Woburn Safari Park Woburn Safari Park 2019

A few things caught my attention today;

-A couple of the Eland cows definitely look like they’re carrying calves, wouldn’t be a surprise as Woburn is successful of breeding them regularly.
-Male Lion is separated from the pride in a holding area by the house, and has been for a while.
-No sign of the Eastern Bongo or Lesser Kudu, not sure if they still hold the latter.
-Overall fairly quiet, with Rhinos, Large Carnivores and Various Hoofstock being particularly active.

 

Asian Elephant Yu Zin celebrates her 40th birthday today. She arrived from Emmen zoo back in 2010 to kick start their breeding program however she has never produced any calves since her arrival. Previously been a successful breeder before her arrival.

 

I thought yu zin was more brought in to be the matriarch of the herd and promote breeding , as she is excellent auntie to tarlie, but I don’t know if elephants can breed now into her 40s, but I do wonder how dominant the bull is Raj and whether he should move on and bring a new breeding male in for the herd to expand.

 

You probably are right, but I was under the impression that she would have encouraged Damini & Chandrika to mate/conceive naturally although I am in agreement that a new bull needs to be brought in.

 

I think the only elephant able to do that would be the bull. Rajah grew up with the two females which may inhibit his dominance or mating in relation to them perhaps. It could be different if he was kept with younger or unfamilar females. Problem is he's not proven as a natural mater so rehoming him in a fresh group might be difficult with the continuing risk he won't breed naturally.

 

But they need his genes to expand the herd as his only calf is Tarli , as Donna at whipsnade gave birth to his calf after AI but it didn’t survive, but woeburn seem happy with this small elephant herd, and that why are reluctant to upset the balance.

 

I think he has a calf that was born at Twycross , now at Blackpool ?

 

Yes, he is the father of the elephant "Esha".

 

So maybe that’s why they aren’t so worried about elephant breeding at woeburn as Rajah is better suited to AI and seems do to amazingly at so far having sired only female calf’s which is the preferred gender of most Zoos to increase their herd size.

 

Rajah also has a male offspring at Kolmarden in Sweden. Namsai (Born 27/7/2013) who was conceived through artificial insemination

 

According to Facebook 8 ostrich have arrived unsure when or the ratio

 

What about elephant breeding? Wouldn't it be necessary to consider replacing a breeding bull when Raja doesn't cover?

 

1. Has anyone on Zoochat ever seen the Rusa deer in the deer park? If so, approximate size of herd?

2. Same question for Axis deer?

 

What species of Rusa?

 

I believe they are hybrids; Javan x Timor.

 

Rusa (Cervus timorensis) are likely to be monotypic anyway (if I remember correctly), so that doesn't really matter...

 

I would not be so confident on this.

 

We've mainly seen the Axis deer near the bison, Vietnamese sika etc on the track in to the safari park. Just looked back at my photos from 2017 (most recent I have, although we did see them last month) and I have what seem to be 4.3 pictured. I think there were some in the woodlands near the safari park when we did the elephant experience but can't be sure on numbers and that isn't a publicly accessible area.
Never seen the Rusa and when we did their deer safari for the red deer rut a few years ago the keeper said that they were in the off show area near Paris House and even they weren't sure of the exact number! My other half has asked about numbers and Woburn aren't very forthcoming on that.

 

Rusa (as in Cervus timorensis) was only native to Java and Bali. Human translocations have spread it to many other islands in the region, including Timor, in the last few thousand years. I am aware that there has been evidence of some rapid local adaptation and there is even a study describing some genetic differences, but calling that subspecies is a bit much...

 

The Barasingha are also in the small seperate park around Paris House- you can see them by driving in the big stone gateway off the main road and up to Paris House which is a restaurant. I've been in there several times and never seen Rusa as well, but wasn't expecting them there. Part of the area is a dense plantation you can't see into from the driveway.

I've visited Woburn many times over several decades but never seen the Rusa or Axis there- though I haven't really looked for them before. Like so many places, finding out any information there that isn't just general fluff is always difficult...