both are pregnant soon- if not then it has to be a fertility problem. I'm wondering though whether Bobby mated with 'Effie' before the new female arrived or not....
 
I really don't get this news story......you only have to visit Marwell in March and see their hippos out grazing in the field and then see the two at London in what must be ten square feet of indoor concrete pen, most of which is a shallow pool, to know that the reason they are in their 'cosy winter pools' is because there is nothing else for them to do. If they had access to a paddock during winter they would use it, and there is absolutely no reason why ZSL can't allocate some funds to either bridging the two enclosures or building a modest indoor pool either within the stork and ostrich house or as an outbuilding adjacent to the summer paddock. It's a ridiculous situation and making twice-yearly press releases about the keepers chivvying the hippos into another enclosure into some ficticious 'migration' indicating some change in the seasons makes me cringe. This species deserves better at London.
 
For the record johnstoni, the hippos do have a small outdoor area which used to be part of the elephant enclosure. But I agree with you that they deserve better.

Ideally, I wish they could renovate the stork and ostrich house (I don't believe that it is listed) and build a quality exhibit for them by joining up the old sealion pool and the anoa paddock.
 
CZJimmy said:
For the record johnstoni, the hippos do have a small outdoor area which used to be part of the elephant enclosure. But I agree with you that they deserve better.

Ideally, I wish they could renovate the stork and ostrich house (I don't believe that it is listed) and build a quality exhibit for them by joining up the old sealion pool and the anoa paddock.
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Agree with both johnstoni & CZJimmy. Time to direct visitors around the hippo exhibit towards the komodo dragons and construct one enclosure taking in existing 'summer' paddock & pool, bit of road/ footpath between & 'winter' enclosures in Casson Pavillion. Of course, a new purpsoe built hippo house would be preferable but in the interests of keeping costs down, I think the indoor Casson enclosures are OK as long as the outdoor areas are improved.

I suspect the real reason for the move is more to do with the visability of the animals. In the winter, the hippos are naturally more inclined to remain in (heated) indoor quarters (although do probably venture out now and again like the Marwell animals) and there is no public access to the old stork and ostrich house (plus I suspect the indoor quarters there are even less pleasing to the eye than the 'concrete cubicles' in the casson pavillion).
 
CZJimmy said:
For the record johnstoni, the hippos do have a small outdoor area which used to be part of the elephant enclosure. But I agree with you that they deserve better.
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I get the impression the hippos didn't use those enclosures as when I visited in march they held crested porcupines, and the hippos were shut inside. (Why on earth does London hang on to those porcupines?! They just hide and never get a proper exhibit. They would have looked amazing if incorporated into the cotton terraces). The hippos won't go out in the cold just to potter round a yard, they need an area to graze. It's like you won't be likely to see a bristol hippo out and about during the colder months, but again, you only have to look at Marwell to understand that they can be extremely active outdoors given a space to graze. The irony is that London issued a statement about some research into sloth behaviour recently, in that they had no idea sloths could be so active until their pair were put into the new clore biome, because zoos had always previously assumed this species to be completely inactive! Someone should tell them to go see Marwell's hippos on a chilly february afternoon!

I don't think the inside of the stork and ostrich house is particularly ugly, from my memory it is tatty, but the building itself is fairly ornate. I think the issue is with it being listed, and there being no cheap way to install an indoor pool. There was all that stuff about a purpose-built shower a few years back but i suppose it wasn't an acceptable substitute for a pool so they have always maintained the same husbandry regime in terms of winter housing.
 
The whole Pygmy Hippo regime/husbandry/ enclosure at ZSL is a mess. This 'movement' news is just another of their publicity gimmicks but really the hippos are living in totally unsuitable quarters- the elephants old bathing pool coupled with the redundant sealion pool- but there we are.

Does anyone know what hppened to the Whipsnade Pygmy Hippos? They seem to have disappeared.
 
I actually think the summer enclosure is great. I just get the impression that captial expenditure has to be justified in terms of generating revenue, and so you have either expensive brand-new exhibits or overhauls/relaunches of existing houses, or essential maintenance and not much in between. How much would it really cost to install a small outbuilding with a heated pool by the anoas? Not much at all. The pool in the casson is also very shallow...

gestation is around 7 months for this species. So, in London you'll either have to accomodate a birth in that little pool in the casson during winter, or somehow expect the adults to be able to mate in it to facilitate a summer birth (tho they are both separated anyway)...neither seems feasible, and I guess that's one of the reasons why they don't breed.
 
Pertinax said:
Does anyone know what hppened to the Whipsnade Pygmy Hippos? They seem to have disappeared.
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Whipsnade's last Pygmy Hippo died last July and the enclosure was then used as 'winter' quarters for the Red River Hogs (they are now in their 'summer' paddock).

Those ZSL bods just love those 'seasonal' enclosures!?:)
 
Just got ZSL online newsletter and it says Elila, the Okapi is going to give birth very soon.

Don't know if it has already been mentioned...
 
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