ZooChat Challenge Europe 2021

If you had read my first post all the way through you’ll have noticed I am Bactrian camel, llama and dromedary each count as their own ticks, and all others count as part of the wild or domesticated rule (one or the other, but not both). So if someone for instance sees an alpaca and a vicuña they can only count one of those.

 

Precisely!

 

Missed the joke. Oh well.

 

Just got it!!! Ignore me - lack of sleep has addled the brain

 

I'm puzzled about the difference between the llama/guanaco and alpaca/vicuna situation. Why does one of them count and the other does not?

 

Got a quick visit in to Chester today, sadly bad weather and covid restrictions lead to a lot of no shows including even the elephants...

1. Eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)
2. Sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii)
3. Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus)
4. Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
5. Congo forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer)
6. Rothschild's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
7. Red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus)
8. Persian onager (Equus hemionus)
9. Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus)
10. Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi)

 

Llama are actually believed by some to stem from mixing between guanaco, vicuña and alpaca, so to reduce any confusion/questions about it I’ve included llama as their own taxon, but kept alpaca and vicuña as the same.

 

I personally consider Vicunas and Alpacas two different species (Vicugna vicugna and Vicugna pacos) but I might not be up to date with the latest taxonomic decisions.

 

More and more people nowadays consider domestic stock to be separate species to their wild ancestor - for this challenge however, to prevent confusion, any domestic taxon that clearly stems from only one wild species that you can also see in a zoo counts under this rule. Since there is some evidence that shows llamas originate from hybridising guanaco, vicuña AND alpaca, this why I’ve gone with them as a separate taxon, but alpacas as not.

 

Lightning quick spin round my local zoo this morning:

London Zoo

1. Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)
2. Okapi (Okapia johnstoni)
3. Red forest duiker (Cephalophus natalensis)
4. Plains zebra (Equus quagga)
5. Pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis)
6. Red river hog (Potamochoerus porcinus)
7. Reeves’s muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi)
8. Sulawesi babirusa (Babyrousa celebensis)
9. Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)
10. Llama (Llama glama)
11. Alpaca (Vicugna vicugna f. pacos)
12. Kune-kune pig (Sus scrofa f. domestica)
13. West African pygmy goat (Capra aegagrus f. hircus)

 

Hamerton 3/1/21

33 Southern Pudu
34 Plains Zebra

 

Starting the year modestly with your standard German Wildpark quadruplet:

Wildgehege Spandauer Forst (30/01/2021)

1.Common red deer (Cervus elaphus)
2. European mouflon (Ovis aries)
3. European fallow deer (Dama dama)
4. Central european wild boar (Sus scrofa)

 

Well, I suppose I can actually make a start on this now.

Banham Zoo (1/2/2021)
1. Alpaca
2. Pygmy Goat
3. Kune Kune Pig
4. Grevy's Zebra
5. Giraffe
6. Western Sitatunga
7. Miniature Donkey

 

How was Banham open on 1/2/21? That was against lockdown regulations!!

 

I was getting to this don’t worry.

@CrashMegaraptor I’m afraid I’m going to need clarification on this to see if this visit’s listings count or not. Given most, if not all, zoos in Europe are closed due to the current lockdown, I need to be sure that this visit occurred during normal opening times.
Feel free to PM me if you would prefer to discuss this without public scrutiny.

 

The answer is simple - I work there. There's nothing in the rules to say that you can't count actually BEING a member of staff, and since I'm not actually a zookeeper (I just clean the grounds), I basically get the same privileges as a member of the public.

 

That is a fair reason...however in rule 3:

3. You have to see the animal via normal public access (i.e. not including zookeeper for the day or photography days behind the scenes) during normal public opening hours (i.e. no scoring because you know the keeper and can get access before/after hours). Basically the species has to be seen as Joe Public would.

I would argue that, to be fair to other members, that your count will only be valid once zoos are actually open to the public once again, as for now they are counted as being closed and therefore your list above would not be in “normal public opening hours” sorry but it’s only fair

 

I would just like to say that my questioning of the post was not a complaint or criticism, it was more due to surprise than anything! I wasn't worried one way or the other whether the post was 'legal', but I agree with your decision @ShonenJake13

 

It's OK. I just really wanted to take part, is all. But I must reassure you, it wasn't anything illegal...I do legit work there and we've been trying to get the zoo up and running again for when we can officially reopen...something made harder due to all this snow.

I'll post the list again once the zoo officially reopens. I doubt it'll have changed, though.

 

Don't worry, i wasn't implying you being at the zoo wasn't legal, I was referring to your posted list being 'legal' ( within the rules of the game). I have amended my post so this is clearer!