Hoofed Run

 

West Hoof Run features six African species in two exhibits. Giant elands dominate the large enclosure. Winston, the bull, is the top of the hierarchy. He defends his herd and will threaten and attempt to drive off those he perceives as intruders. His herd consists of 6 year old Dorothy, her offspring and ‘grandchildren’. The elands often move and interact as a unit, providing them both safety and stimulation. As in most families, the youngsters need attention, training and occasional discipline. Winston can be extremely gentle when sparring with son Neville, but will also shake his horns and send him back to his mom when he becomes a pest. This fall we had two more Giant elands born, Cletus and Oz.

 

At the opposite end of the exhibit, Grant’s Zebra sisters, Image and Charlie, hold court. Though in their late 20’s, these mares can still kick up their heels, although they may be a little stiff for a couple of days!

 

An unusual relationship has developed between Charlie and Joplin, our geriatric Dorcas Gazelle. The two are almost inseparable. Charlie will often gently bump Joplin from behind with her head, to get him up or move him where she wants him to go. She also protects him, especially from exuberant eland calves that don’t understand that he’s really not their ideal playmate.

 

Our warthog siblings, Rodney and Pinta, move around the zebras with a measure of respect, but not as carefully as around the elands. There are several protected places the warthogs can get to where the others cannot. They also have an off-exhibit yard where they may spend their evenings. Occasionally Rodney will go head to head with Winston, in what appears to be an amicable manner, but he’s always wary, puts his tail up and runs if he thinks he needs to. 

 

Next door are the lowland nyala. Currently, female Alanis, daughter Ginger and young son Noah live with our Marabou Stork boys Clyde and Eugene. Nyala show considerable color and size dimorphism. Males are almost twice the size of females and develop a flowing slate colored coat that’s very different from the striped fawn markings of females and immature males. Both nyala and storks share a healthy respect for one another. 

 

The East Hoof Run is home to bongo, okapi and yellow-backed duikers. Our eastern bongo herd has been very productive since the addition of a breefing male Ferndale in 2007. This fall saw the arrival of Jigsaw, a 3-year-old bull, who is now a full time member of the herd. We now exhibit three generations of females and have placed recent offspring in breeding situations in other zoos. The Houston Zoo participated in the 2004 repatriation project that continues to increase the population of this endangered subspecies in Kenya. A granddaughter of our female DJ has already produced three offspring at the reintroduction site.

 

Our first female okapi, Tulia, arrived in late 2007. Breeding introductions with our adult male Kwame are occurring at this time and we look forward to future offspring.  This unique animal, with its velvety coat, long raspy tongue and striped backside is found deep in the Ituri Forest in the Congo. This past spring, 2010, Mandazi, a young male, arrived from the Columbus Zoo. Future plans include acquisition of a second female

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Our yellow-backed duikers share this space. These brush-dwelling antelope may appear non-descript, until they are alarmed and flash a vivid yellow wedge of hair on their backs. Although duikers have sharp horns, their most effective method of defense is to dive into the brush and disappear. Two breeding pairs are exhibited with our okapis and they co-exist very well, and may even groom one another. Both pairs currently have a calf, althought they do hide for much of the day. The male, Komet, born in mid-December is in the decked enclosure and an as yet unnamed female calf born in early January is next door.  

 

Duikers like to hide by nature, so you may be lucky to see the baby. Late afternoon times seem to be when they are likely to venture out into their yards. Baby duikers are quite adorable, as you can see from Komet's picture to the right..

 

Birds again have a home here. A pair of Stanley cranes nested this year amidst okapi and duiker interactions. Although their eggs weren’t fertile, they diligently incubated two eggs for a month and were extremely effective at chasing off nest intruders, be they okapi, duiker or zoo keeper!

 

Next door, southern ground hornbills have set up house-keeping. Zoë and mate Kitoto are a newly formed pair. Keepers are hopeful they will breed in the future. These two get their beaks into everything and generally enrich life for the hoofed mammals they live with.