It has been questioned on other threads whether or not there are any pure barbary lions left. The consensus has been no, but this article quotes an official from the Rabat Zoo in Morocco claiming they do have pureblooded barbary (aka atlas) lions. Thoughts? Zoo fights to save 'extinct' lion - National animal behavior | Examiner.com
those are the same lions that all the other "Barbary" lions around the world are descended from. All the other zoos that have them also claim them to be pure Barbary lions. It doesn't make it true. As always noted, the genetic evidence continues to swing back and forth, yay or nay, depending on the leanings of the researcher. Mostly falling on nay....
A press release from the zoo: The 2 Barbary lions born in late autumn 2012 will go on display this month, Rabat zoo now holds 35 Barbary lions. Google Translate
I just found this video on YouTube. it's in french but you can get an idea of what the zoo is like. Looks rather modern and attractive Here is another one
From what I read in the International Zoo Yearbooks, the Rabat Zoo used to have Mountain reedbuck, Collared peccary, and Brazilian tapir If you go on their website, you will see that they currently have a great collection today including many native North African species like Cuviers gazelle, Mhorr gazelle, and Barbary macaque Most zoos now days don't have have both African and Asian elephants, but you can see both at the Rabat Zoo Just to let everyone know, the website is in French, here it is Royaume du maroc || Jardin zoologique de rabat
@ungulatenerd, they held Cuvier's gazelle for quite a considerable time in the old Rabat Temara zoo (as where addax and scimitar horned oryx). The Mhorr's and f.i. N.A. ostrich are a more recent addition. An illustrious Dutch zoo design man has been involved in conceptual designs of the new zoo. It be nice if they would update their website / FB with zoo news (as most other zoos do ..., perhaps it will come with time and adjusting to new internet / web capabilities).
1. Purity. A few(5) of the Rabat Lions-or their descendants elsewhere (Port Lympne?) have been DNA tested and compared with (known) pure Barbary Lions in museums collected within the species' Historic range. Its suggested(published) that they don't share the same genetic markers as pure Barbaries and actually stem instead from a geographic mix of sub-Saharan Lions. However that may not cover all the Lions in the Rabat Zoo if not all have been tested (though many of them are related to each other- see below) and it could still be that some/they are at least partly descended from genuine Barbaries. It rather depends who/what you want to believe... 2. Relatedness. I can't find the link (try 'Rabat Lions' for starters) but there are genetic tables showing the relatedness of a lot of the recent and/or current Lions at Rabat Zoo. I believe they are all or largely from 3-4 founding pairs.
I went there quite a while ago - 1997, I think. It wasn't a great zoo, and some parts of it were pretty awful (the monkey enclosures in particular were simply ghastly), but it had some half-decent hoof stock areas, and one or two quite big pens. I think it has been completely remodelled in recent years; someone posted a film of it somewhere, and it looked quite promising. From my (again, ancient) experience of them, the other zoos in Morocco aren't up to much either: the place I saw in Casablanca was down there with the very worst I've ever seen (although I think there may be more than one public collection in the city).
The zoo has received 6 crocodiles (species not named) and 3 giraffe (again not specified) from Le Pal, Paris and Emmen. La collection animale du JARDIN ZOOLOGIQUE DE RABAT s?enrichit par l?arrivée de nouvelles espèces | Royaume du maroc || Jardin zoologique de rabat
I had a couple of stints in Rabat in early 2007 (about 6 weeks in total) but didn't even think about looking for a zoo! However when I finish my current stint in Jordan there is a possibility that I might be going back to Rabat, in which case I'll be at the zoo every weekend!
Woud it be very nosey to ask what your work is, that takes you to such interesting places? Unless it has changed a great deal, I'm not sure that rabat Zoo will repay multiple visits. Here is a bit more about it, on someone's blog: Parc Zoologique National de Rabat. It includes a link to a Youtube film. If you can head east a way, it'd be very interesting to hear anything about the zoo in Algiers. I had a chance to go in 1989, didn't - and have regretted it ever since.
MI6 Nah, joking! I’m a Quantity Surveyor. Been working overseas for the last 26 years and have lived and worked in Qatar, Saudi, Dubai, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and now Jordan. Dubai was my longest stay (13 years) and while there I made working trips to Morocco, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Unfortunately working trips don’t usually afford you any time to see the place you’re working in, although my stays in Morocco were a bit longer so I had a chance to see a little of it. Unless Rabat has changed a great deal since I was last there then no matter what the zoo is like it will be worth multiple visits as there isn’t much to see and do in Rabat. Anyway, it appears to be a new zoo and from what I’ve seen of it from the internet it looks like it might be ok.
It looks very much like Zoo Le Pal has taken leave of all / most of its hybrid giraffe herd. A local from France recognized male Kim. They had the male - Kim (born 2005 Knuthenborg Safari, Bandholm)- plus a female Nini (born 1999 Le Bourbansais, Pleugueneuc) as their breeding pair. The pair had 2 surviving offspring, a female Maribo / Kitale (born 1/10/2009) and a male Sanjio (born 28/10/2011). Would be interesting to know what species of crocodiles they have acquired from Emmen and Paris! Emmen exhibits both long snouted Crocodylus cataphractus and West African dwarf Osteolaemus tetraspis. Jardin des Plantes had … Nile crocodile Crocodylus niloticus (..) and West African dwarf Osteolaemus tetraspis.
Here is the old thread with the videos I linked to http://www.zoochat.com/16/rabat-zoo-morocco-313412/
Unfortunately it looks like I will not be returning to Rabat and instead staying on longer in Jordan. So a vist to Rabat zoo is no longer anticipated.
