When it didn't work

kiang

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Recently we have seen success in the UK with such species as giant anteater, nyala, bongo, Indian rhino and Somali wild ass to name just a few, but i was wondering which species have been tried in UK collections and failed to take a hold, a few examples i can think of are:

Leadbetters possum at London zoo

Afghan urial at HWP

springbok at Belfast

roloway monkey at Twycross

are a few i can think of, some may have bred, but they never became situated into the UK zoo scene.

Anyone think of any more?
 
Proboscis Monkeys at Twycross, Sumatran Rhinos at Aspinall's, Impala anywhere in the UK, Gerenuk ditto. Eastern Lowland Goirillas at Chester.
 
Chamois. Blackpool.

Bactrian Wapiti- failing at HWP.

Owl-faced Monkey- down to two collections (Twycross,Edinburgh) from five and seemingly failing now.

Allen's Swamp Monkey- only at Paignton & Twycross and no current breeding.
 
Douc langur - several collections tried , Howletts had some success but short-term unfortunately .

Red howler - Twycross .

Chousinga - Howletts .
 
Sumatran rhino at Port Lympne has to be, sadly considered as one of the Uk's greatest failures, so disappointing.

Siberian musk deer at Edinburgh, seem to be on their way out.

Andean condor breeding in the Uk seems to have dried up too.
 
There are quite a few primates that have gone or are close to going, I'm sorry to say:
  • most guenons - except vervet, de Brazzas & diana, but including talapoin
  • sooty magabey
  • hanuman langur
  • Coquerel's mouse lemur
  • potto
  • greater galago (perhaps because the range of species was not known)
  • angwantibo
I'll add gaur too

Alan
 
Sumatran rhino at Port Lympne has to be, sadly considered as one of the Uk's greatest failures, so disappointing.

In mitigation, both females supplied were elderly or below par so it was very unlikely they could be bred from. Torgamba the male was maintained in good health for many years. I think it might have worked if a younger female had been available. But yes, overall a failure- though not of their own making.
 
The little penguins at Bristol were a bitter disappointment, after the effort of importing the birds, then watching them die off, one by one, very sad.
 
Giant Panda's although they are returning!
In what way do you consider Giant Pandas to have been a sucess in the UK,as they have never been bred in the UK,and we have never really ever had more than a pair at any given time,so for my money they are a fail and will remain so despite the nearing arrival at Edinburgh!!!
 
If you start on birds the list would be depressingly long , especially what are loosely termed softbills , many species have been imported over the years without becoming established .
 
I can think of 2 pinnipeds :-

Baikal Seals at Twycross

Elephant Seals at Dudley/Flamingo Land

Also Bengal Tigers as pretty much every "Bengal" outside of India is a hybrid or severely inbred due to trying to create white variations! The Sloth Bears at Whipsnade are also the only 2 and as far as I'm aware have never bred and are getting on in years...

As someone else said, this is quite a depressing thread! :(
 
They are three Sloth Bears at Whipsnade Ursula and Columbo(brother and sister)and their mother Lanka as far as I'm aware Lanka is still alive as confirmed by a fellow zoochatter!
 
They are three Sloth Bears at Whipsnade Ursula and Columbo(brother and sister)and their mother Lanka as far as I'm aware Lanka is still alive as confirmed by a fellow zoochatter!

I stand corrected! :o Still likely to be gone from the British collections in the next few years. Am I correct in thinking these are Sri Lankans whilst the rest in Europe are the Indian sub-species? If so that surely would hamper any ssp in place? Also Asiatic Black Bears since the only 1 on public display is the elderly female at Dudley, bears tend to be falling out of favour nowadays unless they're Spectacled or Sun Bears!
 
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