Malagasy animal species in zoos

I would like to know which animal species from Madagascar are kept in captivity ? (lemurs, other mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates). I am interested in this because I am very fascinated of the animals living in Madagascar, especially lemurs. Also which malagasy animal species are held outside of Madagascar ? Are any indris or silky sifaques kept in captivity at all ? (Can anyone post a list ?)

 

In the USA Duke University maintains a large collection of lemurs. Check out Duke Lemur Center Tours, Conservation, Research and Education of Lemurs.
The most interesting Malagasy display in Europe is the Masoala Rainforest at Zurich ZooLex Exhibit.

Alan

 

For birds from Malgasy you have to go to Walsrode, they have a nice collections of Vanga's ( 3 species I believe ), ibis ( 2 species ),1 or 2 waever-species, several Parrots ( both Black parrot-species, Grey-headed love bird ), some pigeons and prob. more.

 

The only species they keep, and I believe the only vanga ever kept outside Madagascar, is the sickle-billed vanga. If I remember right, this species is also likely to disappear from Walsrode because they lack a female.

The following Malagasy endemic breeders/near-endemic species are kept in captivity outside Madagacar:

MAMMALS:
- Coquerel's and crowned sifaka.
- Aye-aye.
- Both ruffed lemur species.
- All Eulemur species, perhaps except E. rufifrons (it was considered a race of E. rufus until a few years ago, and I'm not sure about the status of all captive "E. rufus" after the split).
- Aloatra, western and greater bamboo lemur.
- Coquerel's and fat-tailed dwarf lemur.
- Goodman's mouse lemur. There are also plenty of captive "grey mouse lemurs", but I'm not sure if anyone knows what they really are after the confusing taxonomic changes in this genus in the last decade.
- Fossa, ring-tailed mongoose and narrow-striped mongoose. I'm not sure about the current status of the Malagasy civet at the now closed Rare Species Conservation Centre (UK).
- Common, greater hedgehog, lesser hedgehog, lowland streaked and highland streaked tenrec.
- Malagasy giant rat.

I believe the largest collection of lemurs outside Madagascar is at Duke University (USA), the largest open collection of Madagascar carnivores are at Berlin (Germany) and Plzen (Czech Republic), and the largest of tenrecs is at Plzen (not all on-show).

BIRDS:
- Madagascar pond heron.
- Madagascar crested and Madagascar sacred ibis.
- Bernier's teal and Meller's duck.
- Madagascar partridge.
- Madagascar button-quail.
- Madagascar blue and Madagascar turtle dove.
- Both vasa parrots and grey-headed lovebird.
- Giant, blue and crested coua.
- Cuckoo-roller (supposedly still kept off-show at Walsrode; formerly it was on display).
- Long-tailed and pitta-like ground-roller.
- Madagascar magpie-robin.
- Madagascar white-eye.
- Sickle-billed vanga.
- Crested drongo.
- Madagascar fody.
- Madagascar mannikin.

By far the largest collections of Madagascar birds are at Walsrode (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland); several of the species listed above are kept nowhere else. Unfortunately, some unique Madagascar birds have also disappeared from these two zoos in the last few years, and more are likely to follow. Unless new imports are possible, I suspect giant coua, cuckoo-roller, both ground-rollers, the vanga and the drongo are on the way out.

REPTILES:
* Madagascar crocodile (race of Nile crocodile).
* Parson's, Malagasy giant and panther chameleon are all present in reasonable numbers in captivity. Very small numbers of a few other species are also present. Among the many Malagasy chameleon species that have been kept, most bred little or not at all in captivity, meaning that they relied on imports of wild caught. Exports of most Madagascar chameleons are now illegal, meaning that most species are unavailable for zoos and private keepers alike. Beyond chameleons, the majority of Malgasy lizards are present in captivity, including:
- Virtually all Malagasy day gecko species.
- Several species of leaf-tailed geckos, as well as a number of other gecko species (Blaesodactylus, Ebenavia, Paroedura, etc).
- All, or at least nearly all, Madagascan iguana species.
- Both Tracheloptychus plated lizard species and quite a few Zonosaurus lizard species.
- A few Amphiglossus skink species.
* Beyond the Malagasy boas (Acranthopis, Sanzinia) that are kept in quite large numbers, few Malagasy snakes are kept in captivity, but there are a few Malagasy cat-eyed snakes species, leafnose snake and a few Madagascar hog-nosed snake species.
* All Madagascar turtles and tortoises.
* Among frogs, Mantellas and Tomato frogs are the most widely kept, but there are also a few species of Boophis, Heterixalus, Mantidactylus (sensu lato), Scaphiophryne, Platypelis, etc.

In both reptiles and amphibians, by far the largest collection in any single zoo is at Plzen, including the associated aqua-terrarium, but not all are on-show.

FISH:
- Many of the native cichlid species are kept, including quite large numbers among private aquarists. Among the Madagascar cichlid genera, I know species are kept from Katria (rare in captivity), Paratilapia (reasonably common), Paretroplus (a few species in fairly large numbers, other in small numbers, and some not in captivity at all) and Ptychochromis (same as Paretroplus). I'm not aware of anyone keeping Oxylapia or Ptychochromoides.
- Among Madagascar rainbowfish, several species of Bedotia are kept, while the keeping of Rheocles is far rarer. The associated killifish Pachypanchax are also kept in some numbers.
- I am not aware of any other of the Malagassy endemic freshwater fish (gobies, glassfish, catfish, etc) in captivity, but it is possible they're out there is very small numbers and I just missed them/forgot about seeing them.

INVERTS:
- I'm only aware of Gromphadorhinini hissing cockroaches, Achrioptera walking sticks and Zoosphaerium giant pill millipedes in captivity. The impressive Madagascar giant pill millipedes have an awful survival record in captivity. They are almost certainly best left in the wild until some studies have been performed on their wild food, which hopefully will result in a better chance of maintaining them in captivity.

There are plenty of 'semi-captive' lemurs in Madagascar, but most of these are simply large, fenced-in natural woodlands where a few lemurs live. As far as I know, the only 'real' zoo in Madagascar is Tsimbazaza Zoo in the capital. Unsurprisingly, it has a quite impressive collection of native animals, but the majority (there are a few exceptions) are also kept in North American or European zoos. Additionally, a group of Madagascar pochards are kept at a breeding facility in Madagascar. Neither indris nor silky sifaques are kept in 'real' captivity, but indris are kept in the 'semi-captive' form I described earlier.

A rather long list. It is entirely possible that I forgot something!

 

After a bit of random searching on zoochat, it appears there is another that arguably belong in this group: Antananarivo Croc Farm. Based on the photos in the gallery (haven't visited in person; wasn't aware of it before), it appears it has some 'normal' zoo features and isn't just a crocodile farm.

In the invertebrate section I also forgot the Madagascar comet moth, which sometimes is kept in butterfly halls.

 

Are there any actual Madagascan crocodiles in zoos outside of Madagascar or are they regular Nile crocs playing the role of Madagascan crocs?

 

Zoos and lemur conservation :
The Importance of Zoos to Lemur Conservation - Lemur Conservation Network

 

As does La Vanille Nature Park in Mauritius that breed hundreds of these crocodiles. They also have several other species of Malagasy reptiles and in their sister tortoise park on Rodrigues have Ploughshare Tortoises.

 

Dear Carl, you sure these are the real article as there as been frequent disputes over the validity of Malagasy crocs being naturally resident or accidental reintroductions?!

 

The crocs were imported to Mauritius directly from Madagascar in the early 1980's. They are all derived from wild Malagasy animals.

 

As well as the mammals listed by 'condor', one other Madagascan rodent is kept in captivity:
Eliurus grandidieri Grandidier's Tufted-tailed Rat
but only at 1 zoo (Plzen).

 

Walsrode does take a lot of effort preserving their malagasy bird species.
Several are doing fine (malagasy sacred ibis, couas, malagasy pond heron),
but others have disappeared or are on the brink (ground roller, vanga, etc.).

Despite the disappreance of several species in Walsrode, the fact they have been
kept in captivity might help preserving the species itself, as a lot of knowlegde is
gained about said species.

 

Does anybody know why Walsrode didn't replenish their populations of vangas and ground rollers and why other zoos don't keep more Madagascan birds? (The only species I've seen in captivity are vasas, lovebirds, and crested couas.) Is it just lack of interest?

I know that Madagascan reptiles are still being legally exported for the pet trade, so it would be surprising if the Madagascar government prohibited exports of birds even for zoological purposes.

 

Considering how the biggest threat to many species is habitat loss, predation, or the local pet trade, a ban on importing wild birds without an exemption for zoos seems really ill-considered.

I take it that US zoos could import the animals, breed them, and export them to Europe, but US zoos have little interest in Malagasy birds since they're not money makers?

It's too bad we have nothing like Walsrode in the US. Unless the National Aviary's collection is better than it appears from its website.

 

A possible Madagascan crocodile in the US that was not mentioned above is a lone individual by the name of Snappy who lives at the Capital of Texas Zoo.

Photo: Snappy, Madagascan (maybe) Nile Crocodile | ZooChat

The reason he might be a Madagascan crocodile is because the owner of the CoT Zoo has imported many animals from Madagascar. Some examples include fossa, fanaloka, and some lemurs. The "possibility" part of it is that he is signed as a Nile crocodile. Of course, many zoos (including this one) don't include subspecies in their signage. I've seen him a couple times in person- to me, at least, he looks different than other Nile crocodiles that I've seen which are of similar size. I meant to message the zoo a long time ago asking, but I had forgotten to and this thread reminded me to (I just did). I'll reply back here if I get a response (or if someone else can confirm the status of this individual?).

 

Now I have to visit the Capital of Texas Zoo. When I moved to Austin, I was disappointed by the zoo offerings here. The Austin Zoo is all animals that I've seen, and the Capital of Texas Zoo doesn't even have a listing of its animals, but seems to be mostly the sorts of things I've seen before. Plus they have a white tiger, which isn't an animal I think zoos should be keeping.

However looking over their gallery more closely, I see a sportive lemur, a fossa, and a springhare (not Madgascan but still neat). And you've mentioned they also have a fanaloka.

I wonder what other Madagascan species though might be keeping (aside from ringtail lemurs, of which they have plenty of pictures). Like I'd really like to see mouse lemurs or some of the Malagasy mongooses, and really, really like to see Madagascan birds, even ones I've seen before like crested couas. And given that Madagascan reptiles are often kept by private collectors, I should go and make a list of what they have.