San Diego Zoo Safari Park San Diego Zoo Safari Park News 2022

splendens said:
Pretty sure last seen near pelicans at march 27. Rare in this area I think. Would be a lifer for me.
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They're rare but somewhat regular through the lower end of California, a handful are regular at the southern part of the Salton Sea. Wonder if it's hoping for a handout or just hanging out. Either way a unique spot to pick up a life bird!
 
I'm a new member on here. I was wondering if someone could point me to the most complete list of animals at the San Diego Zoo. their website isn't helpful when it comes to animals but for some reason, the plants are.
 
Kudu21 said:
It is the end of an era for the San Diego Zoo Safari Park -- the last gaur at the park has passed away.
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This is such disappointing news! I was really hoping to see her once before she passed :(

What are the chances of the park bringing the species back one day? If Bronx continues to breed, they’ll need to send some of their animals out eventually so perhaps they’ll find their way back to SDZSP one day? I doubt it’ll be anytime soon though.
 
IndianRhino said:
What are the chances of the park bringing the species back one day? If Bronx continues to breed, they’ll need to send some of their animals out eventually so perhaps they’ll find their way back to SDZSP one day? I doubt it’ll be anytime soon though.
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I'd say chances are low under the new management, sadly. San Diego sent the last of their breeding animals to Bronx so I doubt they have any interest in continued breeding. Bronx's on-show facilities can easily house a herd twice the size of what they have now (the off-show facilities are likely a different story) so I'm not entirely worried about them needing to send out surplus in the near future, though this will be an issue for them one day should they continue on with the species (as they should).

~Thylo
 
Truly a shame that the Gaur program has ended. I believe the only breeding herds left in North America are in Bronx and Parc Safari in Canada. Such an amazing Asian Bovine species. I do hope that San Diego will get this species back in the future, hopefully imports to help out the North American population gain, but I doubt it.
 
Akula said:
Truly a shame that the Gaur program has ended. I believe the only breeding herds left in North America are in Bronx and Parc Safari in Canada. Such an amazing Asian Bovine species. I do hope that San Diego will get this species back in the future, hopefully imports to help out the North American population gain, but I doubt it.
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The Bronx and the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, TX are the only two facilities on the continent to have produced calves in the last year, with eight births at the Bronx and one at Gladys Porter. Imports of gaur, at least into the United States, would be all but impossible due to the federal regulations in place to protect the cattle industry. It is hard enough to import bovids as small and as distantly related as duiker, let alone an actual wild cattle species. The fate of the species on the continent is going to rely soley on these few facilities being committed to the species and being able to generate additional institutional interest, which unfortunately, just does not seem to exist. This is why they are listed as a phase out species by the TAG, with favor being placed on the more tractable and more numerous (at least in the private sector) Javan banteng.
 
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I was in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park a few days ago and unfortunately I couldn't see the red-fronted gazelles. In fact, I couldn't even identify the exhibit where they're supposed to be. A pity, but at least I was able to see and photograph the rest of the species that interested me
 
aramacao said:
I was in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park a few days ago and unfortunately I couldn't see the red-fronted gazelles. In fact, I couldn't even identify the exhibit where they're supposed to be. A pity, but at least I was able to see and photograph the rest of the species that interested me
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ThylacineAlive said:
Been mentioned a couple of times here now but the Red-Fronted Gazelles are supposed to be in the paddock on the rightside when riding the tram that contains the large pond. Also contains Bongo, I believe lechwe still, and a few others (Sitatunga in August).

~Thylo
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There are only two left now, so I am not entirely surprised that you missed them in such a large enclosure. It is also entirely possible that those two remaining individuals have since been moved to the park's extensive behind-the-scenes holding areas.
 
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Kudu21 said:
The Bronx and the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, TX are the only two facilities on the continent to have produced calves in the last year, with eight births at the Bronx and one at Gladys Porter. Imports of gaur, at least into the United States, would be all but impossible due to the federal regulations in place to protect the cattle industry. It is hard enough to import bovids as small and as distantly related as duiker, let alone an actual wild cattle species. The fate of the species on the continent is going to rely soley on these few facilities being committed to the species and being able to generate additional institutional interest, which unfortunately, just does not seem to exist. This is why they are listed as a phase out species by the TAG, with favor being placed on the more tractable and more numerous (at least in the private sector) Javan banteng.
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Is there enough genetic diversity between the Bronx & Gladys Porter individuals to maintain the species without inbreeding long term if they are careful about it? Also, I thought that the Omaha zoo's sister facility safari had a herd of them (behind the scenes) and as of a couple years ago that they had bachelor male herd remaining? About a decade ago I believe they had the largest herd in the US. I think that if Bronx and Gladys Porter ever intends to stop breeding they should hand the reigns over to the ZAA/private facilities and they can help the species grow and be appreciated without the AZA. Personally, I would be willing to buy some land and take in a small herd if no zoo wants theirs! ;) They and Bearded Pigs and several other species are overshadowed by other ungulates like Banteng/Red River Hog etc...
 
Sarus Crane said:
Is there enough genetic diversity between the Bronx & Gladys Porter individuals to maintain the species without inbreeding long term if they are careful about it? Also, I thought that the Omaha zoo's sister facility safari had a herd of them (behind the scenes) and as of a couple years ago that they had bachelor male herd remaining? About a decade ago I believe they had the largest herd in the US. I think that if Bronx and Gladys Porter ever intends to stop breeding they should hand the reigns over to the ZAA/private facilities and they can help the species grow and be appreciated without the AZA.
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As of Bronx's inspection in November last year they had 34 Gaur, and they seem committed to the species and are breeding actively. I don't know how their genetic diversity is, maybe @ThylacineAlive knows.
Gaur are not a good handover to non-AZA, I have heard that the majority of "Gaur" in non-accredited places are hybrids between Gaur and domestic cattle. The long and short is we would most likely lose pure Gaur if they leave the AZA, unless they chance to go to the right facilities (which I don't have specific ones in mind, it's a point that they'd have to end up with someone committed to keeping the species pure and not mixing them with Bantang or domestic cattle.)
 
Great Argus said:
Gaur are not a good handover to non-AZA, I have heard that the majority of "Gaur" in non-accredited places are hybrids between Gaur and domestic cattle. The long and short is we would most likely lose pure Gaur if they leave the AZA, unless they chance to go to the right facilities (which I don't have specific ones in mind, it's a point that they'd have to end up with someone committed to keeping the species pure and not mixing them with Bantang or domestic cattle.)
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Hybridization isn't the only issue with this, Gaur are also generally quite aggressive and difficult to maintain when compared to other cattle species like Banteng. Banteng are far more calm and docile and require less extensive management which is another reason why they're much more plentiful than Gaur. I don't know how far a non-AZA/private facility would go in order to manage a herd of gaur properly without hybridizing and without any management issues. I believe there are a few private holders already but not very many of them and I wouldn't expect this population to expand very much.

Regarding genetic diversity, unfortunately, I wouldn't expect this to be very high as Bronx is the only facility that has been breeding regularly in the last few years. Yes, they did recieve numerous animals from SDZSP but considering these two facilites have been the main breeders of the species for a long time, I would be quite surprised if the SDZSP animals are completely unrelated to the original Bronx herd. Nonetheless, it's not completely out of the question that the species will continue to do well at Bronx/Gladys Porter despite being slightly inbred. Inbreeding is really a hit or miss situation with ungulates as some species like Kordofan Aoudad, Masai Giraffe, and Gerenuk are struggling to maintain strong populations due to inbreeding while others like Sichuan Takin are doing fantastic despite being severely inbred.
 
Sarus Crane said:
Is there enough genetic diversity between the Bronx & Gladys Porter individuals to maintain the species without inbreeding long term if they are careful about it? Also, I thought that the Omaha zoo's sister facility safari had a herd of them (behind the scenes) and as of a couple years ago that they had bachelor male herd remaining? About a decade ago I believe they had the largest herd in the US. I think that if Bronx and Gladys Porter ever intends to stop breeding they should hand the reigns over to the ZAA/private facilities and they can help the species grow and be appreciated without the AZA. Personally, I would be willing to buy some land and take in a small herd if no zoo wants theirs! ;) They and Bearded Pigs and several other species are overshadowed by other ungulates like Banteng/Red River Hog etc...
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I have no idea about the genetic diversity of the captive stock, though like with most ungulates (and captive populations in general) it's not like to be very high. As @IndianRhino said, it's likely that the Bronx and SDZSP stock were already related, though it's possible they were not I supposed.

As for Omaha, they should still have maybe around 10 or so males. It's a shame they don't seem interested in breeding the species.

~Thylo
 
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