ZooChat Challenge (Global) 2016

All Blue Duikers in the US are of the southern population. I talked to the studbook keeper about it.

 

Thanks.

 

At Saigon Zoo, 27th January 2015:

1) Blue Wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus
2) Sambar Deer, Rusa unicolor
3) Sika Deer, Cervus nippon
4) Indian Muntjac, Muntiactus muntjac
5) Gemsbok, Oryx gazella
6) Przewalski's Wild Horse, Equus ferus przewalskii
7) White Rhino, Ceratotherium simum
8) Greater Kudu, Tragelaphus strepsicerus
9) Plains Zebra, Equus quagga burchelli
10) Common Hippo, Hippopotamus amphibius
11) Pygmy Hippo, Choeropsis liberiensis

If by some miracle someone knows what species of girrafe Saigon holds and whether it is pure that would be wonderful.

 

After an intense amount of googling, it appears that the Saigon Zoo has either Southern, Western, or Thornicroft giraffes. However, I don't think there are any Thronicroft giraffes in captivity, so that narrows it down a little. They are probably pure, but don't ask me about that.

 

Thanks for the effort JJ, I probably still can't count them but I'll pick up some pure giraffes at some point in the year I'm sure.
I have a question about the rules.
Yesterday I saw Sika Deer and Indian Muntjac that were labeled as Cervus Nippon and Muntiactus Muntjac respectively. Given that this is a Vietnamese zoo and this was an enclosure showcasing a mix of native deer, should I assume that they were in fact Cervus pseudaxis and Muntiactus nigripes, the species native to Vietnam following the split? This would allow me to potentially pick up some post split variants from north China later in the year.

 

I would say you probably could, but I'm not in charge. You'll have to ask Thylo.

 

If the taxa has been split you can count it separately. However, you have to know what you saw. You can't just assume that the deer you saw were C. pseudaxis and M. nigripes, you need to be certain that those were what you saw to be able to count them.

As for the Saigon Zoo giraffes, a quick Google search tells me they imported 2.1 South African Giraffes, Giraffa giraffa, in 2014. I'm not sure how many giraffes the zoo has but they certainly at least have those. If they have more then three giraffes, since giraffes can generally be identified apart through morphological differences, if you took photos you could likely work out if you saw them or not.

~Thylo

 

Managed to see the Pudu on a visit today:

19) Southern Pudu

 

January 29, 2016
Lifers in Black
Miami:
1) Malayan Tapir
2) Lowland anoa
3) Guanaco
4) Black rhino
5) Addra gazelle
6) Burchell's zebra
7) Okapi
8) Grevy's zebra
9) Gerenuk
10) Eastern Giant eland
11) Nyala
12) Sable antelope
13) Indian gaur
14) Addax
15) Nilgai
16) Somali Wild Ass
17) Banteng

 

Seems that discussion from chatroom has shown that I can't do Greater kudu as apparently G&G put the greater kudu species into 4 and for now the US has non-ssp.
(Unless anyone knows otherwise, of course)

 

Most Greater Kudu in the US are southern, but known animals of eastern origin were imported. It cannot be verified what the true taxa is.

 

So can it be counted for the challenge?
I'm not the best with IDing animals but from the Bovid book by Castello it looks like the animal I saw was Eastern

 

update 31st January

30) southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) South Lakes
31) Kordofan giraffe (Giraffa antiquorum) South Lakes

 

Very interesting!

I will try to call my friends to do this challenge in our Chinese zoo BBS.

But in our BBS we might focus on primates, because this year is Chinese "monkey year", and next year we could focus on pheasant (chicken year).

 

SeaWorld San Antonio 2/6/2016:
Yay! Cetaceans count.
38. Pacific White Sided Dolphin
39. Beluga Whale
40. Orca/Killer Whale
41. Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin
Are we counting Atlantic and pacific dolphins as different species? Either way I can only be sure that I saw Atlantic today, but I did see some hybrids.

 

Chester Zoo

1) Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) at Chester Zoo
2) Eastern Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) at Chester Zoo
3) Roan Antelope (Hippotragus equinus) at Chester Zoo
4) Western Sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekei gratus) at Chester Zoo
5) Grevy's Zebra (Equus grevyi) at Chester Zoo
6) Scimitar-Horned Oryx (Oryx dammah) at Chester Zoo
7) Lowland Anoa (Bubalis depressicornis) at Chester Zoo
8) Northern Babirusa (Babyrousa celebensis) at Chester Zoo
9) Brazilian Tapir (Tapirus terrestris) at Chester Zoo
10) Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) at Chester Zoo
11) Philippines Mouse Deer (Tragulus nigripes) at Chester Zoo
12) Onager (Equus hemionuis onager) at Chester Zoo
13) Congo Buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus) at Chester Zoo
14) Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus) at Chester Zoo
15) Rothschild's Giraffe (Giraffa rothschildi) at Chester Zoo
16) Okapi (Okapia johnstoni) at Chester Zoo
17) Natal Red Duiker (Cephalophus natalensis natalensis) at Chester Zoo
18) Red River Hog (Potamochoerus porcus)at Chester Zoo

 

All from Bristol Zoo (6/2/2016):

12. Lesser Malay Mouse Deer Tragulus kanchil*
13. Southern Pudu Pudu puda
14. Western Pygmy Hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis

*This up to debate on the exact species, but based on a discussion in the Chatroom I can't say this is the exact species, but can count it.

 

A return visit to Whipsnade brought me a few I missed last time, though still 2 missing.
32. Gemsbok
33.Blesbok
34. Nilgai
35.Sika Deer
36.Axis Deer
37. Barasingha
38. Hog Deer
39. Pere David's Deer
40. Preswalski's Horse

 

I visited Nairobi Safari Walk this morning which is a fantastic little zoo with Kenyan wildlife (I will post a review in this thread http://www.zoochat.com/808/trip-kenya-february-2016-a-435669/ eventually)

20) Pygmy Hippo
21) Cape Buffalo
22) Eland
23) Common Zebra (including an Albino)
24) White Rhino
25) Impala
26) Defassa Waterbuck
27) Thomson's Gazelle
28) Bush Duiker (including a really cute baby one)
29) Giant Forest Hog
30) Kirk's Dik-dik

(there were quite a few more species signed, but I don't think they were actually there)

 

I'm in ! Today visited my 6th and 7th collection this year and saw my first ungulate-species of 2016 :
1) Blackbuck ( Antilope cervicapra )