Long-tailed ground roller in captivity / zoos ?

Thanks to the gallery I just discovered a really beautiful bird that I wasn't aware existed before: the long-tailed ground roller (Uratelornis chimaera).



(Photo credits to @Tomek)

From Zootierliste and the picture itself it appears that this species was once kept at Walsrode in the past (apparently not anymore).

However, I was wondering if anyone can tell me more information about why this species wasn't successfully established in captivity ?

Also given the threats it faces in the wild and the chances of these increasing whether it would likely that there might be renewed attempts in the future in zoos ?

 

Didn't know it was just a single individual.

I wonder why they brought in only one and didn't go for a pair or a couple of pairs...

I feel your frustration, I would love to see one of these birds.

 

I read somewhere that Tsimbazaza zoo in Madagascar had a pair, which bred once. It may be that importing wild-caught long-tailed ground rollers was prohibited as CITES, and only the single zoo-reared young was imported.

In the early 2000s Walsrode had a collaboration with Madagascar authorities and imported a number of threatened endemic birds. Pity that some did not become established.

 

Thanks for sharing @jurek !

Do you remember where you read this ? I would be interesting in finding out more about this.

Totally agree with you, I think it is more than a pity with regards to the long-tailed ground roller particularly.

 

Vogelpark imported not a single individual but the whole group in 2001 (4 males and 3 females). I saw this species for the first time there in 2007. Unfortunately, it was the last, single bird (at first it was kept in one of the indoor aviaries in the Paradieshalle, later it was kept in one of the Fasnerie's outdoor aviaries). It is worth adding that in 2002 Vogelpark also imported from Madagascar 4 individuals of another, related species: Pitta-like Ground-roller (Atelornis pittoides) ...

 

Thanks for this @Tomek ! Much appreciated (and thank you for the brilliant photos of these birds!) !

Very interesting to hear that there was once a whole group of these birds at the park and actually just makes thinks a bit more tragic.

Do you know what happened to them ?

I mean clearly these birds died off over time but do you know why this was / cause of it ?

 

No idea about them in captivity, but having seen them in the wild they are stunning and charismatic; roadrunner analogs. They seem relatively safe; the spiny desert in the south west is under less pressure than the various rainforest habitats, so they are not a top priority for captive breeding.

 

Thank you for your comment @Tetzoo Quizzer !

Very lucky to have caught a glimpse of these in the wild and I totally agree, in both morphology and much of their behaviour these birds do really seem to resemble the roadrunners of the Americas.

While I agree that the spiny deserts are not under as much anthropogenic pressures as some of the other ecosystems in the country like dry forests, wetlands and lowland forests this ecoregion is still subject to pressures and I'm not sure if the species really could be considered that safe in the wild.

The long-tailed ground roller apparently has and continues to suffer from overhunting / overexploitation by human communities and there are still quite a lot of pressures on the spiny deserts from slash and burn agriculture which are likely to increase in the future.

I tend to think that like with so many other Malagasy species it is best to be on the safe side by building up insurance populations and that the species would benefit from an ex-situ presence in captivity:

I found this quote from a paper in Birdlife from 2007 called "Population size and habitat associations of the Long-tailed Ground-roller Uratelornis chimaera" :

"Having shown that the Long-tailed Ground-roller is almost certainly more common than once assumed, and capable of surviving in degraded habitat, does it warrant treatment as a Threatened species? Using a strict application of the precautionary principle to invoke a population size of 9,487 mature birds, this species would qualify as Vulnerable simply because its habitat is declining. However, the data presented above suggest that a global population estimate of 20,000 mature individuals is more reasonable, in which case, as with the Subdesert Mesite, the species only qualifies for Threatened status if we predict a rapid population decline."

"Given that over 16% of the original forest cover has declined since 1962, and the annual rate of deforestation is increasing by 0.93% per annum (Seddon et al. 2000, Tobias and Seddon 2002a), this prediction seems plausible. Indeed, although Long-tailed Ground Rollers appear to prefer slightly degraded forest, they do not occur in habitat that has been completely deforested. Moreover, both Uratelornis and Monias are monotypic, possibly ancient genera, restricted to the same small area of forest, where habitat is being rapidly destroyed (Seddon et al. 2000). Appropriate conservation measures are required to ensure their long-term survival."