Lets take a look at the species still not represented in our Gallery ( and what we can do about it ) : - V. bangonorum - V. baritji - V. bitatawa - V. bogerti - V. bushi - V. cerambonensis - V. dalubhasa - V. douarrha - V. eremius - V. finschi - V. flavescens * - V. glebopalma - V. hamersleyensis -V. juxtindicus * - V. keithhornei * - V. kingorum - V. lirungensis - V. mabitang - V. mitchelli * - V. nesterovi - V. obor - V. palawanensis - V. rasmusseni - V. samarensis * - V. semiremex - V. semotus - V. telenestes - V. togianus - V. yemenensis - V. yuwonoi * - V. zagorum That makes 31 species still missing in our Gallery ! However.. there is hope because the species marked with an * are still kept / were untill recently kept at collections which have been visited by ZooChatters so maybe they have still photos of these species but didn't upload them : For Varanus flavescens its already a little longer ago that Rotterdam kept it but still, its possible that somebody has taken pictures of it. - Varanus juxtindicus was kept untill at least 2018 at the Animal Education Center at Hull - Varanus keithhornei is / was kept at the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park - Varanus mitchelli is / was kept at the Aquazoo Düsseldorf and at Perth Zoo - Varanus samarensis is kept ( and resently even bred ) at a number of collections in the Philippines - Varanus yuwonoi is kept at Cologne Zoo So I guess it would ( should ! ) be possible to fill at least some of the gaps of missing species in our Gallery.....
Monitors bred at zoos in the period 1980 - 1989 ( from the International ZooYear books vol. 22 to vol. 30 ) : 1980: Varanus bengalensis - Honolulu 1 Varanus griseus caspius - Novosibirsk (4) Varanus salvator - San Antonio 5(2) Varanus storri - Bochum 1 Varanus timorensis timorensis - Albuquerque - unkown number 1981 : Varanus bengalensis - Madras SP 12 Varanus salvator - Surabaja 1 1982 : Vanranus acanthurus - Stuttgart 3 Varanus exanthematicus - Emmen 22(4) 1983: Varanus exanthematicus - Emmen 32(5)* Varanus flavescens - Rotterdam 4(3) Varanus komodoensis - Surabaja 8(1) Varanus niloticus - Halfway House 2 Varanus storri - Bochum 2 Varanus timorensis similis - Basle 1 1984 : Varanus acanthurus - Stuttgart 14 Varanus komodoensis - Surabaja 1 Varanus salvator - Philadelphia 1 Varanus storri - Abilene 1 1985 : Varanus acanthurus - Stuttgart 8 Varanus salvator - Fort Worth 7 Varanus tristis - Stuttgart 1 1986 : Varanus acanthurus - Cologne 1 Varanus albigularis - Pretoria 2 1987 : Varanus acanthurus - Frankfurt 16* Varanus gouldi - Adelaide 8 Varanus gouldi - Dallas 2 Varanus niloticus - Manyeleti 23 Varanus salvator - Madras SP 15(3) Varanus s. salvator - Brownsville 2 Varanus storri - Abilene 1 Varanus storri - Miami MZ 3 Varanus varius - Sydney 13(2) 1988 : Varanus acanthurus - Frankfurt 7* Varanus dumerili - Buffalo 5 Varanus indicus - Philadelphia 2 Varanus kingorum - Gosfort 1 Varanus niloticus - Halfway House 2 ( laid by female which was gravid in the wild ) Varanus rudicollis - Fort Worth 1 Varanus salvator - Brownsville 5-2 Varanus salvator - Madras CB 18(6) 1989 : Varanus acanthurus - Frankfurt 23* Varanus exanthermaticus - Tallin 10 Varanus albigularis - Kraaifontijn (4) Varanus griseus - Tel Aviv unknown number Varanus niloticus - Halfway House 1 ( laid by female which was gravid in the wild ) Varanus salvator - Brownsville 8-0 Varanus salvator - Madras CB 8(2) Varanus tristis orientalis - Stuttgart 5 ( number in parentheses means : numbers that did not survived ) ( * means : second generation )
Thanks to @Yoshistar888 we have another new species from which a photo can be found in the Gallery and which can be taken off from the list of species not represented in the Gallery. Yoshistar uploaded this picture of a Rusty water monitor ( Varanus semiremex ) : Rusty Water Monitor (Varanus semiremex) - ZooChat ( still 30 species to go )
Newest issue of the monitor-magazine BIAWAK ( vol. 14, no. 1 and 2 ) : http://varanidae.org/14_1-2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0PiFBUxxn2byaEQ2uLujwoSvlLZRMH0lSGADUAw9HOLtPdBEWJt3k-4H0
Found some more information about the zoo-breeding of this species : the first zoo-breeding of this species in the Netherlands was at 'De Oliemeulen' in 2006. From 2 till 4 March 4 young hatched : ( copyright ANP )
@ZooBinh has uploaded a photo of this species which is kept at the Boonhoft Museum of Discovery - a collection not mentioned before of keepers of the species : Discovery Zoo - Merten's Water Monitor - Sep. 2020 by ZooBinh posted 19 Jun 2021 at 4:56 AM
A few I've seen at less common places in the last two years. Philly also has Merten's, as does Staten Island. Claws N Paws has Argus. Electric City Aquarium and Rainforest Adventures both have Asian. Rainforest Adventures and Roer's Zoofari both have Nile. Rainforest Adventures and Pocono Snake & Animal Farm have Savannah. The one at Poconos is a rescue, found digging through trash nearby (in NE Pennsylvania).
This species can be seen again in a European zoo, Tiergarten Delitzsch ( Germany ) is now keeping 2 specimens. Hopefully a ZooChatter will soon visit this collection and make the first photo for our Gallery !
Just a note Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park is the previous name of Australia Zoo. The name change was in the early '90's so any record under that name is likely to be 30 or more years old.
Just got a message from a fellow ZooChatter that there is a photo of this species in our Gallery. It was taken at Taman Mini Indonesia by @devilfish in 2016 so one species less to go ! Tri-coloured monitor, June 2016 by devilfish posted 25 Mar 2018 at 12:49 PM
Thanks to @devilfish we can add again a species to the list of species from which photos are in the Gallery. A photo of the Rennell Island monitor - Varanus juxindicus has been uploaded by him in the UK Other Gallery : Rennell Island monitor, Varanus juxtindicus by devilfish posted 9 Sep 2021 at 12:44 PM
A 3 day trip to the Czech Republic resulted in 2 Lifers among the Monitor-lizards . Both are already represented in our Gallery but evenso I was happy to see both species for the first time ( at least as far as I can remember ) : Quince monitor - Varanus melinus by vogelcommando posted 20 Oct 2021 at 7:09 PM Gray's monitor / Butaan - Varanus olivaceus by vogelcommando posted 20 Oct 2021 at 7:06 PM
Can confirm this species is kept in Australia, I saw the species at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. I have a picture, I'll post it later.
Oops, it was actually Southern Pilbara Rock Monitor, V. hamersleyensis. I believe this is the first in the gallery.
Best Practice Guidelines for the Crocodile monitor published by EAZA : https://www.researchgate.net/public..._for_the_Crocodile_Monitor_Varanus_salvadorii
A few American notes: Around in the US in low numbers; Omaha and Rosamond Gifford both keep this species. All 3 of these listings are 8 years old or more. None have been reported from any of these zoos in recent years, nor from any others I'm aware of. To my knowledge, neither of these still exhibit Perentie; Dallas's haven't been seen for a long time, while the enclosure that held LA's animals for a while became a second Komodo enclosure. However, two other facilities - Omaha and Reptile Gardens - were both documented as keeping and displaying the species in 2021 so it's still around. Indeed; the United States actually has more holders than Europe (we have over 40 collections with the species). In recent years it's been photographed in at least 2 American facilities (Tennessee Aquarium and Fort Worth). Also been reported from Toledo and Blank Park in recent years. Bronx also does. Omaha also holds them, no reports of them at Bronx recently.
Are the Omaha and Rosamond Gifford holdings new? I never encountered the species at either but my visits are a few years old now. At least some of Dallas' Perentie went to Iguanaland in Florida. I don't know if they still have any off-exhibit. Bronx no longer has Freckled Monitor. Bronx has not held Lace Monitor for a number of years now. To my knowledge, Bronx's monitor holdings are as follows: Spiny-Tailed Monitor (ssp brachyurus), Black Tree Monitor, Komodo Dragon, Blue-Spotted Tree Monitor, Merten's Water Monitor, Nile Monitor, Gray's Monitor, and Solomon Islands Spiny Monitor (Prospect Park also keeps this species). ~Thylo
