american badger - hog badger (we have one elderly eurasian at melbourne) mountain goat - barbary sheep martens, fishers, weasels - polecats and otters? oh i dunno, i'm getting pathetic here!!! honestly, as far as i'm concerned, when i finally visit canada i'll be visiting national parks looking for grizzlies and moose - no doubt about it. however, i'm not that interested in having them in zoos here. for starters any breeding program we have here for american endangered species is going to be a trivial little commitment compared with what you guys do for them. essentially, i doubt our population of bison or kodiak bears will ever be called apon to restock the wild. secondly, just as calgary is too cold for elephants - australia's summers are probably just too hot for creatures built for the near arctic. sure they deal with some hot weather for short periods at home, but i doubt they will exacty thrive in the increasing hotter and dryer place that is southeastern australia.
Good point about the weather conditions. Just as seeing Calgary's elephants inside on snowy days bothers some visitors, syrian brown bears sweating in the Aussie sun is almost as disturbing. The brown bear exhibits at Melbourne and Adelaide Zoos are both appalling and outdated. Are they waiting for the bears to die...as I know that one died in Adelaide about a year and a half ago.
Personally I think AMerican species have their place in Aussie Zoos, but people know all thse species already (thanks to TV) teher are still hundreds of Australian Species that Aussies dont know about. I have had this experience at home, when ever any of my families freinds come over they are amazed at Dunnarts, think plains rats are cute and when they see some of the other species i have they love it! We had a Young American Baseball player stay with us (as my brother plays state baseball) and even him, who was not animal oriented in anyway was amazed at the things you dont see on tv! taht my rant, but really we have enough aussies to fill any gaps left by exotic species!
yep. pretty sure thats exactly what they are doing. when i visited melbourne the other day the large birch tree in the bear exhibit had been cut down, i presume it died from lack of water, and the exhibit looked particularly shabby. sunbears are the only bears we plan to keep in the region and but far we are yet to breed even one in australia. last i read (if memory serves correct) sydney had an infertile male and adelaide an infertile female... so neither zoo can breed. .......hmmmm what to do?
ah ha! you not what i'm thinking! only you forgot the part about letting years and years slide without doing anything to the point where is likely the animals are probably beyond breeding age anyway......
The only bears that are in the long-range plans of Aussie zoos are sun bears? And two of them are infertile? Sheesh...once your syrian brown bears die off then what is replacing them in the Adelaide and Melbourne exhibits? In North America bears are a dime-a-dozen, with american black bears and grizzlies found in both the wild and captivity. Polar bears and other species are also fairly common in many collections, and I suppose it goes without saying that with over 200 AZA accreditated zoos there is a rich diversity of animals.
pat - yes the newly imported sunbears at perth are "a pair" and its hoped they will breed. there is also a breeding pair at wellington (male ex perth) which is the only zoo in the region who has ever bred the bears. the first male cub ever produced at wellington is at the national zoo in canberra and has been paired with a newly imported female from cambodia. as i have said before logic would think taronga and adelaide would shuffle their pairs so as to produce at least on breedable pair and not waste a set of founders, but there is obviously some reason why thats not happening. yep, snowleopard the only bears to be maintained in ARAZPA zoos longterm are sunbears (if you exclude the polars at seaworld). adelaide already has teh species and melbourne has not said what they will do. they are yet to list sunbear on their collection plans. with no other bears in the region i suppose its highly likely they will eventually acquire some though.
This is an interesting discusion on bears. Here are three points that I'd like to bring up. 1- One thing that we are all probably forgetting is that giant pandas are bears and a pair will be landing in Adelaide next year. The all-time record attendance for the Adelaide Zoo will be blown out of the water with the pair of black-and-white beauties. As an example: the Calgary Zoo in Canada is enormously popular, with 1.2 million visitors each year. Even with millions upon millions spent over the past twenty years updating exhibits, their record year ever was in 1988 when they spent two weeks hosting the Winter Olympics and had a pair of giant pandas loaned to the collection for what I believe amounted to around 6 months. 2- Intriguing that none of the Aussie zoos have imported sloth bears, as they are mainly found in India and would perhaps be the next best thing to sun bears. 3- I knew about the polar bears on the Gold Coast. How do they fare with an average temperature hovering around 30 degrees celsius?
1- Good point about the pandas - Yep, there's another species of bear right there! 2- I agree with you about Sloth bears; they are extremely interesting animals. However it's generally agreed that, with so few zoos in our region (and therefore so few spaces available for bears) it's better to concentrate on the one species, and the species chosen (and which really does need help) is the Sun bear. (I can't believe I just said that! I'm the "back-slider" on this forum who whinges because Brown bears are disappearing here in Australia!) 3-Seaworld in Sth.east Queensland promotes its Polar bear enclosure as "one of the most technologically advanced in the world". Areas of the complex are climate controlled; there are sprays to allow intermittent misting and fogging and simulated rainfall; a variety of substrates ( soil, gravel, wood, river stones etc.); fans (as part of the enrichment) to put various scents through the enclosure etc. Also, the pool is 4 metres deep.
@Ara: thanks for the information on the Queensland polar bears, and I'm glad that they have an exhibit full of enrichment. The syrian brown bears disappearing from both Taronga and Adelaide Zoo is probably a good thing as they each live in small, poorly constructed enclosures. Once those bears die off then there could arise an opportunity for the respective zoos to do some renovating.
ah yes, pandas are indeed bears but are not part of a breeding program here. they will only be kept by one zoo (yes, i said ONE zoo!) with no participation from the others. snowleopard. if i had my way australia would stick to (sub)tropical species and would keep sloth bears at the open range zoos and sunbears at the city zoos. nice!
WOLVES!!! and other wild dogs such as Coyotes etc They are currently illegal i believe to bring to Australia, hence the public misses out on seeing these amazing creatures! what a bloody shame!
@Dingo Boy: It seems that you guys have a few dingos (dingoes?), dholes and a maned wolf or two down under. Up here in Canada coyotes are fairly common in the wild, and I see at least three a year just from driving around on the highway. Interesting that just about every single North American zoo has at least a few representatives from either the wolf or fox families.
Hi Snowleopard. Most of our zoos and wildlife parks have dingoes, but this is because they are impossible to see in the wild (the populated areas of Australia are all dingo free zones). I think it would be a great idea to see a park in Australia, which housed the wild canids of the world. what an amazing place that would be?? I dont think i can convey the jealously i have of you being able to see wild coyotes! I am off to the States in July, and will visit some wolf parks, so i cant wait for that experience (ive never seen one before, again thanks to the government)
a canid fanatic... not that often you meet those. don't whinge too much dingoboy, its not like you have it as bad as say, a rodent fanatic does. with dingos, dhole, hunting dogs, maned wolves as well as fennec (and i guess red foxes) - australian zoos have a pretty good collection i think. what i wanna see is more co-operation with maned wolves. hopefully wellington will jump on board soon. currently, its dubbo and melbourne being teh only zoos who maintain them with the vast majority out at dubbo. sheesh, if i were a zoo director id'e take a few straight away! they may not be true wolves but they do have the name "wolf" nonetheless....
I guess you could call me that! Although how can anyone study a species successfully without being a "fanatic"? I know it is a whinge, I just think that the Australian public would benefit from seeing wolves in suitable parks in Australia. Its safe to say that they are much different than our wild canid, not to mention the difference between wolves and foxes? sorry but i dont see your point? My main disappointment and anger lies with the Australia Government, for making the decision which species we can and cannot have in captive facilities! they are afraid wolves will escape and hybridize with domestic dogs and create a monster beast which kills all our sheep!!?? hmm, somehow that really doesnt seem that likely! perhaps they should worry more about cane toads spreading across the country? I dont see the argument not to have them? can you? as you mention, they are not a canid, and therefore i dont think they can interbreed with domestic dogs (dont quote me on that). so i think thats why we can have them. i also think we can have coyotes in Australian zoos also (someone might be able to confirm that?... just not wolves. Sorry for the further whinging Patrick
your see my point exactly. it was clear as day - there are plenty of canids in australian zoos. you just disagree because you like wolves so much. anger!!! geeze someone's passionate about the right to have wolves! i don't know so much if wolves are banned from australia so much as just no zoo keeps them. certainly it seems odd that they would discriminate against these animals when jackals, fox species as well as all teh others mentioned earlier are allowed to be imported. i wouldn't hold my breath though - i very much doubt ARAZPA will ever make it a priority to keep grey wolves. there are canids with rightly so, a much higher priority. um, of course they are a canid!!! thought you studied dogs?
**** my bad.. sorry, i mixed up my species. Im a dingo researcher, and dont profess to know a great deal about wolves of the world. Just as i was reading your reply, a SA government employee rang me up, and i asked him about the status of wolves in Australia. He had a quick look through the legislation and thinks we can get wolves, but as the species isnt already here would require reasoning for the introduction, and that i think only A class zoos could have them... so i stand corrected-i was going on hearsay from a credible source (who incedently also found it impossible to inport a wolf skull to Australia), which is a dangerous game to play. Oh i agree with you Patrick that there are plenty of other canid species that need preserving in captivity, it just frustrates me that we are very much overgoverned, and the thought of not being able to have wolves because of them i dont believe to be right. but again, i stand corrected. Im really a passionate dingo person, and not so much wolves, i just think it would be nice to be able to observe them in Australia, potentially even study them. I am off to visit the states in July, so will get to fulfill my wish to see wolves! Cheers
ha ha! be careful classing zoos in the A's and B's, even if official government sources do - i got quite a severe spanking for it from a mogo zoo lover! since dingo's apparently are wolves i suppose you do have em anyway eh? the reason its unlikely to see any is because other than valid research the only other excuse for import would be if a a zoo asked to keep them. thats unlikely since no major zoo in the region has any real long-term plans to exhibit european or north american fauna. but there's nothing wrong with hoping. ethiopian or tibetan wolves maybe?
