Hi.. I have been trying to find pics of the old Hippo enclosure at Dudley Zoo. As a child i saw the hippo many times (not sure if it was the 1st or 2nd), i remember most of the time it stayed indoors and also remember how small the outside enclosure seemed, with huge iron bars around the pool area. Does anyone out there remember the same or have a pic to satisfy my curiosity>??
saw it last week.. thats what jogged jogged my memory to how small it all was for the hippo. Gibbon baby was cute!
This was the only one I could find (from 1983) - the quality's pretty awful as it was taken with an old camera that used 126 film. The path between the moat pools that leads into the castle keep runs behind where the hippo is lying. The iron bars round the pool can just be seen in the picture. It was a small pool for a hippo but it was actually converted from the killer whale pool! The dolphins were in the pool on the other side of the path.
The hippo pool was separate from those used for the dolphins and killer whale - the latter (either side of the pathway) are still there, but the hippo pool has now been filled in (site of the gibbons' outdoor enclosure). The enclosure was used for Brazilian Tapirs after the death of the last hippo in 1991.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I've always been led to believe that the killer whale and dolphins were in the sea lion pools, and were virtually identical to how they are today but with more depth. It's great to see a photo of the hippo, I only have hazy memories of the enclosure housing the animal but I can clearly recall the exhibit standing empty for a while! Were the Arabian oryx situated in the same area? I recall some form of hoofstock in a small yard and I seem to think it was close to this exhibit as the walls and ground are the same?
It may not have been Arabian oryx, I was only about 6 or 7 at the time! Definitely some form of hoofstock were kept close by though.
Brilliant thanks Angel..great to see after all these years! Just as my mind remembered it. i too remember the enclosure standing empty during the early 90's after his death. Why didnt i use my camera more in the old days!!? Thanks again
If I remember correctly didn't Dudley set up a fund to rescue this or a previous hippo that was in a collection that was closing down? My mind tells me there was a threat of the hippo being put down if he didn't find a home. There are far to few hippo's in the UK so it's sad that Dudley couldn't keep them again or their smaller cousins but I fully understand the reasons why they cant.
I've been scratching my head and I can't think what it could be I know there used to be zebra in the paddock next to the chairlift where the reindeer are now - this is on the lower path that runs roughly parallel to where the hippo enclosure was. I've been trying to remember what used to be in the paddock where the white lipped peccaries are now and I just can't visualise anything I've had a look through my photographs and I don't have any of that area - then again, I didn't take too many photos in those days 'cos getting films printed was expensive!!
I can't honestly remember but I found an article that referred to there having been: "....two elderly Hippos at Dudley Zoo in the 1970s called Hercules the First and Hercules the Second..." so your memory could well be correct.
Hercules was sent to Cleethorpes Zoo when Belle Vue closed in 1977, but Cleethorpes itself closed soon after and he arrived at Dudley around 1979. Unfortunately, he didn't last long at Dudley and died 16.11.1979. Hercules II was born 24.03.1978 at Chester (Gererino x Myra) and arrived at Dudley 22.12.1979 to replace Hercules I. Dudley held a bachelor group of Arabian Oryx between 1993 and 2006 (with lots of movements in and out as you would expect). They were indeed housed in the current peccary paddock.
I agree. American bison would be second on my wish list for the revamped bear ravine, my first choice being bears
Slightly off topic but I'm glad I was right about that, I was worried that I convinced myself it was true! I'm even more chuffed that I got the location right! I never knew they were there until 2006, I can't remember them after 2000 so maybe my mind isn't that sharp after all!?!? Thanks for the info robmv. Give it up mate, she's going to Whipsnade and there's nothing anyone can do about it!
