@ZooElephantsMan- I don't think African Forest Elephants were phased-out, they simply just never had a large sustainable population in captivity and I'm pretty sure they died out on their own before the AZA came into play. Also, I think I've heard Red Pandas are actually not that easy to breed in captivity but they're still Vulnerable in the wild and grab visitor's attention so they're commonly worked with. Pretty sure they're an example of a species the AZA has a monopoly on as well. ~Thylo
I've seen asiatic lions in a zoo in India. An endangered animal, which would draw visitor's attentions ("I didn't know that there are lions in asia?"). Instead, the AZA works with african lions, all either hybrids or transvaal. There are asian and angolan lions just across the pond, but we continue to maintain these animals. I believe San Diego has or had tsavo lions, a local variant of the masai lion, but they were phased out. Now lion lovers will just have to settle for the same subspecies. As will many animal lovers. Perhaps zoos should remember the AZA phase ins and outs are just suggestions. ~ Thaumatibis
Asiatic Lions are "managed" over seas but almost the entire population is severely inbred at this point and more or less doomed. I agree we should focus on more than one subspecies, though. How come three kinds of tigers can be managed but only one Lion and one Leopard? It makes no sense. I think we could easily manage at least three or four Leopard subspecies in captivity and probably at least two Lion subspecies if we had good founder stock. I've noticed that zoos are pretty quick to follow phase-outs but it seems very little places actually work with phase-ins. ~Thylo
[QUOwhat's hylacineAlive;872822]Asiatic Lions are "managed" over seas but almost the entire population is severely inbred at this point and more or less doomed. I agree we should focus on more than one subspecies, though. How come three kinds of tigers can be managed but only one Lion and one Leopard? It makes no sense. I think we could easily manage at least three or four Leopard subspecies in captivity and probably at least two Lion subspecies if we had good founder stock. I've noticed that zoos are pretty quick to follow phase-outs but it seems very little places actually work with phase-ins. ~Thylo[/QUOTE] And what's the situation with jaguars? ~ Thaumatibis
Well if you're like me and follow the three subspecies theory about Jaguars then I believe at least two of them (perhaps all three) are around in the AZA as well as some non-ssp animals. Pretty sure it's the nominate that's focused on, though. Don't quote me on that, however. ArizonaDocent might be able to answer this a little better than I. ~Thylo
Thanks. BTW, why is it there are several asian leopards but only one subspecies in africa? And it's vice versa with lions. Kinda odd. ~ Thaumatibis
My parents have a picture of what looks like a moon bear from the Cincinnati Zoo in 1983. Not sure if that zoo still has them though.
I can understand how zoos phase out some animals, but a few are important. They should have all the bear species for sure. It would be easy to important a bunch of rescued ones from bile farms, but importations never happen nowadays. When was the most recent importation of animals in general?
Guys this is completely unrelated but I have nowhere else to ask this. What happens if your Private Message inbox is full and someone sends you a private message? Does it just not get sent, or do you get notified and it won't show up until you clean up your inbox?
the sender gets a message saying that the message was undeliverable due to you not having enough room. You won't get anything until you clear your box and the sender pm's it again. Don't let your private message folder get full. The inbox and outbox combined equal your total allowance of stored messages (so in theory your inbox can be completely empty but you can't receive messages because your entire allowance is filled by your outbox messages).
Well first off, I believe people go back and forth between how many African subspecies there are for Leopards. Personally, I'd say there are/were at least three. And with Lions, their range in Asia is very limited. Can't really give a better answer, though.. @elefante, they don't ~Thylo
I wouldn't say they never happen, but it's a lot rarer nowadays and usually not on a large scale. Some more recent examples would be the Tasmanian Devils imported to San Diego and Albuquerque and Banded Palm Civets to Nashville. Los Angeles is currently importing Vicuña from Europe and I know the Beardsley Zoo and possibly Southwicks will be getting some. ~Thylo
To answer the original question, regarding how many Asiatic Black Bears there are in AZA zoos, there are a total of 9 zoos that hold them: Cheyenne Mountain, Denver, Henson Robinson, Little Rock, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Roger Williams, Virginia, and Miami. I'm not sure about non-AZA zoos.
I saw asiatic lions at the Jerusalem zoo in Israel. I didn't really get the chance to appreciate it though, because that was before I became a huge zoo nerd like I am today. I would be surprised if there was more than one subspecies of asiatic lion because of their very small range, which is confined to only one reserve. Despite their small population, their numbers in the wild are growing. I think there are some plans by the Indian Government to release african cheetahs into the wild in India. They would've done persian cheetahs but Iran won't give up any. Also, they don't want to disturb the wild population of persian cheetahs because theres less than 100. That topic just crossed my mind because of people talking about asian lions earlier
Upon my last visit, the Milwaukee County Zoo had a bear but he wasn't out to see that day. A big shame. I hope to snap some photos next time for the Gallery here.
Metro Richmond Zoo also has Asiatic Black Bears, although the facility is not AZA accredited. Lincoln Park Zoo in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, also has a single Asiatic Black Bear.