Does anyone know the status of keeping boobies in captivity? Have they ever been kept before? I can't seem to find anything about them in captivity.
I've only seen a booby in captivity once, a rescue bird: http://www.zoochat.com/1809/brown-booby-busch-wildlife-sanctuary-14-a-368643/ There seem to be (or have been) a few other odd individuals about but I would suspect these are also injured wild birds; http://www.zoochat.com/622/brown-booby-extremely-rare-captivity-327068/, http://www.zoochat.com/2040/brown-booby-sula-leucogaster-420030/, http://www.zoochat.com/1719/brown-booby-sula-leucogaster-255137/, http://www.zoochat.com/838/brown-booby-266567/ Northern Gannets are quite widely kept in Europe by comparison.
It's a general pattern - sea birds (with the notable exceptions of penguins and some sea ducks, and to a lesser degree, Inca Terns and auks) just aren't very widely kept, as a rule. Possibly it is/was considered too hard to replicate their natural behaviour - possibly just a lack of interest. When sea birds are displayed, they tend to make a good show.
Boobies..... Christopher Marler had Guanay Cormorants at Weston Underwood in the 70s, have an idea he may have had a Booby species as well. Watch this space.
Parque las Leyendas in Lima has a few rescued Peruvian boobies if memory serves me correct. They keep them in a decent-sized aviary with humboldt penguins and Peruvian pelicans.
There is 1 (0.1.0) Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) currently located at Sea World on the Gold Coast AUS. She was a rescue and has been there at least 10-15 years now.
Congratulations for the best double entendre thread! Single individuals of various species of boobies appear occasionally in zoos as rescued individuals. There is no interest in keeping them as exhibit animals. They are considered difficult to keep, but probably it is not so, given that northern gannets (also rescue individuals) do breed.
Parque de las Leyendas does indeed display Peruvian boobies, as does Huachipa (also in Lima). Zoologico del Pantanal (Guayaquil, Ecuador) displays blue-footed boobies. I think many visitors would like to see more boobies in zoos.
Interesting, there's a lot of good information on this thread! Jurek, I lol'ed a bit It seems like they can definitely be kept in captivity, it just seems like people don't bother with them for whatever reason. There's plenty of them in places they can be collected too.
I saw some boobies at a zoo once. They were great, and looked very perky. Sealife Park in Hawaii houses Red Footed and Brown Boobies as well. Theirs are all rehab birds at this point, when I was there 2 years ago I saw 3 Browns and around 5 Red Foots, however it regularly changes as rescue birds are added or others die.
Perth Zoo held a number of Brown Boobys in the 70s and 80s. I suspect they were injured birds that couldn't be released. Have a feeling that at least one was a pretty good age when it finally dropped off the perch. Also held some Giant Skuas too.
A red footed booby has arrived in the UK and is currently being cared for by the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service. Rare bird discovered 9,000 miles from home on a beach in East Sussex | Daily Mail Online
Red-footed Booby Sula sula rubripes was bred at Oahu Sea Life Park, Hawaii, USA in 1968. The park also kept Blue-faced Boobies Sula dactylatra (International Zoo Yearbook volume 10 pages 92-95)
I have nnow checked the International Zoo Yearbooks and the only species listed as having bred in captivity is the red-footed booby and the only zoo to have bred them is Oahu. 1968 2 bred 1969 3 bred 1970 6 bred 1971 no number published 1972 1 bred 1973 1 bred 1982 1 bred
