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Last of their kind in a zoo

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by Onychorhynchus coronatus, 3 Jan 2021.

  1. FBBird

    FBBird Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I believe the last two were geriatric. However, the decision to stop breeding them was because they were of indeterminate subspecies.
     
  2. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Ah I see, well it is sad as I remember seeing them and thinking they were quite charismatic animals.

    I think it is absurd (though hardly suprising considering that it is ZSL afterall) that they were replaced by red river hogs though and especially considering that they could have brought in Visayan warty pigs.
     
  3. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Yes after many years at London Zoo the long-beaked echidna were sent to Taronga.
     
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  4. Fallax

    Fallax Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Yea, you wouldn't have, these developments are pretty recent.
     
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  5. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Seems like it, yes, very recent indeed as I was only last there in October / November.
     
  6. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Ah I see, thanks for that @Tim May !

    You don't happen to know what the rationale for sending the echidna there was do you ?
     
  7. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    The echidna were sent away about the time of the London Zoo Closure Crisis when the zoo's animal collection was being reduced to cut costs.
     
  8. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Ah I see, well it is a shame that they went, considering how long echidnas can live for some of them might well have still been around today had they stayed.
     
  9. Rajang21

    Rajang21 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The male from London (JR) is still going strong at Taronga.
     
  10. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    One, a female, had been at London Zoo since 1965 and another, a male, had been at London Zoo since 1986 (and before that had spent fifteen years in Dallas Zoo).
     
  11. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    So I may be wrong then as both were pretty old by the early 90's anyway.
     
  12. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Wow , that is incredible, brilliant to hear actually ! :) how old is JR now ?
     
  13. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Close, but no cigar - the entire captive stock of Bornean Bearded Pig were found to contain hybrid contamination (domestic pig) somewhere back in their lineage.

    But, sadly, is off-display and unlikely ever to return onshow :(

    He's about 50 now - he came to Dallas as a wild-caught young adult in 1971. The female only died a handful of years ago, and was a fair bit older than him, so he may or may not be the captive lifespan holder for the species.
     
  14. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    What an incredible life he has had !

    Going from the rainforests to Papua New Guinea to the USA to the UK and then to Australia and still going strong.

    What a character!
     
  15. ShonenJake13

    ShonenJake13 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    This is getting very off topic now but just going to answer this quickly - it's not absurd at all. Red river hogs fit with the theme of Gorilla Kingdom (just over the way from said enclosure) a lot more than any Asian pig species would. In addition to this, right after London received Whipsnade's herd of red river hogs a group of four (that's how many a friend counted at least) Visayan warty pigs moved to Whipsnade. I would actually argue that London going for babirusa, a species that is less threatened than warty pigs but is in far greater need of more holders in Europe, is a better move. It also now means that ZSL as a whole have one of the most comprehensive collections of wild pigs in Europe - with red river hogs, warthogs and babirusa at London Zoo, and wild boar and Visayan warty pigs at Whipsnade...that means the only wild pig species kept in Europe that they're missing is bearded pig.
     
  16. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Which ironically is the one that was replaced by the RR hogs!
     
  17. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I remember seeing them in Cologne & Basel and (I think) maybe Frankfurt, which definately had Proboscis I know. I seem to remember London dabbled with Doucs for a while at one stage too?

    I also once saw a large group of Doucs in the Dusit Zoo in Thailand- despite very basic housing they looked bursting with health, noticeably more so than the European ones I'd seen previously- I suspect climate/diet are still important factors to success.
     
    Last edited: 4 Jan 2021
  18. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    'Ben' was named after the American actor/comedian Ben Lyon, who with his partner BeBe Daniels moved to London and had a successful UK Radio show in the 1950's 'Life with the Lyons'. So Ben's (the rhino) original partner was 'Bebe' (ZSL having something of a tradition of naming certain animals after well-known media personalities- remember Esther( after Rantzen) and Parky(after Parkison) the Black rhinos. After Bebe (also a Northern White presumably) died the replacement female was this Southern White, 'Mashobeni.' Tim May might remember what happened to her, as to whether she died at London or Whipsnade.

    For most of its time the Sobell cage most visible in the background was the Mandrill enclosure. And the other thing is the porta-cabin-type gift shop.
     
    Last edited: 4 Jan 2021
  19. birdsandbats

    birdsandbats Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Rosamond Gifford Zoo has the last White-winged Vampire Bat (at least outside the Neotropics). I would assume it is a remnant of the group imported by Cornell in the 90s to study vampire bat behavior.
     
  20. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Indeed "Bebe" was a northern white rhino; she died in 1964.

    Her replacement, the southern white rhino "Mashobeni", was sent to Glasgow Zoo in 1986 shortly after "Ben" was sent to Dvur Kralove. She died in Glasgiw in 1995.