Lesser Kudu Tragelaphus imberbis (Blyth, 1869) European Studboook 2017.

70 Seiten, Grafiken
Published by Zoo Basel, Switzerland.

I would like to thank all ESB members that keep lesser kudus for their cooperation and help to update the European studbook 2017. All the data of the annual reports returned by 17 January 2018 were included in this edition. All ESB members provided their data.
This studbook lists a total of 497.538.15 (1050) lesser kudus. On 31 December 2017, the European studbook records 71 (22.49) lesser kudus kept in 11 EAZA institutions.

A genetic and demographic analysis was performed.

The first lesser kudu listed in the studbook were a pair caught in Ethiopia and taken to the Zoo Zürich in 1931. According to an e-mail from Michael Mettler, Langenhagen, Germany, more lesser kudus were kept before and during that time, for example in the zoos of Hannover and Berlin. However, very little information is available with regard to their origin and breeding history. The studbook keeper would be grateful to receive more information on lesser kudus kept in the early 20th century.

More than twenty years later, Tierpark Hellabrunn, Munich, received two wild caught females in 1955 and a male in 1958. The origin of these animals is unknown, given as “East Africa”. During that time, another pair was caught in Somalia and taken to Zoo Zürich in 1956. Also in 1956, Basel zoo received two pairs from a Swiss, living in Africa. The first birth in captivity was on 23 January 1959 in Munich, followed by another birth on 1 August 1959 at Basel zoo. Only few zoos in Europe have held this species.

The current population descends from 24 founders and has no potential founders. Founder 11 was caught in East Africa and no further information on the capture site can be obtained. He arrived in Hannover on 5 May 1960. The capture location for founder 26 is given as Nairobi and it came to Basel on 28 October 1971. In 1972, Dvur Kralove imported 3.14 lesser kudu from Mbalambala, Garrisa District, Kenya. From these animals, the following six founders, i.e. 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 and 106, have living descendants in the ESB. Apart from founder 11, all these animals seem to be Tragelaphus imberbis imberbis. Founder 11 cannot be assigned to any subspecies because its capture site is unknown and no genetic material remains that could be tested. In addition, three wild caught animals were caught in East Africa and moved to Munich in 1955 and 1958. They had one surviving offspring (stb. no. 13), which was moved to Basel for breeding. Again, it is not known to which subspecies stb. 13 or its parents belong.

(Equally in 1958, Dresden Zoo received a wild caught male from the dealer Demmer. It is not known where this animal was caught and it had no surviving offspring. In 1961, Hannover zoo imported a wild caught male from Tanzania and from 1961 to 1967 further 1.4 wild caught individuals from Kenya.
In 1966, Pretoria received two wild caught females from Ghiazza, unfortunately, nothing is known about their capture location.
In 1975, Hannover Zoo bought a pair from the animal dealer Demmer. Many thanks are due to Michael Mettler from Langenhagen, Germany, who pointed out in an e-mail dated 28 March 2017 that information on the origin of these animals could be found in the 1975 annual report of Hannover Zoo. In there, it says that Hannover was able to obtain a young pair from Mr. von Nagy’s private zoo, Usa river, near Arusha, Tanzania. These two animals were bred there and their parents are thus considered to be two or three new founders.

In 1984, Stuttgart purchased a female from Soest. Once more, nothing is known of its origin, so it could be a new founder or offspring from the studbook population. Since animals were given to Van den Brink in the past, it is assumed to be an offspring from the studbook population. The six founders imported in the 1960s to Hannover have no descendants in the current studbook population, all offspring died or were given to dealer Van den Brink and are lost to follow-up. According to Van den Brink (pers. com., 23.7.2011), they were most likely given to either Seoul zoo, to Japan or to Algeria (Zoo Ben Agnoon in Algier), in which case they or their offspring are probably not represented in the ESB.

Similarly, the two founders in Pretoria had just one young, which left no descendants and are thus not represented in the current studbook population. All the animals within brackets are either founders with no living offspring in the current studbook population or are animals of unknown origin, i.e. it is not known whether they are new founders or individuals with unknown parents from the studbook population).

Five more founders, i.e. 5000, 5001, 5002, 5003 and 5004, were caught in Somalia in 2005 and taken to Maktoum. Eight more founders, i.e. 5005 – 5012, were caught one year later in Somalia and also transferred to Maktoum. All these 13 founders from Somalia are from a person in Sharjah S. (or Samra) and were identified as belonging to Tragelaphus imberbis imberbis. However, with Maktoum leaving EAZA in 2015, these animals no longer belong to the ESB.

In 2015, three males from the US population were imported to Basel from San Diego Zoo and Kansas City Zoo. Their pedigrees are not fully known but do include new founders for the ESB. Two of them were moved to Dvur Kralove and Stuttgart.
In 2016, two males were exported from Beauval to a sanctuary in Djibouti that keeps a pair. It is hoped that in future, offspring from that pair can in return be imported to Europe and add new blood to the narrow genetic founder base.

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