They should put all their rockhoppers together on whatever site since they only have 1 at London and 3 at Whipsnade according to ISIS. Even a group of 4 is tiny so they would be better off getting more or moving them elsewhere, as with all penguin species breeding is more likely in bigger groups.
Rockhopper penguins are not easy to come by these days, I would bet money that London were sending any chicks bred at Whipsnade over to Regent's park as Whipsnade's small group were quite successful for a few consecutive years, yet year on year ISIS didn't seem to record an increase in the group, while numbers at London crept up at about the same rate that chicks seemed to be reared at Whipsnade. I am guessing that the fox incident was largely responsible for the fact there is only one Rockhopper left at London, though I could be wrong. Given how successful Whipsnade have been in producing Rockhopper chicks over the last few years, I don't think they should send their group elsewhere, and if London sent their lone Rockhopper to join the others at Whipsnade, that would be no bad thing IMO.
But are there any plans to import fairy blues into Europe, because with only two males left at Wuppertal it will be difficult to maintain the current population. And if they want to open the enclosure at Easter 2011 it means that the import procedures should have started by now (and thus be clear where the little blue's will come from).
Is it wise to even consider importing Fairy/Little Blue Penguins? They don't seem to do well in European Zoos. Would they all just die like Bristol's did?
I agree wholeheartedly that perhaps importing fairy blues is not such a good idea. Have we really been able to determine why the species is not doing well in European zoos? What are the critical factors for the successful maintenance (I remember papers on fairy blues in Aussie zoos from the seventies ...)? Are we too warm a climate, too damp, too wet ...?
London Zoo I think there's a lot to be said for keeping what does well, and not importing a lot more species which probably won't. As we seem to have perhaps four Penguin species that do well in the UK, let's concentrate on maintaining their numbers, rather than trying to keep Fairies which will probably die. It's partly the persistent search for novelty that results in the loss of UK populations of thorougly worthwhile things like Mouflon or possibly even Blackbuck in the future.
Wholeheartedly agree with that last statement. Species do very much go 'out of fashion' and new ones replace them 'in vogue' Mouflon are virtually extinct in mainstream zoos and Blackbuck- although kept at several of the Safari Parks (most notably West Midlands), are far less widely kept in our zoos than previously and in dwindling numbers. Regarding Penguins, I too would rather see Zoos concentrate further on those several species that are known to be reliable/successful in our climate- rather than the possibly unsuccessful importation of new but 'dodgy' species.
There is only a possibility that Fairy Blues might be amongst the species at London, so don't get too excited! We'll just have to wait and see.
I actually think I detect slight dismay rather than excitement amongst those posting... Normally, I would expect the design company to perhaps envisage species that, in reality don't all factor in the finished exhibit, for one reason or another. However, the detail of this proposal, even going into the types of substrate and design of nesting areas specific to the species mentioned in the plans makes me think the species planning is well advanced. I wonder if any egg-collecting expeditions are likely in the next few years?
Alas, the African hunting dogs puppies didn't survive. Better luck next time, hopefully. Planning permission for the new penguin development has been delayed so the opening has been put off for a month or so. They have emptied the gift shop however and relocated it to the overflow bit of the main Oasis restaurant, so things are happening.
Shame about the hunting dogs, however I believe that it isn't unusual especially for the first set of pups though I am unsure weather this was the hunting dogs first litter. Thanks for filling in the blanks volvox.
Last year a okapi was born in london to Elila. Since I haven't found any news about the young. Does anybody knows more? The sexe, the name, ...
Is the indoor of the Okapi house open to the public nowadays? It was at one time but they also seem to have those smaller Cotton Terrace houses closed quite often too. London don't somehow seem to have publicised this Okapi calf as much as they did the previous ones.
I presume he is named after Dr George Rabb , a noted American conservation scientist . Not certain what his links with okapis are though ?
i think he was involved with a okapi project, but cant seem to find anything on the net to refresh my memory
