That is great news! The last photo I saw of Thisiam, he looks a lot like his Dad from when he starred in Circus Knie and Pierre Etaix's film "Yoyo". As for Ramon, here is a video I saw several years ago. I didn't realize he was so famous. In it he had a tusk infection and gets the one tusk removed.
From photos I've seen of tuskless bulls (makhnas), it seems like all the hormones and growth used to make tusks in tuskless bulls converts into building a massive heavy trunk like Tusko at the Oregon Zoo.
I only know about it because I read a book in 2009 called "The Wonders of Life On Earth" published in 1960 by the Editors of Life Magazine in which there is an article about the rediscovery of the James's Flamingo in the 1950's in the Bolivian Andes at Laguna Colorada. It recalls the story of Roger Tory Peterson's expedition to secure a small number for the Bronx Zoo and includes a fantastic two page spread of an illustration he did of Laguna Colorada. The article leaves off saying that they acclimated to the NY weather just fine and only one died from the import. I don't know if anymore were exhibited in the U.S. It's such a shame because they're so unique along with the Andean Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus). I'd really like to go to a zoo one day and walk into an Andean aviary with them in it. Book: https://www.amazon.com/Wonders-Earth-Hardcover-Editors-Magazine/dp/B000LTS660 Illustration: https://cdn.incollect.com/sites/def...James-Flamingos-in-the-Andes-116854-56934.jpg
Personally I find James's and Andean Flamingos much more attractive than the others. It's a shame they're not more common in captivity, especially being the more endangered species. ~Thylo
The only old safari or zoo related TV shows I've seen are the ones by Martin & Osa Johnson back in the 20's & 30's and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom starring Marlin Perkins from the 60's which can be viewed on YouTube. That show sounds awesome! Original Episodes - YouTube
The AZA & EAZA seriously needs to reconsider their SSP's for Phoenicopteriformes! If they're so into breeding Guam Rails, Red Crowned Cranes, & Waldrapp Ibises, they should phase out Caribbeans, Greaters, or Chileans and focus on the two Andean species. I could see them doing really well in a northern zoo climate. Also seeing a good sized group of these flamingos on an icy lake (which they're adapted to) would be so awesome!
I believe I've heard that there has been issues with importing more blood from the wild to the few collections which still keep/want them in Europe. ~Thylo
Are WWT Slimbridge & Zoo Berlin the only ones keeping them anymore? By the way here is an awesome blog on the WWT Slimbridge Flamingos. WWT - National WWT News
And Slimbridge are down to only one James's. I actually saw their animals about a year ago now. ~Thylo
Flamingos live a long time, phasing out thousands of birds isn't exactly easy, nor is it necessary. Zoo Berlin just had an Andean flamingo chick, and acquired 7 more birds (presumably from Slimbridge). Hopefully more (and of both species) will follow.
Maybe a zoo each in the in the AZA & EAZA with no flamingos can import some (founding populations) and then maybe a place like White Oak, San Diego Zoo Global or Audubon Nature Institute's Survival Center can hold larger flocks to promote captive breeding and then as numbers grow, disperse surplus juveniles across different zoos and facilities that can accommodate them? I think it'd be a great idea for the ex-situ conservation of the two species.
I suspect it is more likely that Zoo Berlin obtained their new stock from a private keeper, as I believe there *are* one or two holding the species in Germany.
So private people can import flamingos and have their own flock (with permitting of course)? That'd be so awesome!!! What would the permitting process be like if obtaining wild caught birds?
It must be almost thirty years since I last saw “Sahib” in Leipzig and about a quarter-of-a-century since I saw him at Cricket St.Thomas. After all these years I really wouldn’t like to estimate his size but he was, possibly, the tallest elephant I have ever seen…. “Siam” was famous for his impressive tusks so it is interesting that the tuskless “Sahib” didn’t inherit his father’s tusks. However, it is also interesting to note that “Sahib’s” mother “Ceylon” (as you’d expect with that name) came from Sri Lanka where most bull elephants lack tusks….
I went to Slimbridge this weekend and the solitary James' (how old is it by now?) and the Andeans are still there.
Not too original perhaps but like many I would love to go back in time to the 1800s and see all the extinct and or no longer exhibited species in London Zoo, Bronx Zoo and others. I want to go back to the time the Toronto Zoo opened in 1974 til the mid 1990s. The list is extensive. African Elephants, Tasmanian Devils, Chinese Leopards, African Painted Dogs, Dholes (phased out now), coyotes, Wallaroo, Eastern Quoll, Grey-headed Flying Fruit Bat, Eastern Genet, European Genet, Liberian Mongoose, Pronghorn, South African Fur Seal, Musk Ox, Bongo, and a slew of others. Toronto Zoo - Former Toronto Zoo Animals Also want to go back to the opening of African Lion Safari in 1969 til early to mid 1990s. They had African Elephants (I think they had them and Asians at the same time) in the drive through reserve, African Wild Dogs, Bengal Tiger (I'm not sure how purebred they were; they had white ones in the 1990s; I *think* they left sometime as late the 2010s), Sealions (not sure about the species; they were part of the boat ride around the island that now houses a few primate species), Chimpanzees (lived on the island) and Striped Hyenas.
Bronx only opened in 1899 so I'm not sure how many now-Extinct species they would have kept at that point. ~Thylo
