I quite like hippopotamus and Its sad to see the sort of exhibits they get. How would you go about designing a nile hippo exhibit . Would you display them along side other species ? Discuss!
Nile Hippo's are a interesting species and can make a great exhibit! However they are also aggresive and I know of a thread somewhere on here that details previous and current species being mixed with Hippo's. It is always risk! They are also messy animals and so without massive filtration can have beautiful oasis's turned in to stinking pool!. Personally if I was to design an enclosure for them it would be for a small group (good to manage and still social). The front part of the enclosure would be underwater viewing and the back will have a sandy beach with a fake dry river bed as the backing. There will also be a small field for grazing behind the riverbank. It could be themed as the Clear kenyan springs (the name escapes me, but was on Wildest dreams). As for mixed species? I would also house some fish, like the ones at San Diego Zoo that aid filtration and 1-2 species of african waterfowl. Maybe some darters!
I can't imagine it working in real life, but on Zoo Tycoon 2 I like mixing them with Cape buffalo - just thought I'd say even though it doesn't really answer the question
You say that, I believe Longleat did indeed do that years back. I also saw one mixed with american bison in a small enclosure at a french zoo about eight years ago, horrible place though.
One of the nice things about the Common/River/Nile Hippo is that it's such a forgiving and adaptable beast, willing to live and breed anywhere so long as its fairly basic requirements are met. It's also one of the iconic zoo animals that people expect to see. Unfortunately, it has its drawbacks, and we don't actually see many of them in the UK for a variety of reasons. They are aquatic and very messy. For this reason, a large lake like they have at Longleat, with an in and out flow of water, which doesn't require cleaning, is a good option. They have a nasty habit of killing and sometimes eating other species -- the hard to come by [and probably difficult in other ways] Darters [Anhingas] would be a bit too 'special' to risk with them. Egyptian Geese would be more appropriate but still might not last long. It's noticeable there are NO waterfowl on the Longleat lake apart from a very few wild Mallard and the Pelicans [not sure if the latter are actually loose on the lake with the Hippos -- some years since I've been there]. Another difficulty with Hippos is re-homing any young produced; most zoos just will not make the commitment for a big, smelly, non-endangered species. Having said all that, they are one of my favourite zoo animals and would be great fun to work with and design enclosures for.
You might want to check out the gallery for Werribee Open Range Zoo. It is about as good as you'll get without having underwater viewing and all of the filtration is done naturally by a reed bed so you can still see under the water for probably about half a metre. There are 3 seperate exhibits for their 5 hippos. In the first exhibit is a female and her two daughters and is the biggest with most of the viewing oppurtunities from the decking area as well as a boat that offers viewing on the water level. Behind the water is a sandy beach area where I've most often seen the hippos and then behind that is a grassy field area. The middle exhibit is home to a lone female who is supposedly a bit anti-social and follows the same design as the first exhibit but can only be viewed over the top of the first exhibit. and the last exhibit can't be viewed from the walking trail but is viewed from the bus ride that goes through the water where the male hippo lives. Another thing that might be of interest to you is that I've quite often seen pacific black ducks and these birds that I've always called swamp hens (but I don't know if that's their real name) in the exhibit. Admittedly these are wild birds so they're there at their own risk.
I think one of these is the thread lee456 mentioned http://www.zoochat.com/2/common-hippo-mixed-exhibits-65610/ http://www.zoochat.com/22/mix-species-exhibits-elephants-hippos-97686/
There are Egyptian geese in Whipsnade's Hippo enclosure- well one or two, I don't know if they are long term residents. You're right about the rehoming issue. Whipsnade even sent a couple of their calves back to Africa(Swaziland) some years ago and somewhere else in Europe did something similar. Basel came in for some flack a few years back when they announced they were going to euthanase a young hippo they had bred- I can't remember the outcome, I think it was found a home. I like Common Hippos too- big, impressive, relatively unusual in our Zoos nowadays despite being a traditional zoo species as someone said. Of the four(?) places in the UK (not Eire ) currently exhibiting them, I think Whipsnade has the best exhibit set-up, Longleat's the most natural regime, West Midlands have the biggest group(by far) but the poorest surroundings(no grazing area and the lake is awfully stagnant) and Flamingo Park I've only seen photos. It would be good if somewhere like Chester had them again, preferably with underwater viewing to fully do them justice, but of course its the cost factor isn't it? I'm interested as to why hippos past and present in zoos just about everywhere have such a high mortality rate in the calves, most being DNS, on the day of birth. Nearly all zoos that breed them have quite as many calves(or more) die quickly after birth as survive and are successfully reared.
I think common hippos are in Chester's Natural Vision, with underwater viewing too as an added bonus. Marwell also gave some thought to them in some of the masterplan visions, they were certainly considered as a valley resident at one point; but like nearly all things from there, I've no idea whether this idea's been given any further attention.
Last time I looked at the Whipsnade hippos [several years ago], there was an Egyptian Goose and an Egyptian Goose x Ruddy Shelduck associating together. Can't remember if they were actually in with the hippos, they may even have been full-winged. Very attractive, geographically appropriate, and much more replaceable than Anhingas if anything happens to them
Yes, I knew about Chester's plans but will they ever come to fruition I wonder... Re Marwell- to keep Common Hippo in their African area would probably spoil the pasture around the lake by churning it all up and spoiling the general 'look' of the area, plus they'd need a sizeable house/indoor pool etc. I can't really see it as a Marwell species, particularly as they already have the Pygmies..
