A Guidebook Library: TLD's year-long randomised walkthrough of zoo guides

This article is from 2009 but has a pretty good explanation (as well as mentioning other animals kept at the location) - the lemurs are free-roaming but fed and monitored. So not a "wild introduced population". Other animals such as birds and antelope are contained.

Saving endangereds: St. Catherines Wildlife Center doing its part


"The adults have colored collars and radio collars that have certain frequencies," she explained. "That way if they leave the group we can track them. Normally there is one dominate male that will mate with the majority of the females. The cool thing about lemurs is that they are a matriarchal society."
Belgio said they are gathered once a year for physicals and given flea and tick preventatives, other than that they are free to roam.
The lemurs are sensitive to colder temperatures so the staff monitors the weather during the winter. If needed the three groups of lemurs on the island heated shelters.

 

Day 149: Jersey Zoo (1989) - Snow Leopards




Page count: 32 pages
Photographs: 74 colour photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Introduction, followed by a range of discussions relating to the ex-situ and in-situ activities of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust , botanical and animal highlights of Jersey Zoo, and various aspects of the day-to-day operation of the zoo.
Map: Located within central pages

Despite having been writing about my personal collection of zoological guidebooks for nearly a year, covering a wide range of zoos, wildlife parks and other such collections both significant and unknown, I had been unable to discuss any of the material published by Jersey Zoo - one of the most noteworthy European zoological collections which I had yet to cover. As such - although I do not intend to entirely stop posting new entries within this thread once the titular "year-long walkthrough of zoo guides" reaches its conclusion in the coming days - it is rather gratifying that this particular guidebook came up through the random selection process, and even more gratifying that (as I shall discuss anon) it is an interesting and informative example of the medium, rather than a mere promotional piece as was the case for some discussed previously.



The guidebook opens with an introductory passage written by Gerald Durrell, providing a general introduction to the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (renamed to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust a decade after the publication of this guidebook), the conservation work undertaken by the Trust through projects across the world, the important role which the zoo itself plays within these projects - both in terms of research, captive breeding and education - and the establishment of the International Training Centre.

All of these subjects, naturally, are discussed at significantly greater length within the main body of the guidebook - with information relating to the zoo and the animal collection therein interspersed with segments relating to a variety of wider topics. However, for the purposes of this discussion I shall discuss the guidebook in rough subject order - grouping related segments together - rather than the strict chronology of the guidebook as-printed. Moreover - given the fact that I feel the content of this guidebook is particularly interesting, with a large amount of information being conveyed within a relatively short space, accompanied by copious use of colour photographs - I have elected to select a larger number of example pages for the purposes of illustration. This also helps to compensate for the fact that the large format of the guidebook meant that it was impossible for me to scan double-page spreads, with the result that I have combined high-quality single-page scans with lower-quality photographs of double-page spreads.

The passages within the guidebook directly pertaining to the Trust and its activities, which follow the introductory segment directly, can be divided into three segments as follows:

• Discussion relating to the world-wide activities of the Wildlife Preservation Trust, highlighting the key areas where the Trust has been involved with in-situ conservation projects, and captive breeding/reintroduction programmes, and providing specific examples of prior successes in this regard; for instance Pink Pigeons in Mauritus, Golden Lion Tamarins in Brazil, Thick-billed Parrot in southern USA and Jamaican Hutia in the Caribbean.
• Discussion relating to the International Training Centre, located adjacent to the zoo and founded with the intention of providing a variety of residential courses aiming to provide conservation training to "three categories of trainee....firstly special trainees, people responsible for the care and maintenance of their own country's endangered wildlife, where the need for conservation is greatest....secondly, professional trainees, those who are already employed by zoos and are already employed by zoos and are seeking to improve their level of ability, and finally career trainees who, through their own efforts and commitment, have demonstrated their determination to advance the course of wildlife conservation". This section also discusses a Summer School on the breeding and conservation of endangered species which was open to twenty students a year - our very own @Hix attended in 1982, if I recall correctly, and perhaps can provide more information on the matter?
• A short discussion of the educational activities taking place within the zoo itself, through special classes and events held for school groups; this short segment also highlights some of the other duties of the Education Officer employed by the Trust at the time of publication.

The passages within the guidebook pertaining to the animal collection at Jersey Zoo open with a variety of segments discussing the wide variety of mammalian species held at the collection - and in many cases, bred as part of ongoing captive-breeding and reintroduction efforts - at the time of publication; these are roughly divided into a number of taxonomically-themed segments, barring the very first such passage, and (as is the case for the guidebook as a whole) are lavishly illustrated by colour photographs depicting various of the taxa discussed:

• A single-page discussion relating to the captive breeding programmes for Sulawesi Babirusa and Spectacled Bear; the first of these is noted to have started only 5 years previously, subsequent to an import of stock from Antwerp and Rotterdam, but the Spectacled Bear programme is specifically cited to have been ongoing at Jersey for many years at the time of publication, with the breeding pair of the time producing numerous cubs which were subsequently dispersed to captive collections across the world, and themselves originating from zoological collections in the USA and communist East Germany.
• A single-page discussion relating to the various callitrichid species held by Jersey Zoo at the time of publication, with information provided relating to prior breeding successes and reintroductions of captive-bred stock into the wild; this is followed by a single-page discussion relating to the work with which the Trust was involved pertaining to the wild and captive conservation of red-ruffed lemur, pied-ruffed lemur and ring tailed lemur.
• A double-page spread discussing the Western Lowland Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan and Sumatran Orangutan groups at Jersey Zoo - with the majority of the focus on the first of these taxa - and the massive improvement in Great Ape captive husbandry and longevity over the course of the immediately-preceding decades. Particular attention is paid to the status of Jersey as the studbook-holders for Western Lowland Gorilla at the time of publication, and the presence of the world-famous Jambo - the first male gorilla to be successfully born in captivity - within the breeding group of Western Lowland Gorilla at Jersey Zoo.
• A single page discussion relating to three of the most notable small mammal species kept and bred at Jersey Zoo at the time of publication - Rodrigues Fruit Bat, Jamaican Hutia and Volcano Rabbit - and the ongoing conservation work undertaken by the Trust within their native ranges with the hope of successful reintroduction programmes being established; this is followed by a single-page discussion relating to the recent captive-breeding successes which Jersey Zoo had experienced with Snow Leopard, and plans to hopefully establish a breeding group of Cheetah at the collection.

Beyond here, one encounters a series of discussions relating to the day-to-day operation of the zoo, and the botanical exhibits and displays found throughout the grounds - we shall look at these anon. For now, we will skip forwards slightly and deal with the material pertaining to the bird collection at Jersey Zoo, as of the time of publication. As was the case for the mammalian species accounts, this provides a wide range of information about the habitat, diet and behaviour of the species in question, but naturally the majority of focus pertains to their conservation status and the work undertaken by Jersey Zoo and the Wildlife Preservation Trust both in-situ and ex-situ.

• The first single-page segment provides information relating to the parrot captive-breeding and reintroduction projects undertaken by the Trust, using St Lucia Amazon and Thick-billed Parrot as specific case studies; this is accompanied by another single-page discussion relating to the various waterfowl species present within the zoo at the time of publication, providing a large amount of information about captive-breeding and reintroduction programmes which the Trust was involved with - both in isolation, and alongside the efforts of the Wetland and Wildfowl Trust based at Slimbridge.
• The second pair of single-page discussions covers the various crane and pheasant species kept by Jersey Zoo; along with information relating to involvement with captive-breeding programmes managed by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp (Congo Peafowl) and the World Pheasant Association (Edward's Pheasant), the latter section includes information about programmes for White-eared Pheasant and Palawan Peacock-pheasant which (at the time of publication) were managed by the Wildlife Preservation Trust itself.
• The final double-page spread within the section of the guidebook pertaining to the bird collection at Jersey Zoo covers a wide range of assorted bird species, including Waldrapp, Rodrigues Fody, Pink Pigeon and Bali Starling; once again, this section contains a large amount of detailed information about the conservation status of the taxa under discussion, along with the captive-breeding efforts and objectives undertaken by the Trust up to the time of publication. It is interesting to note the fact that the pigeon is mentioned almost in passing, with hopes voiced for prolonged captive breeding and an increase in population allowing reintroductions to occur, but no further detail provided relating to the progress of these objectives; conversely, the passage relating to Rodrigues Fody notes that the species had bred numerous times over the course of the past decade and was now being dispersed to other zoological collections to allow further expansion of the captive population. Today, the captive population of Pink Pigeon has expanded significantly and the species is currently found in over a dozen European collections - whilst the Fody disappeared from European collections within a decade of the publication of this guidebook, with no further breeding occurring beyond the late 1980s.

The final segment of the guidebook pertaining to the animal collection at Jersey Zoo covers the reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates kept and bred within the collection at the time of publication, along with a number of other related subjects.

• The first of these comprises a single-page segment relating to the Gaherty Reptile Breeding Centre located within the zoo, discussing the general layout of the building and the way in which it was divided into a small number of on-show exhibits showcasing a number of the reptiles and amphibians kept within the collection at the time of publication, and a significantly larger complex dedicated to captive breeding and research which was not open to the public.
• This segment is accompanied by another single-page segment - perhaps one of the most interesting within the guidebook as a whole, in my opinion - specifically focusing on the work undertaken by the Trust on Round Island over the course of the 1970s and 1980s (and which is still ongoing now) to regenerate the native habitat on the island, removing invasive rabbits and goats, and breeding three of the most threatened reptile species endemic to the island - the Round Island Gecko, Round Island Skink and Round Island Boa. In another notable illustration of how rapidly the captive situation of a species can change, the guidebook states that "from the original importation of sixteen [gecko] in 1976, well over 200 have been bred successfully in Jersey, and many have been exported to other zoos"; this species is now no longer kept in captivity to the best of my knowledge, with ZTL indicating that Jersey itself ceased to keep the gecko in 1999. Conversely, the skink and boa are both still present within the captive collection at Jersey Zoo more than 30 years after the publication of this guidebook.
• The following segment provides a relatively large amount of information relating to the captive group of Radiated Tortoise held at Jersey Zoo at the time of publication, noting the recent development of a new exhibit complex for the species designed to maximise the chances of captive-breeding success, and the in-situ work undertaken by the Trust to combat the illegal trade in the species; shorter passages cover a breeding group of Red-footed Tortoise at the zoo, and the ongoing plans to establish an in-situ captive breeding programme in northwest Madagascar for Ploughshare Tortoise.
• The final segment of the guidebook pertaining to the animal collection at Jersey Zoo covers a number of fairly disparate subjects; the three species of Caribbean endemic boa which were held and bred at the collection and the various conservation threats facing the species; the captive-breeding programme for the recently-rediscovered Mallorcan Midwife Toad; and the extirpation of Partula taxa from the wild and resulting captive-breeding and reintroduction efforts.

As previously noted, the guidebook contains a variety of discussions pertaining to wider subjects interspersed with the species accounts:

• The longest of these comprises several pages devoted to the subject of the botanical highlights found throughout the zoo and surrounding environs, all of which had been part of the gardens for Les Augres Manor prior to the establishment of Jersey Zoo. This segment provides a general walkthrough of the collection, making note of the noteworthy species of tree, shrub and flowers visible around particular animal exhibits and houses, their wild origin and - where appropriate - the reason for the presence of specific taxa. For instance, it is noted that numerous species of bamboo were grown in and around the grounds of the zoo, both due to their suitability for exhibit screening and providing shade and cover to the inhabitants of a given enclosure, and the fact that it could be used as forage for several of the species kept at the zoo. The walkthrough account notes that a longer, stand-alone guide to the botanical exhibits at the zoo was available from the visitor centre; I have never come across a copy of this item on the secondary market, nor any mention of it online, and as such I suspect it may have seen a very limited print run.
• The second "supplementary" segment of the guidebook comprises a double-page spread discussing the day-to-day operation of the zoo where animal feed and nutrition was concerned; it is noted that the food budget for the zoo was a major financial pressure, both due to the quantity of feed required and the high-quality produce sought, and that although the majority was imported from outside the zoo, certain specialist fruit, vegetables and crops - along with invertebrates and rodents for live-feeding purposes - were produced on-site within dedicated facilities. The guidebook also makes specific mention of the fact that - at the time of publication - the zoo had no official feeding times for the entertainment of the visiting public.
• The final segment of this nature comprises a single-page discussion at the very end of the guidebook, providing a general overview of the veterinary facilities on-site at the zoo; this is accompanied by an advertisement on the rear interior cover promoting membership of the Wildlife Preservation Trust, adoption schemes, donations and volunteering opportunities, and giving information on how further details could be obtained.

The guidebook also contains a large and rather aesthetically-pleasing map of the collection within the central pages; this is clearly marked with the layout, size and orientation of each of the major enclosures and exhibits within the zoo, along with visitor amenities, areas of the collection off-limits to the public, and key features such as Les Augres Manor, the Visitor Centre and the Reptile Breeding Centre. As has been made clear throughout this thread, I particularly appreciate zoological maps which accurately portray the dimensions and scale of exhibits in relation to one another, and which also show geographic features such as ornamental lakes, botanical displays and so forth; this is an area in which this map particularly excels. Moreover, the map is accompanied by a comprehensive numbered key which seems to cover every enclosure, house and/or feature within the zoo.



Overall, this is (as I hope to have demonstrated) a very interesting and informative guidebook, which is attractively-illustrated and provides a wide range of information in a relatively short space; although it is now over three decades old, it nonetheless stands as one of the best English-language guidebooks produced within the relatively recent past, establishing a standard which I feel more zoological collections could (and should) aim for.

 

Source?

 

Well, quite the solid source!

Here's a scientific paper from 2022, on a study done in 2021 (the lemurs are still the regular subject of studies) where it is stated that the lemurs are still fed every morning and all the males have been neutered to prevent breeding.
Characterizing group and individual engagement in intergroup encounters between small groups of ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) on St. Catherines Island, USA

 

In fact, I believe that the Round Island Boas, despite having been held at the collection for around 45 years from the late 1970s up to the present day, have never been on-display

 

This has now been completed, and has been uploaded to a specifically-created thread for the purpose:

Der Fuhrer im Zoologischen Garten zu Berlin 1866 - English Translation

 

Given the fact that I still haven't gotten the final post I was writing for 2022 completed, due to a spike in my lethargy and lack of mental energy and taking a break after translating the entirety of the 1866 Zoo Berlin guidebook, I should probably say a little about my plans for this thread going forward.

As previously noted, I intend to continue posting guidebook reviews within this thread when the mood takes me, but will be largely prioritising a few other projects - both new, and returning to the various photographic guide threads which are either in-progress, planned or undergoing updates. One of the new projects should be coming to light within the next day or two, incidentally

In the meantime, the content which I post within this thread in the coming months will take a few forms:

• I will be continuing to provide a chronological look at the guidebooks produced by Zoo Berlin; these posts will maintain the depth and length of prior discussions wherever possible.
• I will continue to take requests for any specific guidebooks or zoological collections which people would like to hear about; these posts may be more free-form, with less regimented planning and formatting, than prior discussions.
• I intend to highlight new additions to my personal collection whenever something unusual or significant falls into my possession; again, these will be shorter and less detailed, and will effectively comprise stream-of-consciousness "first reactions" to the material in question.
• I may also occasionally provide information about unusual or significant material which is *not* present within my personal collection, where I have sufficient information to provide worthwhile commentary.

None of these (barring the next post, which as noted was intended to round the year out and is half-written) will be numbered with the day. So yeah, fire away with any requests, feedback and commentary as always... this thread has been pretty successful and I have no desire to let it die on the vine.

 

Can definitely do that - I've done an old Suffolk previously, so I shall root out my oldest Banham (which isn't all that old unfortunately).

Got a fair few from Northern Ireland - reviewed the first Belfast guidebook within this thread - but only a tiny number from the Republic I'll do one of my 1960's Dublin guides for you!

Pity that you are based in Cork IIRC, otherwise I'd ask you to pick up a copy of the recent Dublin guidebook on my behalf and send it to me (with my paying you, obviously).