Indian rhinos in Europe

kiang+CZJimmy,

It has been discussed before on this forum.

The male is the erstwhile Blijdorp Rotterdam breeding bull. Fingers crossed that both cows with him will be pregnant before the year is out and 2009 will see 2 furhter calves.

 

Jelle, thanks again for the info, in your considered opinion, what will be the next European zoos to take on Indian rhino?
And do you think we could spare a female for Western Plains zoo in Australia?

 

P.S and thank you Jimmy

 

1a. Well, it was always going to be Warsawa Zoo, Poland after the first bull Hugo (b. 2002 Blijdorp) was shifted out to Whipsnade. Female Shikari (b. 2006 Wilhelmina) from Stuttgart arrived on June 26, 2008. She will eventually be paired up with second bull Jacob (b. 2004 Berlin Tierpark). Please note the age difference between both as Jacob is 2,5 years the elder to Shikari. It means that when Shikari is sexually mature in 2-3 years time, she can be immediately paired up Jacob for breeding. Also the breeding combination is to level out the Basel representation in this pairing.

1b. The same also goes for the Hugo Whipsnade move. He has some rep from the Basel line (not much thanks to Planckendael born sire). When he is sexually mature no problem can he be reintroduced to both wildborn Nepali cows for breeding. This is envisaged for late 2009/start 2010.

2. I would hope one of proven Basel line females can be exported out (no need to increase their representation). The only real candidates are either the younger Basel female or the young Basel born cow at Muenchen.

 

Any idea where a female could be exported to? "Hint"

 

I would suggest - I think I said this before - 1 female to Indian zoos (either Guwahati Zoo, preferred, or Patna Zoo) for restoring a good male/female ratio in their captive breeding programme and 1 female to Dubbo zoo (Dora the male is born in Japan).

 

Are there any negotiations afoot to try and replace the female in Australia? I should have thought San Diego was again still the most likely source.

 

I think - but not sure - that Western Plains Zoo is actually an non-continent SSP participant. The SSP seems to also hold a close association with the Japanese GHOR programme - to what extent I do not know yet.

Realistically, you could be right on the likelihood of a San Diego female transfer to Dubbo (but then I suppose they also need to replace the female at Delhi Zoo that was transferred out and died due to transport related complications). It is however a very sensitive subject.

 

I'll bet....