Rare species kept in private (european) collections

Not sure if is the correct thread. But I am trying to do some research into Grebes kept in captivity in Europe. I have contacted a few breeders. But I wondered if anyone could help me with what grebes are kept in European Zoos? Which species and general numbers.
thanks

 

Zootierliste should provide the information you need. As you have probably found out, both Little and Black-necked are kept, and are probably in a few zoos in Eastern Europe.
Be interested if you find any othe species.

 

How many zoos have a decent collection of estrildid finches? I know someone who kept 3 species of Lonchura, all of which are kept in only a single zoo in Europe. He considered only one of them to be rare.

And this is not even a large collection at all (like, 4 more species besides the Lonchuras, all common ones), just a clear example I know of.

 

I saw quite a few in Wroclaw.
Newquay had a collection of waxbills when I was last there -- Blue-headed and Red-cheeked Cordon Bleus, Gold-breasted and Red-eared Waxbills, Melba Finches and Red-billed Firefinches, most of them breeding. There was also a (sporadically) breeding colony of Golden-crowned Bishops (Napoleon Weavers).
Again, last time I visited, Chester had a colony of Timor (Lesser Sunda) Zebrafinches.

 

Which naturally is the place where two out of three species I was talking about are kept. Of course there are a few zoos with nice collections, but many mainstream zoos don't go beyond zebra finches, java sparrows and the occasional gouldian finch.

Given that many species are relatively easy (and cheap!) to keep, breed and obtain, their diversity in public collection is lacking. Many species are colorful, noisy and active. I sometimes wonder whether the lack of interest in them by zoos is justified. They will never be a star attraction, but I think they can be a very pleasant addition.

 

Antwerp keeps 15 species of waxbills and 5 species of weaver.

 

I just discovered animals on a website for exotic pets that I thought would never make it to the trade - Sadly they did

Some of the animals with photoproof
arabian oryx
tiger quoll
largha seal

 

Quite a bunch of reptile, amphibian and fish species as well as exotic invertebrates are more or less common in the private sector, but pretty rare or even absent in zoos. At WdG, this includes several Crotalus species, Pleurodeles nebulosus as well as the majority of displayed scorpion and spider species.

 

I will not link any source of a critical background

All I can say is I searched on the internet the word exotic pets in english and german
I am absolutely against keeping exotic "pets"

 

So no axolotl, cornsnakes, or crystal red shrimps for you then? Your loss. But that's the drawback of absolutism...

 

So, that rubbishes my entire hobby, which includes propagating some threatened bird species. There are people out there who cannot discriminate between responsible holding of exotics and the idiot with a pet monkey.

 

One group of softbills that is considerbly more common in the private sector (still very rare) than in zoos is broadbills. As far as aim aware there is just a few Green Broadbills left here in the USA and a quick search on zootierliste reveal that although both Green and Long-tailed broadbills are kept only Green broadbill is on display in one collection. They are quite expensive and notoriously hard to breed in captivity which is amplified by a quick look at zootierliste which reveal that very few European zoos have successfully bred them (even fewer in the USA).

I know a few people keeping pairs of both Green and Long-tailed broadbills in Europe but none have successfully bred them so far, and I would suspect the captive population must be both very aging and quite in-breed these days. It is therefore quite surprising that there is still such a diversity of these birds in captivity. Based on research through various facebook groups and friends of mine keeping softbills in Europe and frequenting the larger birds markets in the UK/Netherlands would say Long-tailed broadbill is most common in captivity these days followed by Green Broadbill. The others are considerbly rarer but Black-and-red, Banded, Black-and-yellow and Javan Broadbills are all still kept in Europe.

For anyone interested in getting a rough idea of rare softbills available in the UK this facebook page is a good place to start Smilers Farm Avairy Birds

 

Why so?

Given that the animal receives the care it needs, it have no problem with keeping exotic pets. I even keep some exotic animals myself, among them a few species that are rather uncommon in zoos.

 

Well first of all to clarify this is a misconception

I do not mean it that way, sorry for any irritation

Eventhough I would say everyone has his/her own opion and can choose to be against keeping any certain kind of living creature for whatever reason. Their opion won't affect you, neither I nor any other person here is (most likely) a politician on the way to ban animals from private homes

The reason I put the word pets in quotation marks is that I personally don't like to refer to animals that should not be kept like a dog or cat like a pet in a house or flat (kangaroos, lemurs and muntjacs to name a few)

Saying this I was not talking about any of those animals you mentioned

Exotic is relative (at least in german) and the species that were concidered to be once are rather common these days

Now comes my opion
I agree with you that animals can be kept in captivity both private and in special institutions like zoological gardens if one fullfills all the needs

What is questionable is how easy people can get animals without a proof of proffesion

I was never refering to enthusiasts who do inform themself before getting a new pet and take very well care of those creatures but those people who decide to choose to keep exotic animals because they are fancy, and this is how they tread them, like an accessiore

A lil more regulation is needed in days where some pets are atill wild caught in nimbers that do harm the wild populations and the classic fluffy friends are breed in mass husbandry

That is it - peace

 

Last week I saw 2 captive bred Criticaly Endangered Union Island geckos ( Gonatodes daudini ) at a Dutch herp-shop ( see Gonatodes daudini | ZooChat and Gonatodes daudini | ZooChat ). They are bred by a small number of private keepers and have never been kept by any zoo in Europe.

 

There have never been any legal exports of Gonatodes daudini to Europe so all animals is the result of illegal smuggling.

 

There seem to be quite a few Hammer-Headed Bats circling the private sector atm with only one individual being kept in a zoo (behind the scenes).

I think opossums in general are a group that are much more common in private than in public. There are at least five species I know that are about in Europe (with another two being present in America) that are either very rare or absent in zoos, and when present in zoos they usually come from the private sector.

~Thylo