West Midland Safari and Leisure Park West Mids News 2014

I was there last Wednesday and the keeper at the talk said that they were an all female group.

Tim May said:
As mentioned in my earlier post, the 2013 European Hippo Studbook lists eight female hippos at West Midlands Safari Park as at 31st December 2012. (And no males are listed as being present.)

Confusingly, looking into this in a little more detail, four of these hippos, although listed as females, have masculine names:- “Augustus”, “Hugo”, “Howard” and “Geoffrey”.

Checking back through earlier editions of the studbook, these four animals are listed as males in the 2007 studbook but are then listed as females in the 2008 edition and all subsequent editions!
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West Midland...

The trouble with breeding Hippos is that you then have to find somebody who wants a Hippo. Which is difficult. Hence all female groups here and at Longleat, and I believe a group somewhere else with a castrated bull.
 
FBBird said:
The trouble with breeding Hippos is that you then have to find somebody who wants a Hippo. Which is difficult. Hence all female groups here and at Longleat, and I believe a group somewhere else with a castrated bull.
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Yes, Flamingo Land (who originally received 0.2 from West Mids with the intention of keeping them as just that, but one was pregnant on arrival! hence the now snipped male living with them)
 
That's the problem with hippos, they are dangerous, expensive to keep, need considerable space and are not wildly popular.

Combine that with the fact that they are doing reasonably well in the wild, and there is very little incentive to breed them.
 
lamna said:
That's the problem with hippos, they are dangerous, expensive to keep, need considerable space and are not wildly popular.
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I'm rather surprised by that comment; in my experience hippos are extremely popular with zoo visitors; hippo exhibits always seem to attract large crowds.
 
Completely agree with that. Hippos are popular. Hell, BBC1 even uses them as a trailer before programmes....

As for doing well in the wild...
Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006, the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.

The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid-1970s.[50] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War. The poachers are believed to be Mai-Mai rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups. Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, as well as financial gain. The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Hippo meat is considered a delicacy in some areas of central Africa and the teeth have become a valued substitute for elephant ivory.
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West Midland.....

Personally I love to see Hippos. Spot and Sonia at Longleat are a major feature of the lake. Surely they are an ABC animal?
 
Well I like them, and they are a traditional ABC, but these days there are very few places with them. Only four collections in the whole UK, Whipsnade, WMSP, Longleat and Flamingo Land.

That's partly because older urban zoos are downsizing, but compare it to the number of collections with elephants. Elephants are have the same issues with housing, but there are fourteen collections with elephants in the UK.
 
West Midland...

I would argue they need less space than elephants, but of course there's the issue of water and how o keep it clean. A lake itch a flow on it, as at Longleat, is a tidy solution.
 
Which isn't available in most cases. I knew they were declining in popularity but I'm quite surprised that there are only four collections with them in the UK, I'm glad I live near one of the best.
 
As hippos are in decline and the fact many zoos do not have the space to keep them or only have female groups it's very worrying for the future for them.
In my view they are very popular (you only have to look at Germany where recently both Cologne and Berlin have opened expensive new hippo houses to see their attraction for the public). The UK could do the same if space/money was available. Hopefully somewhere like YWP will go into hippos at some time in the future.
 
FBBird said:
but of course there's the issue of water and how o keep it clean. A lake itch a flow on it, as at Longleat, is a tidy solution.
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Which West Midlands doesn't have. Their Hippos live in black foetid water(or they did when I was there) with no grazing and only a tiny land area. They have the biggest group in UK but (IMO) the worst accomodation.
 
chizlit said:
As hippos are in decline and the fact many zoos do not have the space to keep them or only have female groups it's very worrying for the future for them.
In my view they are very popular (you only have to look at Germany where recently both Cologne and Berlin have opened expensive new hippo houses to see their attraction for the public). The UK could do the same if space/money was available. Hopefully somewhere like YWP will go into hippos at some time in the future.
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I have to agree, hippos always seem popular with the visitors at Whipsnade, it's a shame there aren't more 'serious holders in the UK. There are several potential holders , if they had the will & finance available , such as YWP, Marwell, Woburn, Howletts/Port Lympne, Cotswold or Chester maybe?
 
Woburn did used to have common hippos I believe cant personally see them getting that type again maybe some pygmys though
 
It's worth pointing out that Common Hippopotamus has never been a common animal in UK zoos. Bristol opened in 1835, yet it has never held the species. As far as I am aware, out of the existing UK zoos, only Chester, Dudley, London and Woburn have ever held the species and don't do so now.

Dudley held a solitary bull that they'd taken on as a mercy mission in the 1980s. Chester's animals weren't replaced so that a bull compound could be provided for their elephants. And even I can't remember London's Common Hippos, held in what is now the East wing of the Giraffe House, where in 106 years (1854-1960) only six calves were born and only two reared. Heaven knows why they did so poorly there; the house where "Henry" and "Belinda" lived in for over forty years at Whipsnade wasn't exactly a palace.

Older visitors to Woburn will know that there is a lake where Hippos were originally installed. Something obviously didn't work, because they were moved to a pretty basic enclosure (which can still be seen ) between the rhino accommodation and the entrance to the Wolf Wood. Common Hippo is arguably the biggest gap in Woburn's collection, given its remit; I suspect that Whipsnade's marketing department are quite pleased with that!
 
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anidude said:
Woburn did used to have common hippos I believe cant personally see them getting that type again maybe some pygmys though
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They did indeed,and they have now ripped down most of the fencing that used to surround the enclosure and house,so that the enclosure can now be used by all the animals in the African reserve!
 
Maybe dudley could keep them in their massive chimp enclosure which the chimps ignore entirely and actually need bribing to go outside for 10 mins a day.
 
West Midlands Safari Park elephant 'takes selfie' with dropped mobile phone


BBC News - West Midlands Safari Park elephant 'takes selfie' with dropped mobile phone

A safari park elephant took a selfie on a visitor's phone when he dropped it, it has been claimed.

Scott Brierley, 23, said he found a photo of African elephant Latabe on his phone after it was returned to him by keepers at West Midlands Safari Park, near Bewdley in Worcestershire.

Head keeper Andy Plumb said the picture was a first for the park.

Mr Brierley said he believed it was the world's first "elfie" - or elephant selfie.

He said he was ordered to stay inside his car after his phone fell to the ground while he was taking pictures of the park's elephant enclosure.

Mr Brierley said he saw the 22-year-old elephant walk towards his phone but thought she had mistaken it for food.

"I really couldn't believe when the phone came back, I pressed the centre button to check it was still working and there it was - me and my friend were in shock," he said.

Mr Plumb said the staff at the park were "very proud" of Latabe's apparent photography skills.

"Lots of people have dropped their phones at our park but I've never seen anything like this," he said.
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