Hello everyone

Hello everyone
11-06-2007

I'm Fodders, I live in Manchester and am very interested in marsupials especially Wombats. I enjoy going to different Zoos I dont get to go very often but when I do I enjoy it very much. I was introduced to the forum by Writhedhornbill and i am very glad that he did

11-06-2007

You also like wolverines, you didn't mention that!!!!

Welcome, fodders!!!

12-06-2007

Hi Fodders.

Writhedhornbill was responsible for me finding this forum. Like you, I am very glad that I did.

I just came up with a list of Marsupials I know I have seen for definate in the UK.

DASYUROMORPHIA
Dasyuridae
Kowari
Tasmanian Devil

DIPROTODONTIA
Phascolarctidae
Queensland Koala

Vombatidae
Forest Wombat

Phalangeridae
Common Brushtail Possum
Spotted Cuscus
Grey Ground Cuscus

Potoroidae
Long-nosed Potoroo
Brush-tailed Bettong
Rufous Rat Kangaroo

Macropodidae
Matschie's Tree Kangaroo
Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo
Shaw Meyer's Tree Kangaroo
Doria's Tree Kangaroo
Quokka
Red-bellied Pademelon
Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby
Swamp Wallaby
Parma Wallaby
Agile Wallaby
Red-necked Wallaby
Tammar Wallaby
Western Grey Kangaroo
Western Wallaroo
Red Kangaroo

12-06-2007

I'm Guessing that the Wombats and Taz. Devils were at London?.....

12-06-2007

You guessed correctly. As were the kowari, koala and Shaw Meyer's tree kangaroo.

I forgot to list Leadbeater's Possum, striped possum and pygmy featheertail glider (all London), and sugar glider (lots of places, but probably first at Chester)

14-06-2007

when you say "shaw meyer's tree kangaroo" you must be talking about shawmayeri subspecies of goodfellow's.

thats the same race we keep here in australia, but interestingly i have never heard it referred to by this subspecies specific common name - and i've read a lot of books about tree-kangaroos!

flannery writes that shawmayeri is a synonym for buergersi - a good thing for the breeding program as it means our animals are one and the same as many of the others in captivity.

anyhow, to get to my question, since you listed both "shaw meyer's" and "goodfellow's" seperately i would be really keen to hear your observations of the two types. how different they appear etc...

(sorry i'm a bit of a tree-roo fanatic myself)

26-06-2007

I've checked my records and I have a photograph of Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo at Blackpool Zoo taken in 1977. The animals I described as Shawmeyer's Tree Kangaroos were seen at London Zoo in 1985 and may have been the same ones because Blackpool no longer held this species by then,

I have no photographs of the London specimens to compare the two forms, London labelled them as Goodfellow's (no subspecies), the International Zoo Yearbook listed them as D.g.buergersi.

Blackpool Zoo was originally opened in 1972 by the local authority as a serious mainstream zoo. A municipal zoo in the UK is extremely rare. One of the zoo's ambitions was to build up a collection of marsupials but due to an apparent lack of interest from other collections nothing ever came of it.

In the early 1980s they exhibited Müller's Forest Wallabies and Red-legged Pademelons. I never went to see them, though I do remember seeing Quokkas and Potoroos.

I also quite like tree kangaroos, my enthusiasm is not shared by the EEP decision makers. Everyone in the UK seems to be going into Parma Wallabies and Western Grey Kangaroos.

Sorry I can't help you furthur Patrick.

26-06-2007

thanks anyway bongorob. of the two species of tree kangaroos seen in zoos outside new guinea, neither are particularly common anywhere, especially in europe where they are very rare nowdays. the biggest population is probably the matschie's around 50 are in US zoos, but thats not much really.

melbourne zoo has an excellent record with the goodfellows species and is clearly very proud of them - but nothing much is happening at currumbin - the only other zoo in australia in a breeding situation.

there are plenty of australian marsupial species that are well adapted to cold climates like thouse found in europe. you guys need some mountain brushtail possums, tasmanian pademelons and more (tasmanian race) common wombats. at a guess eastern greys might be a little more cold tolerant also, since they are the most southernly distributed species.

26-06-2007

About three years ago a dead Virginia Opossum was found near Leek in Staffordshire (about 10 miles from where I live). No one knew where it had come from, but its injuries were caused by a dog. No one knew at first exactly what the animal was, the common consensus was that it was an very large rat. Eventually a spokesman from Stoke museum correctly identified it.

The local paper contacted Chester Zoo for a comment. A spokeswoman said it could not possibly be an opposum because the are only found in hot climates. She was the press officer and had no knowledge of animals. Nevertheless the paper put all their faith in her statement (she was from a zoo so she must be right), disregarding the person from the natural history department of the museum.

It remains a mystery to this day where the opossum came from, though there is a feral colony of red-necked wallabies living in the area. As you said Patrick marsupials can live in cold climates.

26-06-2007

I've seen Wallabies wild in Tasmania, on bleak clammy fog-bound moorlands e.g. in the Cradle Mountain National Park area and it is VERY similar climatically(and geographically?) to the places where they have formed feral colonies in UK- e.g. Staffordshire(are they on the Moors there?) and North Yorkshire- I think that colony died out?)

What size is the Leek/Staffs group nowadays?

26-06-2007

[quote=bongorob;16109] Eventually a spokesman from Stoke museum correctly identified it.The local paper contacted Chester Zoo for a comment. A spokeswoman said it could not possibly be an opposum because the are only found in hot climates. She was the press officer and had no knowledge of animals. Nevertheless the paper put all their faith in her statement (she was from a zoo so she must be right), disregarding the person from the natural history department of the museum.QUOTE]

That's pretty classic too! Press Office(r)s in some zoos do have a lot to answer for sometimes. The ZSL one put out some pretty erroneous info when Gorilla Kingdom opened recently- how it was the first time the gorillas had 'seen the open sky since they were babies in Africa' A nice idea but totally untrue for all three of the animals- so where are they coming from...?

Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies.
27-06-2007

Still on the subject of Wallabies- Yellow footed ones...

Some years ago I saw photos of a big colony of Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies in a rocky enclosure at Adelaide Zoo. Is this colony still surviving/thriving and how many are in this group nowadays?

I also saw this most attracive species for myself at either Melbourne or Taronga Pk, I can't remember which one but it was only a small group- pair or trio-at that time. Does this zoo still keep them nowadays and are they thriving.... or just surviving?

27-06-2007

They're still there, although they have become very hard to see, I would guess because of the increase in traffic and walkers, etc. I have never seen one.

27-06-2007

it depends on the species. virginia opossums live as far north as canada. north america gets ALOT colder than the UK which, as i'm sure you know is a bit of an anaomally in it weather patterns compared with equal latitude on mainland europe (you can thank the caribbean for that )...

you should see the koalas we have down here in victoria (if you haven't already). much thicker furred and larger than the northern races you see in most overseas zoos. i imagine they can deal with some pretty cold weather for short periods.

and like grant said - any cold temperate zoo should simply look to tasmania for inspiration if they want cold adapted plants and animals for their australian exhibits.

27-06-2007

THey are thriving and being released into the wild and being hadraised aqnd being used for cross fostering with brush footed rock wallabies