Will the United Kingdom (G.B. & N.I.) Stay Without Common Hippopotamus?

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Nikola Chavkosk

Well-Known Member
As we can check from Zootierliste, there are just 4 holders of common hippopotamus in the big European country of UK.
The general trend of most very modern or very big zoos is to phase-out this species, but UK seems that advanced very well in this regard.
Will there be at least one institution in the UK that will dedicate to keep and to breed the common hippopotamus, thus ensuring its survival in the UK?

Current UK holders of this species:

-Bewdley (West Midland Safari Park)
-Dunstable (Whipsnade Wild Animal Park)
-Malton (Flamingo Land)
-Warminster (Longleat Safari Park)

(I have just realised that the small Bitola zoo in R. Macedonia already got it's first common hippopotamus after at least 20 years of not-keeping this species, from the Skopje zoo. Her name is Berta.)
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
As we can check from Zootierliste, there are just 4 holders of common hippopotamus in the big European country of UK.
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We're actually quite small....

Not many places have the room to hold them. I expect places will continue to keep them for decades but I don't there will be a load of new exhibits opening up for them.

Pygmy hippo seem a real favourite here as they are easier to cater for exhibit wise.
 
Common Hippos numbers are quite low in the UK with a total of 11 or 12 not sure on the number at the West Mids, only 2 males in the UK as far as I am aware. Shame that the UK does not have more of these wonderful species.
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
Current UK holders of this species:

-Bewdley (West Midland Safari Park)
-Dunstable (Whipsnade Wild Animal Park)
-Malton (Flamingo Land)
-Warminster (Longleat Safari Park)
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Bewdley/West Midlands SP. 6-7 animals but all(?) female and no recent breeding- a static display that will probably decrease as individuals die off.

Whipsnade. Breeding pair plus usually their latest calf until it is sent somewhere else. No room to hold more than this at present.

Malton- one or two individuals only.

Longleat- two old females.

I would think both the Safari Parks will continue with them longerterm as the species is fairly high profile for them, perhaps replacing individuals with others should any become available. Malton might be debatable about their longterm plan with them. Of the four, Whipsnade is the only regular breeder of the species.
 
Somehow sad of Hippos being phased out of some Zoos.

I'm sure that they are a troublesome spp to keep due size, agressivity between males, high breeding taxes and the need to great labor in keeping water/enclosure clean but they are also one emblematic species.

Phasing them out may produce, in the long term, a lack of a decent gene pool to keep the population viable in captivity.
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
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Will there be at least one institution in the UK that will dedicate to keep and to breed the common hippopotamus, thus ensuring its survival in the UK?
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London Zoo’s first hippopotamus ‘Obaysch’ arrived on 25th May 1850.

Since then, for almost 167 years, I don’t there has ever been a time when there were no hippos in UK zoos.

Let’s hope that that continues; it would be a sad day if there were no hippos in the UK.
 
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I don't want to see grand hoofstock phased out because they neccessitate grand aechitecture for holding them. From classic pachyderm houses down to the hippo house at Koln.
 
CindelP said:
Phasing them out may produce, in the long term, a lack of a decent gene pool to keep the population viable in captivity.
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That's very important needing to be considered; Hopefully ESB (European Studbook) management for this species care about this and for the remaining, approximately 190 common hippos across Europe. We also know that currently (and probably in the future) hippos can't be imported from Africa.
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
That's very important needing to be considered; Hopefully ESB (European Studbook) management for this species care about this and for the remaining, approximately 190 common hippos across Europe. We also know that currently (and probably in the future) hippos can't be imported from Africa.
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Plenty in South America in the wild that are not wanted! ;)

Maybe only slightly inbred...:p
 
taun said:
Plenty in South America in the wild that are not wanted! ;)

Maybe only slightly inbred...:p
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Oh yes, the Escobar descendants :p
Last time I read about them, there were probably 45+ animals and they're presenting big tourist attraction there,
 
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Pertinax said:
Bewdley/West Midlands SP. 6-7 animals but all(?) female.
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According to the European Hippopotamus Studbook for 2014 there are eight hippos at Bewdley (although that obviously could have changed since). Yes, as you mention, all are listed as females even though several have masculine names.
 
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Tim May said:
According to the European Hippopotamus Studbook for 2014 there are eight hippos at Bewdley (although that obviously could have changed since). Yes, as you mention, all are listed as females even though several have masculine names.
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I think one, or even two, may have died since then. I only saw about six on my last visit.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Why does Bewdley not acquire a male?
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I doubt they want to increase numbers above what they have- the water area is large but their indoor housing and land space is small and the latter is not really suitable either- just a patch of bare ground. Maybe if numbers reduce further they might add a male and start breeding again, however with the small numbers bred in Europe nowadays a new bull might not be easy to source. Its an odd situation as the ones that are bred are hard to rehome, so some zoos refrain from breeding I think.
 
It is really worring trend about common hippo across Europe, I believe also in N. America. Most zoos just keep older animals without plans for breeding. The situation is alarming I think, if zoos want to conserve (ex-situ) this vulnerable species.

European power-houses for common hippos currently are France, Spain and Italy (largest number of holders, if they are also holding the largest number of animals).
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
Most zoos just keep older animals without plans for breeding.
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I think that is because of the perceived problem in finding homes for the offspring. Many enclosures don't have facilities for more than a pair- even a grown up calf creates a problem and often there's a long waiting period before a new home can be found for it. Whipsnade seem to be an example of this situation but their pair does still breed at regular intervals.
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
I believe also in N. America. Most zoos just keep older animals without plans for breeding
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That is true in some cases, but not all. Some animals aren't allowed to breed; for example, a mother-daughter pair in Los Angeles is now prevented from breeding due to the mother's partially unknown origins. However the male is going to transfer to Dallas with plans for breeding, and a few other pairs (Cincinnati, San Diego) are trying to breed or are expecting.
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
It is really worring trend about common hippo across Europe, I believe also in N. America. Most zoos just keep older animals without plans for breeding. The situation is alarming I think, if zoos want to conserve (ex-situ) this vulnerable species.
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The US hippo population isn't that old, we still have many animals of breeding age. Here we have two significant issues. One (which Pertinax mentioned) is space; hippos breed and socialize best in groups, while most hippo exhibits (even the brand new ones in Memphis and Cincinnati) only have room for pairs. The other issue (which jay mentioned) is pedigree, which is still largely unknown in the population and prevents many otherwise good breeding candidates from receiving recommendations to breed. The pedigree thing will hopefully resolve itself over time, or at least improve. The space issue is what worries me, since zoos really don't seem interested in building good-sized hippo enclosures (except perhaps the future exhibit at Dallas). The only zoo I know of that keeps a small herd is Disney's Animal Kingdom.
 
Also, though not main scope of this thread, we would be interested to read about breeding and status of common hippos in other part of the world, like in China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, South America, Mexico, etc. ?
I remmember seeing one picture of a Chinese zoo with a heard of several common hippos on Zoochat, wich is unusuall for zoos. :)
 
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