Red River Hogs in UK Zoos.

P

Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
CAn Bongorob or someone give me an update on which of our zoos(even Safari Parks too?) in the Uk are now exhibiting this attractive species which seems to have 'mushroomed' in recent years?

I'd also be very interested to know which have also bred them. The ones I know of are;

Have bred them-Chester/ London

Haven't bred them- Paignton/Howletts or Port Lympne(one pair at each)

Don't know if bred.- Colchester/Edinburgh/Whipsnade.

Others? Belfast/Dublin?

Many thanks...:)
 
Currently listed as having Red River Hogs (Potamaochoerus porcus pictus)
are

Belfast 1.1
Blackpool 1.1 arrived 2006
Chester 1.3 breeding
Colchester 1.3 breeding
Dublin 1.1 (I know it's not politically the UK but they are a member of BIAZA)
Edinburgh 2.2
Howletts 1.1.3 breeding
Knowsley 1.1
London 1.1 breeding
Paignton 1.0
Port Lympne 1.1
Whipsnade 0.2
Woburn 2.1.2

In addition Woburn holds 0.1 listed as Potamochoerus porcus.

I am not familiar with any subspecies of Red River Hog, so I don't know anything about P.p.pictus.

Chester Zoo claimed a first UK breeding of Red River Hogs in 2003, though some people attribute this to London Zoo in the late 19th century. There is some doubt as to whether these piglets survived.

Hope this helps.
 
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Yes, great, thanks. As I thought, several more collections I didn't know about have them now, and they've spread into some Safari Parks too.

Notes:- Paignton still had a pair last year, so must have lost their female. Interesting that Howletts have now bred them- the pair at Port Lympne have been there for much longer but haven't bred. What I'd like to see with this species is some places keeping their piglets and forming 'sounders' as I'm pretty sure they live in bigger groups in Africa. Maybe the Safari parks with more space will do this if they breed them.
 
The female from Knowsley came from Chester. She was handreared by the Giraffe team and instead of being reintroduced with her parents ( Pumbaa and Pablo) She was sent of to Knowsley. She was quite agressive.

San diego does keep it's red river hogs in quite large groups. I think they have about 20!! Not all in one big group of course.
 
Red River Hogs

Blackpool have bred 3 RRhogs recently. I don't think they're actually out in public yet, but believed to be doing OK.
 
Do you know where Blackpool's parent hogs came from- another UK zoo? Its good that this species is so well established in the uk nowadays.
 
I think some of them Came from Chester. Tim Rowlands head of the giraffe section sent me a letter and invited me to see the hogs. I fed them and went in their behind the scenes area. He said that they had 3 males at that time. Now there is just the one.
 
Maybe Blackpool had the all of one of Chester's litters of pigs, and then exchanged again to get a true pair.

Do you know how many litters of babies the Chester pair have had so far?
 
A considerable amount. The female Pumbaa trampled her young from her 2nd and 3rd litter, so they have revamped the inside house so the young can move if they want to get out of her way.
 
Odd that they bred successfully first, and then had problems with later litters. Perhaps they've made a 'creep' like domestic pig breeders use, so the piglets can get out of her way.

I'd be interested in anything you can find out about how many have been successfully raised at CHester and where else (apart from the handraised female to Knowlsey) any have gone to.
 
Ask Bongorob!! He's the Chester expert.

Yes, I do think that it is a creep type thing. I'll post a picture when I've got a spare minute.
 
Red River Hogs born at Chester Zoo

2003 2.0
2004 1.5 (0.5 did not survive)
2005 1.2
2006 2.3 (2.1 did not survive)

total 6 males and 10 females, 4 males and 4 females reared.

The female at first killed all her daughters, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by sitting on them. She seems to have got the hang of it now though.

The first two males were sent to Belfast and Blackpool. Don't know about any of the others apart from Knowsley which had two females, the first one died soon after arrival.

I don't know anything about a creep, but I did hear the enclosure was to be refurbished to provide better viewing facilities for the visitors.

I am going off line for a day or two tomorrow, so if anyone asks me anything and I don't reply that is the reason. My PC is playing up at the moment.
 
Howlett's first litter of Red River Hogs are three males, about eight weeks old now. Perhaps they can exchange or add one to Port Lympne's pair and get them breeding too. Port Lympne's pair have been there a number of years now and yet haven't bred -as far as I know.
 
They might be too old now. They came from Duisburg about 7 years ago now. Duisburg has loads of them. I think that's where pablo came from. Pablo is Chester's breeding male.
 
I agree- they're probably too old now. I don't understand why they didn't breed before as they have done at most other zoos. Maybe they could still use the male with a younger female.
 
Yes. Chester has been thinking about moving pumbaa ( the adult female) to another zoo and letting Pablo breed with his daughter. This may seem odd but as the species isn't that rare in zoos, they are allowed to do that. Only up to daughters though.
 
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