Hippo hurray at Werribee Zoo » Werribee Open Range Zoo

29-11-2007

i know hippo have a pretty thick layer of fat, but sheesh it must get cold in that water!!

29-11-2007

ive been to whipsnade in the autumn, obviously it wasnt that cold then but from what i could see the hippos had the choice of inside/outside via a series of tunnels under the visotr pathways that led into the outside lake area.
western plains zoo in dubbo, australia, has maintained the common hippos for decades now, quite succesfully, and it does drop below freezing fairly regularly out that way in the winter. they make do without any indoor swimming pools, i guess hippos are kind of hardy like that?

30-11-2007

I've been to Whipsnade in cold weather in the past and the Hippos were locked away in the miserable old sheds they used to live in(made of railway sleepers!)

Nowadays at Whipsnade they have quite a nice little modern House with heated pools and a viewing area for the public, so I guess they can be still on show without having to go outside.

The Flamingo Park ones(in Yorkshire, and not a safari park) live mostly inside during the winter as that place is closed for the winter.

30-11-2007

a zoo in canada (think it was toronto) recently has been in all kinds of trouble over the treatment of their hippos. one had to be euthanised when it slipped on its frozen pool. you wonder, what on earth was an aquatic species like a hippo, which is a warm temperate animal at best being put outside in the snow with a frozen pool. another was kept in an unheated wooden barn for over a year i think and that caused a stirr too (may have been the same zoo again) and teh zoo was taken to court.

but i think your right though glyn. they seem like pretty hardy animals. i imagine it can get pretty cold in southern africa overnight, and whilst water always maintains a warmer temperature overnight if its warm during the day, hippo spend nights out of the water.

werribee must get pretty cold in winter, (though probably not as cold as dubbo due to it not being as far inland) but their new facilities have pretty decent barns attached i think.

30-11-2007

There has been at least one (unsuccessful) attempt in the Uk at castrating a male Hippo to prevent more calves- which are difficult to place elsewhere- being produced. But its a very difficult thing to do apparently and he died.

I fear the West Midland group and those at Flamingo Park probably spend an awful lot of time in basic indoor housing in the winter when the parks are closed. I believe these indoor enclosures do at least have warm pools, I think they'd have too.

30-11-2007

I think the zoo- folk in these very cold climate countries just presume that because they are used to that climate, tropical animals can get used to it too. I don't much like seeing photos of tropical animals against 'polar' backgrounds- I once saw a photo of a Gorilla in Snow, again in a Canadian zoo. It seems all wrong to me.

With Hippos, I think a basic requirement is they should have access to heated pools at all times, but in colder countries, that's a very expensive, almost impossible, undertaking. This is a species which seems to suffer from poor housing generally in our zoos over here. Even Whipsnade's, which are probably the best exhibit, have a large unheated outdoor pool which is usually filthy and full of dung- again, an expensive operation to empty or clean it or provide a filtration system.

02-12-2007

Have a look at the 'European Zoos' thread on Cpenhagen's Hippo House. It looks a very good example of how Hippos can be housed well in colder climates....

02-12-2007

If anyone is interested, i've uploaded loads of photos from the West Midlands Safari Park including a couple of the Hippo group and enclosure.

02-12-2007

Nice photos, are the elephants breeding there?

02-12-2007

No, not to my knowledge, which is a shame really.

02-12-2007

so they dont have a bull in the head then?

12-12-2007

Jay thanks for the photo - fantastic! Thinking of staying at the zoo overnight - has anyone had this experience?

12-12-2007

no, but i've heard good things. the luxury tents are located on a cliff that overlooks the main savannah floodplain and the banks of the werribee river. it is very much indeed a magnificent location for an re-created african savannah....beautiful spot.

13-12-2007

The Werribee hippo exhibit appears to be quite wonderful from photos, and a far cry from the substandard enclosure at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in Canada. There have been 4 hippo deaths at the zoo: 2 drowned in 1983 after walking across a frozen pond and crashing through the ice; and two more in 2004 and 2005 from various ailments.

The same zoo kept a baby hippo (named Hazina) in solitary confinement in a tiny barn for a year and a half while waiting for funds for a new enclosure. I visited during that time, and saw the horrid little box that she lived in, complete with a minute pool/bathtub. Finally a couple of years ago a new, $500,000 exhibit was built that included for the first time in the zoo's 35 year history...a heated barn!! But naturally the water outside is still ice-cold, and freezes over during really cold snaps. When it is cold the hippos (they picked up a second one from another zoo) are locked inside just so there isn't a repeat of the cracked-ice incident from 1983. Appalling conditions, and yet another reason why many northern zoos shouldn't maintain tropical animals in their collection, regardless of how the poor creatures can adapt to freezing temperatures.

13-12-2007

Phoned to book but they only take bookings Fridays and week-ends. I would have preferred to give the $750 to the zoo rather than a hotel - but will visit for sure. Thanks anyway