I'd be really interested if you can find evidence of either species being kept there.
Woburn Safari Park Woburn !
- Thread starter cottoni
- Start date
I'd be really interested if you can find evidence of either species being kept there.
The 1972 and 1973 editions of the Knowsley guide include a photo of a drill and the following text: "Knowsley's colony of baboons consists principally of Olive and Yellow Baboons, but there are also specimens of the Ethiopian Hamadryas, the Chacma, and the Drill."
Some of the information in the 1970s safari park guides tends to be rather generic, but this does seem fairly clear. In fact, Chacma and Yellow Baboons are a much rarer site these days - I've never seen the former, and the only Yellows I've seen (at Wroclaw) are of questionable origin.
Some of the information in the 1970s safari park guides tends to be rather generic, but this does seem fairly clear. In fact, Chacma and Yellow Baboons are a much rarer site these days - I've never seen the former, and the only Yellows I've seen (at Wroclaw) are of questionable origin.
I stand corrected.
This is very interestig news as several times I have read that the last Drill in the UK was the castrated male at Drusillas Zoo which died about that time.I wonder where the ones kept at Knowsley came from? Could it be London who had an elderly trio in their old Monkey House which 'disappeared' when the new Sobell pavilions were built? I can't see Knowlsey deliberately importing them.
never seen Chacmas in the UK. Saw them once somewhere in Europe many years back- very distinctive being larger than the other Grass baboons and a pure Grey colour.
Knowsley has 131 "Papio sp" baboons, according to ISIS. I would guess that they may well be a minestrone of the 4 papio species mentioned above. I haven't been there for ages and I'm not much of a baboon expert. It's odd that most of the species apart from Hamadryas are uncommon in captivity worldwide nowadays.
Olive=Olive colour(stocky build). Yellow = yellow colour(rangy build). Guinea= rufous colour(smaller) Chacma= grey colour(biggest).
I've seen photos of Knowsley's baboons, they look to me like Olives, but could be a mixture of Olive x Yellow if they've had both in the past. Chacma and Guinea are a lot rarer in zoo/safari parks though Windsor SP had pure Guineas and could have sent them to another UK park when they closed. So they could have added to the 'cocktail' too. Never seen Chacmas in the UK at all.
Port Lympne have pure Guinea baboons which came from Vincennes, Paris.
I think traditionally Hamadryas have been more popular as exhibits than the 'grass' baboons because they lend themselves to being exhibited in traditional 'rock' type enclosures. Otherwise baboons aren't that widely kept because of their non-endangered status bbut lend themselves well to SafariPark conditions.
Still getting over the idea Drusillas didn't have the last UK Drill.....
No but I remember a 'mixed' pair in Bristol's old Monkey House- Yellow male and Guinea female- the male was twice the females size(or more)
London Zoo used to have a pair of Olives, 'Ebb' & 'Flo' in their old Monkey House for many years.
The last Olive baboons I saw in a zoo setting in the UK were a pair at Flamingo Park some years ago.
I remember those from my very first visit.
I think the consensus regarding Knowsley's baboons is that they're more Olive than anything else, but most (all?) are hybrids to some extent.
Olive with probably an admixture of Yellow then?. They call them Olive.
I don't think calling them Olive is being too disingenuous - they're genetically mostly Olive. Not sure what the other inputs have been but if they have had Yellow in there I'm sure there'd have been some hybridising going on!
They do look like olives from the photos so I'd say 'Olive' is to all intents and purposes what they are.
Visited yesterday (after Whipsnade) and the Drills can now be seen in the African Forest - though not particularly well, as they are still in the quarantine cages. They were certainly active though. The Patas were also just about vsisible inside in the other building - not sure if they were shut in or just couldn't be bothered to come out. Barbary Macaques and Bongo were out and about on entertainment duties!
Woburn have opened a new rhino house, along with a couple of new rhino bringing the herd up to 2.4.
Rhino?s Arrival Breeds Hope ~ Woburn News
A male Rothschild's giraffe has also been born.
Woburn Safari Park says ?Jambo? to its first Giraffe of 2009 ~ Woburn News
Rhino?s Arrival Breeds Hope ~ Woburn News
A male Rothschild's giraffe has also been born.
Woburn Safari Park says ?Jambo? to its first Giraffe of 2009 ~ Woburn News
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
Still getting over the idea Drusillas didn't have the last UK Drill.....
what do you mean?
I meant that for very many years I was under the assumption the last Drill to be kept in the UK(before the recent influx) was a castrated male at Drusillas Animal Garden in Sussex (I think they were too). But it seems there was one or more at Knowsley SP after this, which I never knew about...