Is the newer shoebill at DWA (not Mr. Shoe) the captive bred individual from Tampa? I believe her name is Binti. If not, where did the second bird come from?
Yeah that would make a lot of sense. Do you know where Binti could've gone? I heard she was sent off to another facility for breeding but that was almost a year ago so she may be back at Tampa (I've never been able to visit in person unfortunately ).
I have no idea unfortunately. Far as is known only DWA and Tampa have Shoebills in North America now, so she's at one of the two.
That individual is no longer alive, though a few years back DWA did get Houston’s last shoebill. DWA and Tampa are the last holders of the species in the US, and each has three individuals.
A real shame the species is dwindling out, they're such a cool species. Though they never were common and their survival and breeding rates haven't been very good so not surprising sadly. At least I have seen and photographed the species, one of the most memorable birds I've seen for sure.
Yeah, they are really super cool birds. I remember seeing a Nat Geo documentary when I was a kid, they had a part with shoebill storks, it really made an impact on me.
This is correct. Tampa’s social media also has been consistently (and annoyingly) incorrect about the number of shoebills in the US (saying there are only 4) despite being corrected multiple times (including internally).
I noticed that. What’s the total number then? Three(?) at DWA and two at tampa right? How many did Houston and San Diego have before they phased them out? Thank you for your information btw!! I just wanna keep tabs on the captive shoebills in America since I love them so much
Should be six as far as I'm aware, three at DWA and three at Tampa. Originally SZDSP had four and Houston I think had a pair. SDZSP was down to one when they sent off their bird, and I think Houston lost one of their pair as well resulting in the transfer.
Just reached out to DWA and they said “we have two shoebills on exhibit”. I reached out to Tampa and haven’t gotten a response yet. I guess maybe one of them passed? But other than that seems like that’s all of them. Thank you!
Just because a zoo only has x number of individuals on exhibit, doesn’t mean that it can’t have any number behind the scenes as well.
Yeah that's what I was thinking... are zoos typically secretive about that kind of thing? I specifically asked how many they had and they only gave me the 'on exhibit' number so I'm not sure if they're just not wanting to tell people they have another one.
Yes, they are, particularly here in North America. Tampa will probably tell you the same, but I wouldn't expect to hear from them quickly.
Back in the day Cincinnati Zoo (,of course) had a shoe bill they kept in with th er ir flamingo. That was back in the 80's.
