Species not in zoos that we'd want to see in zoos

I was just thinking about a thread that I could start so I just decided why not list the species not in zoos that we zoobeaters would want to see in captivity, not just for enjoyment but also for conservation reasons. I apologize if a thread similar to this already exists. Anyway I'll start us off.

- Indri
- Hirola (again)
- Bornean Bay Cat*
- Chinese Mountain Cat
- Beira
- Ethiopian Wolf
- Kouprey
- Mountain Nyala
- Malayan Flying Lemur
- Javan Rhino
- KodKod
- Andean Mountain Cat *
- Phillipine Tarsier
- Iriomote Cat
- Fanaloka/ Fanalouc
- Giant Sable Antelope
- Linsangs
- Chiru
- Bates' Pygmy Antelope
- Przewalski's azelle
- Puku
- Yunnan/ Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkeys

 

I'm deliberately picking ones likely to thrive in zoos, making good exhibits and where ex-situ conservation makes sense:

- white-collared lemur, silky sifaka and many other sifakas/lemurs
- purple-faced langur, other langurs
- snub-nosed monkeys
- nigerian chimpanzee
- preuss' guenon and several other guenons
- bioko drill
- rondo galago
- giant sable antelope
- chiloe fox
- ethiopian wolf
- mountain nyala
- walia ibex
- mountain zebra
- argali and assorted asian sheep/goat forms
- javan rhino
- kouprey
- pygmy hog
- iriomote cat
- assorted galapagos land iguanas
- several curassows/guans
- many flightless rails
- many pacific island pigeons
- many flying foxes, e.g. philippine golden-headed,
- ethiopian turaco
- bannermann's turaco

Unfortunately, tropical countries don't want to export their animals even if they don't and cannot protect them. Recent northern rhino scandal in Congo is an example.

I am also intrigued by possibility to domesticate/pastoralise chirus.

 

hate to be a downer, but i don't really want to see many more species coming into zoos. instead i would rather zoos focus on building more sustainable populations of those they already have. for example in the US a very large percentage of old world monkeys are dying out due to poor management on the zoos part. in australia the vast majority of exotics are likely to experience regional extinction within our zoos.

it seems that currently, worldwide, there is a collection of animals that have become "zoo animals". species that breed well in captivity and can thus be seen in virtually every zoo in the world as a result.

most zoos have a species or two that does not fall into this "zoo animal" category and its the endangered representatives of these animals that need to have their numbers boosted. at the same time however zoo need to maintain the "zoo animals" to ensure just that, that they remain common in zoos and captivity.

my point? zoos probably already have more species than they can handle.

thus i would rather see many of these rarer species be brought into breeding centers in their home ranges devoted to the propagation of that species only.

if zoos want to display these animals as a unique attraction, they can negotiate to loan animals from the center, in an exclusive deal, in return for financial support for the place doing the bulk of the work.

but agreed many of these species could benefit greatly from captive breeding programs. the chiru, philippine golden-headed flying foxes, ethiopian wolves as well as the fate of many polynesian birds have been concerns of mine for some time.

 

@Patrick
What OWM species housed in North America are dwindling because of poor management?
I know that quite a few species including Patas monkeys and Hamadryas baboons are being phased out via recommendation from TAG managers. I assumed that this had more to do with institutions lack of interest in holding them than a poor base of genetic founders, husbandry concerns, or poor breeding success.
A lot of other species don't have enough genetic founders to sustain an acceptable level of genetic variability and so are also being phased out.

 

from here:

toledoblade.com -- Zoos rethink role as wildlife's keeper

 

I agree Patrick.

 

I agree with most of pat's first post (yes, wonders do happen!); however, I would say that there are a few species I would recommend to be newly* or re-admitted** to ex-situ breeding projects (inclusive zoos) or whose already existing zoo populations should be increased***.
-The already mentioned Ethiopian Wolf*
-the Mountain Tapir***
-both species of picathartes**
-the Baikal Seal***
-the Saiga antelope***
-the Zebra/Jentink's Duiker **
-flying foxes like the Samoan */**
-maybe a river dolphin like Ganges and Indus River Dolphin *

The zoos should also be open to admit new species in cases of current affairs greatly effecting the population in the wild-kind of an "emergency rescue".

I don't whether the aspect of "too many species" is correct; what I still miss in many zoos is the continuity & constant focus on a conservation project/species; quite often, once the dedicated curator/man in charge/zookeeper is gone, even successful projects break down because the new guy in the office isn't interested in the project/species and wants his/her pet project instead.

 

I like that list of species, esp picathartes, although that's a bird which is never going to capture the public's imagination. How successful was Frankfurt at in breeding them? And why are they now down to just one?

Some species are ripe for intervention. eg one could do an "Arabian oryx" on the Hunter's hartebeest - small localised population which could easily be wiped out, straightforward antelope species which could probably build up a large zoo population in a few years if enough founder stock could be exported.

 

Frankfurt was quite successful (in the 1960s Grzimek reported several successful hatchings), but no other zoo seemed to be interested, the breeding pairs died and could not be replaced-so the last female expects the same destiny as the last Hirola (indeed a species, like the wild bactrian camel/yak I should have mentioned, too) at Glady's Porter (that is already dead): die as the last of its kind in a zoo.


To refer to the title. actually, I would love if I did NOT see any "newcomers" in the form of indris, pygmy hogs etc. in zoos, as this might indicate that the in-situ projects have failed and the zoo is the last refuge-a destiny I wish for no species (not even parasites).

 

Yikes!

After posting my initial response I thought about the dynamics of AZA OWM species holdings. The first primate I was worried about was the Lion-tailed Macaque in part because I can't think of a single new exhibit housing them that's opened in the past decade, and I've seen their recently dismal ISIS breeding record. When I considered what OWM was being exhibited more I immediately thought of the Colobus Monkey.
I suspected that exhibitry interest was the major force driving more common species population crashes, but I'm more than a little surprised that it has also negatively influenced the captive populations of beautiful charismatic species of rare primates like Lion-tailed Macaques, and Drills.
I wonder if this trend would change if directors and curators of zoological institutions saw one of these species with declining zoo populations in a new exhibit that better showcased their ability to captivate zoo audiences and elicited more interesting behaviors.

 

Since imports from the wild are now largely a thing of the past, the OWM species nowadays mostly exhibited in Zoos worldwide tend to be those which breed the most freely, so that the surplus become available to form new groups- which in turn also breed freely and on the surplus list for another zoo to take on etc. B/W Colobus are a good example- they thrive in captivity, are very free breeders and large colonies(and therefore surplus animals) quickly build up. They're also 'showy' and eyecatching in appearance. Another example- the Sulawesi Macaque(Celebes Black Ape) breeds freely,so quickly builds up a group, also have an interesting appearance and active behaviour. So zoos tend largely to exhibit what's most freely available and makes a good exhibit. Species like the Guenons breed less freely and are seen in fewer zoos and then only in very small numbers. Some other 'non-endangered' species previously very common in zoos like the Pig-tailed Macaque have almost disappeared entirely.

To cite your own examples- Lion-tailed Macaques are successful but relatively slow breeders and small colonies have been built up successfully in a number zoos in both Europe and America. This seems to be a species which was 'fashionable' in zoos some years ago but is rather less so now, although impressive they are not a particularly active species- hence it seems fewer zoos are establishing new groups..

Drills-still numerically much rarer in captivity- but certainly no more difficult to breed -than Mandrills. Two European Zoos- Hanover(in particular) and Stuttgart have bred them over many years, just as successfully as the far more common Mandrills are bred at other zoos.

In Europe Drills have become 'fashionable' again- several new groups have been established in the UK and Europe in the past two years-the founders all coming from the only three zoos(Hanover/Stuttgart/Barcelona) that were breeding them until recently. Consequently they now look to have a far better future in Europe. Whether Drills in the US can achieve a similar revival is perhaps more doubtful as there is only a very small 'pool' of animals to start with, non-breeders can't be replaced easily and none of the few zoos that have them is breeding them in any number, so the population isn't expanding.

 

To zoofans drills are more interesting as they are rarer, but to the general public and possibly some zoo management there is no contest with mandrills, who are larger and much more colourful, so I will be surprised if that many places start to keep drills, although I hope I'm wrong.

 

Pygathrix is right-that's the one important reason why Mandrills are more wide-spread. And the small number of founding animals makes it questionable whether the European Drill zoo population can be maintained on the long run..

 

There's been no contest- Mandrills are far more colourful AND easier to obtain. However, some zoos (without Mandrills) have recently been acquiring Drills because of their rarity so are actually(or hypothetically?) being seen to do a good conservation job. Its interesting to record that Drills disappeared in the UK for just on forty years before the current two groups(Port Lympne and Edinburgh) were re-imported. I'm sure that, just as was the case previously, they won't become as numerous in zoos as Mandrills- both deserve their place though.

 

I believe it can. Hanover recently imported an unrelated male from Rabat Zoo as new blood for their group. Also it might be possible (perhaps by exchange of animals?) to obtain the occassional unrelated male from the large semi-captive breeding group at the 'Pandrillus' project in West Africa, to infuse into the European zoo population in the future?

New European Drill groups have been set up or are planned at e.g. Edinburgh, Port Lympne, St Martin la Pleine, Valencia which will hopefully allow the species to increase numerically too.

 

@Perinax: Yes, the conservation center in Calabar might be a good source for new specimen. Hannover Zoo & the ZGAP and various others support the project, and as Hannover has enough money at the moment, a tiny bit of that could be successfully invested in drills. Still, I'm still a little doubtful whether this will be enough...
Pandrillus

 

The most flourishing groups of Mandrills in the UK at present have a similarly small founder-base as the European Drills but they have been doing very well of late...

 

@Pertinax: ...yet in difference to Drills, it shouldn't be difficult to find replacements, f.e. from mainland Europe, in the case the groups break down...

 

True -and there are other unrelated ones in the Uk too.

 

To go back to the original question, while I understand the reservations that people have expressed, I think there will be cases in the near future when adding new species to the world's zoos will be justified.
I think it is inevitable that there will be a few species that will become gravely endangered and where there will be no possibility of a successful in situ breeding programme. For example Jersey's work with the Montserrat oriole was, and is, entirely justified - further erruptions could threaten the entire island again. It is quite possible that other species could be so threatened by disease or uncontrolled hunting/poaching that ex situ breeding might be their only chance.
The other way that new species have arrived is from animals originally collected for scientific research. For example the naked mole rat was originally studied in labs around the world before some colonies were put on show in zoos. Likewise the lemur collection at Duke University has been very important in developing expertise and building populations of several species.
The species that I'd like to see regularly in zoos has been exhibited for a while at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, on loan from Oxford University, but wasn't there last summer. It's the wonderful New Caledonian crow, which seems to be a very ordinary small black crow, but is really the cleverest bird in the world. These birds have been kept, bred and studied at Oxford for several years (in parallel with studies in the field and at other universities). I would love to see a pair of these birds in a special display aviary where they could be fed in ways that require them to show off their ability to make tools. For examples of the amazing behaviour of this species see Introduction to tool use in New Caledonian crows

Alan