ZSL Whipsnade Zoo onager question...

lechweoryx said:
I didn't know they were that wild.
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They are used to seeing people all the time, so they appear 'tame' but still have a natural 'flight distance' and also are used to running about wherever they like. Try catching them and they are likely to show show how timid they are, possibly by dropping down dead from shock.
 
Pertinax said:
I doubt it rather. The free-ranging Wallabies, Muntjac etc are effectively wild and would probably suffer stress/shock in capture and (if they survived that) then being placed in smaller zoo enclosures. Maras are more possible as they are a more confiding/calmer species.
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I expected that London Zoo would have got the wallabies to display on the Mappins from Whipsnade - was this not the case?
 
Aslong as they were given large enough areas and 8 foot fencing you can keep in the flightiest of wallabies.
 
They did get the Mappin wallabies from Whipsnade.
 
nayer said:
I expected that London Zoo would have got the wallabies to display on the Mappins from Whipsnade - was this not the case?
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Very possibly. They may have had some tamer ones in the Children's zoo(at either location?) already without having to catch ones in the main park at Whipsnade. If they did that, I wonder how many they lost during the catchup operation? Also after a life of grazing the Whipsnade downs, for 'feral' ones to be confronted suddenly with nothing but sand in the Mappins exhibit would have created more trauma. So I hope perhaps that didn't happen.
 
It did, I can assure you ;)
 
As they have proven in parts of the UK, red necked wallabies are very adaptable, so i think a move onto the Mappins wouldn't have been that stressful.
 
kiang said:
As they have proven in parts of the UK, red necked wallabies are very adaptable, so i think a move onto the Mappins wouldn't have been that stressful.
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There's a big difference though between them escaping and living wild e.g. on moorlands in Yorkshire- which are very similar to some of their native habitat such as e.g. Tasmania, and plonking semi-wild ones into a totally new 'urban' habitat. But I guess that's what happened- I do wonder how many they lost though during the transfer.
 
I believe it is actually quite a regular thing for them to capture some of the wallabies and move them on to zoos and private keepers. I know they have definately done this with surplus males.

In the early days it was common for surplus animals to be caught up and sold to bring in extra revenue.
 
It's just a bit pointless. Red-necked wallabies are not desert animals, and why house them in an exhibit where they are always set quite far away, when plenty of zoos house them in walk-through enclosures (including the childrens zoo at ZSL before it became Animal Adventure!). Furthermore, why would London send away their kangaroos, which would have made a better exhibit on the mappin terraces, and would actually have an improved enclosure in the process?
 
Back on onagers ....., can somebody pse confirm the ID's of those in residence at Whipsnade? They have 2.3 according to ISIS figures. :eek:

Also, - not too much I guess - future plans?
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Back on onagers ....., can somebody pse confirm the ID's of those in residence at Whipsnade? They have 2.3 according to ISIS figures. :eek:
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I cannot give you names, ages or sources.

However they are; 1.1 which have been there some time, plus 1.0 which was born to this pair about two/three years ago.

A further 0.2 were acquired within the last twelve months(from Europe?) They look related (possibly mother and daughter?) as they move around together and one is slighlty smaller than the other.

The 1.0 born at Whipsnade is now held seperately from the 1.3.
 
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