Indian rhinos in Europe

Batschi.

it seems Batschi from Basel has defied all our speculations and arrived at Chester this evening.... (see 'Patna's woman' thread)

 

There seems lots of interesting news with the Indian rhinos in the UK at this time, two new babies born to new female imports, a breeding bull being exported out and two more coming in along with two other UK zoos joining the program, cool stuff

 

Baatschi in, Jaffna out?

Just a guess but... its possible the lorry transporter and crate that delivered 'Baatchi' to Chester from Basel, could stop off on the return journey at Whipsnade and pick up the breeding bull 'Jaffna' and take him home to Basel?

 

new rhino house at Whipsnade.

The new rhino house at Whipsnade is now open. It leads into the same paddocks as they had previously, though their layout may have been changed.

 

The Basel Zoo news mentioned the in and out transport of both rhinos. Bull Jaffna will now go by return transport to Basel on the weekend. I expect him out with the females at Basel in late March or early April and that sooner rather than later he is planned to re-breed with either cow on heat. First births awaited by late 2009 or early 2010.

 

Lets hope Jaffna keeps up the good work when he has returned to Basel and sire another two babies, oh what a boy, lol

 

Well, I got that part right then When I saw the photos of the lorry and crate arriving at Chester, it suddenly occurred to me they'd probably collect Jaffna from Whipsnade on the way back to Basel. I've just realised too that he is Baatchi's father, so here in the UK its a case of 'goodbye father, hello(another)daughter'

 

I know i have mention this before, but has anyone had any contact with chester zoo about the number of Indian Rhinos they are planning on keeping?

They have such a nice large paddock, for a couple of females and young

 

Suitable aged animals are not too readily available- I imagine they will stay with the one pair for now(and think themselves lucky to have them), maybe there will be additions/changes at a later date.

 

I would Imagine that the Trio of UK zoos now holding Indian rhinos would look at importing a young male from an Indian zoo for furture breeding between these zoos, could be a big bonus for them in a few years time

 

and sending a female to oz

 

I think we are part of the US SSP, so we may have to go with them

 

we just need a female.

 

I could not argee with you more Zooboy, The SSP has more animals than the EEP so there could be a better chance there, see the thread by Jelle about the "Indian rhinos in Europe" he gives the cative SSP/EEP numbers there

 

if there was one, i say we would have got one by now, but there seems to be few animals.

 

Thats right, there are few spare animals, but captive numbers are building up, with zoos like the San Deigo WAP who hold around 20 of them numbers will move upwards, The UK for many years only had the Whipsnade zoo who had them but now three major zoos hold them, the SD WAP could be the best bet, lets wait and see

 

thst whwre kua came from, i am guessing there could be like a waitng list- cause whats stopping kuas mother and fathe rbreeding again for another calf (female) ifshe was previously a good match.

(i know ts more involved ten my simplistic view lol)

 

ISIS list 21 Indian rhinos at the SD WAP which as far as I know is the largest captive herd in any zoo, so its going to be a wait

 

If EEP zoos become involved with Indian zoos it will be through the Species Coordinator in Basel. A recent conference on Conservation Breeding in India may have something in the works for Indian rhinos (I will have to get confirmation for that though).

Re Zoo_Boy surplus females: more often than not I have written that the Basel Zoo line is well over represented in Europe. I could well imagine that say the Nuernberg, the Rotterdam elder female, the Muenchen breeding female or one of the females at Basel could be moved out of the region. That makes for at least 4 possible candidates for transfer!

What I would wish for ex EEP wise:
0.1 captive-born to Indian zoos conservation breeding programme.
0.1 captive-born to Indian zoos CB programme or move to Dubbo Zoo, Australia.
The EEP populations stands at 21.28 individuals.

What I would wish for ex SSP wise:
1.0 captive-born to Indian relocation programme to Manas NP (a trial).
2.0 captive-born to EEP (at least one from non SD-WAP related stock).
The SSP population stands at approx. 37.35 individuals.
(some data I am not yet confident about).

The ARAZPA off shoot (no disrespect ... ).
1.0 (mega important to the captive stock (both SSP and EEP) as the male sire to Dora was a wild born ex Assam (Nagoya Zoo, Japan).

For this whole scheme to materialize one would need a Global Species Management Working Party. However the very fact that the founder groups of the different regional Indian rhino breeding programmes would warrant a closer inter-continental transfer policy overseen by the international studbook keeper (incidentally also Basel).

Would that satisfy you both (Mark and Zoo_Boy)?

 

I be happy with that Jelle