Sorry if this has already been mentioned previously but Uria The Female Cheetah at Colchester will be leaving for Paignton Zoo To breed with their male which means the female at Paignton will leave for Colchester. Regards Jordan
I would have thought given the current situation, a new lion pairing would be the first thing to sort out. To the general public a cute fluffy lion cub is far more of a visitor pull than cheetah cubs. As the zoo has suffered a reasonable drop in visitors this year I would have though getting people back through the turnstiles - literally - would be the first priority from a commercial point of view. Personally, it would be wonderful to see cheetah cubs, we might actually see some movement in the enclosure. I would make a fair bet nothing will come of this pairing either. They seem to be going through females rather easily. The female currently at the zoo. Sita who they have "loaned" to DZP. Not sure if there have been any more.
Not any more. The current female (Indu) was born at Paignton on 3.10.03 to the zoo's previous breeding pair Jamna (F) and Midas (M). She had a male sibling in the litter who was later named Sohan. In 2005 Jamna was put down due to Kidney faliure and Midas went to Rotterdam (he's now at Moscow) in July of the same year. The zoo held onto Indu and Sohan until Summer 2006 when Sohan was moved to Ostrava in the Czech Republic and a new male named Mwamba arrived from Twycross as a partner for Indu. Sadly they have yet to breed...
It is not the zoo that is to blame for the lack of cheetah cubs, but rather the social and breeding behaviours of cheetahs. As you probably know, female cheetahs are very selective in choosing mates, often preferring strangers. I believe the current pair did produce a litter that didn't survive. It would seem that the female is now not interested in the male (I don't know their names) so a new pairing is the only solution. If two females are kept together, either one or both can shut down ovulation - possibly the reason for Sita's move.
The "transfer" is a three month swap according to Colchester's website Colchester Zoo News: Cheetah leaving temporarily with hope of breeding success!
So this is purely for Colchester benefit. Hope it works out for them. Surely the male should be moved to Colchester. If the female becomes pregnant putting her under the stress of moving her during pregnancy is stupid.
Apart from the female owned by Banham/Africa Alive who has produced I think 3 litters , and the recent birth at Whipsnade , I am not aware of any other Cheetahs breeding in the UK . Does anyone know differently ? Has Hamerton had any recent births amongst their large group I wonder , this is one collection out of which little news seems to get out .
Hamerton don't list on ISIS, although I suspect they may have quietly been very successful with cheetahs. I think there were cubs in 2007, not sure if any litters have been born since then. I think also there were at least 4-6 animals at Hamerton at the start of this year. Does anyone know when Paradise Wildlife Park last bred from their cheetahs? Sita came from Paignton to Dartmoor, was this animal bred at Paignton? I wonder when Dartmoor are likely to be allocated a male.
Dartmoor are being used as a holding pen. They haven't got the facilities for breeding. Although one day I would imagine they would love to start breeding, the zoo needs major investment - in the millions. Paignton have not bred successfully.
Paradise had a litter of 2:2 in August 2005. One of the females died after a few months but the remaining three made it. Both males went to WMSP in November 2006 and I believe the female is now at WHF (not 100% on that though). I don't think they have bred since although they did have a male (Mephisto) on loan from WHF for a few months earlier this year in an unsuccessful attempt to get the female pregnant again
It is nototiously difficult to breed from Captive Cheetahs - so any attempts must be applauded. Chester currently have 3 males (of which 1, Matrah I think is the recommended male to breed from) and 2 Females (1 currently in Quarantine) both which they will attempt to breed from, so all of the characteristic cheetah breeding difficulties not withstanding fingers crossed for cubs next year (always an optimist) - On a similar note both the Asiatic Lions at Chester and the Sumatran Tigers have been mating (or playing at it in the case of the Tigers) which started an interesting discusson in front of the group of junior school kids that were party to an eyeful on the day they visited - humerous indeed!
It'd be great if Asha did give birth after she did so well with her last cub but it seems unlikely, Iblis is a lovely looking animal.
Just a note on the Chester Cheetahs. The reason they have tried to breed Matrah with KT is that she is a relative of Burba and Singah. However Adeze(The new female currently in quarantine) is related to Matrah so the zoo will have to choose between Singa and Burbah to breed with her.
Some information on Paignton's cheetahs from their website: Female Tosca was born in Warsaw in April 2005 and came to Paignton from Whipsnade in October 2008. Male Kasai was born in Salzburg in December 2004 and came to Paignton from Herberstein, Austria, in June 2009. They hope that Tosca and Kasai will mate when she returns from Colchester.
