ZSL London Zoo Shou, the Tibetan Red Deer

Crowthorne

Crowthorne

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I was doing some cataloguing of 19th Century watercolour sketches from Tibet and the Himalaya at work today, and there was one of a set of antlers of a deer described as Shaoo or Shawa. A bit of digging led me to learn about the Shou, the Tibetan Red Deer, Cervus canadensis wallichi.I haven't really heard of this deer before, it sounds quite different to other red deer. It also seems to be very poorly known, with only a few ever having been kept in zoos, namely London and Lhasa. There don't seem to be many pictures of this species, but this image looks like it was taken at London (I'd recognise that brickwork anywhere! This picture may have been used in Edward's London Zoo from Old Photographs, but I don't have either of my copies with me to check) Google Image Result for https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/print/posters/frederick-william-bond-wallich-s-deer-also-known-as-the-shou-central-asian-or-tibetan-red-deer-in-london-zoo-1916_a-G-13536358-4990879.jpg

If anyone has any information about the Shou kept at London I would be very keen to hear :)

(Unfortunately the images I've been cataloguing aren't online yet, but when they are I'll try and remember to post a link in this thread)
 
Crowthorne said:
There don't seem to be many pictures of this species, but this image looks like it was taken at London
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Indeed; this deer is in one of the yards of the greatly-missed old Deer & Cattle Sheds (one of my favourite old London Zoo buildings).
Crowthorne said:
This picture may have been used in Edward's London Zoo from Old Photographs, but I don't have either of my copies with me to check)
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Yes, the image does feature in John Edwards' excellent book.
Crowthorne said:
If anyone has any information about the Shou kept at London I would be very keen to hear :)
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I believe that London Zoo only had one Wallich's deer, an animal presented by King George V on 13th March 1912. (I don't think that any other specimens ever reached a western zoo.)
 
Thank you for the information @Tim May :)
 
Crowthorne said:
There don't seem to be many pictures of this species, but this image looks like it was taken at London (I'd recognise that brickwork anywhere!
Click to expand...

Out of interest I typed in 'Shou Images' into Google and it comes up with several different photos of the ZSL stag, both in hard antler and in velvet- all taken in the Cattle Sheds. Plus there are (I think) two different postcards of the same animal- if there was only ever one there.
 
Pertinax said:
Out of interest I typed in 'Shou Images' into Google and it comes up with several different photos of the ZSL stag, both in hard antler and in velvet- all taken in the Cattle Sheds. Plus there are (I think) two different postcards of the same animal- if there was only ever one there.
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This individual lived at London Zoo for over fourteen years so there was lots of time for multiple photographs of it to be taken. I think you're right that there are two different postcards of this animal; I have two and have never seen a third.
 
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