Animals you'll never see in a zoo

Animals you'll never see in a zoo
22-05-2007

I hope this thread hasn't been done before here on zoobeat- sorry if it has.

I was just wondering what animals people can think of, that have never been kept for a zoo audience? Or animals that currently aren't exhibited anywhere? The one's I were thinking of are these, though to be fair I'm not entirely sure about some of them:-

Mountain Gorilla
Ethiopian Wolf
Marbled Cat
Javan Rhino (?, not sure, but i've never heard of them being exhibited)
Indri (I think the zoo in Madagascar's capital city might have a couple of wild-caught ones though I'm not sure- they don't breed).
Ganges River Dolphin? Or Amazon for that matter (i'm sure there was an american aquarium with the amazon sort in the 70s.)

Are these right? What other one's are there?

22-05-2007

many (too many) zoos tried to keep mountain gorillas over the years, none with much success.
however there are currently two eastern gorillas at antwerp (which belong to the same species as the mountain type).

the only zoo that has recorded keeping the javan rhino that i know of was adelaide zoo a long, long time ago. it was mistakingly thought to be an indian rhino.

the duisberg zoo in germany currently is teh only zoo/aquarium with boto (amazon dolphin) i think there is only one left. prior to this the columbus zoo had one, who died a couple of years ago.

there are no indus on ganges dolphin in captivity.

i have no idea bout the marbled cat or indri but and know of no ethiopian wolves in captivity (though they are a good candidate for a well managed program).

22-05-2007

Sorry but that's not correct. The only proven examples of true Mountain Gorillas(G.g. beringei) entering captivity that I know of are the following four animals;

0.1- 'Miss Congo' to Bronx Zoo NEw York 1920's.
1.0 - 'Rueben' to London Zoo UK. c.1961 (died soon after)
0.2 - 'Coco' & 'Pucker' to Cologne Zoo Germany, 1960's ( and died within two months of each other aged about ten years.)

Eastern Lowlands (G.g.grauerii) but sometimes falsely claimed as 'Mountain' Gorillas have also been exhibited in the past at the following zoos;

San Diego (2.0) London(1.o) Bronx NY.(1.1) Chester(1.1) Antwerp(several, still have o.2) Oklahoma/Houston 1.0(same animal)

22-05-2007

There haven't been any whales in zoos have there? They seem to be too big to keep in captivity.

23-05-2007

Thanks for the info Patrick and Grantsmb

Jonathon, I think there have been some whales in captivity, but not big ones.Depends what you class as a whale really, I think there have been pygmy sperm whales in captivity? Not sure if there are currently.

On a completely different note, do any zoos keep pangolins I was wondering?

23-05-2007

Check the rare species in European zoos threads. There is something on Pangolins there.

23-05-2007

some americans returned casually to the states from a trip to africa recently with a pangolin in their hand-luggage. had no problems taking it out of africa and apon entering the states just casually explained that it was an orphan they purchased in a market and that they knew nothing about it and felt guilty to leave it so brought it home. no fines - donated to a US zoo.

imagine if it was like that here in australia?

i can imagine more than a few zoobeat members getting off a plane with a bongo on a leish..

"oh this? yes, not sure what it is. was gift from a friend in africa. felt sorry for it so i brought it home...sure, i'll donate it to the zoo, theres an okapi in my backpack too"

23-05-2007

Ha Ha, Pat,

I guess thats how we could boost our Palm Cocky Population aswell, thats another bird not seen often in Zoos, Australian Palm Cockies, i know of one in a zoo and 2 in private hands. (in aust)

23-05-2007

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the Rare Animals in European zoos thread Jonathan, I've checked it out and its pretty interesting.

I was reading the other day that Probiscis Monkeys are pretty rare in zoos. Apparently nearly all zoo probiscises are wild caught and die quite quickly.
Any others?

23-05-2007

i only know of singapore having any success with proboscis - which isn't that unusual since they keep them in the right climate and probably have many of their native diet available as fodder...

23-05-2007

A few European zoos- namely Frankfurt, Basel & Twycross UK. have kept proboscis over several years and bred them in the past (1960's/70's)- but not really successfully as each group slowly died out. So too I think did those at San Diego? Any others anyone know of?


"An Okapi In My Backpack " -what a wonderful title for a Durrellesque style book....

23-05-2007

Wow, how could anyone get away with that... aren't pangolins endangered?
Anyways pangolins are hard to maintain in captivity, something about their artificial zoo diets giving them stomach ulcers. A zoo in Taiwan has been successful in breeding pangolins after they formulated a suitable diet.

And i want an okapi too!

23-05-2007

why dont you uk members get really vindictive and write a list of animals Australians will never see in their local zoos. and in return well write you guys a list-soon we'll have giant pandas and sumatran rhinos, so beat that
ill start with bilbies. are bilbies miantained in any zoo outside australia, or platypus? or coroboree frogs.

23-05-2007

Platypus was one I was wondering about. None in Britain at the moment, but I think there may have been at London once. Do any zoos outside Aus have platypus?

We have no echidnas or Tasmanian devils either, or tree kangaroos as far as I know, and only Edinburgh have koala. I'm sure some other zoos have echidna however (San Diego?), and I once read that Chester did have them, or at least planned to have them in their twilight zone.

Actually, talking of echidnas, I was wondering if any zoos kept the long-beaked variety?

24-05-2007

Paignton Apparently have a pair of Echidna. London has also had taz. Devils and wombats. Penny at Chester loves wombats. Wouldn't it be nice to get them all over so everyone could see them............... Sleeping!!!!


I believe Moscow or another russian zoo keeps the long beaked Echidan. Chester has had the short beaked echidna in the past.