Hello All, My local Zoo where I do volunteer work is planning on creating a mixed African paddock in the next few years. Now, to create this the existing Giraffe paddock will be extended (please look at the picture at the bottom of this post for a slight size comparison - really helps if you have visited Banham Zoo in the last two to three years since the Giraffes arrived). Anyways, we feel a total of five species would be the maximum. Well, I was really wondering if anyone could suggest species for this paddock? Now we already have Giraffe and the Grevy's Zebra (which you can see on the map) will be moved in there too (maybe with a couple additions to the Grevy's herd.) One of the suggestions made by the Zoo for the final three species is Eland so that leaves two more species open to your suggestions. Now we want it to be as different as possible from Africa Alive's (our sister Zoo) mixed African paddock so we don't want any Rhinos, Ostriches or Blesbok. OK? Give me your suggestions!! Thanks in advance.
What about Thomsons Gazelle? There's none in the UK at the moment and it would be fantastic to see them back here again
Probably wrong for the exibit and hard to get hold of (my apologies if these don't even exist in Europe ), but what about something like gerenuk? You don't see many of them.
I would like to see Besia oryx, gerenuk, some gazelle species like tommies, wildebeest or cape buffalo. Why not ostriches? Every good African exhibit has Ostriches. They are an interesting and key part of they African community and are popular with visitors, especialy chicks!
Banham Zoo are pretty set on the idea of acquiring Eland (so I have been led to believe anyway) so that will make Giraffe, Grevy's Zebra and Eland. Funnily enough I have been thinking along similar lines to a couple of you. I was thinking of Gerenuk and Thompson's Gazelle. It would be great to see Gerenuk standing and stretching at browse and Thompson's Gazelle would be a nice addition. Who knows though? This wouldn't be seen in at least three to four years though.
Boring I know, but I would suggest Nyala and Kudu as both are easy to get hold of and quite attractive/eye-catching species. Some helmeted guineafowl or crowned cranes could also make the exhibit a little more interesting and perhaps illustrate the savanna's diversity better then if only mammals are displayed.
Currently no beisa oryx in the UK, there are a few groups in Europe especially for some reason in France. There are no gerenuk in Europe at all, only captive groups are in USA and the middle east.
The main worry is that revenue from Africa Alive will become less if we have some of the more popular African species. We know Ostriches are very popular but it's a sort of balance between Banham Zoo being more 'well known' and having a 'stronger' name than Africa Alive and whichever zoo has the 'more popular' animals, if you get my drift. Popular species at Banham include Siberian Tiger, Cheetah, Snow Leopard, Giraffe, Grevy's Zebra, Black Footed Penguin, Red Panda, Sri Lankan Leopard, South African Fur Seal and Bactrian Camel whereas Africa Alive have few popular animals in comparison with White Rhino, Ostrich, Chapman's Zebra, Lion, Giraffe, Aardvark and Chimpanzee. Therefore, I believe Banham should acquire species which are more 'unknown' to the General Public. In my personal opinion I would like to see (whilst sticking to the 'rules') the proposed Batchelorette herd of 6/7 Giraffe, a herd of 6/7 Grevy's Zebra, a herd of Thompson's Gazelle, a herd of Arabian Oryx and a herd of Wildebeest.
Africa Alive have Nyala, so that's a no-no. I like the idea of Grey or Black Crowned Cranes or Helmeted Guinea Fowl. Africa Alive have a large flock of Helmeted Guinea Fowl so we might be able to acquire a few of them and let them breed up their numbers. Good thinking!
I was just about to suggest the same thing. I think birds make savannha exhibits alot more interesting than the average all mammal exhibit. Why not think of integrating a small monkey troop, perhaps vervets, patas or a baboon species. Also how about warthogs? they would make an interesting display away from hoofstock.
Monkeys would be a bad idea as there is a lot of fencing which the monkeys could climb up. I did suggest Warthogs but was told they would basically turn the paddock into a gigantic wallow.
Well, with giraffe, Grevy's zebra and eland (definite for 3rd species to be imported), I would seriously opt for beisa oryx and thomson's gazelle. Mind for both the beisa oryx and Grevy's zebra some hard-standing and sandy paddock would be nice. Turn it into some E.African arid savannah exhibit to make it slightly different and devious to Africa Alive?
In reply to CIARANDUK I don't think that they will get Arabian oryx as they are not Savannah and there are only 2 groups in the UK which are two small to be split up. Also with them being so endangered they would have to be chosen as a holding site by the Stud book.
What about a wildebeest species? Not many of them in UK. I suppose if Banham wished to stand out they could obtain African Buffalo from somewhere Tho I would imagine you'd need some serious fencing to keep them in. I'm not even they can safely mixed with Grevy's, eland, small gazelle/antelope. On that topic (but slightly off Banham) - are there any African Buffalo in captivity anywhere or are they just too dangerous
