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Babirusa in Europe

Discussion in 'Europe - General' started by taun, 3 Jan 2010.

  1. taun

    taun Well-Known Member

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    Babirusa have been mentioned a few times in recent threads, so it got me thinking are they now doing better in Europe than 5/6 years ago?

    Currently ISIS lists 19.16.2, with 4 born in the last year.

    I remember hearing that they only had a few breeding females a few years back is this now changed?

    Is it also current practice to separate males from females when the female gives birth?
     
  2. EvilKittie

    EvilKittie Well-Known Member

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    there was a shortage - and i think so
     
  3. ZooLeopard

    ZooLeopard Well-Known Member

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    have south lakes bred many this year?
     
  4. Nisha

    Nisha Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I didn't think the South Lakes pair were old enough to breed yet?
     
  5. taun

    taun Well-Known Member

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    Pair?

    South lakes have 2.2 with 1.1 being from Chester if I remember correctly?
     
  6. Nisha

    Nisha Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I thought they had 1:1 with a young female and a male who is the offspring of the Chester pair?
     
  7. taun

    taun Well-Known Member

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    Could be, they definitely have 2.2 thou.

    Last time I was there they had 3 animals but that was 3/4 years ago now.

    As I say, I know they recieve Babirusa from chester but am not sure how many, but this was from either Zoodays or Micheleas Zoo babies.
     
  8. ZooLeopard

    ZooLeopard Well-Known Member

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    i am sure they have 3/4 as well.
     
  9. taun

    taun Well-Known Member

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    South lakes list them as having 2.1 but ISIS lists 2.2

    South Lakes Wild Animal Park

    Anyhow would be nice to know if anyone has an answer to my questions posted at the top.
     
  10. Nisha

    Nisha Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    At start of 2009 they had a brother and sister. I don't know where they came from. Then the young male arrived from Chester where he was born as a mate for the female. The surplus male was due to leave for Germany sometime last summer however ISIS is indicating that for some reason he still hasn't left. :confused:
     
  11. taun

    taun Well-Known Member

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    Or another male and female has arrived!

    Anyway as sure someone can answer this puzzle.
     
  12. zoogiraffe

    zoogiraffe Well-Known Member

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    The brother and sister were hand reared at South Lakes from the breeding pair at South Lakes.
     
  13. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    In time for maturation/breeding an unrelated male/female swap will take place ... I suppose. :confused:
     
  14. Bele

    Bele Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I understood that one of the breeding pair at Chester - probably the male - was bred at South lakes . So if the youngster bred at Chester some time ago has gone to South Lakes it will be very closely related to their other animals . Though I think the entire European stock is all very closely related and inbred .

    Have the breeding pair that was at South Lakes died ?
     
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  15. zoogiraffe

    zoogiraffe Well-Known Member

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    I think the female may have died but not the male,I do know that they were taking one to Wuppertal around August last year not sure on the sex of this animal.
     
  16. HOMIN96

    HOMIN96 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    So...7 years later, I thought it would be interesting to revive this discussion.

    It seems like the situation of Babirusas in Europe is getting worse and worse. According to Zootierliste, only 7 zoos now have Babirusas in their collection with very small breeding success. Where and Why it went wrong for Babirusa?
     
  17. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Didn't realize it was going so bad with the European Babirusa-population !
    Just checked Zootierliste and indeed only7 collections still working with them.
    Inbreeding seem to be really one of the main reasons with a potential founder-stock of 13 animals

    1971 : Frankfurt recieved 1-0 from Surabaya Zoo
    .
    1974 : Antwerp recieved 1-1 from Surabaya Zoo ( female pregnant and 2 young born later )

    1975 : Stuttgart recieved 2-2 from Surabaya Zoo

    1977 : Rotterdam recieved 1-1 from Surabaya Zoo

    1984 : Antwerp recieved 2-2 from Jakarta Zoo

    As you see this founder-population should have been large enough to build up a healthy captive population for a longer period but the problem is that 11 of the 13 founder-animals came from one source ( Surabaya Zoo ) and could have been ( close ) releated.
    A total of 43 European collections have kept the species and now-a-days only 7 zoo are left keeping them, so I guess there is also a surtain lack of intrest in keeping them... :(.
     
  18. Bib Fortuna

    Bib Fortuna Well-Known Member

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    There is no a surtain lack of interest in keeeping babirusa in europe-some of them are working on a new import from Indonesia.
     
  19. HOMIN96

    HOMIN96 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    That would be awesome! Babirusa is one of my most favourite animal, so I´m glad to hear that. Maybe zoos can try also the other direction - importing animals from USA as Jihlava did last year.
     
  20. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    On the more positive side, Chester Zoo has been breeding the species very regularly in recent years; when one considers this fact, along with the plans mentioned by @Bib Fortuna which a number of collections are working on in order to import fresh blood into the European population, I would suggest it is rather too early to write the species off!