Lions asian ones

Lions asian ones
22-07-2008

Hi wonder if anyone can help trying to find out where all the asiati lions are in the uk :

Chessington have

asok ( M )
kalingaa ( F)

Twycross

krya ( f )
ASHA ( f )


London

abi ( f )
luifer ( m )


bristol

kamal ( m)
moti (F)


chester

asha
asoka


any more collections have lions sexes , names , history

thnx 4 looking and helping me

23-07-2008

edinburgh have 2.2, paignton have 1.1 i think, don't know anymore details

23-07-2008

I know Edinburgh's adult lions are 'Royal' the male who arrived in 2003 to breed with the 2 sisters 'Gita' and 'Kamalesh' (who are Chester born, and are related to several of the lions in the UK, including Ashok (Chessington), Chandra (Cotswolds) Asoka (Chester) (BRED)

Cotswold Wildlife Park:

1 male: Chandra (born at Chester, moved to Bristol, then to Cotswold to replace his brother 'Subu' who died in November 07' and 1 female 'Akela' (CURRENT PAIR HAVE NOT BRED)

Dudley Zoo

1 male 'Max' and 1 female 'Gir' (BRED)

Paignton Zoo

1 male 'Mwamba' who was born at Twycross Zoo (father is Kamal, now at Bristol) and 1 female 'Indu' (CURRENT PAIR HAVE NOT BRED)

With regard to ages, i'm sure that most of the Asiatic lions in the UK apart from Twycross and Paignton are at least 8 years old and upwards, a few are over 12 at least.

Hope this helps?

23-07-2008

Paignton female 'Indu' was bred there, father 'Midas' mother 'Jamal'

24-07-2008

marwell used to have asian lions couple of years back (now where the frog house is), not sure where they went? and what about dartmoor or combe martin?

24-07-2008

Dartmoor and Coombe Martin have Africans I believe.

24-07-2008

Marwell's Asiatic lions were brought in around 1979, but were found to be hybrid's so no breeding ever took place. The remaining female died in around 2002 i think

Belfast Zoo also used to have Asiatic lions also, but again I think these turned out to be hybrids.

Re: Edinburgh's lion pride, is the 2nd male one of the cubs born there, ready to be rehoused, or a new breeding male?


Is there any news on lion pregnancies in the UK at the moment?

24-07-2008

Yes, the first definite purebred Asian Lions in Uk were the 2.2. London ZSL received circa 1990.

24-07-2008

the Jersey Asiatic lions were also hybrids.

24-07-2008

These will have been Chandani and Jake (Chester Zoo) and Ruchi and Arfur (London Zoo)

The 2 females were sisters, and the 2 males brothers.

24-07-2008

I knew Chester recieved a pair from london, but I didn't know that the second point

24-07-2008

Correct. Helsinki (and somewhere else?) also received Lions from India at the same time. These are the founders of the current large European population.

The original london male 'Arfur' did not live much beyond five though I think he probably bred before he died. I originally though his name 'Arfur' was an exotic-sounding Indian name- but no, it was cockney for 'halfear' !!

25-07-2008

Zoo Zuerich received 1.1 Asian lions in 1990/91. Helsinki another 1.1 and London/Chester 2.2!

It is now high time for some unrelated fresh imports. I pray - as a non-religious person might - that soon the Sakkarbaug Zoo will see the light and send some further 3.3 or 4.4 unrelated Asian lions over to Europe (in exchange for species for which India is in dire need of fresh genes). I think that in all fairness the current European captive population is now far greater than the Indian Zoos population at this moment.

Incidentally, some captive Asian lions are to be used for the reintroduction scheme in Kuno WR in Madhya Pradesh. The Gujrat federal government is still reluctant to release any Asian lions interstate (even though the mortality rate at Gir is unacceptably high and the lion population keeps hovering just under the 320-350 mark). If I remember correctly it is the Delhi and Hyderabad Zoos (obviously Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagadh, Gujrat is also barred from cooperating as it is falling under the same curious federal government system with the Central Zoo Authority only marginally able to recommend changes in policy).

25-07-2008

[quote=jelle;63315]Zoo Zuerich received 1.1 Asian lions in 1990/91. Helsinki another 1.1 and London/Chester 2.2!

It is now high time for some unrelated fresh imports.

So all the current European stock is derived from those original 4.4. animals.

I do wonder how important fresh blood is in this species as with only a total population of 350 odd animals in the wild, they must all have some degree of relatedness. Still, it certainly wouldn't do any harm to have a few newcomers in the EEP population.

25-07-2008

As they are pure-bred you would expect they would just do a straight exchange...