Thought this would be good, what animals do WE want to see imported, dont worry about phase out lists, this is what YOU want here to make OUR zoos even better, I will post my long list later
red-shanked douc langurs clouded leopards babirusa golden snub-nosed monkeys asiatic black bears (to replace syrian brown bears) giant anteater giant otter amazonian manatee capybara okapi fossa
Red river hogs, Barbirusa, Wart hogs ( I like pigs.) More pygmy hippos, Giant ant-eaters, White faced saki monkeys, Bald uakari, Sulawasi-crested macaque, Flamingos, Gharials I think that will do for now. I could spend the night writing my list.
Sea otters, elephant seals and walruses ( Goes well with SeaWorlds themes) More gazelle and antelope species (esp. impala) wilderbeest anteaters springbok pronghorn hornbills toucans
I think Australian zoos should concentrate on species in the immediate zoogeographical regions, e.g. S.E. Asia, southern Asia and Africa. Also Micronesia (NZ, Fiji, Tonga, Papua, Timor-Komodo)and islands (Madagascar, Galapagos, Seychelles). Species: dusky langur, douc langur, other endangered langur species of Indonesia, moloch gibbon, bornean grey gibbon, pileated gibbon, babirusa, anoa, banteng, clouded leopard, Philippine crocs, Sunda gavial, rusa deer, Alfred's deer, Bawaen deer, tamaraw. Tuatara, takahe, kiwi, pukeha, (pure-bred) Galapagos and Seychelles giant tortoises, Seychelles fodys, Komodo dragons, more Papuan tree kangaroo species, Madagascar ibis, Madagascar teals, Pyxis tortoise, day geckos, chameleons, gentle lemurs, aye-aye, Malayan sun bear. Sloth bear, Indian rhino, Indian lions, gaur, pure-bred bharasingha, Manipur brow-antlered deer, Kashmir red deer or hangul. African species: klipspringer, dikdik, Somali wild ass, gerenuk, Mhorr or dama gazelle, dorcas gazelle, brown hyaena.
jelle, our zoo, at least on paper prioritise species from the worlds regions in the following order; australian melanesian asian african south american we have very few species from north america and europe. and with the exception of american bison - any we do have are being phased out. of the species you mentioned, unfortunately you can forget about any species of exotic bird. the australian government has more or less had a complete ban on the importantion of birds for some 40 years. our zoos where in the legnthy process of having it overturned so a few new species and or bloodlines could enter - but then the avian flu surfaced and idea was dropped. its a shame. we have reasonable population of certain SE asian exotic birds (pheasants and doves) and share many additional species with the region as well as haveing very extensive and healthy populations of african, asian and south american parrots and some finches. however we are seriously lacking in softbill species have no hornbills, toucans, touracos etc.. its a major shame but its not going to change anytime soon. this thus effects our abilities to display/breed endangered south pacific fauna (which is made up largely of bird species). cloven-hoofed ungulates (artiodactyls) have posed quite a problem too of late. again, the government is parinoid about an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and makes if very difficult (though not impossible) to bring in any ungulate species other than tapir, equines and rhinos. philippine spotted deer have been talked about for so long now without any sort of progress that i fully expect the whole idea will or has been permenantly shelved. we now plan on importing lesser mouse deer though how our zoos expect to get around this one i don't know. bongo are a major priority but with a founder stock of 3 animals we are somewhat simply stalling the inevitable unless some new blood comes in soon. pigs are apparently particuarly hard/impossible to get through - hence we gave up on the idea to import babirusa. however of the species you mentioned i am please to tell you that we do have breeding programs for many of them you have mentioned.
ONe thing i woudl liek to see (not likely to happen) is a big import of PNG Animals Birds, Frogs and Mammals, I don't know if this is likely but i think it is up to Australia to conserve PNG's species, and i think that Birds of Paradise would look great in all Aussie Zoos, even if only the common one. THink of this a series of aviaries showing birds from New Zealand, Polynesia, PNG, South East Asia and Northern Australia at the end, much liek Jewels of Asia at Adelaide. ALso this could mean getting Palm Cockies back into the mainstream, even if they are NG Birds not Aust, the c. Goaliath Subspecies is Beatiful haveing worked with both Aussie and PNG birds the PNG is alot stokier, has a shorter tail, longer legs and a Giant beak. I knwo the import is banned for a long long time, but this country is one of our closest neighbours surely if they ahd Bird Flu we would.
and the really stupid thing is that australia is right on SE asia's (where bird flu originated) doorstep. we share many of our bird species and many are migratory between our regions. rest assured - if bird flu isn't already in australia, it will be soon. but the thing is there was ban on birds long before bird flu and i wonder why. i also wonder why it seems to have been easily overturned in recent years for imports of macaws, loris and other parrots yet any new species of exotic softbill is instantly disregarded. as i said earlier, australia shares many avian species with PNG and southeast asia. many more exotics from here are already available in australian aviculture. with a carefully planned import of just a few non-australian species we can use others already here to "bulk out" the collection into a very diverse and colourful representation of our neighbours avian fauna. essentially, we need as mark said, some of those birds-of-paradise and some new crowned pigeons, and i would love to see (and i bet everyone else would too!) either blyth's or the sulawesi knobbed hornbill. gorgeous birds from PNG and wallacia respectively. in the US "lory landing" exhibits are very popular displays in australian zones. i would love to see something similar in a PNG/wallacia zone here. we have so many lory/lorikeet species from western indonesia here in australia. before we think about importing any more species of tree-kangaroo (like the tenkile or golden mantled that melbourne have suggested they might one day like to import) we need more zoos here to focus on tree-kangaroos in general. at the moment only melbourne seem to be having much luck with breeding them. and i would like to see both matschie's and goodfellow's breeding well in all our zoos before we start to think about importing more. the other exhibit type i have always liked the idea of would be an indoor glass-dome where vistors could walk thru and experience a re-creation of a polynesian atoll. the exhibit would represent a "splice" of an atoll with a rainforest, beach and coral reef. wandering through each area visitors can appreciate free-ranging birds and fruitbats, exhibits for reptiles such as fijian iguana, giant coconut crabs wandering the beach and then a spelendid coral reef. the message the exhibit will deliver will be about the importance of halting global warming.
It would be so nice to see more zoos in OZ carrying Tree Kangaroos as you said Pat, maybe later we could then carry some of the NG species, it would be interesting breeding a few species of them, wow. A few giant hornbills species as well.
yeah. id'e be interested to know if in the past the spotted cuscus we have displayed have been of the NG or australian subspecies. my books all tell me that the australian variety is pretty dull in colour caompared to the spectacular orange and white coats of many of the NG specimens. however look at any old pictures of cuscus in aussie zoos - and they are as vibrant as ever. spotted cuscus are on our import list. maybe we did bring them in form there? in any event i would love to see more. there are species that are spotted like a dalmatian, others with eletric blue eyes and others that are giants marked splendidly in white, ginger and black. fortunately though, the goodfellow's and matschie's are actually arguably the most attractive tree-kangaroos on earth. nice that we have them. i'm secretly hoping that one day a few of those NG hornbills decide to cross the torres straight and build a nest somewhere on the cape york penninsular.....
Pat i like to see some pics of these spotted cuscus and others with blue eyes, are there any on the net we can look at, i am real interested in type of animal, Thanks. The scotts tree Kangaroo is also a great looking species.
hey mark, if you share my keen interest in melanesian fauna here is a list of tim flannery books i own that you would enjoy... mammals of new guinea (and the sister volume) mammals of the southwest pacific and moluccan islands and two others that are both with beautiful colour plates by artist peter shouten: possums of the world tree-kangaroos: a curious natural history you can order them online at... www.andrewisles.com.au a fantastic natural history bookshop here in melb.
ok Pat will look at this, Thanks, When i go to Aust zoo soon i be asking why they dont have any Tree kangeroos, he he. We will see.
even though we have the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks & Aquaria, it doesn't seem it any easier to import animals to/from our members nations. in addition to tree-kangaroos i would love to see some more long-beaked echidnas come in and go to melbourne or another zoo. currently taronga zoo is the only zoo in the world with a breeding pair and i am less than impresed with that zoos efforts at breeding and housing them over the years. the only other LB echidna is a male in a zoo in moscow. i have often wondered why a trade for a pair of our short-beaks has not seen him move to australia. our current male has a very low sperm count and also if the australian echidnas are anything to go by, echidna mating rituals usually involve more that one male persuing a female. two males might have provided the kick they needed! nonetheless i am glad the zoo has finally done the right thing and taken them off display. lets hope its in a large enclosure - they really, really should be doing everything they can to breed them...
I maybe missing something here but with the phasing out of a lot of species from our zoos it leaves us with the question of what we will end up with in the near furture, as most of you are aware some species which our zoos do want they may never get, importing hoof stock has always been a problem for us including many of the wild pig species, zoos here seemed to have been chasing Sable Antelope since Adam was a boy, with the phasing out of Clouded leapards, other leopard species, bengel Tiger, Jaguars, etc etc, maybe we will be left with African lions and only Sumatran tigers. we will have south American exhibits out Jaguars (not good). The bird importation ban could go on for many years so where does that leave our zoos at the end of the day??- with many less animals species exhibited, so our zoo leaders should have a real good look at what we DO HAVE NOW and what we CAN import and see where that is leading us with the number of species on display in the near furture, oh yes and WHY are our zoos not importing Pygmy hippos?, why are the ones which we have left just plodding around there encloses with out mates, It was my understanding there were an Endangered species, well maybe we need to phase them of our zoos as well, I am not really following where our zoo leaders are going.
Agreed mark, we need to either import or just exhibt natives, there will not be enough genetic diversity.
Have any of you zoo folk heard where Taronga zoo plans to obtain a female Goodfellow Kangaroo from?, can we import them from NG?, any news on that.
