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what animals have trouble in capitvity

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by joe99, 26 Jul 2014.

  1. joe99

    joe99 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I been wondering what animals have trouble in captivity so I want to ask what animals have a bad time and are denied important behaviours in captivity like elephants, ceatceans, primates and how there lives can be inprove an will breed better in zoos and the like
     
  2. Batto

    Batto Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The majority of domesticated animals / pets. Haven't seen a decently kept rabbit in quite a while.

    How to improve their lives? Better living conditions, higher exigencies for owners and better inspection of the implementation of said standards/conditions by qualified controllers.
     
  3. joe99

    joe99 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    there a places that can provide them what they need like good farms. what I was meaning in more of a zoo setting, not factory farming and puppy mills and that sort of thing
     
  4. Panthera1981

    Panthera1981 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Polar bears spring to mind, especially in the UK.

    The majority of lemur species due to their specialised diets/social structures? I've personally never seen Indri in captivity.
     
  5. lamna

    lamna Well-Known Member

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    I just read about them, apparently none have lived longer than a year in captivity.

    Narwhal don't seem to do very well.
     
  6. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I agree that pet animals kept in families mostly as children companions have on average the worst living conditions of all captive animals - rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, budgies, tortoises etc.

    When thinking about species that generally so far do rather bad in captivity - roe deer and hare (no sustaining captive population), saiga (climate?), several hartebeest species, pronghorns (in Europe), colugos, indri, pangolins, tarsiers, moles, capercaillie, great bustard, swallows and swifts, many high sea birds, high andean flamingos, goosander, most grebes, osprey ... to name a few.
     
  7. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    There is quite a big drive on in the UK at present( well in some areas anyway) to make people aware of how to house rabbits properly i.e. decent sized runs, minimum indoor area requirements, allowing them to be kept socially etc.
     
  8. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Fw people realise the large distances/areas some of these 'pet' species, or rather their wild conterparts, use in the wild. A Golden Hamster for example may travel the equivalent of seven miles(not in a straight line...) every night. No wonder they spend much of their waking time gnawing at the bars of their tiny cages.:(
     
  9. lamna

    lamna Well-Known Member

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    I think the point of the topic is about what animals are difficult to keep alive in captivity. The conditions for a lot of domestic animals are sub-standard, but they survive perfectly well.

    Does anyone know why pronghorn haven't done well in Europe?
     
  10. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    As I understand it, the climate is too cool and damp for the species; which interestingly enough is the same reason saiga have seldom thrived over here.
     
  11. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Probably a combination of alien infections, parasites and skittisch character that leads to broken necks/legs? Don´t know.


    I don´t agree with this
    Majority of pet domestic animals lead a sad, cruel and short life. There are no statistics regarding small species, but you can ask any vet what for tragic cases they meet. The sad aspect is that those owners don´t even realise their cruelty. Zoos, farms and laboratories are frequently checked and are regulated by many laws, zoos are additionally under intentense public scrutiny. But private households can´t be effectively under control, ever.
     
  12. lamna

    lamna Well-Known Member

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    I meant that they are in no danger of disappearing from collections, but I suppose most of the breeding for those animals isn't done with children's pets.
     
  13. Batto

    Batto Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Be assured that I'm not just referring to industrial livestock farming, even though these animals do represent the majority of animals that "have trouble in captivity (...), have a bad time(sic?) and are denied important behaviours in captivity". Jana was so kind to explicate about the plight of privately kept pets, and I can only confirm what she wrote, and might add that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Maybe some readers of these lines should rethink the husbandry conditions of their very own pets...Even with attempts taking place to improve the situation from a grassroot level in the UK, as pointed by @Pertinax, as well as in other countries, most pets and domestic animals in general (and also the ones kept in modern zoos) usually face worse living husbandry conditions than the majority of elephants or cetaceans or great apes or any of the golden calves of the megavertebrate-fixated zoo entertainment industry. And no @lamna, the majority of domestic animals does not "survive perfectly well", especially when produced for consumption (one way or another).

    As for saiga/pronghorn in captivity, I'd recommend using the search function, as this has been discussed previously.

    Many zoo species that some might think are "easy to keep" and are often displayed might secretly not do well. Just ask some zoo veterinary pathologists ...
     
    Last edited: 26 Jul 2014
  14. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Most of them haven't got the slightest clue.:rolleyes: The majority of the millions of pet owners are law abiding, well meaning/adjusted normal people but when it comes to pet keeping, ignorance of their animals' true needs just seems to be the norm. If you explained the shortcomings, most of them would be mortified, but there are no rulings about such issues- its a case of just do what every one else does. Of course nowadays the cages for ferrets, rodents, some small birds etc are often much bigger and fancier than they used to be- a marketing ploy as they cost a lot more to buy- and that does help the inmates to have a somewhat improved life.

    Some pet chain stores in the UK now will not sell small-sized hutches for rabbits or guinea pigs, another step in the right direction. The latest publicity on rabbit care says hutches should be of sufficient length to allow 'three hops' and even then a larger attatched run should be an essential, as well as rabbit company. Apparently the simple 'rabbit hutch' was a Victorian innovation for keepng rabbits for a short period before being killed for their meat. That system then got extended into pet rabbit-keeping generally. Again selling larger runs and houses should benefit the pet stores as well as the animals, as the bigger they are, the more expensive they are to buy...

    One of my pet(sorry for the pun) dislikes is seeing cluttered bird cages so the birds have no straight lines to fly in to be able to get proper exercise and plastic perches instead of proper wooden ones of varying thickness that suit their feet. Pretty coloured ropes in bird cages too- the birds frequently nibble and then hang themselves in these- they should be banned. Budgies, parakeets and finches shouldn't be kept alone, they are social flock birds. But the saddest sight of all- quite common in some big pet stores as well as in private homes- is large tame Macaws confined to those small metal-barred 'prisons'- these I really hate.:mad:
     
    Last edited: 26 Jul 2014
  15. joe99

    joe99 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    im not saying that farm animals sould be over looked by megafauna but there are good places that have the animals live where the peform them. my uncle own a farm and I go help out and the cow graze and are happy and near were I live was a sanctuary for pets like rabbits that were given a large paddock to run around and be rabbits. there are good places like big farms ( nz has lots of big farm with lost of space for the animals) and there are people that give lots of space and care to there animals. some people do put them in bad condicton and yes there can be improvement.
     
  16. Batto

    Batto Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The numeric discrepance of allegedly "good farms" or pet "sanctuaries" (whose lack of continuation should make you wonder about the efficiency of the place-and the further existence of those rabbits...) and suboptimal/inadequate husbandries is unfortunately in favour of the latter; besides, the mere size of the enclosure doesn't automatically guarantee better husbandry (neither in farming nor in zoos). Neither does just sheer quantity of care, if incorrect and inadequate.
     
  17. TheMightyOrca

    TheMightyOrca Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Yeah, it's kind of baffling that so many commonly kept pet animals are still often kept in poor living conditions, and/or have owners that don't understand them. What's really weird is that I see this a lot with cats. Even though they're so popular as pets, and many are treated very well, a lot of people don't really seem to know how to read their body language, and recognize certain needs. They think it's all the same stuff as with dogs. Have you ever seen or heard of the show "My Cat From Hell"? This guy goes around to different families who have difficult cats. The guy tells the owners what they're doing wrong and how to fix it, and explains why cats do certain things and blah blah blah. The vast majority of the owners on this show are complete idiots. "My cat is pooping all over the house!" "How often do you clean the litterbox?" "Once a week".
     
  18. joe99

    joe99 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    it was moved not closed and I meant that are good places for pets. where animal needs are met and are in the best of care. the people that were there knew how to care for them and give them a great life. are there places like them for whales or polar bears? there enclosures in zoos are all they got. there are no sanctuaries for zoo polar bears or killer whales. I was meaning the way they are kept in zoos and sanctuaries not in the household
     
  19. Batto

    Batto Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Once again: a few of what you consider "good places for pets" might exist; this doesn't, however, negate the issue of a majority of inadequate private (and commercial) animal husbandry. As for good places for the precious polar bears and cetaceans "where animal needs are met and are in the best of care. the people that [ar]e there kn[o]w how to care for them and give them a great life": of course they exist. Zoochat is full of examples of good institutions and dedicated professional staff providing just that, and even more.
     
  20. joe99

    joe99 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    fair enough