Yet ANOTHER Giraffe has been born in the hands of Banham Zoo. S/he was born on 09/09/09! Just thought some of you might like to know
I thought the participants in the giraffe EEP's were not supposed to breed hybrids as of 2008 onwards. Banham not following the guidelines here?
Not sure if it`s Banham going agains`t the EEP,as i thought it was just a recommendation that they didn`t breed from them!
It may have been an accident? There may not have been a facility at the time to take on their bull, or anywhere to split him from the rest of the herd?
Having seen the house its possible for him to be split from the females!As for collections in the U.K not having space all the collections that are prepared to hold Hybrid males have space to take at least 1 as none of them are at the upper levels of there holding capacity
I can confirm that the giraffe at Banham have been allowed to breed with the permission of the EEP coordinator, we always comply with EEP/ESB recommendations, the male is due to depart in the spring.
Just a quick question (albeit probably silly), but why on Earth would the EEP co-ordinator allow the breeding of hybrid giraffes
I didnt personally deal with the recommendation on this occasion, a quick look on ISIS shows several high profile collections in the UK and Europe breeding hybrids although the numbers are low, its possible that the demand for pure giraffe from zoos cannot yet be met and therefore limited breeding of hybrids is allowed until that capacity can be met but to be honest that question should probably directed to the EEP coordinator who is in a much better position to answer it than I am.
Many thanks for clearing this matter up for me,I didn`t expect a zoo of Banhams standing to go agains`t the stud-book,I also agree with one of your comments in this thread that Hybrids are still been breed because the number of pure Giraffes is not yet high enough to supply all the collection`s that want to exhibit Giraffe`s.
In case anybody doesn't know, the new Giraffe has been christened 'Honey' and one has been able to see Honey mixing with the other Giraffe and Cameroon Sheep for some time.
I wish we could find a better term than 'hybrid' to describe giraffes of 'mixed race' background. The term 'Hybrid' isn't technically accurate anyway as it denotes animals produced by crossing different species.
I suppose the term 'mixed race' is accurate as one can describe each subspecies of Giraffe as a 'race' for example the 'Rothschild's race', the 'Nubian race' or the 'Kordofan race' and this would be acceptable for all nine races!
The term used by most people working in zoos (and ISIS) for animals of such parentage is sub species or sub specific hybrid, race is not a term that is commonly used to describe sub species, I hope that clarifies the situation.
Fair enough Just sounded strange to me and a bit detrimental too (ie, hybrids taking up space that should be allocated the pure subspecies).
Another calf has been born! It's a boy this time and his mother is Fiona and he is her second offspring. Her first calf is called Josie and still lives at Banham. He hasn't been named yet His father is Jonathon who moved to Port Lyme earlier this year
