Something of a Cheetah baby boom at Hamerton - Following the birth of 6 cubs in September, They have since been joined by another 0.0.5 cubs who were born on 5th December to mother, Clio
Latest newsletter states Rusty Spotted Cats have kittens, born late february. No mention of when the species or the tayra will be on display, but on my recent visit i was tld they hoped to have the new area open by Easter. Guess this may be delayed now.
Excellent news a little ironic that the opening of the new area was previously delayed due to the Tayra breeding, but there you go
Good news. Not a species that is seen that often these days. Impressive birds, although I've heard they can have a distinct attitude!
Anyone have any idea which sub-species the new tigers will be? Or will they be more impure ones? As it's Hamerton, i'd expect anything to be possible- even Malayan!
I was at Hamerton yesterday and asked about the building works... apparently they're getting 4 more tigers! 2 will be white, I was told what the others were but to be honest I can't remember - sorry! It sounded unusual although I'm guessing they'll probably be impure, but definitely wasn't Sumatran, Bengal or Amur/Siberian. Sorry to be a tease but hopefully this partly answers the earlier questions! Oh and in other news, I saw some VERY young meerkats yesterday in the right hand side enclosure by the Sloth House - not much fur and eyes still closed. I was very surprised they were outside and needless to say they were drawing quite a crowd!
Yes 2 Tigers are going to be White and hence will be impure,but the other 2 will very much be pure,and will be a very nice addition to the UK zoo scene!!!
Very interesting! Since there are no Bengal, indochinese or south china in Europe, it looks like my suggestion could be right, we'll just have to wait & see! It's a bit disappointing they are persisting with white tigers, but maybe they're part of the deal. Are they both potential breeding pairs?
Look at it this way; the crowdpleasing (but worthless from a conservation standpoint) stuff like the white tigers brings the everyday zoo visitor to Hamerton, and thus brings more money in, which is what allows Andy Swales to bring in the stuff that pleases zoonerds like us - so bear with him in this regard!
I really don't have a major objection to the white tigers, if they bring in more revenue and the UK isn't exactly overun with them now, i hope they don't breed them though. If it means them holding more rarities, i'm quite happy to see white tigers. For holding UK rarities this will put Hamerton up there with a few of the top zoos e.g Belfast, Edinburgh, the Aspinall Parks, if they weren't already!
H'mm. White Tigers eat meat and take up cage space that could go to Persian Leopards, Jaguars and Asiatic Black Bears, to name three taxa very rarely seen in contemporary UK zoos. White peafowl cost far less!
Ah, but are Persian Leopards, Jaguars and Asiatic Black Bears a) easy/cheap to source and b) surefire crowdpleasers? Not that I'd call a jaguar very rarely seen in contemporary UK zoos, considering 8 collections currently hold the species.
Jaguar are probably more common than is obvious at first to someone living in the eastern corner of England. 30 years ago they were far more common, Whipsnade, Kilverstone, London had them, Colchester 10 years ago, (& Marwell , though 2 hours away)Paradise WP 5. I'm amazed 8 have them, but one must be WHF, which hardly counts! Nearest to me are Wingham & Amazona, best part of 100 miles away. So , what's left, Chester, Edinburgh & Dartmoor, cant even think what the other 2 are, unless they're more private collections? There maybe less of some other cat (sub)species, but they're probably easier to see if you dont live in the wrong area.
South Lakes and Sandown Zoo are the other two. In any case, I suspect the vast majority of cat species were more common in the UK 30 years ago - just look at caracals and puma, two species which were once-ubiquitious but which are now so scarce I had never seen either until this year!
Both as equally difficult to see as the others then , for many. You are probably right, puma were held in almost every zoo i went to as a child in the 70s, even the small ones like Linton& Poole Park and they both had Asiatic Black Bear too!
