Chester Zoo Should Chester obtain Gaur's

gentle lemur said:
Gaur are actually woodland animals; I don't like their open paddock at Whipsnade. The bongo paddock at Chester might suit them, if it were larger.
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true. The Whipsnade enclosure is one of the old rhino paddocks. I would prefer to see them in a more natural or lush setting as there is nothing for them to graze or browse on where they are.
 
zoogiraffe said:
It was a young Male that was in transit to Whipsnade and was housed at Chester for a few months until Whipsnade were ready to recieve it.
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Gaur are mentioned in the 1985/86 Chester guide [Margay cover] & in the 1987 guide [Ring-Tailed Lemur cover].
Could this young Male mentioned above be Conan, born at London Zoo in 1984, and died at Whipsnade in the mid-2000s. He was a very impressive animal. I'll dig out some photos.
 
Bwassa said:
Conan, born at London Zoo in 1984, and died at Whipsnade in the mid-2000s. He was a very impressive animal. I'll dig out some photos.
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By the approximate date of death you mention, was he the father of the young male they have now? That bull died before the calf was born, so about four years ago now, and Whipsnade have only had one pair at a time(in recent years anyway).
 
Would anybody know where Whipsnade got the new female from?.

I feel Chester or Marwell would be an ideal place to carry a second pair for the UK one zoo in the country is not going to keep them around in the long term
 
Pertinax said:
By the approximate date of death you mention, was he the father of the young male they have now? That bull died before the calf was born, so about four years ago now, and Whipsnade have only had one pair at a time(in recent years anyway).
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No, he wasn't. Been doing a bit of research on this & found the following info:

Conan was born at London Zoo on 30.09.1983, and arrived at Whipsnade on 08.07.1988. These dates are from the Spring 2002 issue of Lifewatch magazine, in a short piece in the news from the Asia section of Whipsnade. It announced the sad death of Conan. I first visited Whipsnade in June 2000, and Conan was the first Gaur I photographed.
The above dates do seem to fit with Chester having Gaur between 1985-87.

After Conan died, Whipsnade received a new male from Munich the same year. This is mentioned in the Autumn/Winter 2002 edition of Lifewatch. This male was the father of the young male they have now. It also mentioned in this edition that Whipsnade hoped to build up a breeding herd of Gaur.
Below is a photo of Conan from June 2000. He was a very impressive-looking animal, and very large, over 6 feet at the shoulder. I have had to scan this image, and it has come out slightly darker. He was more of a chocolate brown colour.
 
Your quite right he is a impressive animal also thank you for posting this photo, I posted a photo of a male Gaur in the London zoo gallery quite some time back maybe it's the same animal?. I wonder if it's possible to import some new blood from an asian zoo or even frozen semen to help the EEP program?.
 
Hi Mark. Just had a look at your Gaur photo in the London gallery. Nice shot. When did you take it?
It's a shame that Whipsnade is the only Uk collection to keep Gaur.
 
It was quite a long time ago I am not 100% sure it may of been in the mid 80s.

I wonder if the Gaur in the USA are related to the European population?
 
Bwassa said:
After Conan died, Whipsnade received a new male from Munich the same year. This male was the father of the young male they have now. It also mentioned in this edition that Whipsnade hoped to build up a breeding herd of Gaur.
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A good bit of research you have done here, which leads me to ask, can you also trace the background of the previous female- mother of the male they have now. Was she from the London group or like the male, a more recent import?
 
Thanks, Pertinax. I know she wasn't from London. I'll see if I can dig out some more info.
 
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