Belfast Zoo Why does Belfast not have rhino?

kiang

kiang

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
A question that has just been vexing me for a while, why?, Belfast seems to me the very epitome of an ABC collection (with a few spectacular exceptions).
So, why no rhino?
Has the zoo ever held a rhino of any species, could it do so in the future?
or has it just never had the money to build an exhibit?
A definitive answer from any Belfast regular would be nice (you know who you are;)).
But feel free to speculate and reorganise the mammal collection at your leisure.
 
To my knowledge Belfast has never exhibited rhino in either the old or new zoo! ( I am 99% certain on this but will double check with 'Molochgibbon' our history buff!)

When the ' new' zoo was in it's early design phase rhino were to be included in the area with the elephants and mixed giraffe paddock however it was decided not to keep them in the end and give more room to the other species.

Like many species, we would like to keep in the future it comes down to funding. I would not however rule the option out! :)

Hippos also would be nice! (again don't think have been exhibited either!)
 
I have just scanned through Zootierliste and couldn't find any mention of rhinos or hippos ever being kept at Belfast Zoo. I don't know why this is the case.
 
perhaps the terrain or landscape of the available space at belfast zoo has been unsuitable for rhinos - i,e. that which is not used to house the other large mammals the zoo exhibits. however if edinburgh can do it, no reason why belfast can't create a suitable exhibit for rhino in future.
 
When London Zoo was threatened with closure, it decided to reduce the number of species by about 33%. By looking at the species that were lost and those that remained, it seems that some directors and head keepers were over-fond of some groups of species. For example, there were about 4 species of laughing thrushes, several species of starlings and quite a large collection of hornbills. Some zoo collections say a lot about their head staff. For example, John Aspinall was very fond of gorillas and tigers, while John Knowles was fond of hoofed mammals and big cats. Perhaps, Belfast Zoo has never had a manager with enough fondness for rhinos or hippos to add them to the collection.
 
Management do like both types of species as well as a number of other species we don't keep currently! If more money was available I'm sure they would be here as we have plenty of room including about 12 acres of unused 'old' zoo that could be developed!
 
Belfast Zoo has never held either species of Hippo or any of the 5 species of Rhino (be quite a coup if we had've held Sumatrans or Javan!:D). The bare facts are that any zoo's collection is determined by several factors: money, space, expertise\competency, layout, availability, and ultimately when all these factors are taken into account, what the actual zoo's management itself wants to keep in the first place. Just as a little aside, out of all the bear species, the only one never keep at Belfast is the Giant Panda; I wonder how many other zoos have historically keep as many - London springs to mind plus they also kept those funny looking black-and-white bamboo munching thingys from China!
 
moloch gibbon said:
I wonder how many other zoos have historically keep as many - London springs to mind plus they also kept those funny looking black-and-white bamboo munching thingys from China!
Click to expand...

Its been discussed on another thread somewhere that in the 1960's when they had 'Chi Chi', that London could have had all the Bear species on exhibit at one time- if not then very close to it as the Mappins and the mixed Bear enclosure that was near the Clock Tower between them contained virtually all the species.
 
moloch gibbon said:
Belfast Zoo has never held either species of Hippo or any of the 5 species of Rhino (be quite a coup if we had've held Sumatrans or Javan!:D). The bare facts are that any zoo's collection is determined by several factors: money, space, expertise\competency, layout, availability, and ultimately when all these factors are taken into account, what the actual zoo's management itself wants to keep in the first place.
Click to expand...

Thanks Moloch Gibbon. I tried to find a book about Belfast Zoo in the ZSL Library yesterday, but I couldn't find one. I think you're right and there are various factors that determine if a zoo keeps certain species. I've got an old guide from the Bronx Zoo and it seems that this zoo was very close to exhibiting indris, but this didn't happen. When I visited Madagascar in 1987, I saw a fenced area of forest that enclosed a group of indris. The indris died after a short time and the planned export of indris to the Vincennes Zoo in Paris never happened. As an aside, when I visited Vincennes Zoo in 1988, it had representatives of all the lemur families e.g. sifakas, dwarf lemurs, true lemurs, sportive lemurs and aye-ayes.
 
moloch gibbon said:
Just as a little aside, out of all the bear species, the only one never keep at Belfast is the Giant Panda; I wonder how many other zoos have historically keep as many - London springs to mind plus they also kept those funny looking black-and-white bamboo munching thingys from China!
Click to expand...

Pertinax said:
Its been discussed on another thread somewhere that in the 1960's when they had 'Chi Chi', that London could have had all the Bear species on exhibit at one time- if not then very close to it as the Mappins and the mixed Bear enclosure that was near the Clock Tower between them contained virtually all the species.
Click to expand...


Yes, I think that there was probably a time when London Zoo had every species of bear on display simultaneously. I definitely saw every species of bear there in the early 1960s but, after all these years, I am not 100% certain that I saw every species in a single visit.

There was certainly a period in the 1980s when Vincennes Zoo (Paris) had every species of bear in its collection. However, sometimes two species shared the same enclosure and were let out, in rotation, on alternate days; consequently, it was necessary to visit the zoo on two consecutive days to be sure of seeing every species.

There was also a time during the 1980s when (West) Berlin Zoo had every bear species on exhibit.
 
ZSL Bears

I worked on the bear section in the late 50's. On the Mappin there were Polar, European & Syrian Brown and American Black; In the Cage behind the Camel House there were Sloth, Himalayan and Malayan Sun Bears.In the old Tecton Ape house were 2 Kodiak bears andabear pit behind the Lion house wre mor brown bears, including Nikki presented to Princess Anne by President Kruschev.
Incidentally the second cage behind the Camel House housed 2 young Elephant seals, then a polar bear cub before being altered for Chi chi the Giant Panda in 1958.
 
mukisi said:
I worked on the bear section in the late 50's. On the Mappin there were Polar, European & Syrian Brown and American Black; In the Cage behind the Camel House there were Sloth, Himalayan and Malayan Sun Bears.In the old Tecton Ape house were 2 Kodiak bears andabear pit behind the Lion house wre mor brown bears, including Nikki presented to Princess Anne by President Kruschev.
Incidentally the second cage behind the Camel House housed 2 young Elephant seals, then a polar bear cub before being altered for Chi chi the Giant Panda in 1958.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for this information; very interesting.

I’m afraid that reminiscing about London Zoo has hijacked this Belfast Zoo thread.

Your comments about the bears in London Zoo pretty much confirm my childhood memories; I’m sure that spectacled bears were also kept in the cage near the old Camel House at some stage in the early 1960s, before being sent to Whipsnade.

To my regret, I have no recollection of seeing elephant seals at London Zoo.
 
Tim May said:
To my regret, I have no recollection of seeing elephant seals at London Zoo.
Click to expand...

Somewhere, my mother has photos of elephant seals at Flamingo Land up in Yorkshire. Seems even the boring theme park collections were interesting in days past :p having said that, even at the time when I first visited Flamingo Land they had a few decent things.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Somewhere, my mother has photos of elephant seals at Flamingo Land up in Yorkshire.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you could load some onto ZooChat.:)

I’ve seen elephant seals a number of times in various continental zoos (Antwerp, Berlin, Duisburg, Stuttgart); possibly we’ll never see them again in Europe.
 
Tim May said:
Perhaps you could load some onto ZooChat.:)

I’ve seen elephant seals a number of times in various continental zoos (Antwerp, Berlin, Duisburg, Stuttgart); possibly we’ll never see them again in Europe.
Click to expand...


Been nagging her to find them for ages now :p

I rather suspect they won't return to Europe at all, indeed - I rather suspect a lot of the pinniped species in Europe at the moment will go the same way, to be honest.
 
The zoo that incinerates a deliberately euthanized elephant does not deserve to have a rhino.
Value your animals more than waste.
 
Such a relevant and on-topic post to revive a two year old thread....... :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top