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Aye-aye and Malagasy Jumping Rat enclosure (2)

Aye-aye and Malagasy Jumping Rat enclosure (2)
    • UngulateNerd92
      Interesting. I can't say that I have seen or heard of such a mixed exhibit? It makes perfect sense from a geographic standpoint, but how is it working out so far?
    • Andrew Swales
      @UngulateNerd92

      An issue would be that rodents are the major carrier of Yersiniosis and primates are particularly susceptible...
    • TeaLovingDave
      This mix seems to work pretty well in several collections within which I have seen it used.
    • ShonenJake13
      I believe that of the five zoos in Europe with the species, two (soon to be three) use this mix.
    • TeaLovingDave
    • UngulateNerd92
    • UngulateNerd92
      @Andrew Swales thank you for sharing this. If you don't mind my asking, do you personally know of any cases in zoos where rodents passed Yersiniosis on to primates?
    • Andrew Swales
      @TeaLovingDave

      All mixes work 'well', until they don't. At this point everything often goes very quiet.
      Depends on how you 'value' the animals I suppose.
    • TeaLovingDave
      @UngulateNerd92

      Chester, Frankfurt, Berlin

      @Andrew Swales

      Very true! I suppose time will tell in this case :) considering both species are high-priority for breeding in European collections, one hopes things continue to go smoothly.
    • Andrew Swales
      @UngulateNerd92

      Yes - in the early 80s we ourselves lost a whole family group of 8 Weddell's Tamarins to this disease in rapid succession. After considerable exhaustive investigation we traced the same strain to a group of Mara housed hundreds of metres away on a different section. We never proved it but had to assume it had been carried on human feet or clothing. The Mara were never visually affected, but were immediately phased out. We have never had an instance since, and would never house primates with rodents.

      At the same time, the two largest primate collections in the UK had considerable problems with this disease. I knew the owners and managers of both. One collection was very advanced in the production of a vaccine to cover the strain found on their premises. This was produced by deliberately placing 'clean' laboratory guinea pigs in the monkey enclosures. Blood was then taken from the cavies to start the production process. I don't think that an effective vaccine was ever produced, but the link between rodents and primates is well proven.

      Rodents are also implicated in Pox virus infection, especially CowPox which is a serious issue in felids and primates, but has also affected many other spp including anteaters.
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  • Category:
    Bristol Zoo (Closed)
    Uploaded By:
    MagpieGoose
    Date:
    20 Jan 2020
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