For those of you who haven't heard of them... [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonrat]Moonrat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] According to Wikipedia, "In the United States of America, members of the family Erinaceidae are commonly kept as pets." This is referring to keeping moonrats as pets, which really surprises me. And if they are in private hands, are they in any zoos? Zootierlistre has provided nothing. I would really like to know. Thanks in advance. ~Thaumataibis
Doesn't Erinaceidae also include hedgehogs? In which case, I would suspect that it is referring to keeping hedgehogs as pets which is quite common really and not moonrats.
Hmm... I thought so. But why would it be on the moonrat page, then? Oh, this thread also includes gymnures. ~Thaumatibis
Update! Various threads on Zoochat confirm that there was a moonrat at London Zoo! See Dassie Rat's post: http://www.zoochat.com/38/zoo-memories-354715/ It was kept in the Clore (See bongorob's post) http://www.zoochat.com/38/zoo-memories-354715/ The animal lived from 1956-1960, according to Zootierliste. ZootierlisteHomepage Zootierliste lists no short-tailed gymnures ever in European zoos. ~Thaumatibis
London Zoo did, indeed, acquire a moon rat in 1956; this was the first time the species had been represented in the London Zoo collection. However, the Clore Pavilion didn’t open until 1967 and the moon rat exhibited there (which I saw several times) was a later specimen received in 1971.
You know nothing of moonrats!!! Wikipedia is totally reliable! Next you'll be saying that moonrats come from Asia! ~Thaumatibis
there seem to have been very few moonrats kept in zoos anywhere. Most references say maximum longevity of captive ones in 55 months (this is the London Zoo animal from 1956 to 1960), but in the 1950s and 60s Malaysian zoologist Lim Boo Liat kept a number in captivity for studies, the longest-lived of which survived seven years (feeding largely on fish). He wrote a 1967 article about them in the London Journal of Zoology (volume 152, issue 4).
The ZSL Annual Report for 1956 does not identify the sub-species to which this animal belonged. However, there is a photograph of it in “Zoo Life” magazine for summer 1956 (Volume 11 no. 2) and it is clearly the black & white form.
Weigl's Longevity of Mammals in Captivity has age records for both Bornean and Malaysian subspecies, as well as the London one (listed as unknown subspecies).
According to ISIS, Taiping Zoo (Malaysia) keeps a female moonrat (Echinosorex gymnura) at the moment. It's possible to visit the zoo in the night, so maybe there is chance of seeing the species...
aw, I wonder if it was there last year when I was in Malaysia and didn't go to Taiping Zoo!! (I didn't go because it was a bit out of my way, and I knew they no longer had banded linsang. I would have gone for a moonrat though!)
Do you know how it is housed? Fed? And the same about the London animal? By the way, I've been working on a zoo design. Would moonrats with tarsiers work? ~Thaumatibis
so the animal has been there for seven years already?! Sadly I have been in and out of Malaysia many times during this period, and never visited the Taiping Zoo. I'd be interested if devilfish saw a moonrat when he was there! (I don't recall it from his thread).
I think it may be unlikely the moonrat is still alive at Taiping. From devilfish's visit, mid-2013, no mention of moonrat: http://www.zoochat.com/19/devilfishs-asian-adventure-308174/index6.html
