....and so we come to the final round of this phase of the UK Zoocup, and I think we have ended up with a bit of a doozy to close out with - a category which I think both collections concerned are pretty strong in, and both collections have everything to play for. The category is once again one which we are already familiar with - SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN. I look forward to a hotly debated match.
Currently these apparently : Mammals : Black lion tamarin (only ones outside of Brazil), golden lion tamarin, golden headed lion tamarin (?), pied tamarin, emperor tamarin, silvery marmoset, black and gold howler monkey, ring tailed coati, spectacled bear. Birds: Saint Lucia amazon parrot, Monteserrat oriole, Chilean flamingo, thick billed euphonia, Brazilian tanager, silver throated tanager, pope cardinal, tropical mockingbird, white-faced whistling duck. Reptiles: Lesser Antillean iguana, Cuban iguana, rhinoceros iguana, casque headed iguana, Hispaniolan giant galliwasp, Cayman lion lizard, Martinique anole, Jamaican boa, brown rainbow boa, eyelash palm pitviper, hispaniolan slider, Galapagos tortoise. Amphibians: Golden poison frog, mountain chicken, giant marine toad, blue poison dart frog, strawberry poison dart frog, Golfodulcean poison dart frog, Marañón poison frog, aquatic caecillian. Fish: Cardinal tetra, three-lined catfish, suckermouth catfish, stick catfish.
I voted based on Jersey's / Durrell trust's ex-situ and in-situ conservation output and admittedly my own bias rather than the amount of species held from these regions (which I concede ZSL has more), so quality over quantity. *Plus Jersey have a large South American endemic carnivore, the spectacled bear, which ZSL lacks. Current South / Central American and Caribbean species ex-situ Black lion tamarin- Only place that holds species ex-situ outside of Brazil, captive husbandry pretty much pioneered at Jersey, BLT from Jersey historically reintroduced to the wild and most importantly heavy long-term financial and logistical support for in-situ conservation efforts up till this day from the Durrell trust. Pied tamarin- Jersey / Durrell trust is a very important ex-situ player in pied conservation, has mastered and refined ex-situ husbandry and management of species and significant long-term financial and logistical support for in-situ conservation efforts up till this day from Durrell trust. Saint Lucia Amazon parrot - Jersey / Durrell trust is a very important ex-situ player in this parrots conservation, has mastered and refined ex-situ husbandry and management of species (first captive breeding of species), has reintroduced birds to wild and assists with significant long-term financial and logistical support for in-situ conservation efforts up till this day from Durrell trust. Montserrat oriole - Jersey / Durrell trust literally rescued this bird species from natural disaster driven extinction, has mastered and refined ex-situ husbandry and management of species (first captive breeding of species), has reintroduced birds to wild and assists with significant long-term financial and logistical support for in-situ conservation efforts up till this day from Durrell trust. Lesser Antillean iguana - Jersey / Durrell trust have a long involvement in conservation of this iguana, mastered and refined ex-situ husbandry and management of species (first captive breeding of species) assists with significant long-term financial and logistical support for in-situ conservation efforts up till this day from Durrell trust. Mountain chicken - Jersey / Durrell trust have a long involvement in conservation of this iguana, mastered and refined ex-situ husbandry and management of species (first captive breeding of species), has reintroduced species back to the wild, assists with significant long-term financial and logistical support for in-situ conservation efforts up till this day from Durrell trust. Historic South / Central American and Caribbean species ex-situ Jamaican hutia - Historically Jersey successfully bred the species in captivity and reintroduced to the wild. Golden lion tamarin- Historically Jersey / Durrell trust was a very important ex-situ player in GLT conservation , GLT from Jersey historically reintroduced to the wild and significant long-term financial and logistical support for in-situ conservation efforts up till this day. Saint Vincent Amazon parrot - Historically Jersey bred this species in captivity and attempted to conserve this species ex-situ, the offspring were returned to Saint Vincent. Jamaican boa - Historically Jersey initiated the captive breeding program for this species in the 1970's, bred this species ex-situ and supported in-situ research and conservation. Rhinoceros iguana- Historically Jersey initiated the captive breeding program for this species in the late 1970's, was the first zoo to captive breed this species ex-situ and has supported in-situ research and conservation in Hispaniola ever since.
This is a difficult one. ZSL has slightly more mammals (14-9), considerably more birds, but Jersey probably edges reptiles and amphibians. ZSL better on fish. So it may depend on how much importance is placed on the black lion Tamarin. Either way it is 2-1
And introduced chytrid to the wild population at the same time Precisely level-pegging on reptiles, with Jersey slightly ahead (9-6) on amphibians However, I would tend to argue that the amphibians at ZSL may have the edge in conservation terms, given the presence of Titicaca Frog.
As I recall, the initial population loss was related to hunting and habitat destruction, and chytrid first spread to Dominica in 2002. However Montserrat avoided infection until relatively recently, when infected frogs were reintroduced to the island. I believe the species is now classified as EW on the island as a result, though a small number hang on on Dominica.
Not sure about with mountain chickens in Dominica but I know this unfortunately happened with the Majorcan midwife toad on the Spanish island.
Its also worth mentioning the in-situ support though funding, training and logistics that is given by the Durrell Trust / Jersey zoo to conservation projects in South and Central America and the Caribbean for species that are not kept ex-situ by the zoo (currently). I'm not even including the work of the DESMAN course in training zoo and conservation professionals from around the world to return to their countries and implement conservation either. Some of this in-situ support that I haven't yet mentioned that are currently ongoing would include: Buffy tufted marmoset - Brazil. Buffy headed marmoset-Brazil. White footed tamarin- Colombia. Hispaniolan solenodon-Dominican Republic & Haiti. Hispaniolan hutia- Dominican Republic & Haiti. Eleutherodactylus frogs of many species- Dominican Republic & Haiti. Saint Lucia racer snake - Saint Lucia.
