Just wondering in people opinions from what they have seen/read: What is the hardest species to breed in captivity currently..? What species were at one point in history considered hard to breed but due better enclosures and husbandry are no longer considered so..? As a side note does anyone know what Zoos keep Fossa..? I know one(?) is a LA... What are they like in captivity..?
A few collections in the UK keep fossas - off the top of my head I can think of Africa Alive (also known as Suffolk Wildlife Park), Colchester and Marwell, I think the animals have bred at all 3 collections. The enclosures at Suffolk are not very good at all unless they've changed recently - very basic wood aviary style pens, but they amazingly have a pretty good breeding record! I think the new small zoo at Sandwich, Kent also keep them. As for animals that used to be considered "difficult" to breed - cheetahs are the obvious one. I suppose elephants and gorillas could possibly be included in that bracket as well.
Giant pandas, cheetahs, elephants for their long gestation period...those animals are all difficult to breed. Polar bear cubs in captivity are extremely rare.
Gorilla and elephant births are nothing extraordinary in Europe anymore. For gorillas, you only need a mother-raised male and he will most likely impregnate most of the females in his group. For elephants, the main factor is the age of the female and the male - females who are older then 25 at their first birth hardly ever get pregnant and if they, they have mostly have stillbirths. And males need to be fully adult to mate with fully adult females (teenage elephant females also accept young males). If a zoo considers these points, neither gorillas nor elephants are difficult to breed. Difficult to breed... dolphins and beluga whales because of the extremely high death rate of newborns; shoebill storks (never bred in captivity so far!); most hornbill species.
I have noticed that about the polar bears too But the cheetah thing is all about knowing the trick. Ree Park - Ebeltoft Safari in Denmark just had their first breeding season with their new cheetahs, and they had 9 cubs this year
Some storks can be very uncooperative when it comes to breeding. Pelicans are hard, as are cassowaries because of their aggressive nature. Rufous hornbills are hard to breed due to their size and infant mortality. There have only been a couple of successful rearings, and one was at Jurong. I don't know whether they've bred in Europe.
Acctually dont think that Rufous Hornbills are that difficult to raise, I have one pair at present and the breeder (from Thailand) from which I got them from have breed large numbers in the past 15 years, exporting over 30 back to the Philippines for breeding purpose and reintroduction there. He has about 10 pairs at the moment (two subspecies) and 7 of these has had chicks this year, 6 pairs raised their youngs to indepent age. I have to seen any breeding attempts with mine but I guess they are still abit to young.
Echidnas and platypuses are difficult to breed although the former are common in collections in Australia Flamingoes were very rarely bred for a long time - the trick seemed to be having enough birds in the flock to get the process going
Pygathrix, regarding the flamingoes, I think i've heard somewhere that flamingoes will only breed when in the security of a large group. That is why some collections use mirrors to mimic a large group.
How difficult are Komodo Dragons to breed..? I am under the impression that it is only recently there has been any success..? Finally saw one at Taronga this year... Awesome, seemed like it was alone though..?
Well, there have been 2 recent, successful, hatchings in the UK at London and Chester of Komodo Dragons. However both of these happened via parthenogenesis.
Parthenogenesis is the development of the embryo without requiring a male for fertilisation. Both London's and Chester's female Dragons had no contact with a male and it was big news in the UK last year.
Minor flamingo's is my best guess, very very few seem to have been raised in captivity at all... Probably because all zoo's keep them in flocks who are not large enough, but even the ones with large flocks rarely get 1 chick. Sumatran rhino's where a pain for a long long time, and IF the egg is now cracked still has to be proven by torgamba/andalas...
Clouded leopards. These buggers are so gorgeous but damn hard to breed. Regarding polar bears, the lack of births is probably due more to the fact that their numbers are already saturated in captivity, and also because many zoos are phasing them out. I mean, if they can breed in bloody hot Singapore, i'm sure they'll do better in a temperate zoo.
They are nowadays as far less zoos keep them and those that still do don't want to breed from their animals anymore(e.g. Berlin and 'Knut') But go back a few decades and Polar Bears actually bred quite freely and in some zoos they produced and raised cubs almost on a regular basis. I don't think Cheetahs can be classed as difficult to breed in captivity, they used to be but not anymore.
Yes, they breed them regularly, but in the worst and oldest style enclosures in the 'old' part of the original wildlife park....
