Dwarf forest buffalo in the UK

29-07-2008

[quote=Pertinax;64008]Marwell's Scimitar Horned Oryx were the first ones in the Uk for many a year. They imported a large group(about 16) from another European zoo ( I forget which, but I think it was Aarlborg) I imagine all the other S.h. Oryx now in UK zoos probably originate from this Marwell group.


I first heard about them in the UK in 1973 at Marwell zoo, they could of had them before that

29-07-2008

From what I have read their population was down to around 40 animals when the captive breeding programme was started for them in the 1960's.

I have struggled to find out when they were first imported into the UK.

Marwell's scimitar-horned oryx
29-07-2008

Just dug out Marwell Zoo News no. 1 - quote ' 6.10 SH oryx arrived from Manchester in November 1971 . These zoo-bred animals are to our knowledge the first to be exhibited in this country for several decades .While in Manchester 1.2 were born to the original group of 13 .'

From issue 5 - 'The initial group of 15.8 from Aarlborg Zoo consisted of some wild-caught specimens . By March 1973 our herd numbered 22 individuals .Several surplus males and 1 female born here have been sent abroad to form the basis of further breeding groups .'

I have a feeling that some animals from the small herd at Paris Vincennes were imported at a later stage .

Issue 4 reports on the importation of 28 Bactrian camels from Russia , also quarantined in Manchester ! They all arrived at Marwell but most moved on soon after .

13-08-2008

Just recently found out that Africa Alive also have Congo Buffalo, but their website has no information on there numbers kept there.

Does anyone know number species and the history of their congo buffalo?

13-08-2008

Someone on here who visited maybe 8-12 months ago I think mentioned that there were two, however ISIS lists 0.1 having previously shown 1.2 for some time. I think they originally acquired 3, but I don't know where from. I'm pretty sure they never bred. Sadly, Africa Alive doesn't seem to do well with a some of their hoofstock species. This could, however, be due to them being offloaded with old or non-breeding animals in order to join ESB/EEP's as a largely untested collection (they only really became a decent zoo at the start of the 90s), which then lived out the rest of their lives at the park.

14-08-2008

Maybe the Congo Buffalo and Somali Asses came from Marwell. They have exchanged Giraffes before and I think they may have had Marwell's Onagers too?

14-08-2008

2.0 SWA were sent by Marwell a few years ago. When I spoke to one of the keepers at Africa Alive they said that 1 of the males was moving on and they were bringing in a female to pair with the other male.

14-08-2008

I last visited the park in 1998 (so I know things have changed) but I swear they had a decent little herd of Congo buffalos back then.

Maybe some of the problems that Africa Alive have had with their hoofstock is the excessive moisture that I believe was a problem in the back fields. Possibly explains why they have ended up with quite a few swamp-loving antelopes.

14-08-2008

The lower half of the park is very close to a wide marshland, and may indeed be reclaimed land, so yes, difficult to drain. Buffalo ought to do okay on it though.

14-08-2008

Pertinax - Onagers? I don't remember any, but it does ring a bell.....years before, when the previous farming family owned the park, the furthest marsh paddock (now holding one of the lechwe groups) had a single 'onager' when I first saw the park (inverted commas due to the fact the owners couldn't be trusted to correctly identify a chimpanzee, let alone a species of wild ass)......I have a feeling the current administration housed onagers in one of the current wild ass/buffalo paddocks in their early years, do you think if this is correct, then they would have been from Marwell?

The marsh edge paddocks get pretty waterlogged as tetrapod says, but the buffalo and wild ass paddocks are higher up and quite exposed, although less so as the vegetation matures at along the back fences...during the winters the whole site gets a stinging breeze off the North Sea being very close to the coast, and I imagine forest buffalo don't fare well during the colder months.

The blesbok however, didn't last long in their original paddock (now holding Nyala), but once some more arrived and were added to the african plains, they seem to have bred well and thrived.

Onagers.
14-08-2008

From the map on the 'Africa Alive' thread, the Onagers were in either the existing Somali Ass enclosure(17) or the Buffalo one(18) next door. I saw up to 8 onagers there on several visits in the late 1990's. Not sure where they came from but Marwell went into Somali Ass at about the same time.

15-08-2008

Okay, that confirms what I thought I'd imagined, when the banham owners took over, I remember wondering if their decision to exhibit Onagers was because there were already some at the Park, or if the Onager(s) present on my first visit was no more and this was just incidental. It looks likely that they could have come from Mawell, though. The question is, did they all die in the space of 10 years or so, or were they moved out of the collection? That's a lot of onagers to get through if the former is true.