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

POTTO,
In your wish list of animals you would like to see in zoos, you mention the beira antelope. There is a captive breeding program for this species at the Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation located in Qatar on the Arabian Pennisula. The current population of beira is about 40 individuals. Hopefully, the population will grow and beira will be sent to other facilities. Al Wabra is also trying to obtain dibatag for captive breeding.

 

I would love to see a live kouprey. But we don't even know if this animal still existed in the wild.

 

@yangz: Currently, the status of the kouprey as a species on its own has been re-affirmed;
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Whether or not it still exists, is another matter; judging from the still occuring reports of sighting and kouprey body parts turning up on markets, I think that there is a (though rather) slim chance that the species still exists, at least in relict populations.

The book I mentioned in "Which zoo(s) keep(s)", regarding the husbandry of Asian River Dolphins makes me wonder once again whether it wouldn't be such a bad idea to catch at least a few specimen of either the Ganges or Indus Platanista-form or even the Vaquita to assemble an in-situ and/or ex-situ captive, managed population "just in case", to avoid a scenario similar to that of the Baiji.

 

I think river dolphins would do great in zoos because they are nearly blind and wouldn't need a naturalistic tank just lots of obstacles. As well as Ethipian Wolves because they're just another canine species that will most likely thrive.

 

I would like to see a Platypus in real life . I know that the export to other zoo's is forbidden by the Australian governement. I know the Antwerp Zoo in Belgium had one in 1993 because they celebrated their 150th birthday but it was just for a short period.

 

Never knew Antwerp had a platypus so recently!
Anyone got any info on this animal, pics etc

 

@PAT: just because their sight is limited doesn't mean that one doesn't have to care about the enclosure design. And why should there be many obstacles?

 

Drills are apparently not that difficult to breed, only they need herd/harem structure.

There was a kind of demographic low in zoos, because many zoos had too old animals, only pairs, incompatible individuals etc., only now zoo drill population starts to recover.



About kouprey - unfortunately, I read that recent searches with local interviews found it probably extinct since over a decade - "although it is not impossible that one or two individuals remain overlooked".

 

No I haven't. I can't find anything about it on the web. It was just for 1 season. They also had a couple koala's from the San Diego zoo.

 

I've never heard of platypus at Antwerp, particularly as recently as 1993. Perhaps you could contact the zoo and clarify...

 

Sun Wukong- So they have to think and use their senses.

 

@PAT: Well, they surely do "think" without any obstacles... However, I agree with You that environmental enrichment would be appropriate, yet I think mobile items (like large balls, rubber rings etc.) that can easily be added and taken away would be more useful than objects that obstruct the free swimming area, become soon all too familiar and might even injure the animals in the case of an accident. In the book I mentioned before, the captive River dolphins seemed to have especially liked playing with the underwater microphone.

 

A small wish. I wood be nice to see tool-using woodpecker finch from Galapagos in captivity, and land iguanas.

Overall, it would be great if some zoo made Galapagos walk-thru exhibit, with giant tortoises and other friends of Charles Darwin. But I don't see it coming soon...

 

Part of Rotterdam's Oceanarium is a replica of Darwin's ship, with the Galapagos giant turtle exhibit attached to it. In my opinion the area has a hard time getting the message really across, but perhaps that's only my view. It's as close as it's gonna get and a decent attempt nonetheless.

 

I've seen the koala's in antwerp in '93, but there never was a platypus, or else they had it really well hidden!

I don't think river dolphins are a good idea. the bouto's never did well except for duisburg and texas(?). as could be said for cetaceans in general.

before I'd like to see new species in zoos, I'd like to see more intercontinental collaboration. e.g. american and australian zoos all exhibit nice populations of local animals, yet it's virtually impossible to get those species to Europe. and I'm not even talking about rare or difficult ones but american blackbears, bobcats, wombats, ...

 

@forumbully-re: Botos: take a look at the Venezuela links I mentioned. According to the late Dr. Gewalt who caught the botos for Duisburg back then, they seemed to have been much hardier in captivity than the Commerson dolphins he also caught for the zoo.

 

how many were caught over the years and how many reached an acceptable age in captivity?

I know the duisburg boutos hold the record for longevity, but I'm pretty sure they are the exception and not the rule.

allthough I love to see dolphins etc in the flesh, I have serious doubts that they make good display/show animals. breeding in captivity isn't going all that well in almost all species.

 

@forumbully: You could ask the same question in regard to many animal species which are nonetheless still kept in zoos today-like Great Apes, penguins, antelopes...

I would estimate that about 20-30 botos were caught in the previous decades-a rather small number compared to the estimated amount of specimen regularily drowing in fishing nets or being killed deliberately by fishermen. I think a lot of the losses especially by the American zoos can be contributed to incorrect catching, transportation or husbandry. Reading Gewalt's accounts of the catching, transportation etc. lets one realize how little was known in the past about these important issues and how "inventive" the collectors had to be due to problematic and "primitive" conditions.

Back then, Gewalt animadverted the reluctance of his coevals to try out new paths and thus gain knowledge about animals that could prove to be important in the future. Therefore, I consider the husbandry of botos over decades at Duisburg Zoo not as an odd exception, but as a great waz to learn more about these animals and as proof that it is possible to keep and, as the case of Venezuela shows, even breed river dolphins in captivity. And in regard to the situation of the river dolphin species worldwide, I do think that one should not easily scrub the possibility of, additionally to better in-situ protection, keeping some ex-situ populations of highly endangered river dolphins like the Ganges River dolphin. Your hint re: better international collaboration would be of high importance here, too.

The botos at Duisburg have always been very popular among the visitors, especially after "Father" and the still living "Baby" moved to their new exhibit. And judging from the videos and travellersˇs accounts, the ones at Venezuela seem to be popular, too.

 

the difference between cetaceans (to keep it general) and big apes, okapis or even green iguana's for that matter, is that over the decades we have learned to keep and breed them, thus sustaining a captive population.

I should think that over 4 decades of dolphin keeping has taught us a thing or 2, yet still they need to be taken from the wild and still breeding results are quite rare and survival rate of those born is low.

I have absolutely no problem with rare animals taken from the wild for ex-situ breeding programs like is done with the visayan pig or tasmanian devil.
but in the case of river-(or any other)dolphins, I'm afraid this will just put more pressure on the population before we even hope to keep them alive and breeding, by which time they just might be "last of the mohikans"