'Bulu' was removed from her mother 'Toli' at about 18 months old in the belief (of the time) that the mother was taking all the food and the infant would not be properly nourished unless reared seperately from that age. They attempted this with 'Dan' also at a similar age but Toli wouldn't give him up, and held him so tightly that he suffocated and died.
From my very limited knowledge of Mandrill behaviour in the wild, it would seem plausible that females live in matriarchal bands. They engage in alloparenting, which would seem to be a lot of effort for unrelated youngsters. On that basis, your comments and the EEP recommendations seem very wise, given even a female Mandrill's capacity to cause severe damage fast!
I suspect the EEP advice was the result of previous unfortunate experiences with unrelated females and babies in some zoos.
There's a heartbreaking little video of Toli and Bulu here: ZOO BABY MEETS PRESS aka NEW ZOO BABY ORANG-UTANG - British Path Thank goodness things have changed since then.
A new attraction in the Ranch - a pair of Ouessant sheep. Having looked them up, I see that they are the smallest sheep in the world and known for being very friendly. They are very cute and I suspect will become more popular than the pygmy goats. The two 1 year old male Red-Necked Ostriches are now living up to their name.
I like Ouessant Sheep. Of the places I visit Paradise Park and Filey Bird Garden have them. They are indeed very friendly.
Yes, I tried at Cotswold, but their argument was so well constructed and backed up by thorough research that I had to concede victory.
Stick to Badger-faced. Much more straightforward and lacking in research.* *Torwen, less so Torddu, which can be a bit tricky.
Gosh! I hope they weren't offended when I cooed at them and ran my hand through their fleeces. I'll have to treat them with more respect next time
I'll bet some money can be made from breeding these 'pocket-sized' Sheep, while they are still much in demand as a novel display. That was the case with the Vietnamese Pot-bellied Pigs in the 1970's when they had almost died out in the UK. Dawes Hall in Suffolk had a virtual monopoly on them for a while and were supplying Zoos all over the place. Nowadays they seem to have been rather superseded by the KuneKune and German 'micro' Pigs.
Ooh, I had not realised they almost died out. I remember everywhere having them in the 1960s, or at least appearing to. Maybe I just did not notice in the 1970s as I was bypassing Children's Corners (despite being a child myself for almost the whole decade - I was 18 in December 1979 so still a child by my reckoning).
I think the ideal sheep for a children's zoo would be a Lonk - just for the name (kiddies would love it ) Alan
By the 70's they had dwindled. Dawes Hall in Suffolk managed to get hold of a sow in private ownership. The only Boar they could find to breed her with was an elderly overweight one at Whipsnade. Rumour has it he served the sow then died from heart failure after the extertion. But the resulting litter kickstarted the UK breeding of these pigs again. Not sure how true this is or whether in fact there were still some elsewhere at the time.
