Last of their kind in a zoo

Japan:

Atagawa Tropical and Alligator Garden has an Amazonian manatee in his fifties.

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium has a rescued pygmy killer whale, the only one in captivity outside of temporary rescues.

KawaZoo has several Goliath frogs, which don’t appear to be in any public institutions in the US or Europe at the moment.

 

No, don't worry, not off topic and still interesting to discuss.

Yes, I do see what you mean regarding the red river hogs but then again there are Sulawesi crested macaques kept in an enclosure actually within the gorilla kingdom if I remember correctly which are not exactly well suited to being there.

I totally agree with you about the babirusa though and I'm very impressed that they have got into keeping these again and in fact I feel quite enthusiastic about the revival of keeping this species by many zoos in Europe.

Thanks for your comment @Crowthorne !

I think I saw them in both early November and through October when I visited the zoo a couple of times and if I remember it was a pair of the animals.

At the time it didn't even cross my mind but I do feel quite priviledged to have seen them now in retrospect considering how rare they are in captivity.

I missed the babirusa though as I was already back in Brazil by early December.

 

Yes, I think that the key to keeping Doucs successfully in captivity is definitely related to their diets and overall nutrition.

Ah I see, I'll see if I can find some old footage of Ben at the zoo on youtube, he certainly sounds like an animal that was very popular.

 

Thanks for your comment @birdsandbats !

That is an interesting one, I think I read about this individual on the forum before, it had quite an interesting name if I remember correctly and I think it had been either wild caught or captive bred in Trinidad.

 

The Cornell animals came from Trinidad. The species isn't more common in captivity because it requires live food, whereas Common Vampire Bats can just be given a tray of blood.

 

I wonder whether it will be kept by zoos in the future the live food difficulty certainly seems like it could disuade zoos from keeping it again.

 

@Pertinax @Tim May I'm sure this video has been shared many times here on zoochat but here is a British pathe film clip of a visit by a Royal to the zoo in the early 1960's which at 1:50 min features the rhinos one of which I presume must be Ben.



Another interesting thing about the video is that the famous Desmond Morris (who I believe was then the curator) is the one giving the tour of the zoo.

 

I saw a single White rhino in Glasgow Zoo on my only visit, not long before it closed. I think that was probably her though I did not realise that at the time.

 

I do like the old Pathe news films of the zoo(s). In this one the royal is Prince Philip( now nearly 100 years old..) and the smaller man between him and Desmond Morris is probably Solly Zuckerman, the zoos' president( I believe that was his title). The black rhino was a female- I think that was 'Lorna' (again, Tim May might verify). This paddock was later converted to house the Giant Pandas AnAn and Chi-chi and now again, the Lion enclosure.

 

They are great aren't they ?

I didn't know that Zuckerman was in this too, not a big fan of him or his legacy to be honest.

Demond Morris on the other hand I am a big fan of and he is also almost a century old now.

 

I have no personal knowledge of Zuckerman but he did seem very unpopular in some circles.

 

Nor I , only what I've read regarding his views of conservation of which he was very outspoken and were quite frankly ridiculous.

 

Many thanks for posting this great film.

Yes the black rhino was "Lorna"; the only black rhino at London Zoo at this time. (I remember her best from the old Antelope House but she was moved to the old Deer & Cattle sheds about the time the other inhabitants of the old Antelope House were moved to the newly opened Cotton Terraces.)

 

Some other ones with mentioning

.”Benjamin” the last thylacine in the world, who died in 1936 at the now-close beaumaris zoo in Hobart (Tasmania).

.The last Javan rhino in captivity (dont know its name) that died at Adelaide zoo in 1907 (they were also crept. In a atonal park in Vietnam, but I don’t think national parks hound count)

.The last quagga in the world died at ARTIS royal zoo in 1883.

.Zoo Plzen presumably has the last group of Panay cloudrunners in the
world

.I believe that Gladys porter zoo is the last zoo outside of Africa to keep harnessed bushbuck (there mat e a zoo in Thailand, but they may no longer keep the species, and I don’t know the name of it)

Last in the United States:
.Bronx zoo has the last ring-tailed vonstras in the United States
.Capital of Texas zoo has the last fanaloka and possibly the last asiatic palm civet in the United States
.Sea world San Diego has the only emperor penguins, Guadalupe fur seals in the United States
.Carson springs wildlife is the only place in the United States with rusty spotted cats

 

Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart.

 

thanks for the correction. I edited the post.

 

Good to know the name of this zoo. Are there any zoochaters who have either been to this zoo recently, or live there, that know the status of Chiang Mai’s busbucks?