Chevrotains in zoos: why no African chevrotains? Where are the best exhibits?

baboon has posted a great picture of a Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain from the Singapore Zoo:
http://www.zoochat.com/40/sri-lanka-spotted-chevrotain-259784/

Tim May has posted some great pictures of some mounted African chevrotains from natural history museums:

http://www.zoochat.com/683/african-water-chevrotain-natural-history-museum-150577/

http://www.zoochat.com/1096/african-water-chevrotain-natural-history-museum-97793/

This got me wondering why the Asian chevrotain species seem to be well represented in zoos (and thus presumably doing fine in captivity), but why there are no African chevrotains. Do the African species not do well for some reason like diet or some ecological need that cannot be replicated in captivity that the Asian species do not share?

Does anybody know when African chevrotains were most recently in zoos and where that was?

Where are people's favorite chevrotain exhibits? The LA Zoo keeps a Malayan chevrotain in a smallish indoor terrarium in the children's zoo, which may be adequate. It looks like the Singapore Zoo has a good exhibit.

From an exhibitry perspective I guess trying to keep them visible for zoo visitors could be a challenge as it seems likely that they could permanently hide in a large, lushly vegetated space.

 

Zoo Boise has a surprisingly nice setup for greater Malayan chevrotains. (I say surprisingly only because good chevrotain exhibits seem to be few) They have an indoor/outdoor setup and the indoor area is spacious with natural lighting and a canopy of live fig trees. The outdoor area is meshed over and lushly vegetated. When the chevrotain is outdoors, he is quite difficult to find. Unfortunately they have only one elderly chevrotain remaining. I would love for them to continue displaying this species and possibly even breeding, but I am unsure of what their future plans for this space are beyond the life of their chevrotain.

http://www.zoochat.com/545/small-animal-kingdom-greater-malayan-chevrotain-262672/

(Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the outdoor area.)

On another note, I personally would like to go back to calling them mouse-deer, which, while not necessarily a taxonomically accurate name, does make them more endearing then a strange word the average guest can't figure out how to pronounce.

 

The only import of Water Chevrotains was by the Bronx Zoo in the 1950's. They didn't last too long. What they really need is a publicity boost, like a video by Randall. It worked for the Honey Badger. Oh wait...

 

"Chevies" are very cool. Unfortunately, just about all the animals in US zoos descended from a very small founder population (I believe imported by the Bronx), and they are now slowly petering out, at least in North America.

 

Lord Stanely, Earl of Derby, had an African water chevrotain at his private menagerie at Knowsley in 1841; this is the earliest captive specimen of which I am aware.

The first to be kept at London Zoo arrived in 1866 and one was born at London Zoo in 1883. There is also a photograph of an African water chevrotain in the London Zoo Guide for 1914.

More recently, the ZSL Annual Report for 1949 lists that two African water chevrotains were acquired by London Zoo that year.

According to the book “The Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity” (Lee S. Crandal; 1964) New York Zoo received seven water chevrotains on 15th June 1949, two of which were sent to Chicago and were five kept in New York. The longest lived of this group survived until 31st December 1952.

Zootierlist records both Antwerp and Berlin as having kept African water chevrotains in the past.

(I’ve seen two species of Asiatic chevrotain, Tragulus javanicus (in various European zoos) and Tragulus napu (in the USA) and I’m looking forward to seeing Tragulus nigricans at Plzen later in the year. I’d dearly love to see an African water chevrotain but very much doubt that I ever will.)

 

I dislike indoor exhibits for chevrotains, whether on normal or reversed light cycles; when they are visible they always appear to be stressed.
I think the best exhibit in the UK is at Edinburgh, where they keep several T. javanicus. They are housed with pudu and occasionally other small species in a series of enclosures on sloping ground near the monkey house. The outdoor pens are covered in mesh and are viewed from a narrow path on the downhill side. They are planted with grass (which grows quite long) and shrubs, with partially concealed hiding places under roots etc. There is a long low shed at the uphill end of the pens containing the indoor quarters which are off-show.
The chevrotains are frequently visible, particularly at quieter times, and they usually seem indifferent to visitors. It is one of my favourite exhibits in the zoo and there are a few photos in the Gallery.

Alan

 

kiglezi posted this cool picture of an African chevrotain that his comment indicates he kept as a pet for a few years in the 1970s: http://www.zoochat.com/744/water-chevrotain-65281/

 

Thanks for the heads up. I guess whoever he stole this photo from had a pet African chevrotain at some point and took a cool picture of it.

 

Given recent changes in chevrotain taxonomy, does anyone know the origin of the 'javanicus' animals in Europe?
Tragulus javanicus now applies only to the Javan taxon; other Lesser Malay Chevrotains are regarded as Tragulus kanchil. So, if the founder zoo stock came from Thailand or Malaysia they would be kanchil.

 

Good point; all the chevrotains that I've seen in Europe have always been labelled T. javanicus (and that is how they are listed on ISIS). Possibly, though, they are really T.kanchil.

 

Indeed you did, thanks for that; I was aware that Tragulus kanchil and Tragulus javanicus are now considered separate species.

However, that doesn't really answer the question as to whether those in Europe that are labelled as Tragulus javanicus are really that form or if they are Tragulus kanchil.

To repeat Mike's question, where did the European stock originate from?

 

The only place ive seen a Greater Malayan chevrotain was at cleveland metropark zoo in the Rainforest Dome. unfortunately i don't have a pic of the exhibit but it's lush with trees and a couple nice hiding spots for the little guy

 

Easy! Skull measurements. Totally useless in living individuals. The Javan occurs in at least two forms. First the relatively distinctive gray necked form like this photographed in Ujung Kulon http://www.markuskappeler.ch/fot/images/kleinkantschil.jpg

It is [Groves and Meijaard 2005]
"distinguished from all other T. javanicus-like mouse-deer by the great width and distinctness of the tawny superciliary stripes and by the grizzled grey neck, which is strikingly contrasted with the tawny body and head; in addition, according to Miller, the nape stripe is absent, although the dark crown sometimes slightly extends onto the nape"

The other main form of T. javanicus is a red necked population that is very similar to some populations of T. kanchil. I doubt it can be separate with certainty from the similar populations of T. kanchil based on color alone.
Groves and Meijaard 2005: "Dobroruka noted the general external similarity of these specimens [red necked T. javanicus] to T. j. luteicollis [=T.k.luteicollis] from Bangka Island and also T. j. kanchil [=T.k.kanchlil] from Sumatra and T. j. hosei [=T.k. hosei] from Borneo."
The close external similarity to T.k.kanchil from Sumatra is also mentioned in the MSc Thesis by van Dort 1986.

Reputedly there are also T. javanicus populations that are intermediate between the red and gray necked. The T. javanicus in Chlidonias post is presumably this red necked form or intermediate but I guess the identification as T. javanicus mainly is based on the location of the zoo. Since Java is a main center for wild animal trade in Indonesia, this is perhaps not an entirely safe assumption. Its body is very dark and blackish brown compared to the illustrations of red and gray necked T. javanicus in Handbook of Mammals of the World#2. According to the text, the red necked has an orange-brown ground color, slightly grizzled with black. This matches the illustration. I have still not seen a photo of a red necked T. javanicus that I felt completely sure about.

In comparison, T. kanchlil is very variable in color and it has many races but it doesn't have anything that looks like the gray necked form of T. javanicus.

Purely speculative: My guess is that the captives in Europe and North America are pure T.kanchil but probably also some T.kanchil X T.javanicus hybrids. Since relatively few T.javanicus are likely to have been imported compared to T.kanchil and few breeders cared much about the origin of their animals until the publication by Groves and Meijaard in 2005, it seems likely that the T.javanicus eventually were intermixed with the T.kanchil. They're presumably very close relatives and the differences upon which they were declared separate species are quite small. I wouldn't be surprised if they can hybridise relatively easily and the offspring is fertile.

 

Surely a zoo in the UK ended up with Water chevrotains from Durrell's collecting trips. Definitely mentioned the species in one of his African novels.