Colchester Zoo New giraffes arrive

karenZOO

karenZOO

Well-Known Member
From facebook

Two new giraffe join the herd and a third on the way!

Wednesday 9th September was a very special day as two baby giraffe arrived at Colchester Zoo after a long adventure from the Czech Republic. The two pure bred Reticulated giraffe are both female a...nd are called Lily and Isha. They are both 14 months old and so are currently too young to breed, but Lily and Isha are hoped to eventually become our breeding females here at Colchester Zoo.

This is an exciting event as Colchester Zoo have not bred giraffes here before and indeed not even housed female giraffe here at the zoo until now, and this is our first step in being able to do so. Furthermore there will be another male coming to join them in late October bringing the total number in the herd to six!

The two females are settling in well. Isha took an immediate interest in Koife, following him throughout the enclosure, which Koife was more than happy to tolerate as he also took a real shine to Isha! Lily however, has been much more independent and is already busy exploring her new home on her own. Isha is already participating in our guests feeds, possibly as she just follows Koife straight into the feeding area! It is very much hoped that by the end of October all five of our giraffe will be present for each feed and there will be the opportunity to choose your favourite giraffe to feed!

The giraffes are all bonding well and are now slowly being introduced to the rest of the inhabitants at Kingdom of the Wild and we are hoping that they will be fully mixed within the next few weeks. To see five beautiful giraffe out in the Kingdom of the Wild paddock is a sight we cannot wait to see!
 
Very exciting news, but a little surprised, as i thought UK zoos were going to concentrate on the Rothschild's sub species.
 
Why should they concentrate on just one subspecies? France and the rest of mainland europe isn`t really THAT far away.
 
Yassa said:
Why should they concentrate on just one subspecies? France and the rest of mainland europe isn`t really THAT far away.
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I thought there were some pure Reticulated giraffes at Whipsnade (but not necessarily non-breeding)?
 
im slightly confused with this decision. They want to breed giraffes. Fine. But they have two hybrids, one pure rothschild and now two reticulated females? Whats going on?
 
They are probably going to move the hybrid and rothschild once the girls reach breeding age. Can't understand why they are bringing in another male though. :confused:
 
Will be nice to see a different subspecies, but can't help thinking the enclosure is a bit small for the increasing number of animals.
 
I guess no pure rothschild females that are unrelated with their only purebred male are/become availible in the foreseeable future, so they decided to take the reticulated females when they were offered them. It means just one more transfer -bringing in an unrelated reticulated male to breed with the 2 young girls, after all 3 current males have been moved out. But 2 of them had to leave anyway if a rothschild breeding grup had been started.
 
Yassa said:
I guess no pure rothschild females that are unrelated with their only purebred male are/become availible in the foreseeable future, so they decided to take the reticulated females when they were offered them. It means just one more transfer -bringing in an unrelated reticulated male to breed with the 2 young girls, after all 3 current males have been moved out. But 2 of them had to leave anyway if a rothschild breeding grup had been started.
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It seems a bit of an incongruous move. Must check the placing regime in the giraffe studbook .... again (LOL)!

However, from the point of view of have a more flexible grouping of 2 pure-bred subspecies it does make sense. More unrelated reticulateds come over to the UK makes for allowing Whipsnade to continue breeding and male offspring to be retained within the UK and sent over to the Continent when need be.

Final: on ISIS Colchester is still listed with 1.0 reticulata, 1.0 rothschildi and 1.0 hybrid ... only (what is it coming to?) ...... :confused:
 
update from colchester from facebook

Hi all!.. thanks for all your lovely comments. All five are settling in really well and are becoming a proper little herd. Century is a pure Rothschild giraffe as you say but the two girls which we have been given by the breeding programme co-ordinator are pure bred Reticulated giraffe and this is why we will be bringing in a new male. The girls are very young at just 14 months old and so are a long way off breeding age and so the herd will be able to stay together for some time to come. the breeding programme co-ordinator will give us a recommendation as to their future home which we will have to abide by. However we hope this will not be for a long time. Our new male giraffe will be arriving in October and then we are pleased to say that we will have 6 giraffe housed at Kingdom of the Wild!
They should all be joining in the public feed every day by Shriek Week so make sure you come along and see our new herd
 
If they have a pure reticulated male, why are they bringing in another? Is it because they plan tol do an exchange with Whipsnade who have no adult male now- but do have an adolescent male(two actually) which would be of the right age group for these new females?
 
Pertinax said:
This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. :confused: If they have a pure reticulated male, why are they bringing in another?

It is possible the new one may be one of the Whipsnade-bred ones, though he may be distantly related to these females(depending on where they came from)

Colchester talk about the herd 'bonding' but the animals of other races they have got will have to leave or be seperated.
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I know they are saying the females are too young to breed, but it also sort of contradicts the studbook (keeping purebred and hybrid at the same place).

As you said, I believe they will either move the existing male to Whipsnade or the new male that comes in will do his a stint at Colchester before moving to Whipsnade.

I just hope they move the existing hybrids out, I know other collections are moving the hybrids out first before receiving purebred animals.
 
I'm glad another Zoo apart from Whipsnade is going to keep Reticulateds.

A simple exchange Colchester x Whipsnade of older male for younger male would seem to be a possibility here if the genetics are okay- maybe this is what is planned. It would save Whipsnade transporting another adult bull from much further away in 'Europe' (sorry Yassa...;))
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
However, from the point of view of have a more flexible grouping of 2 pure-bred subspecies it does make sense. More unrelated reticulateds come over to the UK makes for allowing Whipsnade to continue breeding and male offspring to be retained within the UK and sent over to the Continent when need be.
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It depends on exactly where these new females came from as to whether they are related or not to Whipsnade's. Whipsnades last bull and one of the present females both also came from Czechoslovakia..

Does anyone know the details of the pure Reticulated male at Colchester- his origin, age etc?
 
Both Colchester´s new females (Lily and Isha) came from Dvur Kralove and their father is probabaly Jitu (born at Frankfurt).

The Whipsnade´s adult male Isiolo came from Brno, but was born at Dvur Kralove. His father is Dhaifu (born at Stuttgart).

The staff at Dvur Kralove christens the offspring in their hoofed section with a name, that starts with the same letter as the mother´s name. Thus are Isiolo and Isha probably related, but I don´t know how closely.
 
Jana said:
The Whipsnade´s adult male Isiolo came from Brno, but was born at Dvur Kralove. His father is Dhaifu (born at Stuttgart).

The staff at Dvur Kralove christens the offspring in their hoofed section with a name, that starts with the same letter as the mother´s name. Thus are Isiolo and Isha probably related, but I don´t know how closely.
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The Whipsnade male died this summer. That is why they need a new one. They currently have 2.2. Two adult females- one born at Whipsnade, the other more recent arrival is a huge female named 'Ina'- also from Dvur Kralove so probably related to the two 'I's you mention. They also have two young males born at Whipsnade to the homebred female and the dead male.

Were is the Colchester male from?
 
Pertinax said:
It depends on exactly where these new females came from as to whether they are related or not to Whipsnade's. Whipsnades last bull and one of the present females both also came from Czechoslovakia..

Does anyone know the details of the pure Reticulated male at Colchester- his origin, age etc?
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The Colchester status (31/12/2006) was:
1.0 Koife hybrid (ex Twycross)
1.0 Neo hybrid (ex Chester)
1.0 Edmund (pure-bred reticulated, offspring from Whipsnade)
It seems Edmund's ancestry is a from before the last Dvur cow introduction over there.

So, I am a little worried about Koife ... now!


As to other pure-bred reticulated (31/12/2006):
1.0 Marcus (pure-bred, offspring from Whipsnade) - South Lakes
1.0 Twingo (pure-bred, offspring ex Dvur) - Prescot
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
1.0 Edmund (pure-bred reticulated, offspring from Whipsnade)
It seems Edmund's ancestry is a from before the last Dvur cow introduction over there.

1.0 Marcus (pure-bred, offspring from Whipsnade) - South Lakes
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So Edmund is no good for Whipsnade as he was born there. But in that case maybe he is okay to breed with new Colchester females?

Maybe the 2nd new male coming to Colchester in October is Marcus from South Lakes or Twingo ex Knowsley?

Whipsnade have been unfortunate that nearly all the calves born in their Reticulated group have been Males. The last female calf 'Summer' (born 2003)is their current(only) breeding female. None of the original 2.3 importation is alive anymore.
 
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