Both species would complement the 'forest-dwelling' Okapi and Pygmy Hippo at London nicely. However with the enlarged paddocks the Okapi and Hippos now occupy, I'm not sure where the Bongo could go- unless the Zebra were to be replaced. They(the Zebra) do look a bit miserable with no grazing- just standing about. Whereas Bongo being browsers would be more suitable for those urban-style paddocks. But I suppose people expect to see Zebras and 'antelope' are lower on the list of 'want to sees'. Unfortunately I doubt anybody misses the Red River Hogs at London- they have the more popularised Warthogs to look at and one pig species there is probably sufficient. I noticed the Hunting Dog enclosure has been extended to encompass what was the RR Hogs area.
I would put the Bongo back on the lower terrace, together with the Red River Hogs. But then again I think London should aim to obtain the extra ten acres, and keep Giraffe, zebra and warthog (amongst others!) there..
I guess we are all in consensus here. The subject has regularly come up and indeed it would be far better to have a Congo basin on the Terraces. Indeed, the zebra at ZSL Regent's Park site seriously look lost …. The only thing is the giraffe husbandry at Whipsnade really lags behind London's ...
Why do you say that? I think I'd put it the other way around. Both places seem to have a similar regime, wih the feeding platforms etc now. And Whipsnade has a purebred breeding group, which London doesn't, and more space than London's too.
Visited today, the highlight being the newly born European Bison calf, which I can't recall being mentioned earlier- must be the first in about 10 plus years! Another successful year on the breeding front for the zoo, after the Gaur, Gemsbok, Grevys Zebra, Flamingo, Manchurian Crane, and a few others. Someone asked a while ago about the ages of the White Rhino females, don't know if was answered, but 2 are early 30s, 2 early 20s & one 7 years old.
Thread closed due to it's length - new thread now open http://www.zoochat.com/38/whipsnade-2014-2-a-374429/#post795333