I have checked the website of Zoo Wuppertal and there are not statement that these six male dholes are from Kiangsi (Jiangxi)? In fact although Jiangxi Province is the last place in southeast China where there MAY be still dholes, no information showed that there are dholes exported to other countries... Thus may be the dholes are still Qinghai dholes?
See the post above, the Dholes came from a French zoo.. All Dholes in Europe are of the lepturus subspecies, which in German is called Kiangsi-Rothund (Chinese dhole in English according to the zootierliste).
I have checked the French zoo website, too, but I can't find the animal info...... So it is interesting that most dholes in European zoos are descent of several dholes from Qinghai Province, which locates in the NW part of China and near Tibet; but they are given a name of a SE subtropical province of China And in fact there are some differences between the dhole north and south of the Yangtze River
Notice the word "May" At least there were dholes a dozen of years ago. And the last record of dholes in SE China are from Jiangxi。
The Zoo has announced that they will stop keeping Polar bears, their enclosure is far too small and will be incorporated in the Californian sea lion enclosure, as they also need more space..
A good and important step for the zoo. Let's hope that they follow this announcement with some positive news about additions or other developments to soften the blow of what is still a loss of a major species. On that note, how is Aralandia (the parrot aviary) doing?
I read recently they planned to open it in 2019, but I have my doubts whether that deadline will be met....
Sorry, but I have to disagree here. Wuppertal has space and could - with a little effort of the marketing departement of course - collect enough money to built a new polar bear exhibit. There is NO REASON to phase out the polar bears (but to built a new enclosure of course). Why not transform the former Kodiak bear enclosure (and the near wolf exhibit) into a modern polar bear exhibit? Think about the money Zoo Wuppertal spent for a - lets be honest - seasonal huge parrot/flamingo aviary (Aralandia) while polar bears could be shown year round outside.
Are there not brown bears in there still? Frankly I would be delighted if Wuppertal built a new and wonderful polar bear exhibit, and who knows, they may do so in the future, but the current one is really not good at all and I will not be sad to see it without bears the next time I visit. I think linking it to the sealion pool will be interesting; presumably with a water slide or something like that.
Yes, there are still brown bears in there. But from unknown origin and - afaik - not the youngest ones. So there would (have) be(en) a chance to sent the brown bears to another place (think about all those bear sanctuaries) or wait until they die (if the bears are in an age range of about 33+).
I would like to see some zoos get back into exhibiting and breeding local native bear species. That is also conservation. As for polar bears plenty of zoos have had elderly polar bears pass away recently. So, would there be not a few options for the polar bears Wuppertal Zoo is looking to place?
First phrase: Not in all cases imo. Polar bears are (much) more threatened then European brown bears (U. a. arctos), so breeding the former is much more important then the later AT THE MOMENT regarding conservation. Further on: In Europe, brown bears can be easily kept in Wildlife/Animal parks (with local fauna only), so its not necessary to have them in "normal" zoos (too). Specially when there should be lack of space. Second phrase: Yes, absolutely, if this were the thoughs about this decision (although I have my doubts). And the better if this should lead to raise breeding chances. Any suggestions?
Gordon's wildcat new to the collection? Translation tools often confuse me, so I'm not sure if this is news or just a mention of something that has been there for a while. www.zoo-wuppertal.net - Das ist neu
