Chester Zoo More news at Chester

Status
Not open for further replies.
bongorob said:
Kitani is expected to calf in September 2008. No other females are pregnant. Manyara and Ema are not currently cycling. Rosie is cycling but she is very erratic.

Kitani is quite neurotic and Manyana has been left with her to keep her company. Around a week before the birth is due she will be transferred to the offshow house, and a week after she has had her baby, mother and baby will be returned to the Tsavo exhibit.

The rest of the cheetahs will be arriving next week.
Click to expand...


Black rhinos: Great news that Kitani is expecting so early in 2008! It seems more sensible now to run Manyara with Kitani (since both are comfortable with oneanother).
a) Do you know the reason both Manyara and Ema are not cycling at this moment?
b) Have both Manyara and Ema cycled previously?
c) What indications are there the introductions with Rosie and Quinto are paying any dividends?

Cheetahs: I suppose these are the Middle Eastern north-eastern cheetahs. Any idea where they have been sourced from (Bustan, Maktoum, Sharjah)?
 
jelle said:
Black rhinos: Great news that Kitani is expecting so early in 2008! It seems more sensible now to run Manyara with Kitani (since both are comfortable with oneanother).
a) Do you know the reason both Manyara and Ema are not cycling at this moment?
b) Have both Manyara and Ema cycled previously?
c) What indications are there the introductions with Rosie and Quinto are paying any dividends?

Cheetahs: I suppose these are the Middle Eastern north-eastern cheetahs. Any idea where they have been sourced from (Bustan, Maktoum, Sharjah)?
Click to expand...

Manyara and Ema have cycled previously, I expect they will do so again.

I believe Rosie is still difficult to integrate.

I was again told that the cheetahs are from Saudi Arabia. Could this be the place of export and not the origin of the animals perhaps? The cheetahs are siblings and once quarantine is completed Chester and Whipsnade will exchange some stock.
 
Great news about the arowanas, turtles, Hornbills, rhinos etc.

There is so much going on at Chester; a great year for the summer school....

What is going on in the exhibit where the yellow mongoose have just been taken from? Which species will go in there?

So chester could have three orang-utan babies in one year? That must be quite an achievement!

Any news regarding the dates for the aviary completion, or amounts of southern bald ibis (one of my favourite species!)?

I hope that Upali will soon start to show that he can be as successful as Chang was...

What will happen with the arowana eggs? Will they hatch and will this be a first breeding?

Thanks Rob, great stuff going on!
 
Writhedhornbill said:
Great news about the arowanas, turtles, Hornbills, rhinos etc.

There is so much going on at Chester; a great year for the summer school....

What is going on in the exhibit where the yellow mongoose have just been taken from? Which species will go in there?

So chester could have three orang-utan babies in one year? That must be quite an achievement!

Any news regarding the dates for the aviary completion, or amounts of southern bald ibis (one of my favourite species!)?

I hope that Upali will soon start to show that he can be as successful as Chang was...

What will happen with the arowana eggs? Will they hatch and will this be a first breeding?

Thanks Rob, great stuff going on!
Click to expand...

Banded Mongoos are where the Yellow Mongoose were.

I don't know anything about the new aviary, nor the ibis.

If the arowana eggs hatch it will be a Chester first, I think they've bred in captivity before though. Two pairs of pin-striped damba have laid eggs in the last few days.
 
Good news, indeed.
Arowana are mouthbrooders and I believe that the Asian form has bred quite frequently in Asia in the past few years, as it is a very popular and prestigious pet in the area. I think that successful breeders allow the male to incubate the eggs until almost full-term (when the yolk sac of the fry has been almost completely absorbed). I suppose that artificial incubation is possible, but natural incubation is probably more successful in the long run - although inexperienced fish may well lose the first brood(s) - so don't count your arowanas before they are free-swimming.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are private breeders in Europe and possibly in this country too. I don't know about public aquaria.
In global terms, the pin-striped damba are probably more important. I think Chester's specimens (or at least some of them) came from fry bred by my friend Tim Henshaw at Bolton Museum some years ago.

Alan
 
That's a great news roundup Rob...

I'm interested that rhinos Manyari and Ema aren't cycling and I wonder why. Also that Rosie IS cycling- that's good news and there's still hope for her in that case reproductive- wise.

Elephants- I wonder why they plan more matings in 2009 and not before?

Orangs- a hattrick of Borneans wouled be great news- even old Martha...

Sibu- if they plan to pair him up and then send him elsewhere the receiving zoo needs to have a very strong enclosure- I've heard he was very destructive at Barcelona (before he was sent to Apenheul..) Colchester want a new pair but I think they are after Sumatrans as they have a Sumatran female already(Djambe, living with Rajang) and so could breed from her too possibly.
 
Does anyone know the time frame for phase 2 of the realm of the red ape? I suppose nothing will be done for years with the pontential 3 new bornean orangutans on their way
 
taun said:
Does anyone know the time frame for phase 2 of the realm of the red ape? I suppose nothing will be done for years with the pontential 3 new bornean orangutans on their way
Click to expand...

As bongorob said, it will probably start once Sibu has gone. Although if there are 3 babies on the way, I doubt work will start until they have grown up a little (2010 perhaps?)
 
Does anyone know whether phase 2 of 'Realm' will contain just Bornean orangs, and whether it will be on a similar scale to Phase 1?
 
Last edited:
Pertinax said:
Does anyone know if Phase 2 of 'Realm' involves the complete demolition of the old building and its replacement, or just its renovation?
Click to expand...

From the original plans it was meant to be a mirror image of phase 1 and only one outdoor area as the Borneans would continue to use the netted area. I believe there is an image of these plans attached to the planning permission for RotRA, so i'll have a look around for them...

Although I wouldn't mind a renovation of the old house, if done right, it could look quite good (saying that though, I'm fond of the old buildings of Chester - rhino house, orang house etc ;))

Pertinax, it will only contain Borneans, I was told that this phase was postponed due to lack of funds at the time.
 
When its all finally completed, they will be able to keep a large numbr of Orangutans- at least double what they've got now, maybe more. It will certainly become the biggest UK centre for this species (it is already really).
 
Am hoping they keep more smaller groups, maybe two of each sub-species? But i read some where here that the close prox of other males might not work.

Will be really nice once its all finished, and hopefully might hol more gibbons
 
taun said:
Am hoping they keep more smaller groups, maybe two of each sub-species? But i read some where here that the close prox of other males might not work.

Will be really nice once its all finished, and hopefully might hol more gibbons
Click to expand...

I don't know about the smaller numbers... the current facilities are holding 11 Orangs quite suitably and when I spoke to a keeper once, he said that the Orangs prefer the company of others (even though the males like the "alone-time" occaisonally.)

I also think that RotRA would be a waste of money to only hold 4 Orangs...
 
Does anyone know where the 2 Bengal tigers will be going to when they leave Chester? Chessington Zoo had 3 female tiger cubs born a couple of years ago that recently were shipped out, possibly one of them may come to Chester?

Re Elephants:

Do you think that they are not going to breed from Thi as she is well represented now? And what is the point in getting rid of Upali in 3 years if he will be coming into his prime?
 
[Quote- a waste of money to keep only 4 orangs in ROTRA.] No, he means 4 groups- two of each subspecies. Say 1.2 in each plus a couple of young = 4 x5 = 20 animals.

I think they could hold more than one adult male of each subspecies too, provided they were kept at opposite ends of the building and didn't come into close contact...
 
Last edited:
The 3 female sumatran tigers went to Burgers Zoo, Arnhem, Netherlands. It`s possible that one (or two?) of them will be moved to another zoo later, though.

Maybe the elephant keepers think Thi needs a rest after so many calves (6 since 1993)? Her youngest son Raman is not yet 2 and many females get into heat again 1-2 years after the birth, it might be better for Thi`s health and overall well-being to give her a longer break.

My first thought on Uplai was that the reason for a move in a few years would be to avoid inbreeding, but he has no daugther yet (Sundara is from Chang, isn`t she?).
 
Pertinax said:
No, he means 4 groups- two of each subspecies. Say 1.2 in each plus a couple of young = 4 x5 = 20 animals.

I think they could hold more than one adult male of each subspecies too, provided they were kept at opposite ends of the building and didn't come into close contact...
Click to expand...

Yeah that was what I mean't
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top