Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Wildlife Zoo in Xining Zoo news from Xining Zoo

By the way, is there a list of animal species kept in Xining zoo?
I compile the following list based on recent visits by other zoo enthusiasts:

Eastern grey kangaroo
Ring-tailed lemur, Common squirrel monkey, Patas monkey, Rhesus macaque, Hamadryas baboon
Malayan porcupine
Lion, Leopard, Siberian tiger, Snow leopard, Eurasian lynx, Pallas's cat, Leopard cat, Chinese mountain cat, Wolf, Giant panda, Eurasian brown bear, Tibetan blue bear, Asian black bear, Red panda, Raccoon
Domestic horse, Kiang, Plains zebra
Hippopotamus, Bactrian camel, Llama, Alpaca, Thorold's deer, Sichuan deer, Sika deer, Fallow deer, Père David's deer, Domestic yak, Goitered gazelle, Tibetan gazelle, Przewalski's gazelle, Domestic goat, Mouflon, Bharal

Ostrich, Emu
Greylag goose, Swan goose, Bar-headed goose, Black swan, Tundra swan, Ruddy shelduck, Mandarin duck, Mallard
Domestic turkey, Indian peafowl, Golden pheasant, Blue eared pheasant, White eared pheasant, Silver pheasant, Common pheasant, Reeves's pheasant, Chukar partridge, Przevalski's partridge
Scarlet ibis
White-tailed eagle, Golden eagle, Cinereous vulture, Himalayan vulture, Bearded vulture
Common crane, Black-necked crane
Pallas's gull
Grey parrot, Alexandrine parakeet, Budgerigar, Blue-and-yellow macaw, Red-and-green macaw
Chinese hwamei, Eurasian magpie, Java sparrow
 
@Ding Lingwei Wow, Chinese Mountain Cat, and 2 of the Procapra Gazelles! Very impressive! Any idea how many they had of each of those 3 species?
They have four Chinese mountain cats, one Tibetan gazelle and one Przewalski's gazelle. They also rescued a two-week-old "Chinese mountain cat" kitten last year, which was later found to be a hybrid between a Chinese mountain cat and a house cat.
 
Two interesting new species in Xining:

A Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata) has been on exhibit in the small cat house since late February, the only captive specimen in Chinese zoos (and world-only maybe?). The young male was rescued last July as a two-month-old kit.

Meanwhile, two young male wild yaks (Bos mutus) arrived recently. Both are calves raised by local herders and grow too accustomed to human beings to be released to the wild.
 
@Ding Lingwei Wow, Chinese Mountain Cat, and 2 of the Procapra Gazelles! Very impressive! Any idea how many they had of each of those 3 species?
Just did a littile research for the Chinese Mountain Cat entry in Zootierliste. Apparently they have seven cats (3,4) now. Below is the information for each individual (didn't count the ones that temporarily kept and released):

- 19.10.2020: 1,0 rescued from Menyuan County, Qinghai;
- 12.06.2021: 1,1 rescued from Menyuan County, Qinghai (0,1 passed away in early 2023);
- 30.09.2021: 0,1 rescued near Qinghai Lake, Qinghai (individual with domestic cat lineage);
- 01.01.2022: 0,1 rescued from Guide County, Qinghai;
- 08.03.2022: 0,1 rescued from Huangyuan County, Qinghai;
- Before 02.2023: 0,1 rescued from Ping'an District, Haidong, Qinghai;
- 03.2023: 1,0 rescued from Menyuan County, Qinghai.
 
I was fortunate enough to go to the Xining Zoo back in late August of this year. The Tibetan blue bears were the animal I was most interested in seeing. In between the blue bears and the asiatic black bears there were a few brown bears who were of another subspecies. They had a light brownish to reddish coat in some individuals. Is it a European brown bear or a Himalayan (red) brown bear?
 
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The brown bear is undoubtedly not a Tibetan blue bear. The size and colour as well as previous posts from a few years ago offers the possibility of this individual being a European brown bear. However there is some reddish patches on this individual and others. The Himalayan (red) brown bear has populations in Chinas Tibetan autonomous region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
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In the top left corner of the photo you can see the two subspecies side by side albeit separated by a small fence.
 

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I dont dare to say if the bear on your photo is either of the subspecies. But in my eyes, it looks more like Himalayan brown bear (similar look to those few I saw so far in zoo Hluboka) than Europeans.

One typical sign of Himalayans are light colored claws - unfortunately not visible in your photos. The smaller size and fawn-colored fur is typical for them too, but Europeans can´t be excluded. Fluffy ears and a small patch of longer fur under chin of the bear again look more Himalayan (a small sample I saw so far), but a nice portrait of its head from frontsite would be better.

Maybe one of the Chinese members could know the origin / identity of the bear?
 
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A Pallas's cat called "Sun Shangxiang" died on March 14th, according to autopsy, due to acute duodenal ulcer perforation, It was rescued in Xining in 2019.

1.2 Pallas's cat still alive in zoo. But the two females are quite old and seem to no longer have the conditions for reproduction.
 
Sorry, I don't know their genders. They are kept together with the zoo's existing domestic yaks.
Darn, they are a zoological curiosity and icon for any zoo, even in PR of China and deserve their own exhibit! How can the management and zoo husbandry curatorship keep them with domestic yaks...????
 
Darn, they are a zoological curiosity and icon for any zoo, even in PR of China and deserve their own exhibit! How can the management and zoo husbandry curatorship keep them with domestic yaks...????

Likely out of consideration for animal welfare, these three wild yaks are not yet of reproductive age
 
The zoo currently displays five Chinese mountain cats (Felis bieti), all rescued from the wild. Genetic testing confirmed only three are genetically pure, with two of them currently on public view.
 
The zoo currently displays five Chinese mountain cats (Felis bieti), all rescued from the wild. Genetic testing confirmed only three are genetically pure, with two of them currently on public view.

Hybrid with what? House cats? Wild cats (felis silvestris)? or other species...
 
Current Chinese Mountain Cat (Felis bieti) Exhibit Status:
Qinghaihu、HuangGongZi、HuangLaoTai(purebred)、HuangXiaoBao(recently rescued male;bloodline not yet tested)。
Huang Ping'an has been relocated to the off-exhibit area due to kidney failure and is currently under medical care.
 
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