Some old but unmentioned information about antelope in Brazil:
- Along with three giraffes, twenty-one antelope were imported to São Paulo from Italy in 1972. It was unspecified where they came from, but the most likely answer would be Rome, which held a world-class collection of bovids at the time. Among the animals shipped to Água Funda, there were:
- Two gemsbok;
- Two sable antelope;
- Two springbok;
- Three blesbok;
- Three greater kudu;
- Three impala;
- An unknown number of blue wildebeest.
I suppose the zoo's Nile lechwe also came in that shipment. Since there was no name in Portuguese for the species at the time, zoo staff and news reporters referred to them with their Italian name. "Cobo lichi (do Nilo)".
The sable antelope bred at least twice, with the first calf being born in 1975. Another birth happened between 1975 and 1982, which led to a total of four (2.2) individuals in that same year, according to the 1988 International Zoo Yearbook. A male, I believe the original sire, had passed away by 1984 and in the mid 1980s, two were moved to Simba Safari, but both were gone from the park by late 1988/early 1989. I guess they either died or were sent back to FPZSP, as they were still signed in a map from 1988. The 2010 census listed a female still being held at the zoo, most likely backstage, but she was not listed as of 2011.
The 2010 census claimed there was still a female at the zoo, but she had passed away in 2011.
The springbok bred at least once in the early 1980s. When the African Plain was reinaugurated, in the 1990s, they were still signed in the enclosure, but they were gone by the early 2000s.
I have no info on the blesbok, but
@David Matos Mendes and I believe the three could have been moved to Belo Horizonte and had their remains donated to the PUC museum of Natural Sciences. There is also a mounted bontebok head the Taubaté Natural History Museum.
The greater kudu have quite a long story. One of the three passed away (or was moved elsewhere) not long after the Antelope Plain (the first version of the current-day African Plain) was inaugurated, in 1973. The remaining couple gave birth to a female to 1975, but the breeding cow did not live much longer, so the already elderly male was left to mate with his own daughter. Before any inbreeding could occur, a balloon fell inside the antelope paddock and the calf, already three years old at the time, got scared and ran into a wall, where it broke its neck. The newly widowed kudu was alone and "in grief", so a crowdfunding campaigned amassed enough money to buy a new female for him. The same year his companion passed away, Bem-vinda arrived from Germany. Both kudus, however, passed away not so long later. A new shot would be given to the species in the 2000s, but in spite of successful births, they had died out by the mid 2010s.
The impala bred quite a few times and were still present in the African Plain by the early 2000s. They, however, probably have nothing to do with the impala held in Itatiba at the same time.
@Chlidonias I found the origin of the nilgai in Brazil. Three were imported to São Paulo from Genoa in 1974 (I guess the calves born from this trio were sent elsewhere, like Sorocaba) and other two were imported to Curitiba from Zurich in 1988. The Curitiba pair was very prolific and gave birth to a few calves, possibly including a female sent to Brusque and a male sent to Santa Inês, in Maranhão. The last nilgai in Curitiba passed away last year.
Lowland nyala and sitatunga were also both present in São Paulo at the time. I have no information on the marshbuck, but I'm sure three (2.1) nyala were moved to Belo Horizonte in 1981, which could have meant the species had left São Paulo for the first time. In Minas Gerais, at least eight calves were born (and I thought Rio was successful with the species). São Paulo somehow acquired a male nyala in the mid 1990s (the most likely answer for that would be RioZoo), but he was gone by the 2000s.
The sitatunga in São Paulo, however, were not the first ones in Brazil, as a male was donated to Rio de Janeiro by the Antwerp zoo in 1948. The nyala in São Paulo would not be the last ones in the country either, as RioZoo imported three (1.2) from Germany in 1991, with the first calf being born in 1993. Other two were born in 1999 and a last birth was recorded in 2002. The last nyala in Brazil was a male born and raised in Rio which passed away in 2016. I was too late when I realized my local zoo had nyala, as I only got to see one in 2018, at the Lisbon zoo.
Scimitar-horned oryx were first held in Brazil in the 1970s. Londrina imported a pair from Hannover in 1976, according to the ISB, but they were "lost, to follow up". What I believe had happened was that both were moved to São Paulo, which also held a couple from the 1970s to the mid-to-late 1980s (the last one passed away between 1986 and 1988).
Twelve scimitar-horned oryxes were imported to Estação Experimental de Terras Secas, in Pedro Avelino (Rio Grande do Norte), from Texas in 1983 (you can see a CITES entry which matches this claim). They were brought to Northeastern Brazil because it was believed they would outperform other livestock in the Caatinga due to their hardiness to semi-arid climates. The experiment, however, failed, and the remaining three antelope, including a female oryx, were sent to Recife in 1988.
Red hartebeest were also held also held in São Paulo in the late 1970s. A few were imported from Germany in 1976, and the first Brazilian calf was born a year later. A few were transferred to Sorocaba, including one in 1984. Kongoni were still in Quinzinho by 1995, when a birth happened at the zoo.
