BioParque do Rio Rio de Janeiro Zoo (Bioparque do Rio)

I think the only species that you've mentioned that would be impossible to be kept there would be the Superagüi lion tamarins as these are unfortunately not kept in captivity anywhere inside or outside Brazil.

I don't think these will ever be kept by zoos in the future either and their conservation will instead be through in-situ efforts (not necessarily a bad thing at all IMO).

The last I heard about it was that there is only ever a contingency plan by SPVS to take in an injured animal that cannot be rehabilitated and that if this happens these would be kept in enclosures in-situ in the Atlantic rainforest in Parana.

 

There were plans throughout the 80s and up to the early 90's to establish an ex-situ population of Northern muriqui at the Rio primate centre (which still holds the Southern muriqui) and the director Dr Alcides Pissinati strongly believed at the time that this would have been a good idea.

However, there were some issues and field biologists studying the species in the wild were generally against the idea of capturing wild animals both because of the difficulties of doing this safely and also the changes and disruptions that this might cause to the social groups.

As far as I'm aware ultimately this never went ahead apart from "Zidane" (though they were hoping to obtain a mate for this animal and did have plans).

 

With the Superagüi lion tamarin there were plans to take this animal into ex-situ management at the São Paulo zoo during the early to mid 1990's (I personally believe that it would have been prudent to do so at that particular point in time).

I believe that this was suggested by Jersey Zoo's Jeremy Mallinson who was then working closely as an advisor as part of the Recovery and Management Committees for Lion Tamarins.

However, like with the Northern muriqui the capture of lion tamarins did not go ahead. I don't know exactly why but I know that IPE were facing lots of challenges trying to conserve the species in-situ due to disagreements and conflict with local peoples relating to illegal deforestation activities.

After over 20 years IPE have decided to discontinue work in that region and instead to focus on their work with the black lion tamarin in the Moro do Diabo State park in São Paulo state which has been far more successful.

Now the NGO that is working towards conserving the Superagüi lion tamarin in the Superagüi National park and Jacupiranga National park is SPVS which is based in Parana and like IPE is a very good organization.

SPVS - Sociedade de Pesquisa em Vida Selvagem e Educação Ambiental

 

Found two other old videos which show a bit of Rio de Janeiro, as well as its zoo. Both from the 1990's (one was recorded in 1996, and the other was recorded in an unknown year):

 

Really nice. We can see the zoo had almost the same look that remained until very short time ago. Unfortunately, some exhibits seemed horrible. Rio is too iconic to have a zoo in that situation, and it's great that we are having this giant renovation.

 

Any new and progress reports as to the reopening yet?

 

Fortunately yes. The reopening is probably gonna happen in april, and the big cat enclosures are almost done, for what I know. They are probably the last step of this first part of the renovation. (I think only the bear exhibits will be left to finish in the second part).

They confirmed the finalization of:

The african river safari,(Login • Instagram)

The brazilian birds immersive and adjascent vivariums (Login • Instagram)

(Login • Instagram)

The reptile area;(Login • Instagram) (Login • Instagram)

*The big cat exhibits on the final touches (Login • Instagram)

 

Found another video of the zoo, this time in 1967:

 

I found two other videos of the zoo, one is from 1999 and the other is from 2002:

 

Great videos. I can see leopards were part of Rio's collection at this time... It seems like many zoos kept leopards in the country in the past, and nowadays it's a completely phased out species...

 

Found another video of the zoo, this time from 1963, showing guanacos (which are no longer kept there):

 

I'm not sure if this animal that appears in the video is actually a guanaco. It looks pretty much like a llama to me, but I'm not sure...

Anyway, It's sad that our zoos no longer keep lama guanicoe as much as they did in the past. If there's any individual of them left in Brazil nowadays, it would be in São Carlos ecological park, in their patagonian area, but I'm not sure.

Besides Rio,(if these are really guanacos) I think Piracicaba also held this species in the past, once I might remember having seen one in one of those videos you shared here. Also, I found a photo of myself at BH zoo many years ago (I was around 5 yrs old, so it's probably from 2007/2008) where there are animals that are most likely to be guanacos in the background. With this, we can see a considerable amount of institutions kept them here in the past...

 

The animals in the picture look like llamas, but that's probably because their fur has been shorn. The Sapucaia do Sul/Porto Alegre zoo and the Serra Azul farm probably still have some individuals. Also, as you said, the Piracicaba zoo kept a guanaco, once you can see it on the 1993 video I sent on the thread talking about Old World monkeys in Latin America.

 

The colour of these animals in the picture don't look like a typical llama fur, that's why I don't think they are individuals of lama glama, but lama guanicoe. Not completely sure though...

Serra azul keeps many different animals indeed, including some that have never been kept at our zoos, but I never take it in consideration, once it's not open for visitation. Sapucaia kept this species at least until 2012, once it's the date from the last news we have about them. Probably still keeps some nowadays indeed.

Comparing some pictures, I'm almost sure the animal shown in this video above that you shared is actually a llama. Guanacos' fur doesn't usually grow this much, and their faces aren't pied.

 

What species does the Serra Azul Farm keep that no zoo in Brazil has ever kept? If you're talking about the blue wildebeest, the São Paulo zoo kept some back in the 1990's. I'd recommend taking a look on Instagram and Facebook, once I think I found a video/some pictures back in 2020 showing the guanacos.

 

I wasn't able to find the video mentioned earlier, but found another where the guanacos appear. The video was released back in November 2020. Take a look:

 

I was actually talking about the blue wildebeest, wich I didn't know had ever been kept in any brazilian zoo, but also about the african bufallos. If we consider the albinoid ones at Arca do Noah zoo, in RJ, there are indeed no animals at serra azul that haven't been kept in any zoo in the country, indeed. By the way, were the wildebeests at São Paulo held at the african plain exhibit?

 

Wait, cape buffalos? I thought they only kept domestic water ones. Answering your question about the wildebeest: no, they weren't. Actually, they lived in one of the paddocks that surrounded the hut in the South American mammal zone.

 

Ah yes. The wildebeests lived in one of those exhibits where kangaroos and zebras inhabited in the past, right?
I remember serra azul kept some species of gazelle in the past, if I'm not wrong, and I have never heard about zoos in the country keeping them.
About the buffalos, I considered they were african due to the shape of the horns, but they're actually a different breed of the asian ones called Jafarabadi. I got confused with their similarities. Check out how alike they are: (the ones at serra azul have the horns in an even more alike position to the africans)

 

Yes, I'm talking about those paddocks. I don't think the Fazenda Serra Azul ever kept gazelles, but both the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo zoos had them (Rio had dorcas and São Paulo had thomson's). However, the farm keeps/kept blackbucks. Also, I agree with you, those water buffalos are very simillar to the Cape ones.