Sub-species of African Lions and Giraffe in UK zoos.

G

Gary

Well-Known Member
I've been reading with interest the various posts concerning the prides and herds of each held in the UK.

For many years it wasn't considered important that pure animals be kept and it seems only now is the concept of keeping particular sub-species really coming into force.

Just out of interest, I am wondering if my learned friends can chip in to advise:

1) Who holds pure-bred sub-species of Lions and Giraffes and what sub-sp they are-numbers and names not necessary-this is just out of passing interest.

2) Who holds cross-bred populations and are they being bred from?

And I've purposefully left out Asian Lions!

And we can leave out Barbary Lions if you like-I know a lot of opinion is along the lines that these are like Bigfoot and don't really exist!
 
african lions: colchester zoo, wildlife heritage foundation, africa alive, linton zoo, yorkshire wildlife park, knowsley safari park, dublin zoo, isle of wight zoo, south lakes wild animal park, blackpool zoo, west midlands safari park

rothschild giraffe: longleat safari park, chester zoo, africa alive, belfast zoo, dublin zoo, blackpool zoo, south lakes wild animal park, paignton zoo

reticulated giraffe: chester zoo, colchester zoo, knowsley safari park,
 
zamba said:
african lions: colchester zoo, wildlife heritage foundation, africa alive, linton zoo, yorkshire wildlife park, knowsley safari park, dublin zoo, isle of wight zoo, south lakes wild animal park, blackpool zoo, west midlands safari park
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None of the UK African Lions are of a pure subspecies under the traditional taxonomy, with the exception of the 'white' lions at WMSP and Broxbourne, which are pure (if possibly inbred) South African Lions Panthera leo krugeri.

That said, recent studies have suggested that there may only actually be two valid subspecies, Asian and African (with African including any putative Barbaries as well as all sub-Saharan lions). This may allow some zoo Africans to be considered pure if they've not been hybridised with Asians, but it's not very widely accepted yet.
 
zamba said:
rothschild giraffe: longleat safari park, chester zoo, africa alive, belfast zoo, dublin zoo, blackpool zoo, south lakes wild animal park, paignton zoo

reticulated giraffe: chester zoo, colchester zoo, knowsley safari park,
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As SMR has said, Chester have Rothschild's. Whispnade and Colchester have Reticulated; I'm not sure about Knowsley but I think theirs are either Rothschild's or hybrids.


There is a third pure giraffe subspecies in the UK - Kordofan, G. c. antiquorum, at South Lakes - currently one male in a mixed group but they are intending to hold a group of antiquorum in future.
 
Your best bet is to have alook at zootierlist to find what collection`s in the UK have what while it cannot give you the numbers it will tell you the species kept,I have checked the Giraffe species on it and it looks correct to me for which species are kept where.

ZootierlisteHomepage
 
The two Hybrid Giraffes at Chester (Bella and Kelly) left recently to Blair Drummond Safari Park.

Two pure Rothschild Giraffes recently arrived (Faida and Orla) at Chester, meaning that the herd currently consists of 1 Pure Male Rothschild Giraffe (Thorn) and 4 Pure Female Giraffes (Aoife, Faida, Orla and the little on whos name I cant remember).

EDIT: I now see the SMR has just commented before me!
 
Paix said:
Two pure Rothschild Giraffes recently arrived (Faida and Orla) at Chester, meaning that the herd currently consists of 1 Pure Male Rothschild Giraffe (Thorn) and 4 Pure Female Giraffes (Aoife, Faida, Orla and the little on whos name I cant remember).
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That's the one I can remember: Tula.
 
I thought I read somewhere that Belfast's giraffes weren't pure Rothschild....they thought they were but then some genetics came to light and they weren't completely pure. Or was/is this nonsense?
I was always under the impression they were pure Rothschild
 
Woburn have pure Rothschild giraffe, a 13-strong herd from the last time I counted! They also have African lions but as mentioned previously, like with most collections, their "pure" status is questionable.
 
Mr Saxon said:
I thought I read somewhere that Belfast's giraffes weren't pure Rothschild....they thought they were but then some genetics came to light and they weren't completely pure. Or was/is this nonsense?
I was always under the impression they were pure Rothschild
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This is not nonsense. A stud book keeper in the past had said that they had not got details of a origanal member of the belfast herd and so they said that the herd could no longer be classified as pure. we now have a female who is by the books pure bred and hopefully a new male arriving soon, also pure bred. And the female at chester eefa (for those not in to your Irish names) that came from us so how is this animal pure bred when the herd that she came from is not.
 
Tarkin said:
This is not nonsense. A stud book keeper in the past had said that they had not got details of a origanal member of the belfast herd and so they said that the herd could no longer be classified as pure. we now have a female who is by the books pure bred and hopefully a new male arriving soon, also pure bred. And the female at chester eefa (for those not in to your Irish names) that came from us so how is this animal pure bred when the herd that she came from is not.
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Just a Quick up date. I have just had a word with our (Belfasts) Giraffe geneologist. And We sent two females to Chester Kelly and Fay. As far as we know Fay is still at Chester. And Kelly was moved on to Blair Drummand.Aoife (Eefa) was sent to Blair Drummand direct from Belfast.
 
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