Saw an article in our local paper saying that the two female Chimps, Copper and Tuppelo have recently been transferred to Blair Drummond Wildlife Park in Scotland. They have joined two other female chimps on Chimp Island as part of a breeding programme.
Yup - No chimps are left at Flamingoland, they've held 0.2 for a number of years, they used to house a male and a few more females too. Nice move, Blair Drummond's were/are being tested for being pure West African chimps.
This is a really good outcome. The enclosure at Blair Drummond is very good, one of the best in the UK IMHO, although the indoor area could always be bigger. It makes real sense to enrich the social dynamic of the (dwindling in number) Blair Drummond group. I didn't really feel the old elephant paddock at Flamingoland made a very suitable enclosure, it was quite exposed at the top of the hill. What happened to the last male at Flamingoland?
I think (Not 100% sure!) he died at Flamingoland, I know they held a larger group than the 0.2 they did have until recently, I think he was called Nelson or Pepe. Pepe or Nelson have been at Flamingoland in the past though.
thanks - he may have been fairly old - I know they had no shortage of males during the 90s, as there were three different groups including 2.0 kept on their own together.
If my memory serves me correctly there were three chimps at Flamingo Land about seven years ago, one escaped and was shot, I think it was during the winter period when the park was closed, this would have left two, who are now to be transferred to Blair Drummond, sorry Johnstoni but I am not familiar with the names and sex of the Flamingo Land chimps, if it had been the chimps at another zoo famous for this species I may have been more accurate.
It was a female that got shot. I put some details on Jordan's gallery thread a few weeks ago (the photo of the interior accommodation). It was a Friday in November, but the zoo was open that winter and had to be closed that day - a very foggy one. Nelson died in 2009 - my notes of 2nd October record his death, my previous visit had been only two weeks earlier on 18th September. Nelson had been at the zoo since the early to mid 1960s. Pepe was the long-standing Dudley male.
What does this move give the Blair Drummond Chimp group now in terms of sex ratio? Anyone have their details?
They have a group of five now including the new females, it was interesting to note where they were born; one at Welsh Mountain Zoo and the other at ZSL London Zoo, nineteen or twenty years ago. They have a group of 1.2 or 2.1 I think.
