Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens Morelet's Crocs @ Cotswold
- Thread starter Bwassa
- Start date
Some offspring (0.0.4) have already been sent back to Reaseheath College last year. The other 0.0.5 have been retained at Cotswold. I do hope the pair gets the chance to be bred again this year (given its rather precarious state in the wild).
For species conservation it is totally irrelevant whether or not they stay in the UK. I would wish the breeding of Morelet's crocs at Burford last year will set impetus for establishing a credible crocodile breeding programme for this Meso-American taxon. On the continent 2 zoos on ISIS presently maintain adults (one in a pair situation, the other with 2 spare males).
Within the US 0.3.3 are maintained. It would be nice to set up an exchange a make u one breeding group in the US (at the St Augustine Crocodile facility) and have the other females relocate to Barcelona and Burford (in exchange for a male fro Barca to St. Augustine).
Next stage would be to involve the Meso-American zoos with which EAZA has good contacts through ALPZA membership.
The EAZA ARTAG is getting to be more active in crocodilians. Tomistoma, Osteolaemus, Crocodylus mindorensis + perhaps now Gavialis gangeticus are all a step in the right direction.
However, we require sufficient numbers to be assembled from the loners and few crocs available within EAZA zoos + increased international cooperation across regions to be able to set up well designed captive-breeding programmes for other candidate species like C. moreletii, C. rhombifer and C. siamensis (and I would even include C. cataphractus as a good candidate).
The last indications from the ARTAG are good ... so, I am hoping for greater impetus in the next triennium.
However, we require sufficient numbers to be assembled from the loners and few crocs available within EAZA zoos + increased international cooperation across regions to be able to set up well designed captive-breeding programmes for other candidate species like C. moreletii, C. rhombifer and C. siamensis (and I would even include C. cataphractus as a good candidate).
The last indications from the ARTAG are good ... so, I am hoping for greater impetus in the next triennium.
Upali
Well-Known Member
Apparently the Crocs sent to Reaseheath have now been sent to The Blue Planet Aquairum. I didnt think they had the facilities to hold crocodiles to be honest. I wonder what the future is for them though.
I've held those young Morelet's at Reaseheath by the way...really fun little things!!
I've held those young Morelet's at Reaseheath by the way...really fun little things!!
Can you elaborate about the Blue Planet Aqu institution? Where is it based, what is the animal/marine collection like and how are the exhibits over there?
It is based in Ellesmere Port, close to Chester and Liverpool.
From memory it holds the standard aquarium species (also including Otters) it is split into a number of zones such as Amazon, Reef, Rivers, Lake Malawi, Mangroves, Shorelines etc
Blue Planet Aquarium: Home
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
The only place i can thing that they could be keeping them in is the Turtle enclosure which when it first opened housed a pair of Spectacled Caiman,in it but realy would say it will be too small when they are fully grown if thats where they are keeping them.
For small maturing crocs it is not much of an issue. But once space limitations and competitive aggression come into play as these crocs grow larger, the zoo community must seriously re-think their approach to keeping crocs.
Again, I would say it is imperative that for the S.American species Crocodylus moreletii and Crocodylus rhombifer (Cuban croc) + the Asian Crocodylus mindorensis and Crocodylus siamensis EEPs' or an GSMP are instated. At the moment however, the endangered crocs remain yet a fully underrepresented grouping within the coop breeding programmes (as I am afraid are most reptilians and amphibians).
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Yep you are quite correct with that fact.
yes i remember aswell, a juvinile nile crocodile in the pygmy hippo house, and american aligators and the young morlets crocs in the reptile house
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
I was on about where they came from not the fact that they had them!!
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Thats not me being NEGATIVE just stating the fact i was purely confirming that the young Morelets at Heythrop came from Cotswold Wildlife Park.It's still interesting information. Don't be so negative to everyone.