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Pygmy Hippos in mixed exhibits

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by Bib Fortuna, 5 Jul 2014.

  1. Bib Fortuna

    Bib Fortuna Well-Known Member

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    Which Zoos Keep pygmy hippos together with other species, and with which kinds of animals ?

    In the USA, I know Brookfield does with diffrent primates,San Diego maybe,in europe Plzen with Angola-Colobus,South Lakes with ?,Aalborg with ?, Arnhem with Blue duikers ? Maybe Doue La Fontaine ?

    Second question-which Zoos have underwater viewing for pygmy hippos ? I know Singapore,Berlin,Leipzig,Aalborg and Doue La Fontaine-any more ?
     
  2. lintworm

    lintworm Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    In the Netherlands, both in Gaiapark and in Diergaarde Blijdorp there is underwater viewing in the outdoor enclosure, the only Dutch zoo where pygmy hippos are mixed with other species is indeed Burgers Zoo with a breeding pair of blue duiker.
     
  3. Bib Fortuna

    Bib Fortuna Well-Known Member

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    Thank you, lintworm. How old is the underwater viewing at Blijdorp ? I can't remember seeing that, but my last visit to Rotterdam was 10 years ago...
     
  4. lintworm

    lintworm Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The underwater viewing in Blijdorp is from last year, when the hippo exhibit was renovated.
     
  5. BjoernN

    BjoernN Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Leipzig is keeping them together with a family group of Diana monkeys and different kind of fish.
     
  6. Batto

    Batto Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Halle: marmosets
    Jihlava (and others): Egyptian Goose
    Zoo de Fuengirola: serval
    Bioparc Valencia: Drill, Mona Guenon, Southern Talapoin, Western Sitatunga, Egyptian Goose and African Black Duck.
     
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  7. Javan Rhino

    Javan Rhino Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    South lakes used to keep them with mandrills, but these have now gone and as far as I recall the hippos now have the enclosure to themselves.
     
  8. Bib Fortuna

    Bib Fortuna Well-Known Member

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    Thank you guys !

    Servals with pygmy hippo is an interesting combination.

    Also Valencia with diffrent primates and Sitaunga. But I think, it is not a ood idea to Keep them together with Mandrills-they might be to aggressive for the hippos-I've seen that at Brookfield-the adult male Mandrill attacked several times the hippo, which finally escaped to the pool. I don't know, if the same combination was succesfull at Halle, but they stopped it several years ago, and maybe South Lakes made the same bad experiences.
     
  9. Hvedekorn

    Hvedekorn Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    As for Aalborg, they are not housed with any other species in their outdoor exhibit, but their indoor exhibit is built like a small tropical house with free-flying turacos, Van der Decken's hornbills, and glossy starlings (though the starlings may have been moved to elsewhere in the zoo).
     
  10. sooty mangabey

    sooty mangabey Well-Known Member

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    Don't the serval and the hippos rotate through the exhibit at Fuengirola? I'm not sure that they're ever actually in there together (although I may very be wrong).
     
  11. Batto

    Batto Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    sooty mangaby: I clearly recall a series of photos from Fuengirola depicting a pygmy hippo bleaking its teeth torwards a group of juvenile servals-so they might have tried this combination at least in the past.
     
    Last edited: 6 Jul 2014
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  12. Steve Robinson

    Steve Robinson Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Has anyone ever seen a combination of Pygmy Hippo and Bongo?

    Any generalised thoughts as to how such a combination might fare?
     
  13. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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  14. BeardsleyZooFan

    BeardsleyZooFan Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Franklin Park Zoo in Massachusetts keeps Pygmy Hippos with Ruppell's Griffon Vultures.
     
  15. TZFan

    TZFan Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  16. Zoovolunteer

    Zoovolunteer Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I suspect that the main reason pigmy hippos are not often mixed, at least with terrestrial animals, is that their habit of spreading dung to mark their territory might make it very unsalubrious for other animals, at least in a limited area. With arboreal primates or birds, which would be less of a threat to the hippos and out of range of any aggression, they might do better. Incidentaly, does anyone know of any mixed exhibits including pigmy hippos and lemurs? Primates from the mainland of Africa would be a better fit with the living species, but the Madagascar Pigmy Hippo was very closely related and only died out within the last thousand years or so, so a combined exhibit would make for an interesting story for the public on Madagascars extinct megafauna.
     
  17. Gulo gulo

    Gulo gulo Well-Known Member

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    The pair of Rüppel's Griffon Vultures are outdoors in an exhibit by the Bongo.
     
  18. BeardsleyZooFan

    BeardsleyZooFan Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I thought they were in the Tropical Forest with the hippos. When did they move them?
     
  19. Gulo gulo

    Gulo gulo Well-Known Member

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    In late June.
     
  20. cloudedleopard

    cloudedleopard Well-Known Member

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    Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

    From the 80s-90s? to 2006, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in the USA used to keep pygmy hippos with Kirk's dik-dik antelope behind the old elephant exhibit.