Yes, it's a possibility indeed. But there are no bongos in those pictures of mine. Only blesboks, an impala, a blue wildebeest and waterbucks. It would indeed be very nice to still have these species nowadays (as you know, there are still waterbucks at the zoo). If they were ever kept in BH, it was in the former zoo, where nowadays it's located the municipal park Américo Giannetti. It's quite a big park, but the territory of the present zoo is enourmously larger.
The USP veterinary anatomy museum seems to be great! I would love to visit it at some point. Indeed there are many specimens in there, and I think you're right that there is a possibility that this/these bongos were kept at SP zoo in the past (maybe at parque da aclimação?)
Oh, you've reminded me that the former São Paulo zoo also kept spotted hyenas and leopards, as well as possibly drills (most likely misidentified, so I think they were actually mandrills), as you can see in this picture: Credits: Maurício, o primeiro urso polar a viver em São Paulo. Mas isso lá em 1929 - São Paulo para Curiosos
It wouldn't suprise me if these were actually drills as in the late 1920's a whole host of animals would have been obtainable from collectors and imported from Africa.
That's a waterbuck skeleton. It indeed looks like a bongo, asn even I was in doubt when you mentioned it, but the horns are pretty waterbuck-like, and there's a red sign on the bottom that leaves no doubts:
Yeah, as @Onychorhynchus coronatus said, the international market of animals was crazy at these times. Hagenbeck's company of animal distribution was still working, as far as I know, so it could indeed be a drill, or, as you said, simply a missidentified mandrill... By the way, have you ever seen pictures of the exhibits of the park? I have always been curious about how aclimação kept so many species in that terrain that is not so big...
In this video, Sérgio Rangel mentions that two river dolphins were held in a place called Exotiquarium in Shopping Morumbi, and that Rio Zoo used to have tree kangaroo, binturong and civet/genet in their collection. This site shows photos and comments (perhaps rather biasedly) about the river dolphins, as well as other cetaceans formerly kept in captivity in Brazil. He probably knows a lot more, in fact he keeps / kept quite unusual ones himself (e.g. Gila monster, red-bellied short-necked turtle), some of which were robbed after an invasion at his house about 5 years ago.
Wow ! I'm not too far away from Morumbi and have been to that shopping center. Hard for me to imagine dolphins being kept there, they must have been kept in awful conditions. I found a website which shows a picture of these animals in the aquarium back in the 80's (?) : Mural Animal: ANIMAIS EXPOSTOS EM VITRINE SÃO PROIBIDOS EM SÃO PAULO DESDE 1987
Honestly had no idea about these river dolphins at Morumbi. Great to know about this piece of history, but it's a pity that the exhibit for these animals was so poor (and small, for what can be seen in the picture). As I once mentioned here, I knew BH zoo kept this species in a distant past, but didn't know they had already been exhibited in a mall, specially a huge one like Morumbi shopping. About the tree kangaroos, I remember that @Enzo once mentioned them being kept at Rio. Had no idea about the biturong and civets though. Rio had definitely a huge collection in the past!
The weirdest thing is that Rangel's report heavily conflicts with the websites, specially regarding the release and death of the dolphins, and those are the only available sources that I'm aware of. He says that Tiquinha was released along with Bia as opposed to dying of chronic pneumonia, and that both were found dead shortly after. I wish that confusion could be clarified.
Well, that's really weird. Sérgio Rangel is a great professional, and I'm a fan of his work since I was very young, but I have already identified mistakes in a few of the informations he passed in some of his videos. Very punctual situations, but it could have happened again... Anyway, as the other site that wrote about these dolphins is quite tendentious, it could be the wrong source too... I also couldn't find any other source about this issue.
Wow, I did not know about any of these animals you've mentioned; only the tree-kangaroos. About cetaceans, I know both orcas and bottlenose dolphins have been kept in Brazil, at a park called Play Kid. I'm surprised about the turtles, since the only time I saw them was at the Porto aquarium, during my visit to Portugal back in 2018.
Hey, guys. I'm sorry for my absence, but I'm here with some new stuff. I'd like to continue with the list by adding the Bornean orangutan, which has been kept at the SP zoo. Well, that's according to the orangutan studbook, whose link is right here: http://www.orangutanssp.org/uploads/2/4/9/9/24992309/2015_orangutan_isb.pdf
That's great to know. I think we have discussed about Sansão being either a bornean or a hybrid orangutan in the past. I honestly don't remember if we discovered something about it in the end.
Intersting discussions, but a bit difficult to follow, with the abbreviation codes. Is BH zoo a code for Belo Horizonte (Jardim Zoológico de Belo Horizonte) in Brazil, and is the museum PUC Minas museum code for Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden UFMG or maybe another museum? It tried to locate a PUC Minas museum on Google Earth, but could not identify a potential namesake. I have an elephant named Margarita here Margarita, an African savanna elephant at Caracas Zoo (Parque Zoologico Caricuao) but seem to lack an Asian elephant Margarita here; Deceased elephants at Belo Horizonte (Jardim Zoológico de Belo Horizonte) in Brazil why Im very interested.
BH =Belo Horizonte zoo PUC= The Pontificia Catholic University Museum UFMG= The Federal University of Minas Gerais
