For anyone who's interested in checking out the action. You can watch the full recording on my Instagram account: Login • Instagram @Zooish , I personally don't remember mentioning Chrotogale owstoni as being a part of the WRS' viverrid collection, but I did mention to @BucerosKeeper about some of the species' dietary data and literary reviews I had to assist Dr Cabana with, during a 2018 internship. However, it's not out of the question that the species could be acquired in the future.
WRS' involvement in the IUCN/SSC conservation plan for C.owstoni is basically them joining the queue for potential holders. It might be a long wait though as there are just too few of them in captivity now to establish a viable population.
@Zooish, You are correct. I am work for WRS and none of these species are around, some of them for quite a few years now (even before I was in the company). Owston's Civets were held many (20?) years ago, always off-exhibit. They were meant for Night Safari but I believe an exhibit was never developed in time and they died out (before I was in SIngapore) We do have plans to bring the species back, and are working with the EEP on this. We do support the in-situ project in Vietnam. WRS never held Flat-headed Cats. I didn't go through the entire lists / information that BucerosKeeper wrote, but I did glance at some inaccuracies; I'm not sure where you got the information, but best to avoid creating misconceptions
@TheBirdMan Thank you for enlightening us on these valuable pieces of info. Really intriguing to know that Owstoni did once occur in the collection.
Thanks for sharing the information @TheBirdMan and welcome to Zoochat. Glad to hear that WRS is involved in conservation work for Owston's palm civet. Hope to see them at the WRS parks in the near future. Would you happen to know if WRS has ever held marbled cats (Pardofelis marmorata)? A taxidermised specimen was displayed at the Night Safari entrance some years back.
Just to clarify, the plan for Asian Elephants for WRS is to breed only the Indian subspecies. Both Sri Lankan and Sumatran (on loan from Taman Safari, Indonesia) are not part of the breeding program.
@BucerosKeeper - just wanted to say a big thanks for this thread. It's helped me make sense of my photos going back to 2012
Just watched a relatively recent walk-thru of the River Safari. I feel it's a little unnecessary to grant the tarpons a solo exhibit in the Mississippi zone, considering a shoal of similar concentration is also present within the Amazon Flooded Forest showcase. Perhaps the curatorial team could consider adding a couple more medium-sized brackish species found in the Mississippi gulf coast to complement the tarpons. Or maybe consider turning the exhibit into fully-fledged North American riverine tank for sturgeons, buffalo carp, ictalurid catfish, catostomids, sunfish and some new emydid or kinosternid turtles (besides the ubiquitous red-eared slider). The Lake Tanganyikan tank is in an excellent state of improvement, with the dark aquarium soil being replaced with fine, pale-coloured sand which one would see in the real Lake Tanganyika. Unfortunately the Mary River exhibit which houses the Queensland lungfishes, archers, & rainbows still suffers from visibility issues. Perhaps overhead lighting could be distributed over the exhibit. The former marine touch-pool, now a mangrove horseshoe exhibit... kinda looks sad, but... I'm sure gradual modifications are in place. The attraction also comprises a good amount of space which can be further expanded into with new exhibits, and maybe new geographic locales. A good example is the landscaped patch right beside the Mekong Giants showcase. I appreciate the inclusion of the Mekong Jewels gallery, which predominantly houses Myanmar-endemic freshwater fish species at the moment. Really well-scaped tanks, that provide a calming visual. However, the solo tank for celestial pearl danios (Danio margaritatus) got me scratching my head, as a school of them are already present in the River Wonders exhibit. Was kind of disappointed to see that the South American micro-predator concept had been replaced with a scaped setup for Discus. It used to have really cool species like Gymnotus tigre, Pseudopimelodus mangurus, Pterodoras granulosus & Acestrorhynchus falcatus. The inclusion of human-made balloon ram cichlids tho... And I have a feeling the tarpons in the Amazon tank might've made snacks out of some of the eartheater and flagtail prochilodus colonies... Overall, pretty contented with the rest of the River Safari, and definitely looking forward to revisiting the exhibits myself once the time comes.
Absolutely agree on the visibility of the Mary River tanks. In fact many of River Safari's tanks suffer from glare or reflections - the Ganges and Nile tanks are among these. The eartheaters and prochilodus have been long gone from the manatee tank. The tarpons are just about the smallest fish in the tank (for now). Edited to add that sturgeon would be unsuitable for the current Mississippi tanks unless they were covered over and climate-controlled. The high temperature is perhaps also why the paddlefish didn't do well and were phased out (?).
Yes, you're right. The North American sturgeons I had in mind like greens (Acipenser medirostris) will probably not fare too well in any of the open-air Mississppi exhibits, unless mechanical chiller could be utilised, tho the condensation along the acrylic panels would be a constant bane. I suspect a combination of higher temps and collisions into the exhibit's barriers (pretty inevitable for most paddlefish in aquariums) are the reasons for the eventual phasing out of the charismatic sturgeon relatives. I wonder if the small group in the SEAA are the same ones which RS used to have. After all, it is the new post of River Safari's former curator...
Found this stock photo of one of the Singapore Zoo's Amboina sailfin lizards (Hydrosaurus amboinensis), resting on a bird's nest fern in what appears to be the current Annam leaf turtle (M. annamensis) & Asian water dragon (P. cocincinus) enclosure. Very beautiful reptile, and certainly a favourite of mine. Hope to see this genus return to the parks. Credits to the unnamed photographer.
Thanks to @TheBirdMan for pointing out the inconsistancies I have mentioned! Frankly I was not in the organisation for long and did not know about a lot of the species I have mentioned were actually fallacies I simply heard through word-of-mouth, being the gullible person I am. So I apologise for spreading any false rumors or getting any hopes up Apologies for clearing this up late as well, I lead a hectic lifestyle outside of the Internet and I hope that with any further contributions I make to the site they will be genuine and at least hold some sort of truth to it With that being said, paid a visit to Jurong yesterday, quite satisfied with the current layout, was elated to see that we have three (or was it two?) Hyacinth Macaw hatchlings in the BRC, and the addition of two male Lesser Mousedeer (kicked out from Night Safari). Can't wait to visit Mandai later this month (friend on the inside says that would be the optimal time to visit).
The Annam leaf turtles and water dragon will move to River Safari later this year. A new enclosure is being built for them in the Mekong River zone (opposite the Mekong Jewels tanks). I understand there are Sailfins currently kept off show. Perhaps they could move back to the Zoo enclosure once the current occupants move to River Safari.
Wasn’t aware that Hydrosaurus were still a part of the collection. Nonetheless, looking forward to their return... I think River Gems would be a decent enclosure for them too, tho the Vallisneria will probably be damaged quite significantly. Btw, one of the animal care officers shared photos of Shinisaurus crocodilurus & a wild-type Axolotl on his Instagram story, with the captions, “Now On Exhibit”. Looking forward to seeing those fellas too!
Don't think Hydrosaurus are still around. They weren't during my time there, unless new animals have been acquired since. Shaun is right Shinisaurus has returned to the collection and Axolotls (donated animals if I am not mistaken) have recently been put on display as well. If I am not mistaken the Axolotl's new home is in River Safari and the Shinisaurus in Fragile Forest (the Living Gallery prior to the biodome has been taken over by the Herpetology Department).
The Axolotl is at the "Herp Room" at Fragile Forest too. The current display list: Tank 1: Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) Tank 2: Amazon Milk Frog (Trachycephalus resinifictrix) Tank 3: Western Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium) Tank 4: Chinese Fire-bellied Newt (Cynops orientalis) + Chinese Crocodile Lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) Tank 5: Giant River Toad (Phrynoidis juxtasper) + Big-headed Turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) Tank 6: Malayan Horned Frog (Megophrys nasuta)
Thanks for the update @Zooish Awesome assortment of aquatic herps ! Particularly looking forward to seeing Platysternon again, having last been on display within the Panda dome in 2013 if I remember correctly.
Does anyone know anything about the blue duikers that used to live in the Fragile Forest? I'm guessing there is no more duiker around?
