No Pronghorn OutSide America?!

Stjarna, it turns out that you are correct, they are still around ??????????? ? ????

 

Absolutely. I think there are actually quite a few of these more "highly strung" ungulates that can be rather problematic to keep in a conventional zoo situation, examples such as Impala, Springbok etc.. , and climate has proved to be an important consideration in the past in keeping species such as the Saiga for example, I would imagine the Tibetan Antelope would also fit into this category, and as discussed the Pronghorn too.
I think many of these species are perhaps more suited to a larger open area,
certainly altitude is an important factor for some. Those species which have a strong flight reaction are very hard to physically contain or manage too closely without risking injury and an early death.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think the plans have been officially scrapped. It was still a part of the masterplan in early 2013 at least. However, several things have happened at the zoo recently, including a big change in management. I doubt we'll see the realization of the North American section anytime soon, if at all. According to the plans, it was supposed to include the majority of the larger mammal species found in the United States; several of these are already housed elsewhere in Tierpark Berlin (but not pronghorns, of course). The section is supposed to be built next to the Eurasian section, which itself houses an impressive selection of ungulates.

 

Condor do you know what species are in that master plan? I am just curious. It seems like outside North America the typical view of American megafauna is of the Boreal animals (much like Savannah animals dominate the view of African megafauna to Americans). So were there species like Black Bear, Whitetail, Cougar, Bobcat going to be included or just the standard "yellowstone" fauna?

 

FYI all those species you list also occur in Yellowstone.

 

Did some research on Zootierliste for historical dates from Europe :
Tierpark Berlin 1969 - 1972
Berlin Zoo 1902 - 1937 ( with breaks )
Frankfurt 1936 - 1937
Hamburg Zoo ( NOT Hagenbeck ) 1887
Hannover 1936 11 young animals imported ( transported by a zeppelin !!! ), partly given to other zoos ( Frankfurt and Berlin Zoo )
1961 1.2 imported + 3.0 later after the ( castrated ) male died, 1966 first German breeding result, 1973 last animal died.
Antwerp Zoo no further information
Copenhagen around 1953
Vincennes Paris 2 breeding results in the 1960-ties - 1961 European first breeding and 1964
Rotterdam ( old zoo ) 1874
Whipesnade 1964 - 1966 UK-first breeding 1964
London Zoo 1865 1.0 and 1884 1.1 ( <--- these last ones not mentioned in Zootierliste )
Askaniya Nova no further information

 

yes they do hence why I had it in quotes. Even in North America the exhibits that focus on American Megafauna focus on the boreal species over the temperate ones. Possibly because of Bergman's Rule.

 

But Yellowstone doesn't have any boreal forests. Its predominantly temperate coniferous, montane, and temperate grasslands.

 

Really? I've never once seen a boreal North American exhibit.

 

Okay so I would like to bump this thread regardless of whether or not the participating users are still active on this website to give a quick update about the pronghorn in Kanazawa.

Kanazawa had one male Pronghorn left named Butch. Butch was born in May 29 2002. He was sent to Japan from San Diego (the source I found didn't mention any other animals) at November 28 in the same year. Butch was fifteen yeard, a record in Japan, old when he died on 11 September of 2017. A surprising number considering that the Region Kanazawa was located in does get warm and humid in the summers.

https://www.hama-midorinokyokai.or..../12aeaa7fcde43e6878f2c67ec4314a08d40db5d7.pdf

Due to combination of biosecurity laws (which as far as I know were passed years after Butch's arrival), and overall lack of interest towards any animal that is not an ABC animal in Japan, I would not hold my breath for Kanazawa to make an attempt to get pronghorn ever again.

I do wonder how Kanazawa was able to manage keeping Butch for so long despite the weather conditions. Maybe their experience could be helpful for other zoos with regards to shipping pronghorn or keeping them safe from any risky weather.

 

*fifteen years old

 

Not only outside of North America, Pronghorns are also pretty rare in Canadian zoos, although they are native species in Canada.

 

So does Columbus. Detroit also had them until recently (albeit for only a couple of years).

 

I don't think Pronghorn care too much about humidity. Several zoos keep them in humid places, such as Minnesota, Columbus, and NEW.

 

I'm sure all the zoos and zoo professionals are simply wrong then.. Some North American collections have had success with keeping them outside of their native range, but there are just as many US zoos who have failed to keep them with animals either dying or being phased-out in time. In the northeast, several zoos have kept them in my lifetime but the populations have never seemed to thrive.

Of course, it also depends on subspecies here (as with Bighorn Sheep as well).

EDIT: Pronghorn are also native to Minnesota.

~Thylo

 

I mean, none of those collections are breeding - but certainly the animals live perfectly fine.

 

Just to add some detail the Minnesota Zoo breeds pronghorn pretty much every year, and has had probably several hundred births over the years. They received an AZA Bean Award for their pronghorn breeding record in 2000.

 

I forgot that Minnesota does. But none of the other Midwest collections do - NEW, Columbus, Detroit, ect.

 

ZooAmerica managed to breed the species a few years ago, but only have one animal now.