That makes more sense: by all accounts the pre-Goymour Suffolk Wildlife Park was a little "rough around the edges" and not the sort of place that ZSL would be keen to deal with.
Rare ungulates in Britain
- Thread starter lechweoryx
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That makes more sense: by all accounts the pre-Goymour Suffolk Wildlife Park was a little "rough around the edges" and not the sort of place that ZSL would be keen to deal with.
Its not surprising perhaps when you consider some of the ungulate Houses at Whipsnade consist of long corridors of seemingly empty stalls, and hardstanding yards which can also be difficult to see into, so 'odd' animals can easily get overlooked- even by the most ardent zoophile... The current Grevy Zebra House(is this where the Bontebok were kept?) is a good example.
Chester kept 'Arabian' gazelles in the past and actually included one in its logo. I think I remember them in the giraffe paddock when it was linked with the scimitar oryx yard of the cattle house, probably early 90s.
I'm pretty sure I remember them sharing the giraffe paddock at London too, probably around 2000-2001 if that sounds right.
Blackpool also kept chamois in the past.
CiaranDUK
Well-Known Member
Three years ago sounds far too recent to me. But maybe you are correct, I don't know.
Both of those sound correct.
I've seen these slightly mysterious gazelles at five UK zoos over the years - Chester, Marwell, London, Dudley and Blackpool. Only Blackpool still has them.
Bristol also had a few of these gazelle - males only I think - in the small paddocks that were created when some of the the Bear Pits were filled in . I think this was when there were Sumatran Tigers in the old Polar Bear Pits and before the demolition for the Fur Seal/Penguin enclosure ( getting old , cannot remember its title ) . The rear wall of the old Polar Bear Pit is still visible though .
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
Yes, I believe a small group were housed in the lower cotton terraces on rotation with blackbuck, bongo, Roan antelope etc, but when these were given over mainly to the Arabian oryx with just the kudu at the end, they were moved up to the giraffe house. I never saw them mixed with the giraffe but I believe there were some attempts to do this. The remaining 3 or 4 could often still be seen in the left-hand stalls of the tapir house until a few years ago, and had access to the small back paddock between this and the giraffe house. Eventually there was just one animal until a few years ago (2006 if the flickr set below were taken at the same time), which could still be seen in the giraffe house, but I'm assuming it died as this space has since been occupied by Lowland Anoa.
www.flickr.com/photos/jeffthejiff/121821138/
It is interesting that London no longer mix any species with the giraffes. Until recently, they had the lowest stocking density of giraffe for years with just two adults in what is a much expanded space on the old enclosure, but in the past they attempted to mix Nyala, Zebra, gazelle and even Meerkats with the giraffes at different points. I'm wondering if there is an aggression issue from the current 3 chapman's zebras, or perhaps the giraffe were kicking out at the smaller species in what is not a huge amount of space. I would be interested to hear any thoughts on this.