johnstoni
Well-Known Member
I briefly worked with penguins a long time ago, and back then it seemed easier for collections to acquire pretty much whatever they wanted. I can't work out whether the situation today is due to more focus on jackass/humboldt penguin breeding programmes eclipsing the more difficult species, or whether the other species have just either died of (very) old age or become inbred slightly causing breeding rates to decline. It seems strange that two species should do so well all over the UK, while the others species all have just one collection breeding each of them (Living Coasts - macaronis, Whipsnade-rockhoppers, Edinburgh-gentoos, Birdland-kings). At Edinburgh, the kings and rockhoppers haven't bred for a year or two as far as I know, and ISIS lists a gender bias greatly towards males. Also, there are collections where the more difficult ones are kept in dwindling numbers without ever I think successfully breeding them (Twycross, bristol).
I wanted to start a thread to share and maybe hear other members' knowledge of the history of these birds in british collections over the last few years. I was surprised to hear that Hillside had bred kings, rockhoppers and macaronis only around 5 or 6 years ago. I think the UK needs another first class penguin facility, and hopefully that's what blackbrook is becoming, with proven past expertise. Living coasts has turned out to be doing well with Macaroni penguins, but appeared to move it's gentoos to edinburgh due the the climate being inappropriate. Maybe this is what happened to Bristol's gentoo penguins after the seal and penguin coasts opened? In the 1990s, Bristol had kings, rockhoppers, macaronis and gentoos in the old pool by the monkey temple, and a separate enclosure where the pudus are now. I understand that the blue penguins didn't survive the current exhibit either. I don't know that they have ever successfully hatched anything but Jackass penguins, despite holding so many species over the last 20 years.
Belfast, not long after building their penguin exhibit, brought in a large number of eggs from the falkland islands, and hatched a number of magellanic, king, and rockhopper penguins from these, plus they still have a few gentoos. As far as I know all but a few rockhoppers and gentoos are gone. Could the lack of breeding success be due to nearly all of these birds having been hatched and hand-reared around the same time, rather than being reintroduced into an adult colony?
Is there a case to be made against mixing the more robust penguin species, which breed well and are normally exhibited in large colonies, with small numbers of rockhoppers/gentoos etc, as it seems a trend for zoos to want to have something 'exotic' alongside the humboldt's and jackass groups? Humboldt's and Jackass penguins don't nest in the open and I have seen them disturb rockhoppers trying to nest in the same enclosure. Also, would anyone know why Whipsnade are sending their rockhopper chicks to London? Does it improve or hinder the breeding efforts of the adults if the chicks stay with the group the next year to swell numbers? I can't help but think that London have just decided they want a second penguin species in the newer exhibit, but I wonder if they'll ever breed in there.
The irony is that the success of humboldt and jackass breeding programmes means that there is a need for facilities to house surplus birds, and this also makes it easier to acquire them, as the number of recent, decidedly average, penguin facilities at a number of coastal aquaria shows.
I wanted to start a thread to share and maybe hear other members' knowledge of the history of these birds in british collections over the last few years. I was surprised to hear that Hillside had bred kings, rockhoppers and macaronis only around 5 or 6 years ago. I think the UK needs another first class penguin facility, and hopefully that's what blackbrook is becoming, with proven past expertise. Living coasts has turned out to be doing well with Macaroni penguins, but appeared to move it's gentoos to edinburgh due the the climate being inappropriate. Maybe this is what happened to Bristol's gentoo penguins after the seal and penguin coasts opened? In the 1990s, Bristol had kings, rockhoppers, macaronis and gentoos in the old pool by the monkey temple, and a separate enclosure where the pudus are now. I understand that the blue penguins didn't survive the current exhibit either. I don't know that they have ever successfully hatched anything but Jackass penguins, despite holding so many species over the last 20 years.
Belfast, not long after building their penguin exhibit, brought in a large number of eggs from the falkland islands, and hatched a number of magellanic, king, and rockhopper penguins from these, plus they still have a few gentoos. As far as I know all but a few rockhoppers and gentoos are gone. Could the lack of breeding success be due to nearly all of these birds having been hatched and hand-reared around the same time, rather than being reintroduced into an adult colony?
Is there a case to be made against mixing the more robust penguin species, which breed well and are normally exhibited in large colonies, with small numbers of rockhoppers/gentoos etc, as it seems a trend for zoos to want to have something 'exotic' alongside the humboldt's and jackass groups? Humboldt's and Jackass penguins don't nest in the open and I have seen them disturb rockhoppers trying to nest in the same enclosure. Also, would anyone know why Whipsnade are sending their rockhopper chicks to London? Does it improve or hinder the breeding efforts of the adults if the chicks stay with the group the next year to swell numbers? I can't help but think that London have just decided they want a second penguin species in the newer exhibit, but I wonder if they'll ever breed in there.
The irony is that the success of humboldt and jackass breeding programmes means that there is a need for facilities to house surplus birds, and this also makes it easier to acquire them, as the number of recent, decidedly average, penguin facilities at a number of coastal aquaria shows.
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