Details (such as we have so far) up on the Biaza website now and this seems to be the key bit: (my emphasis) So, thankfully, not just for places that are actually closing for good - it says it is intended for zoos in 'severe financial distress' but it is intended to keep them going in animal care terms at least. What that means in real terms we'll have to see.
A couple of bits of animal birth news from Hamerton: - First a single ring-tailed and two black-and-white ruffed lemurs have been born, joining the two young collared lemurs born earlier this year. This news comes from the link below: Hamerton Zoo Park - Animal Park Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire - Also a barking owl chick has hatched, the first one to do so outside Australia. More information can be found in the link below: Hamerton Zoo Park - Animal Park Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
I had a very successful visit this week, the Hamerton team have worked really hard to make visiting very safe - from working out a one-way system to adding many hand washing and hand sanitising stations throughout the park. At the moment any of the inside parts of the exhibits are closed and there is some screening and extra stand offs around the primate enclosures but you are still able to see most animals if they choose to be outside - which mostly they were when I was there. It was so good to be back, I visit most weeks (usually!) and have really missed going. I have added a few photos from my trip of some of the new arrivals as they have had a real baby boom this year.
I have just noticed an article on the Zoo's website about all the births that have taken place during lockdown. A lot of them have already been mentioned elsewhere in the thread. An update has been added to include all the species that have bred since the park has reopened on the 15th June. These include a greater flamingo (another five hatched during lockdown), a Javan binturong (one was born to the on-show pair during lockdown), four greater grisons and several litters of fat sand rat and spinifex hopping mouse (four sand rats and fourteen hopping mice were born during lockdown). The article, with full list of species bred, is included below: Hamerton Zoo Park - Animal Park Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
First visit since Lockdown. Very well organised system around the zoo with a choice of 2 routes once inside. Animal houses opened at staggered times except the wombats, which remain closed. Managed to see the Syrian brown bears (at a distance) as this area has still yet to open. A question regarding Hamerton’s gibbons: are there plans to expand/enlarge the area the gibbons have? Although adequate, could all the complexes be knocked into one to make one super enclosure? Does the zoo have a master plan that covers this?
Thank you for the positive comments Panthera1981. Our second one-way route has helped with some of the bunching which occurred after visitors arrive, along with video monitoring of the entrance. Everything is a constant state of flux! Animal houses are staggered so that they dont fill up with people straight away. Some re-visit the house later and some dont bother, so it spreads the load as it were. Wombats and the Outback Aviary should be open by August, as there is some maintenance to do, started during the lock-down and delayed by the rush to get ready for 15th June. The new extension with the bears should be open the week of 27th July, IF the final bits and pieces come together - we'll post on social media and on the news page of the web-site. Our Lar Gibbons are housed in two of the original enclosures built when the park opened. Our original male 'Ben' received from Guernsey was wild caught as an adolescent in 1958 and lives with his daughter. Like most old men, he is very suspicious and does not like change, so he will stay where he is for the rest of his days! Our ex-breeding group of Lars live in the middle of the Park. They have done very well where they are, (although the enclosure might look low by comparison with our more recent building) and many babies have been reared and sent all over Europe. But following the loss of the breeding female to cow-pox a year or two back, the male has lived with his last youngsters. Attempts to re-form the group have failed as the EEP has refused us another female, even though at the time we had homes for the youngsters - the species has a breeding ban. As a result we had to keep the group together for company, and so, I am afraid that at the moment we cannot produce a master-plan for the situation, as it is not really under our control. The remnant group we have is stable at the moment (so we are leaving well alone), but we do not know if this will stay the case if they are disturbed. Especially now, it would be difficult to justify the sort of enclosure we would like, and then have the group disintegrate. We may have to consider breaking up the group and sending them elsewhere, but this is difficult given the EEP opposition. We have a remnant group of Goeldi's Monkeys which are in exactly the same situation, unfortunately. Covid, lack of funding and politics dont really help animal decisions, I am afraid...
By any chance, do you know where 'Ben' was wild caught? I never realized he was and it's unique to know that the zoo has a potentially known subspecies Lar as most of the captive population is treated as generic. Thank you in advance either way ~Thylo
Hi Thylo 'Ben', another male and a female called 'Sally' arrived together in 1958 (all wild caught adolescents) received by Paignton. 'Ben and 'Sally' bred many times and stock was sent to other zoos. All we can find is that 'Thailand' is recorded on their records. 'Ben' survived 'Sally's' death and was later sent to Ravensden where he was paired with a black female called 'Jill'. Sarah Christie (then studbook keeper in the UK) insisted that 'Jill' was born at Flamingoland, but Ravensden (and we) dispute this. Nothing showed in the Ravensden records, but 'Jill' had her canine teeth removed, showed signs of malnutrition in her early years and could hold and drink from a cup. She would also leave any other Gibbon and jump into your arms for a cuddle. If ever an animal showed signs of being a wild-taken pet, it was her. 'Ben' and 'Jill' were sent to Guernsey Zoo and bred many times, their offspring being dispersed. The pair and their latest baby 'James' (named after James Thomas, Guernsey's owner) came to Hamerton with the rest of Guernsey Zoos animals, save the armadillos, when Guernsey closed. 'Ben' and 'Jill' had one baby at Hamerton; female 'Ash' who still lives with her father. Jill aborted another baby conceived very quickly after 'Ash' and died as a result of infection which could not be controlled. 'Ben', first with 'Sally' and then with 'Ash', was supposedly ancestral to many Lar Gibbons in Europe' but we were never given any further detail by the studbook. This was run by Sarah Christie at ZSL and later David Gill; but we were never sent a copy despite contributing to it. These records show that 'Ben' is 64 years old - the same as me..!
I am pretty sure he does - there was an article in ZooGrapevine quite recently which covered some old-timer records...
All very interesting! Thank you for the information. I had no idea your gibbons were so influential in establishing the overall program. I'm not very surprised Gill of all people wasn't very open about the studbooks he managed.. Pretty sure Thailand makes him ssp entelloides and ZTL does say Guernsey used to keep those with the studbook listed as the source. ~Thylo
I am also sure that 'Jill' was wild-caught, albeit as a tiny baby and hand-reared in origin - hence her inability to extend her legs, possibly as a result of rickets? Ian Gibb (ex-Ravensden) was at Flamingoland at the time and confirmed that none of their Lars was hand-reared. It was very convenient for a Flamingoland animal which disappeared from the records and another which appeared at the same time ('Jill') to be assumed to be the same animal, which is what the studbook (Sarah Christie) did - but individual detail disputes this.
Coordinated marsupials too! - within EAZA I think. Not just 'trusted', but very much part of the establishment and showered with animals by the big zoos, in the earlier days at least...
Bangkok was one of the animal trading hubs in Asia in the mid-1900s along with cities such as Jakarta and Singapore, so animals from any number of countries passed through there.
I will never understand how this happened. I know he "managed" multiple species straight out of European zoos... ~Thylo
Yes, whilst there is no real doubt about the w/c assumption for these individuals, anything further is speculation I fear. Hence the vague 'Thailand' in the records... A big pair of blinkers? .. afterwards, hindsight always helps...!
1. Have you any idea how long Ben and Sally were at Paignton? Lar gibbons on their (original) island were a classic exhibit at Paignton for very many years. As a visitor there since around the late 50's I remember the gibbons of course, and presumably at that time these would have been Ben and Sally and maybe the 2nd male. 2. Do you know how many offspring Ben has fathered in total?
