PYGMY HIPPOPOTAMUS CHOEROPSIS LIBERIENSIS (MORTON, 1844) INTERNATIONAL STUDBOOK 2012 BASEL ZOO INTERNATIONAL STUDBOOK for the year 2012 Pygmy Hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis Morton, 1844 Updated, 31 December 2012 International Studbook Keeper Beatrice Steck Basel Zoo 19th Edition, published by Zoo Basel, Switzerland, 2013 (first edition 1975) BASEL ZOO Binningerstrasse 40, PO Box, 4011 Basel, Switzerland Phone ++41 61 295 35 35, Fax ++41 61 281 00 05 [email protected], www.zoobasel.ch Imprint Beatrice Steck Basel Zoo International Studbook Keeper [email protected] Dr. Olivier Pagan Basel Zoo EEP Species Coordinator [email protected] Beatrice Steck Basel Zoo EEP Coordinator’s Assistant [email protected] Dr.h.c. Jörg Hess, Cover Basel, Switzerland Walter Schmid, Drawing Basel, Switzerland ZOO BASEL International Studbook Pygmy Hippopotamus 2012 Contents 1 Acknowledgements and Information .................................................................................................... 3 2 Biological Data ................................................................................................................................................. 4 3 Species Status.................................................................................................................................................... 7 4 Conservation ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 4.1 Workshop to produce a National Conservation Strategy for the Pygmy Hippo, Liberia, 11- 12 December 2012 ............................................................................................................................................. 8 5 Research ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 5.1 Ex situ and in situ Research performed by IBREAM .......................................................................... 10 5.2 Pygmy Hippo research by Dr Paul O’Donoghue, University of Chester, UK ............................ 17 5.3 Towards molecular genetic management of pygmy hippopotamus, Dr Rob Ogden RZSS .. 19 5.4 Weight loss in pygmy hippos (Choeropsis liberiensis) .................................................................... 20 6 Coordinators, Advisors and EEP species committee ...................................................................... 26 6.1 EEP species committee .................................................................................................................................. 26 6.2 EAZA Advisors ................................................................................................................................................. 27 6.3 Coordinators and regional studbook keepers ....................................................................................... 28 7 References ........................................................................................................................................................ 29 8 Events 2012 ...................................................................................................................................................... 30 8.1 Births in 2012.................................................................................................................................................... 30 8.2 Deaths in 2012.................................................................................................................................................. 31 8.3 Moves in 2012 .................................................................................................................................................. 32 8.4 Remarks 2012 ................................................................................................................................................... 33 9 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................. 34 10 APPENDIX I - International Studbook Population ......................................................................... 35 11 APPENDIX II - Current Studbook Population ............................................................................... 111 12 Summary of Pygmy Hippopotamus Collections.......................................................................... 138 ZOO BASEL Page 2 of 148 ZOO BASEL International Studbook Pygmy Hippopotamus 2012 1 Acknowledgements and Information I would like to thank all the zoos and institutions that keep pygmy hippopotami for their cooperation and help to update the International Studbook 2012. All the data of the annual reports returned by 17 February 2013 were included in this edition. This year, 124 out of 134 institutions that keep pygmy hippos responded to our annual questionnaire. This studbook lists a total of 1409 (563.782.64) pygmy hippos. On 31 December 2012, the International Studbook records 339 (139.206.4) living pygmy hippopotami kept in 131 institutions. The EEP population comprises a total of 126 (51.75) living individuals in 57 institutions. The usage of this studbook is to show where and how many pygmy hippos are held in captivity. Moreover, the studbook information is used for regular in-depth regional and global demographic and genetic analyses of the living population. Since pygmy hippos are kept on all continents, all regions benefit from this studbook, and in particular Europe and North America, where coordinated breeding programmes exist, which depend on the studbook information for their functioning. The total number of captive pygmy hippos includes: 50.63 (113) animals in 36 institutions in the Asian region; 3.3 (6) animals in 3 institutions in the Australasian region; 50.87 (137) animals in 60 institutions in the European region; 18.34.4 (61) animals in 16 institutions in the North American region; 4.3 (7) animals in 4 institutions in the Central and South American regions; 14.12 (26) in 12 institutions in the African region. The focus of this edition of the studbook is on current research projects. In chapter 5, various interesting and ongoing research projects on aspects of captive pygmy hippo nutrition, genetics, and reproduction as well as on population structure, habitat preference, activity patterns, PKD, pathogens and parasites in wild pygmy hippos are presented. In addition, in a workshop in Monrovia, a national action plan for the pygmy hippo in Liberia was developed in December 2012, which is presented in chapter 4. Zoo Basel Beatrice Steck, international studbook keeper ZOO BASEL Page 3 of 148 ZOO BASEL International Studbook Pygmy Hippopotamus 2012 2 Biological Data Distribution: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast Population status: vulnerable, CITES Appendix II Habitat: Their preferred habitat is the border zone between rain forest and swamps, they only rarely live exclusively in swamps. They avoid open areas. Their resting places are almost always in the swamp but rarely in the water. They can be dry or humid but not wet. They are always in the shade and several runways lead to and from the resting place. Their favourite resting places are under the low Rhaphia palm trees (Ivory Coast). Food: The animals feed most of the time in the forest even though it is more dangerous than in the swamps, but there is more food available and moving is easier. They prefer browsers and ferns, in addition, some swamp plants are uprooted and eaten whole and some forest weeds are grazed on. Behaviour: Pygmy hippos actively seek food between 4 pm and 11 pm, but they are not nocturnal. They sleep or doze from midnight until early afternoon. They spend an average of six hours seeking food. The animals live solitarily, the females by ignoring other females, the males by actively threatening and aggressively chasing male competitors out of their territories. The home ranges of females measure between 40-60 ha and they overlap in great parts. The females avoid each other with their very acute sense of smell by marking the runways with their dung, but they do not have communal dung heaps. The ranges of the males are two to three times bigger than the females' and they do not overlap, but they include several female home ranges. Senses of smell and hearing are the primary senses for orientation. Vision is secondary because of the density of the undergrowth. In the case of danger, they always flee away from the threat. Reproduction: One calf, rarely twins. Mothers give birth in shallow water pools and they visit their offspring only a few times per day for suckling. Birth weight: approximately 5.7 kg Gestation length: average 199 days (187-214 days) Oestrus cycle: average 35 days First reproduction: 4-5 years In captivity: youngest female 2 y 3 m, youngest male 3 y 4 m. Reproductive phase: 3-32 years for both sexes Size and weight: body weight 180-260 kg, shoulder height 80 cm ZOO BASEL Page 4 of 148 ZOO BASEL International Studbook Pygmy Hippopotamus 2012 Longevity: Maximum age in captivity is 35-45 years. Among the animals with known birth date and age, male “Hannibal” in Stuttgart, studbook number 241, born on 19 October 1966, was still alive on 31 December 2012. All field data come from Bülow (1987) Distribution map taken from the IUCN Hippo Specialist homepage, http://moray.ml.duke.edu/projects/hippos/, consulted on 16 November 2010. Taxonomy: The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis