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Chester Zoo News from visits 2012
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This makes Zoochat sound like a cosy little gathering, online currently - 36 members and 289 guests!
Most users ever online 613!
A random photo of Dylan the chimp having an ECG
Heart monitoring pads are applied to Dylan the Chimpanzee whilst cardiologist Stohr carries out a cardio ultrasound examination at Chester Zoo
Heart monitoring pads are applied to Dylan the Chimpanzee whilst cardiologist Stohr carries out a cardio ultrasound examination at Chester Zoo
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
Matt, it would be far better if your "UNUSED ACCOUNT" remained that way than be used to insult participants of this website.
Its taken Chester a long time to get this far in establishing a potential breeding pair.
Hopefully there will now be a calf in due course-next year perhaps, if so it will be the very first ever born in the UK outside Whipsnade.
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Asha is only Chester's second female. In captivity female Indian rhinos can start breeding at four years old, but tend to breed at six. If Chester breed it will be only the second place in the UK to breed Indian rhinos as you have said.
At WMSP there male is coming up to five years old so breeding may occur there too, if not before Chester or after them.
The difference is at West Midlands the young bull is two(?) years younger and therefore smaller than the female, so may have difficulty mating her until he is larger. At Chester the bull is older than the cow which is the better ratio. Of course the ones at West Mids could still possibly be first though.
I'll post the pics of him trying if that would help
Its fairly unusual to pair a younger male with a larger female for that reason
. I imagine it was done in this case because these two animals were available for new homes and so West Mids were happy to get a pair when they did. It might delay successful breeding a bit longer than otherwise though.
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Its fairly unusual to pair a younger male with a larger female for that reason
Wasn't the female at West Mids moved to Whipsnade to get to know there male before moving them?
I believe these two needed to be moved on as Whipsnade were expecting there two calves.
The female originally came from Rotterdam(I think). You may be right she went to Whipsnade first, I can't remember, but they had presumably already identified their future home at West Mids.
Back to Chester news......
Her name is Sophie.. she was moved to Whipsnade in October 2009. Mainly because Rotterdam had another calf due in January 2010 and needed her gone before then, but the house and enclosure at WMSP were not scheduled to be ready until the New Year (around the same time as the latest calf was due) Whipsnade provided a stop gap for her until her quarentine was over and the exhibit at West Mids was ready... As said it also gave her a chance to meet the male before they were eventually passed onto Bewdley in January 2010
For when it's needed...
http://www.zoochat.com/38/chester-2012-news-2-a-264486/
http://www.zoochat.com/38/chester-2012-news-2-a-264486/
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
I thought this was the case, thanks for clearing that up.
So at one point Whipsnade held 2:4 with another two on the way. If West Mids exhibit wasn't finished in time and they had the two calves then that would result in Whipsnade holding 3:5. Could they Whipsnade hold this number of Rhinos? If they had three stalls in the new house which would mean a pair in each and another pair in the old house, would this work?
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Yes she did. Arrived at Whipsnade on 11th March 2009 from Rotterdam, then moved to Whipsnade in January 2010. She was quarantined at Whipsnade before moving to West Mids.
On paper probably just about, but in reality maybe not as they have less paddocks and hardstands. But it didn't happen. I think I.2 + two or more calves is their normal limit.
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
There current breeding females were imported from Nepal and so may have lived in bigger herd. Could it be possible that they have mixed together before?
On that note, a bull, two females and a calf or two sounds about right. Whipsnade's bull is the second biggest I've seen, comparing him to Nico the bull at Terra Natura, there is quite a size difference.
I've said a lot on the Whipsnade rhinos, now back onto Chester news.
On that note, a bull, two females and a calf or two sounds about right. Whipsnade's bull is the second biggest I've seen, comparing him to Nico the bull at Terra Natura, there is quite a size difference.
I've said a lot on the Whipsnade rhinos, now back onto Chester news.
ChesterZooFan
Well-Known Member
I think this discussion has probably been put to bed now, but I feel responsible for starting it with my post last week...As someone who has been on walk and talks and the EAZA behind the scenes I have never disclosed any 'off the record' information and would never want to post anything that could be interpreted as 'harmful speculation'. The only comment I made last week which could be considered inappropriate was the elephant pregnancy speculation. Just to confirm this was posted based on a comment made by a keeper to me in front of approx 15 other members of the publicm - and the comment was 'we are waiting confirmation'. It was not told to me in private and therefore I did not feel I was betraying his confidence by posting it on here. Also, to recap my previous post - the only reason I asked was that it seemed obvious to me that one of the elephants was pregnant. When an animal is clearly showing like that I don't think it does any harm to mention it on a public forum!!
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