Last of their kind in a zoo

Never say never when it comes to venomous snakes kept in private collections. I happened to see a brown snake and some Pseudocerastes urachonoides at a German breeder the other month.
But I haven't heard of any privately kept King browns outside of Oz in recent times.

 

The one that was confiscated and sent to Detroit was from someone keeping the snake illegally. Wonder if there’s a few more out there in private hands that we don’t even know of….

 

Probably. If I remember correctly, the American authorities once tried to lure in illegal keepers by posting fake offers for Western taipans and other rare Australian elapids in the USA. Some fell for that.

 

Were there Northern White Rhinos in South Africa? If so, Do you have any other information?

 

A few examples of mine -
The only Tiger Quolls at Hamerton, which was rather inevitable anyways.
Also at Hamerton, the last Eastern Aardwolf.
I think when I was younger I also saw the last Carmine Bee-eater at Birdland.
Bristol's last Kowari.
Possibly a few more examples which evade me at this time .. but soon enough Edinburgh's pandas will most certainly join these ranks.

 

Growing up, London's Blackburn Pavilion was filled with 'last survivors' that are now absent from UK collections. I remember seeing Amazilia Hummingbird, Black-necked Aracari and Hooded Pita, although sadly, with the exception of the hummingbird, which always fascinated me, I was too young to appreciate that they were anything more noteworthy than a bird. I regret that sincerely, especially as there is, to my knowledge, nowhere in Europe that still houses Hooded Pita.

Other examples from London Zoo would be the Panay Cloud Runners and the Borneo Bearded Pigs. Luckily, those two are still present on the continent, although in the case of the latter, perhaps not for long.

 

I wouldn't hold your breath for the former either, as far as I'm aware the individuals are quite old.

 

The Panay cloudrunner has only been kept in 3 ZTL zoos: London 2012-18, Prague 2013-19 and Plzen from 2010 with no young since 2013.

 

Have there been any updates in the last few years if any Panay Cloudrunners have been spotted in the wild?

 

There is a reported reported sighting from 2020, but the details are under embargo at www.observation.org, so apart from that the observer is a Phillipine naturalist I can't find any details. Given there is still a sizeable (but shrinking) amount of suitable habitat left, I think it is likely this species still exists, but as it occurs in a rarely visited corner of the world with hard to access forests, there just hasn't been enough effort. Even birders hardly make it to Panay and the ones that do, don't do spotlighting....

 

Thanks, TLD. That's what I thought, as I had heard that London was the 1st zoo to keep them outside the Philippines. ZTL is unsure when they arrived at London, but lists numbers from 2012. I'm sorry for the misinformation.

 

How about mountain anoa? Have there been any reports of those from Sulawesi in the last couple of years? I have a suspicion a lot of really rare species have been seen in their native ranges but we just don't know the people who have seen them (language barriers, lack of Internet etc.).

 

Good lord, I was blissfully unaware of what the situation with the Panay Cloudrunners had become ... !!!

From what I see, I believe it's fairly likely the species is still in existence, but simply that it's in a remote area of the world which is infrequently explored, which could hinder any sightings.
From what I understand, rodent populations do have periods of fluctuation, so it's possible that in 2016 maybe the population was in a time of relative lowness?
But in any case, I do very much hope that the species' survival can be ensured. I am somewhat skeptical that the two in the Czech Republic are the last at all...
I recall when I went to London Zoo in 2016 I was unaware of the obscure species they had at the time - they had the cloud-runners, they had the bearded pigs so on ... it makes me slightly frustrated that I was blissfully unaware of these .. my attention was on the aardvarks instead !

 

Don't worry too much, dillotest0, I didn't take much interest in London Zoos' northern white rhinoceros

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t Memphis have the last yellow-casqued hornbills and banded palm civet on display in America?