Marwell Wildlife Marwell news 2012

[pipaluk]

I know 'departures' aren't normally advertised like 'arrivals' but is there any news about anything leaving the collection in the near future- given I believe there now is some sort of policy to remove some of the non-endangered species?

Fortunately, no further departures are mentioned, though as you say, they probably wouldn't want to advertise any further species lost from the ever diminishing collection!
Apart from snow leopard cubs the only other loss mentioned will be the tigress temporarily held for Blair Drummond.
No news of any new species, sadly and predictably!

 

[Jordan-Jaguar97]

Tiger and Zebra.

I received the latest copy of Marwell News in the post yesterday and having slated previous editions, i was pleaaed to see this one contained a fair amount of current collection news e.g
- arrival of Milla, female Amur tiger from Zlin & that a new male will join her next year.
- new walkrhrough aviary to open at easter (2013 i assume even though it says 2012!)
-snow leopard cubs leaving soon,parents to be mixed again
-articles on gentle lemur twins, olympia the latest giraffe born and new Hartmanns zebra male Gunzo from Southern France amongst others.

Apart from the usual waste of about 8 pages advertising events when 2 would suffice, i thought it was good until the hammer blow on the last page! Apparently each copy sent to the members costs
£1, ( 3 times a year,out of their annual fee of £60!), so this will be the last printed edition sent to members! Great, it will be online in future, very eco-friendly i'm sure, but we don't all want to be online 24-7!!
Another Marwell (Wildlife haha!) own goal!

Has the female ('Bela') held at Marwell for Blair Drummond left yet? I think this female 'Milia' was in the same import Blackpool's female 'Alyona' was in September.

Does anybody if the male Hartmann's Mountain Zebra 'Gunzo' has been successfully mixed with their current 0.3? I think it was a wise choice opting to acquire a 2nd male as their original male 'Bingo' hasn't had any success. Will Marwell move 'Bingo' on?

 

[pipaluk]

Has the female ('Bela') held at Marwell for Blair Drummond left yet? I think this female 'Milia' was in the same import Blackpool's female 'Alyona' was in September.

Does anybody if the male Hartmann's Mountain Zebra 'Gunzo' has been successfully mixed with their current 0.3? I think it was a wise choice opting to acquire a 2nd male as their original male 'Bingo' hasn't had any success. Will Marwell move 'Bingo' on?

The article states Bela will move on by the end of the year.
Gunzo has mated with the females on several occasions amd the indication is that Bingo is still there for the moment, as it talks about it being hoped Gunzo's presemce might encourage his interest in the females.

 

[Jordan-Jaguar97]

The article states Bela will move on by the end of the year.
Gunzo has mated with the females on several occasions amd the indication is that Bingo is still there for the moment, as it talks about it being hoped Gunzo's presemce might encourage his interest in the females.

Excellent news. The UK waited nine years for a Hartmann's Mountain Zebra to be born and three were born from 2011-2012 with the possibility of more foals with Marwell. I hope the only other UK holder not to breed Linton, get their trio breeding.

 

[Pertinax]

.
Gunzo has mated with the females on several occasions amd the indication is that Bingo is still there for the moment, as it talks about it being hoped Gunzo's presemce might encourage his interest in the females.

It is good news they have gone ahead and brought in another stallion in the face of Bingo's failure though I wouldn't be very hopeful that he will change 'Bingo's' behaviour but I guess anything's possible.

 

[Jordan-Jaguar97]

Fortunately, no further departures are mentioned, though as you say, they probably wouldn't want to advertise any further species lost from the ever diminishing collection!
Apart from snow leopard cubs the only other loss mentioned will be the tigress temporarily held for Blair Drummond.
No news of any new species, sadly and predictably!

Do you know when/where the Snow Leopard cubs are going? I believe these were the first cubs since the old female 'Yasmin' was the breeding female and had cubs in 2003/04 (?).

 

[pipaluk]

Do you know when/where the Snow Leopard cubs are going? I believe these were the first cubs since the old female 'Yasmin' was the breeding female and had cubs in 2003/04 (?).

All the article says is that the cubs will be moving to another collection by the end of the year, which implies they are going to the same place. Possible as a temporary move i guess.
I seem to remember there was a fairly young one still in with Yasmin when i visited for the first time in years in 2006, not sure when it was born though.

 

[Jordan-Jaguar97]

All the article says is that the cubs will be moving to another collection by the end of the year, which implies they are going to the same place. Possible as a temporary move i guess.
I seem to remember there was a fairly young one still in with Yasmin when i visited for the first time in years in 2006, not sure when it was born though.

I think that they will be moving to the same collection. The most probable situation will be that the pair will leave together so they have something that will keep them calmer than if they were alone. The collection they are due to go will probably split them up and one will be sent elsewhere. A similar situation to Edinburgh's Sumatran Tigers when they first arrived.

 

[mhale]

I seem to remember there was a fairly young one still in with Yasmin when i visited for the first time in years in 2006, not sure when it was born though.

Yes, that was the male cub Vischnu who was born on 15th August 2005. He transferred to Nindorf, Germany on 14th December 2007. Yasmin's mate, Kiril, died on 10 August 2008 and no more cubs were born at Marwell until last year.

 

[mhale]

Matilda the Rothschild's giraffe gave birth to a male calf on 13th October. This is the second Rothschild's giraffe born at Marwell this year (Ruby was born in January), along with the hybrid calf Olympia born in August.

 

[pipaluk]

Yes, that was the male cub Vischnu who was born on 15th August 2005. He transferred to Nindorf, Germany on 14th December 2007. Yasmin's mate, Kiril, died on 10 August 2008 and no more cubs were born at Marwell until last year.

Thanks mhale, i had a feeling i may have seen the younster more than once and was sure he must have been born later than the 2003/4 previously mentioned.

 

[WookieDog]

cat moves

Bela the Tigress is going to Blair Drummond this month but hasn't gone yet. The two Snow Leopard cubs are not going to the same zoo but probably are going at the same time, as they are going to 2 different zoo's in Northern Italy (Punte Verde Zoo & Le Parco Cornelle) so it will make sense sending them in same shipment. They are working on getting a young male Tiger to join Milla but there isn't one selected yet so they are not guaranteed to have a new male next year.

 

[pipaluk]

Bela the Tigress is going to Blair Drummond this month but hasn't gone yet. The two Snow Leopard cubs are not going to the same zoo but probably are going at the same time, as they are going to 2 different zoo's in Northern Italy (Punte Verde Zoo & Le Parco Cornelle) so it will make sense sending them in same shipment. They are working on getting a young male Tiger to join Milla but there isn't one selected yet so they are not guaranteed to have a new male next year.

Thanks for clarifying these moves, i was only able to quote from Marwell News, which was a bit vague and obviously not quite up to date!

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Matilda the Rothschild's giraffe gave birth to a male calf on 13th October. This is the second Rothschild's giraffe born at Marwell this year (Ruby was born in January), along with the hybrid calf Olympia born in August.

Who is the bull sire for this calf?

The Le Cornelle Zoo in Italia is a new facility for snow leopards?!

 

[mhale]

Who is the bull sire for this calf?

Kismet is the bull sire of this calf.

 

[sooty mangabey]

this will be the last printed edition sent to members! Great, it will be online in future, very eco-friendly i'm sure, but we don't all want to be online 24-7!!
Another Marwell (Wildlife haha!) own goal!

Very, very bad move. The death knell for this place's credibility was sounded when they ceased to produce a proper annual report. Failing to produce a print version of their magazine is just absurd. Oh well - I can't see the place moving forward in any significant way for a year or five yet. A pity.

 

[pipaluk]

Very, very bad move. The death knell for this place's credibility was sounded when they ceased to produce a proper annual report. Failing to produce a print version of their magazine is just absurd. Oh well - I can't see the place moving forward in any significant way for a year or five yet. A pity.

As usual where Marwell's concerned, we are in total agreement ! Yet another backward step and an insult to the annual membership. I'm seriously considering Colchester now, it's cheaper, but it limits me to only one Marwell visit, whereas other way round is unlimited!
I have great affection and loyalty to Marwell, but probably based on what it once was. While Colchester goes from strength to strength i'm afraid Marwell goes the opposite way! I dont think a new entrance will help either, look at Twycross!

 

[TARZAN]

Forgive me,as I am not as familiar with the goings on at Marwell as I am with other respected zoos in the U.K., so I do not feel qualified to make any comment on its present situation, but just a thought, based on what I have read on here, mainly posted by people who I consider to know what they are talking about, has this place, to a certain extent, lost its direction and focus since its founder is no longer at the helm?, just like another well known zoo in the U.K.?

 

[sooty mangabey]

Forgive me,as I am not as familiar with the goings on at Marwell as I am with other respected zoos in the U.K., so I do not feel qualified to make any comment on its present situation, but just a thought, based on what I have read on here, mainly posted by people who I consider to know what they are talking about, has this place, to a certain extent, lost its direction and focus since its founder is no longer at the helm?, just like another well known zoo in the U.K.?

There are others who are better qualified than I am to comment, but, in a word, yes!

Other opinions are certainly available, and there are many who like Marwell as it is now, but to my mind it is a zoo that has a denuded collection, displayed in enclosures that are aesthetically-lacking. There are many empty spaces within the zoo, and it is not a particularly uplifting place to visit. Worst of all, though, is the way in which, in losing its annual report, now its magazine, in the way in which it presents itself, it just doesn't seem to be particularly interested in being a zoo. I would far rather visit Twycross, I must admit.

 

[pipaluk]

There are others who are better qualified than I am to comment, but, in a word, yes!

Other opinions are certainly available, and there are many who like Marwell as it is now, but to my mind it is a zoo that has a denuded collection, displayed in enclosures that are aesthetically-lacking. There are many empty spaces within the zoo, and it is not a particularly uplifting place to visit. Worst of all, though, is the way in which, in losing its annual report, now its magazine, in the way in which it presents itself, it just doesn't seem to be particularly interested in being a zoo. I would far rather visit Twycross, I must admit.

I have to agree with Sooty's comments, particularly the organisation's interest in being a zoo, it seems far more interested in its other conservation projects, which prior to this one, has often been reflected in the magazine.
I just feel as a collection, it lacks ambition and direction- its one of the few zoos i visit regularly and feel nothing seems to have changed, other than another species being lost. They also seem to waste money on things that don't make much difference to my zoo experience e.g a planned new entrance . The only major money spent on enclosures recently were for existing species and the penguin & cheetah ones were mainly visitor focussed external cosmetic changes to existing ones. Other than that you have the african valley(ok, but a vast area displaying existing species only, whose previous enclosures were fine) and restaurant. In addition there has been a new meerkat enclosure & the servals have a new smaller but adequate enclosure as their old one was given over to hold more cheetah.
Very few new species in the last 5 years and the white-tailed gnu were left on the hardstanding for 2 plus years until recently.
Overall, i just would like to be surprised by something, but i rarely am!