Grevy’s Zebras & Brown Hyena – update from The Aspinall Foundation at Port Lympne & Howletts

Spotting stripes

In March of this year, two additional Grevy’s zebras arrived from Aalborg zoo in Denmark to join an already-established bachelor group of at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, who have recently started receiving male Grevy’s Zebra from other institutions.

This endangered sub-species of zebra is not currently being bred at the park, but by taking on surplus males from other institutions that have no space for them we are providing a valuable service to the wider breeding program both from an ethical and conservation point of view.

Most zoos do not have the space to house surplus males that would no longer be tolerated by the dominant male of their breeding herd once these animals reach maturity, so the challenge is to find humane solutions to this animal management problem. Luckily the large open spaces that make up Port Lympne Wild Animal Park are ideal for large herds of hoofstock and the park now houses 5 Grevy’s Zebras.

Hyenas return to the UK

Earlier this year, Port Lympne received a breeding pair of Brown Hyena from Prague Zoo in the Czech Republic. With this arrival, Port Lympne was to once again become the only UK zoo to house this fascinating species.

While Brown Hyenas are not considered to be under serious threat in the wild, there are only a handful of these animals held in captivity around the world. The parks used to hold brown hyenas in the early to mid 1980’s but ultimately it was decided to specialise in the Endangered African Hunting Dogs instead.

With a now well-established track record in breeding hunting dogs, Port Lympne has once again decided to add this African canine carnivore to its collection. With no births recorded for this species in the last year in any of the zoos that hold them, keeping staff are crossing their fingers for a successful pairing between these two animals!