worrying about hippos in Australia becoming inbred "in the future" is rather like closing the door after the horse has bolted. The entire Australasian population has only had eight founders, and many of those were imported almost a century ago. The only thing in their favour is their long lifespans and long generation times, which overall puts them in a better position than many species in our zoos.
I agree with you regarding, as I said, species with high conservation value, but I don't think hippo bred in Australia are ever going to be returned to Africa In fact, at this stage Bongo and Pygmy Hippo, Rothschild Giraffe are probably the only species which would stand to benefit and in turn contribute at a real conservation level from a greater level of participation between our region and that of other parts of the world. Given our countries rather paranoid stance on importing antelope etc, I think if ZAA can open the doors for future imports they should try and get as many animals in as quickly as possible, for species we have here with a high conservation or display value, in case the regulators change their minds. In the meantime, like I said, I am a lot less concerned about hippo, than say Bongo. Hippo obviously have such a long generation span; Dubbo has bred just 5 in the last 26 years, and Werribee 3 in what, ten years? I guess that's why, whilst the situation isn't ideal, our hippo population has not collapsed as rapidly as say peccary or any other species we haven't been able to import. They've (the program coordinators) done well to get Bongo to persist for so long on a founding base of just 3 animals, though that could change soon. I guess, as you mentioned giraffes, they are a sign of what can be done in the region to turn things around. Just ten years ago they had a highly unacceptable inbreeding coefficient, now it is vastly improved with the import of just a handful of animals from NZ and Europe (1). So fingers crossed the same could be achieved with hippo.
Well then I suppose their genetic worth is less than I thought (or expected). With that knowledge it just reinforces that we definitely need to try to import individuals from overseas to create an Australian population that contributes to the global captive population (read gorilla, polar bear, Sumatran tiger, etc.). Hopefully this can happen soon...
I was actually talking a 2-way affair here between regions! F.i. with giraffe; I could really see the situation improved upon quite rapidly beyond just holding a highly inbred Rothschild's and outbred hybrid population. This by stopping resolutely with breeding the hybrids (as continue these as display only as having no conservation value whatsoever) and import a good cohort of young Rothschild's giraffe ex Europe. As it is within the EEP they are actually ... restricting breeding. If the ZAA would pick say a number of 20 founders (and augment upon the current pure-bred stock) the situation could be turned around quite quickly (vis a vis inbreeding and outbreeding). Perversely, this same routine would be most helpful for AZA (USA/Canada) zoo organisation region where they have a pure-bred tippelskirchi population and a totally hybrid population of rothschildi/reticulata stock. With bongo and pygmy hippo same thing EEP-wise (and for logistical purposes even some S.E. Asian zoos or E. Asian zoos) could be helpful. Even the ZAA hippo situation would benefit as it is a high end display species for the open range safari parks, and ZAA could import new founders ex European / other regions' zoos in exchange for some - non represented - Australian born stock. I see benefits all around for all and really correspond to the overall WAZA vision for ex situ species management! At the same time, you could perform outreach at different levels for each taxon! Well, we have been round this alley before of course and - as you all full well know - the authorities should make a fundamental turn-around in both mindset and philosophy and see what benefits ex situ conservation has for exotics species conservation with the region and what benefits these imports have for long term sustainability for the species held in ZAA collections. And this can happen with due diligence in the face of assuring local species conservation for the unique faunas and floras of Australasia! I stop there ... (LOL)
I visited Werribee Zoo on the weekend and the following are a few observations. We were a little disappointed with the bus driver who never quite stopped when pointing out animals, making it difficult to take good photos. There was a baby Addax, seen lying close to the front of the exhibit. A young Oryx was also on display. There were 3 bison on display, but there was another 5 or 6 visible in the paddock behind. I also noticed they still do have a herd of blackbuck in an off display paddock (seen thru trees so I couldn't get a photo) The bus went thru the shallow water of the hippo pond (I haven't been thru that for a while, I assume because of the baby hippo, the mother still feels threatened by the bus) The baby, Pansy, was out of the water and the closest the bus driver had ever seen her. It would seem that 1 of the females could be pregnant again, the hippo keeper said the bull had mated again not long before he was put down. In the African woodland water hole exhibit, the long horn cows were still not on display ( I had been looking forward to seeing them) but there was a breeding group of Waterbuck, 1:2:1 and seems like there is only 2 Kudu left. The large African plains exhibit was a little disappointing, seemed to be very under stocked, only 2 rhino, 9 zebra, 6 giraffe 6 or 7 Eland and 2 male ostrich. Due to the late time of day, we missed out on the serval presentation, the wild dogs were all asleep in the distance, the lions were all asleep in heavy shade, (the 2 new females still not on display at the same time as the male) the gorillas were not to be seen and we didn't even do the Australian section, so I don't know what the new Koala area looks like. So the high lights of this trip would have been the Hippos (we saw the hippo presentation) with all 5 hippos out of the water, and the water buck. I do always enjoy this Zoo, but this time, it wasn't as good as it can be.
The new Rhino calf has sadly died It is with sadness we advise of the passing of our baby rhino at Werribee Open Range Zoo. Unfortunately the calf, affectionately nicknamed Salt by the veterinary and keeper team, developed severe infections following her birth. Despite treatment her health deteriorated rapidly and the decision was made to ease the rhino of any further pain. We have been overwhelmed by your support and thank you in advance for your understanding during this difficult time Zoo Mourns Loss of Baby Rhino | Zoos Victoria
