Pansy the hippo calf turns one today (and some cute photos as well!): http://www.buzzfeed.com/zoosvictoriaau/11-adorable-things-to-love-about-pansy-the-hippo-c-ukdn
While it can't really be said that the hippo population is looking particularly stable in Australasia, the recent births at Werribee and TWPZ give some hope. Although they're going to need to do something if they want to keep breeding at Werribee now they have no male - it would be great if they could bring in another male from Europe!
Yeah there are four males in total left in the region, however, only two actually capable of breeding (Fudge at Auckland is castrated and Brutus at Adelaide is too old, and both are in on-breeding situations anyway). Pretty much the last breeding hope for Werribee is to send one of the Dubbo males there, however, only Mana is a proven breeding male thus far (although not too sure if they have tried breeding Happy). Otherwise, with the current state of affairs, the young animals left in the region will probably have to be sent overseas (if possible) in order to breed.
If TWPZ keeps breeding, there is the possibility that a future calf could be male, and later transferred to Victoria. In the meantime, these animals are of course quite long lived; I am sure a plan would be in place which will see these animals paired up down the track, as they reach sexual maturity.
Yeah, I suppose that could work. The only issue then is that the wait for a male calf to be born and reach sexual maturity might be too long to be able to breed with the current breeding females (who are all mature-aged already), and instead having to rely on breeding their daughters (of which in turn their offspring are closely related).
Surely if a male calf was born at Dubbo, within the next 5-8 years, then it could be transferred to WORZ and breeding recommence once it reaches sexual maturity. Or of course, the oldest female calf may be transferred to Dubbo for breeding, or their current additional male sent south. The situation with these hippo certainly is no where near as dire, both numerically and demographically, as it was with Pygmy Hippo up until a few years ago...and even now that's still tedious.
Regardless, the situation of both hippo species is bad to some extent as no new blood can be imported. In my opinion, what is the point of trying to breed three or four generations within the country that will likely eventually cause an inbred population if the animals have more genetic use elsewhere (ie. overseas). You are simply wasting time and effort in trying to produce the least inbred offspring when you could be producing the genetically best offspring, albeit not in Australia. This goes for many other species in this country that cannot be imported. The captive population may as well get as much use out of these animals while it can in order to benefit the species as a whole, rather than trying to segregate the population within Australia. But that's just my opinion
Is there not some possibility that unrelated stock could be imported via New Zealand and their revised import status ie. nyala import? It would only take one new male to change the balance short-term.
I don't think so. Not sure if New Zealand is also able to import artiodactyla. Unless import laws have changed?
I'm sure that would be possible in the long-term, although currently importation into NZ and Australia is not possible. Apparently it is a ZAA priority after the bovid importation is sorted (same with pygmy hippos). I can certainly imagine a situation however, where the population dwindles significantly in say 20 years, and then something is done about importing new blood. The only way something more immediate would occur is if Sea World proceed with their acquisition plans and import new animals, which would be excellent. To touch on a previous point, I doubt Europe or anywhere else would bother importing hippos from Australia, I doubt our genetics are particualrly valuable or necessary to them.
Are Australian/New Zealand hippos derived from European stock? Or some directly imported from Africa/derived from African imports?
I don't know. As I understand it the Auckland line is derived from animals from Australia (going back to the 1920s, so I don't know if they are related to current Australian lines, although alter imports probably are), as well as a male imported from Calcutta (India). My point was more that Europe probably has enough genetic diversity (and as I understand it an overabundance of hippos so most zoos are not breeding them), and importing animals from the other side of the world is therefore unnecessary.
Not sure about Europe but I think North America has a shortage of breeding animals (especially Canada) which may be of more use to them than riskily waiting for more animals to be imported or a male calf to be born. But once again that's just my opinion.
I highly doubt even the North American population zoo community would bother sourcing hippo from Australia, without first even exploring the possibility of importing stock from either Europe or some of the Latin American zoos (there are even wild hippos in south America ). I believe down the track hippo will be imported to Australia, something that 'our' small population stands to benefit from in the long-term, rather than the other way around. In the meantime, I don't have a problem with the zoos managing the species the way they currently are, as they make their way through the red tape. Finally, as we only have a small population of animals here capable of reproducing, I wouldn't want to risk exporting individual animals out of the region, who have very little conservation value in terms of genetics, and risk undermining the stability here of our own program (export one or two hippo, lose a few suddenly to illness and disease, find any potential import quashed indefinitely = program in collapse). On the other hand, if P Hippo could be imported again and our program built back up, I could see the value of participating at an international level with this species. Plus a lot less of a logistical nightmare.
I'm not saying that hippos should not be kept in Australia, but with such a small breeding population and no imports being allowed as such what is the point of breeding them when they will likely become inbred later down the track? Yes, if import laws are changed my argument becomes invalid, but for now, I just don't see how we can have a self-sustaining population in the region in the near future. I would rather have no hippos with a genetically diverse population than have hippos that are inbred and of no use to the genetic population. But I will leave it at that
This demonstrates to my mind why it is important to have A) inter-regional cooperation and B) global species breeding programmes. It has been painful to both eye and mind that whilst both hippo species are endangered, alas the bigger cousin is surely a neglected kin the world over. The situation for pygmy hippos is a lot better. I really cannot see why with pygmy hippos ZAA (Australian and New Zealand collections) cannot benefit from a twinning with the EEP or perhaps a program component in S.E. Asia and Japan. There are other examples I can think of where management of Artiodactyls in ZAA region could be improved with import / export of stocks. Amen!
I guess if you follow that rationale, as it stands currently our zoos would be emptied of all hippo and giraffe and antelope species. Where possible, as in the case of exporting a Taronga-bred Bongo to Singapore a few years back, participating as best as we can in international programs, particularly for endangered species is a great goal. But in the meantime, as I have said, I don't have a problem with zoos persisting with the management of these species. If exports are not recommended or needed at an international level, I don't see what the problem with keeping hippo here is. And if you look at the timing between births, the population of hippo here is relatively slow breeding. They aren't going to become inbred overnight.
And Kifaru, it would be great to have Pygmy Hippo participating the EEP or related program. Previously Melbourne Zoo did export Australian bred hippo, but of course because of our quarantine laws its a bit of one-way traffic currently.
If it is for the good of the species than in my opinion that is the best option to take. I for one do not want to create a captive population of any animal that has such a small genetic variance that, when eventually released, creates bottlenecks within the population. This is especially concerning for pygmy hippo in this country, of which both pairs are related to each other (Melbourne= brother of Taronga male and mother of Taronga female, Taronga= brother of Melbourne male and daughter of Melbourne female). Persistence is necessary for these impossible to import species to survive in the region but I would be as equally glad if individuals were exported elsewhere IMO. The regional giraffe population is even more complex as all pure Rothschild's are inbred while the hybrids have a large genetic base (I would rather not breed either one but that is just impossible in a zoo environment where giraffes are one of the keystone species). Once again (this time final ) I will leave it at that EDIT: One last thing as well. Common hippos in the region actually have had quite a good and consistent breeding record for the number of actual breeding individuals. Before this birth at Dubbo, Dubbo, Werribee and Cairns (now closed) were breeding hippos in the 1990s and 2000s (and before that both Adelaide and Auckland). I'm not sure how closely related the Dubbo hippos are to the Werribee hippos (if at all) but good breeding results for the species has meant quite a few have been produced (of which many have gone to Asian zoos).
