ZSL Whipsnade Zoo onager question...

K

kaz

Well-Known Member
today i saw the onager chasing one of the free roaming deer around the paddock for around 4mins, occaisionally kicking/stamping on it, it them cornered it at the wall over the rhino side of paddock and stamped and bit it over and over untill it died. a couple of zoo staff ran over but it was too late.
is this unusual behavior?? it was very frenzied and over quickly for the deer thankfully.
kaz
 
Wild horses, zebras and wild asses aren't the nicest tempered animals... Zebras will often chase and try to kill the young of antelopes if they share a paddock with them. This was probably the male Onager being 'territorial'- the unfortunate deer was presumably trapped in the paddock somehow. I think you witnessed a 'fluke' incident.
 
oh right good, im just glad there wasnt any young kids standing there, i know its all part of animal world but they would see it as a "bad horsey" and things like that can stop kids from being interested in animals.
 
Very much sounds like you saw a Onager protecting its territory from the deer,with dire consequence for the deer,this will not be the first or last time this happens with this species I know of a couple of collections that have had a similar problem with this species one of which resulted in the Onager stallion breaking its own neck as it ran into a fence trying to get at what it percieved to be a threat to its herd.
 
Several years ago witnessed Ben the Hippo drown and then behead a wallaby. One woman threatened to sue the zoo due to the distress it caused it her kids, at which point a voice from the back said madam if you take the zoo to court I'll be the first to testify that you were holding your kids in the air to get a better view!!!
 
yes it may distress the children but at the end of the day they are animals, and hippos are territorial animals. (as all the programs about hippo attacks show)
i dont really know much about the onagers which is why i started this post, i love finding out about animals i dont know that much about.
and thinking back i remember there was a foal born this year so i guess having young around would have intensified the situation.
but thank you so much for answering my questions.
zebedee101; the hippos at whipsnade are my favorite and i was so sad to hear ben had died.
 
kaz said:
today i saw the onager chasing one of the free roaming deer around the paddock for around 4mins, occaisionally kicking/stamping on it, it them cornered it at the wall over the rhino side of paddock and stamped and bit it over and over untill it died. a couple of zoo staff ran over but it was too late.
is this unusual behavior?? it was very frenzied and over quickly for the deer thankfully.
kaz
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I have never seen onagers behave like this, but earlier this year I witnessed similar behaviour from the solitary Chapman’s zebra at Whipsnade. The zebra chased and killed one of the free-ranging Chinese water deer that entered its paddock. Very distressing to watch.
 
Tim May said:
I have never seen onagers behave like this, but earlier this year I witnessed similar behaviour from the solitary Chapman’s zebra at Whipsnade. The zebra chased and killed one of the free-ranging Chinese water deer that entered its paddock. Very distressing to watch.
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Territoriality is key to wild ass and equid behaviour. Consequently, they are not the best of species of a multi-species exhibit. Even with the acres of space at Whipsnade, this is bound to happen. I personally know of too many examples where territoriality has been expressed with the most dire consequences. At the end of the day, savannah exhibits with zebra remain problematic.
 
Tim May said:
the solitary Chapman’s zebra at Whipsnade. The zebra chased and killed one of the free-ranging Chinese water deer that entered its paddock. Very distressing to watch.
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This sort of situation must be pretty much confined to Whipsnade, as it is one of very few places which has small free-ranging deer, wallabies etc which can enter the enclosures of Asses or Zebra in this way. An unusual form of culling perhaps....
 
Yes we know lol.
 
Cat-Man said:
sorry i was asking for comfermation, such a shame, RIP, will they get a nother breeding bull
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He has been dead a year or more...

If they want a new male they will probably have to get one from Europe. They may just stick with the current mother & daughter pair, I don't know.
 
Whipsnade has over 500 wallabies. Do you think that if a collection wants a wallaby it would contact whipsnade? Same with species like muntjac or mara. Although I do think that whipsnade has a bit too many of these species.
 
lechweoryx said:
Whipsnade has over 500 wallabies. Do you think that if a collection wants a wallaby it would contact whipsnade? Same with species like muntjac or mara. Although I do think that whipsnade has a bit too many of these species.
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5 hundred, where did you get that number from?
 
lechweoryx said:
. Do you think that if a collection wants a wallaby it would contact whipsnade? Same with species like muntjac or mara.
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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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