Malagasy animal species in zoos

I looked again; it's just a brown lemur. I'm not used to seeing them, so I jumped to what I hoped it was.

Is there a reason no sportive lemurs are kept in captivity?

 

I saw a red-tailed sportive lemur at the Paris Vincennes Zoo in 1988; I saw my first aye-aye, broad-nosed gentle lemur and fork-marked dwarf lemur on the same visit. The zoo had representatives of 5 families of lemur; I saw representatives of 4 families in Madagascar in 1987, but I didn't see an aye-aye. ZootierlisteHomepage says that Vincennes Zoo had red-tailed sportive lemurs from 1986 to 1993, so it is possible to keep them in captivity. I suspect that the reason why they are not kept is due to problems with exporting them from Madagascar or a general lack of interest in sportive lemurs, especially as they rarely appear in books.

 

I agree. I was fortunate enough to visit Vincennes (Paris) on five occasions during the 1980s; there was an amazing lemur collection there during that decade.

I saw my first aye-aye, fork-marked lemur, sportive lemur, broad-nosed gentle lemur, Coquerel's mouse lemur and sifaka there during this period.

Vincennes is still the only zoo where I've ever seen sportive lemur and fork-marked lemur. Sadly I expect that I'll never see these again.

 

Hello Tim. Vincennes Zoo also had a hairy-eared dwarf lemur from 1991 to 2002. Despite a few return visits to the nocturnal lemur house to see it, I never did and I have a feeling that it is another species I'm unlikely to see.

 

Most of my visits to Vincennes were before this species arrived but I did visit a couple of times whilst it was in the collection.

Like you, I was never successful in seeing it either.

 

Unfortunately, no I haven’t; I found it very difficult to get decent photographs of these lemurs in Paris.

They were always labelled coquereli in Paris although, of course, zaza wasn’t recognised as a separate species until 2005 anyway. I note that Zootierliste considers the recent European animals as zaza. Do you have a reference for reclassifying these as zaza not coquereli ?

 

Does anyone know if any American zoos have Malagasy rodents? I was pleasantly surprised to see that several European zoos have giant jumping rats, but I assume that they came from the breeding program in Jersey and don't know if the Jersey program would let American zoos have them (or if American zoos would want them). The only other species that look interesting enough to keep in a zoo are the tuft-tailed rats, of which one species is kept in one European zoo according to Zootierliste.

And on a similar note, does anyone know if any American zoos have streaked tenrecs of either species?

 

I've seen giant jumping rats at three institutions- the National Zoo, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, and the Philadelphia Zoo (signed but didn't see, but I know they are there). They recently went off exhibit at the National Zoo, I'm not sure of their current status. If I remember correctly, Bronx has them as well.

 

Thanks for this; I have the first edition of this work, it seems like I need to get the latest version too.

It would be interesting to know if the earlier importations of giant mouse lemurs, which were then called coquereli, would now be considered zaza too.

Two giant mouse lemurs were born at London Zoo back in 1885; wonder if they were coquereli or zaza.

 

I saw a red forest rat (Nesomys rufus) at the Tsimbazaza Zoo in 1987, as well as the type specimen/s of the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalamur aureus), which had recently been discovered. I saw a lowland streaked tenrec (Hemicentetes semispinosus) in Maroansetra, but a guide said it was a rat.

 

I’ve been wondering how many endemic Malagasy species are publicly kept in zoos. More specifically sifakas, bamboo lemurs, tenrecs, bats, birds, reptiles, and insects. Any information would be great

 

The following species are listed in Zootierliste:
Greater and lesser hedgehog tenrecs; lowland and highland streaked tenrecs; tail-less tenrec
Aye-aye
Black and white, white-belted black and white and red ruffed lemurs; eastern grey, greater and Lac Alaotra and northern bamboo lemurs; black, blue-eyed black, collared, common and white-collared brown, crowned, mongoose, red-bellied, red-fronted, ring-tailed and white-fronted lemurs
Geoffroy's and western fat-tailed dwarf lemurs; Goodman's and grey mouse lemurs
Crowned sifaka
Eastern ring-tailed vontsira, fossa, northern ring-tailed boky
Madagascar pond heron; Madgascar crested ibis
Black, eastern lesser, greater and western vasa parrots; Madagascar lovebird
Blue, crested and giant couas
Pitta-like ground roller; cuckoo roller
Sickle-billed vanga
Angulated, common and Malagasy spider, Madagascan flat-tailed and radiated tortoises
Dumeril's boa; eastern and western Madagascar and Malagasy tree boas; Malagasy ground boa
Black Malagasy and Malagasy cat-eyed snakes; Leaf-nosed snake; Madagascar, Malagasy blonde and speckled hog-nosed snakes
Ankafana and central bright-eyed frogs; Baron's, Bernhard's, golden, green, Guibe's, splendid and blue-legged mantellas; Belsileo, Ebenau's, Folohy, Madagascar and eastern golden frogs; Belsileo and Tsarafidy Madagascar frogs; eastern white-lipped tree frog
Some zoos have Madagascar rainbow fish and many zoos have Madagascar hissing cockroaches

 

Here is what I have seen:
Black-And-White Ruffed Lemur: Henry Vilas Zoo, Special Memories Zoo, Timbavati Wildlife Park
Red Ruffed Lemur: Special Memories Zoo, Milwaukee County Zoo, Minnesota Zoo (no longer kept at Minnesota)
Crowned Lemur: Lincoln Park Zoo
Blue-Eyed Black Lemur: Como Park Zoo
Ring-Tailed Lemur: Milwaukee County Zoo, Special Memories Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, Animal Haven Zoo, Henry Vilas Zoo, Glacier Ridge Animal Farm
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec: Minnesota Zoo (No longer kept here)
Spider Tortoise: Disney's Animal Kingdom
Radiated Tortoise: Brookfield Zoo, Minnesota Zoo
Mantella Frogs: Shedd Aquarium
Tomato Frog: Brookfield Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee Public Museum (no longer kept at the museum)
Giant Day Geckos: Brookfield Zoo, Milwaukee County Zoo
Chameleons: Milwaukee County Zoo
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach: Lincoln Park Zoo, Manitowoc Lincoln Park Zoo, Glacier Ridge Animal Farm, Minnesota Zoo, NEW Zoo, Milwaukee County Zoo, Henry Vilas Zoo, Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, Como Park Zoo
I don't keep track of the fish I see, but I am sure there are several species of Madagascar fish kept in zoos, especially at major aquariums like Shedd.

 

Additionally, I have seen Coquerel's sifakas at the Maryland Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, and Bronx Zoo, as well as aye-ayes at the Cincinnati Zoo.

 

I'm sure there are many more but I don't think the Grandidier's tuft-tailed rat at Plzen Zoo and the Madagascar buttonquail at San Diego Zoo (if they are still there) were mentioned on this thread before so here you go.

There's also the Crested drongo at Zürich but it isn't 100% endemic to Madagascar (a subspecies being found in Comoro Islands) but nearly.

 

I've just found the Malagasy rodents in ZTL, which lists the Grandidier's tufted-tailed rat and giant jumping rat.
I've seen the following species that weren't in my ZTL list:
Tsimbaza Zoo: Island mouse (Neomys rufus), golden bamboo lemur
Paris Vincennes: Fork-marked lemur. and red-tailed sportive lemur. Despite a few attempts, I didn't see the hairy-eared dwarf lemur. I saw a dwarf lemur at Fuengirola Zoo in 1994; I think it was a greater dwarf lemur.
Marwell Zoo: Northern giant mouse lemur
Los Angeles Zoo: Coquerel's sifaka

 

There are quite a few more Malagasy fishes than have been mentioned. I have seen the toothcarps Pachypanchax omalonota and P sakaramyi, the cichlids Paretroplus menarambo (pin-striped damba) and P. keineri and I know that there are more species of Paratilapia, Paretroplus and Ptychochromis in public and private collections around the world. Likewise there are an awful lot of Mantella frogs, chameleons, day geckos and leaf-tailed geckos.