Where are the wildebeests?

B

bowie

Active Member
Why so few wildebeests in zoos. I saw some at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, TX on a return visit they were gone. The only other time I remember seeing any was at the Fort Worth Zoo a long time ago.
 
There are many species of animals that were common in zoos a few decades ago, but now relatively rare. They include baboons, jackals and wildebeests. I saw my first black-backed jackal for many years last year at Plzen. Unfortunately, it was in a cramped enclosure in the Small Mammal House. Two years ago, I saw brindled gnu in Planckendael for the first time in several years. A few months later, I saw a white-tailed gnu in Newquay, my first sighting for several years.

As regards wildebeests, I most wanted to see one when I visited the Bronx Zoo. I was hoping to get a postcard and write, "Start spreading the gnus, I'm leaving today." This never happened. Many years ago, I sent a lettercard to work. It had a picture of a bird on a floating device. I put a word bubble next to the device and wrote, "If you were the only gull in the world and I was the only buoy."
 
here's more zoos with them. Fort wayne children's zoo,Audubon zoo,lion county safari,Franklin Park zoo,Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park,Roger Williams Park zoo and San Diego Safari Park.
 
I wish Birmingham would get something anything to replace the hoofstock they lost. We had Beisa, Sitatunga, and Kudu recently (past decade) now we are down to the "basic" collection of Roth tic Giraffe, Grant's Zebra, and one Grant's Gazelle. The Trails of Africa original press release mentioned the Kudu would stay and we would have Impala (granted the impala may have been a design invention as Trails is a minature Giants from Dallas which has impala mixed with their elephants)

I never actually saw them there but I have seen pictures of our Kudu in the pen with our giraffes. With our new Giraffe Encounter (see gallery) it resembles the Miomobo which means Eland or Sable would be good choices to put with the giraffe now.

Something has to be done to save hoofstock. Imagine Zoo's with no Big Cats or primates.
 
I don't know of any normal AZA zoos in TX that still have wildebeest, but C. taurinus is very common in TX drive-thru safaris (Aggieland, Alvin, Cherokee Trace, Fossil Rim, Franklin, Natural Bridge, also Arbuckle in Oklahoma). Back in the 1980s/80s Abilene kept wildebeest mixed with the zebra, ostrich, and Egyptian geese, but after they died (?) the zebra and ostrich remained alone (never replaced the geese either)
 
I have seen at:
1. Fort Wayne or Indianapolis
2. Boulder Ridge (black)
3. Toledo
4. Columbus
5. Metro Richmond
6. Virginia Safari Park
7. Creation Kingdom
8. Fort Chiswell Safari
9. Wild Animal Safari in Georgia?
10. Azoosment (gone i think)
11. Hovatter's Wildlife Zoo
 
African Lion Safari and Safari Niagara have blue wildebeest. Toronto Zoo did have wildebeest, but they were phased out.
 
I have seen Eastern White-Bearded Wildebeest, C. taurinus albojubatus, at Disney's Animal Kingdom, Franklin Park Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and Wildlife World Zoo in the US. I have also seen them at Wroclaw Zoo in Poland. Nominate subspecies Blue Wildebeest I've only ever seen at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in England. I have also seen Black Wildebeest at Madrid Zoo Aquarium, Newquay Zoo, and Nowe Zoo Poznan in Spain, England, and Poland respectively.

Zootierliste lists 6 collections with C. t. albojubatus, 62 with C. t. taurinus, and 27 with C. gnou all in Europe.

~Thylo
 
Yi Qi said:
African Lion Safari and Safari Niagara have blue wildebeest. Toronto Zoo did have wildebeest, but they were phased out.
Click to expand...

Toronto has had 3.0 Blue Wildebeest for about 5 years. Their previous wildebeest were phased out about 5 years before that. They were black and I think they had them from the beginning, 1974 - 1975.
 
In Europe:
Black wildebeest:
Dvur Kralove (Zoo)
Olomouc (Zoo)
Givskud (Zoo)
Cadaujac (Ferme exotique)
Dompierre-sur-Besbre (Le Pal)
Hermival les Vaux (CERZA Lisieux)
Obterre (Espace Animalier de la Haute-Touche)
Sigean (Safaripark)
Thoiry (Safari)
Fasano (Zoosafari Fasanolandia)
Murazzano (Parco Safari delle Langhe)
Borysew (Zoo Safari Borysew)
Katowice (Zoo)
Poznan (Nowe Zoo)
Slupsk (Zoo Charlotta)
Avintes (Park & Zoo Santo Inácio)
Vila Nova St Andre (Badoca Safari Park)
Golubitskaya (Zoo Lukomorye)
Moskwa (Zoo)
Rostov-on-Don (Zoo)
Sortavala (ZooGreenPark)
Cordoba (Zoo)
Estepona (Selwo Aventura)
Madrid (Zoo/Aquarium)
Bassenthwaite (Lake District Wildlife Park)
Newquay (Zoo)
Warminster (Longleat Safari Park)

Blue wildebeest:
Dürrwangen-Haslach (Wille Kinderzoo)
Hodenhagen (Serengeti-Park)
Kronberg (Opel-Zoo)
Landau (Zoo)
Münster (Allwetterzoo)
Neuwied (Zoo - ehem. Tierpark Hubertushof)
Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock (Safari- und Hollywoodpark)
St. Johann bei Herberstein (Tierwelt Herberstein)
Grodno (Zoo)
Bouillon (Parc Animalier)
Cambron-Casteau (Pairi Daiza - vormals Parc Paradisio)
Deigne-Aywaille (Monde Sauvage Zoo)
Olmen Balen (Pakawi Park - vormals Zoo)
Rochehaut (Entre Ferme et Foret)
Doksy (Zoopark)
Dvorec (Zoo)
Dvur Kralove (Zoo)
Bandholm (Knuthenborg Safari Park)
Ebeltoft (Ree Park Safari)
Dompierre-sur-Besbre (Le Pal)
Frejus (Zoo)
La Boissière du Doré (Zoo)
La Teste (Zoo)
Le Guerno (Parc de Branféré)
Le Vigen (Parc Zoo du Reynou)
Les Mathes (Zoo de La Palmyre)
Montredon-Labessonnié (Zoo)
Peaugres (Safaripark)
Pelissane (Parc Zoologique de la Barben)
Plaisance du Touch (African Safari)
Pont-Scorff (Zoo)
Port-Saint-Père (Planète Sauvage)
Saint Aignan (ZooParc de Beauval)
Sigean (Safaripark)
Thoiry (Safari)
Tbilisi (Zoo)
Bussolengo-Verona (Parco Natura Viva)
Fasano (Zoosafari Fasanolandia)
Napoli (Zoo)
Pombia (Safaripark)
Pozzonovo (Parco Faunistico Valcorba)
Ravenna (Safari Ravenna)
Kaunas (Zoo)
Emmen (Wildlands Adventure Zoo)
Hilvarenbeek (Safaripark Beekse Bergen)
Vila Nova St Andre (Badoca Safari Park)
Bojnice (Zoo)
Kosice (Zoo)
Cabarceno (Parque de la Naturaleza)
Murcia (Terra Natura)
Tabernas (Oasys Mini Hollywood)
Barcelona (Zoo)
Spain/Fuerteventura:
La Lajita (Oasis Park)
Sa Coma (Reserva Africana)
Kolmarden (Tierpark)
Dalton-in-Furness (South Lakes Safari Zoo)
Knowsley (Safari Park - vormals Menagerie Earl of Derby)
Lympne (Port Lympne Wild Animal Park)
Warminster (Longleat Safari Park)
Woburn (Safari Park)
Askaniya Nova (Zoopark)
Al Ain (Zoo)

I have seen the specimens at the zoos highlighted in red. :)

In total 82 collections with wildebeest in Europe (although some may be repeated i.e. a zoo with black and blue wildebeest is counted as two).
 
Does anyone know if Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Quebec has wildebeest, blue or black?
 
The AZA recently updated their Antelope Tag page. Kind of a surprise but they are actually one of the more widespread (in terms of number of institutions- 22 its exhibited at) only about 8 of the 80 listed species are more common (in # of institutions). Its kind of surprising that most of the listed species have less than 100 population and found in less than 10 institutions.
 
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