Anyone know the status of this species in captivity? I read somewhere they have an extremely selective diet that is very hard to replicate in captivity. Does the Singapore Zoo still exhibit them? Their website says nothing about them at all.
Singapore still exhibits them. They have been mentioned a lot on these forums, and I think that there would have to be a very good reason for Singapore to give them up. I will be going to Singapore zoo in about 4 months, and I hope to see them in the wild in Borneo as well. They do apparently have a very selective diet, like many of the langur species.
Yes, Singapore Zoo has them-- and that is about as good as it is going to get if you want to see proboscis monkeys in a zoo. Back in the early 90's, I made several trips to the Bronx Zoo just to see the proboscis monkeys-- and was not disappointed! There was quite a large group at that time in Jungleworld--big male, lots of females, juveniles, babies--but sadly one by one they all got sick and died until the colony was no more. On Borneo proper, the boat rides on the Kinabatangan River should provide good looks at proboscis in the wild (and perhaps even Bornean pygmy elephants if you are lucky)-- if you would like a much closer look at wild proboscis and close-up photos, try the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey sanctuary near Sandakan in Sabah: http://www.proboscis.cc - Labuk News Proboscis Monkey Blog » Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary
you'd have to be blind to miss one up the kinabatangan. in the end we were saying "oh just another proboscis...next!" there is a captive group at the zoo in KK also
Singapore Zoo has a population of about 16 proboscis monkeys now. Around 6 to 8 are on display at all times, the rest are kept off-exhibit. The Singapore Zoo's website is terrible, and I've been chiding them about it for the longest time. Their diet at Singapore consists of about 20 different types of leaves collected from cultivated crops as well as gathered from wild trees in the surrounding forest. Besides Singapore, a couple of zoos in Indonesia (Surabaya, Ragunan) and a zoo in Kota Kinabalu (as pointed out by Patrick) has them on display also.
That is what happened to the groups kept in Europe during the 1960's-1980's at Twycrossw, Frankfurt,(others?) They seemed to be doing okay and even breeding, but they couldn't sustain their numbers in the longterm. There are none in Europe now.
@Pertinax: Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne and Erfurt had some Proboscis during that time span; Erfurt even "managed" to create a Proboscis-Douc-hybrid. The ratio between births and losses due to illness/age was unable to sustain stable populations, resulting in the species "phasing out" in European zoos. Same thing is happening at the moment to many species in European zoos (Saiga, King Penguins...).
What on earth did that look like? Patrick--thanks for the heads up re the proboscis at KK. I know you enjoyed the rhino. How about the rest of the zoo? How are the proboscis kept there? Do they have a large family/potential breeding group?
@kifaru: Unfortunately, I didn't see it myself, but the animal was described as "something so odd that it is hard to describe"... Is that enough of a description for You?
ha ha! the KK zoo is much better than most SE asian zoos. all the animals appeared very healthy, well fed and in clean enclosures. whilst small, i would say its standards are comparable to most western zoos, bar for one problem - overcrowding of tigers and to a greater extent sunbears. those exhibits had problems that needed addressing. the proboscis are fortunately being cared for by a young american woman who i had the pleasure of chatting with quite a bit. she was doing an excellent job volunteering and after studying to be a primate keeper was getting her hands-on experience in KK as she said it was hard to get placement in the US. there was a one male - multi-female group, including some orphaned youngsters, but despite being a group made up of random individuals the animals were largely well bonded and i have little doubts they will eventually breed. their cage was initially built for eagles, but they were moved there after "swimming" to freedom on their island enclosure (would have thought that was obvious ). still, their cage is large, well furnished/vegetated and had a plunge pool the animals used... it works well for them, for the time being.
