Of course, you seemingly cease to care about their feelings/opinions when (as I note above) some have posted in this thread themselves - flicking through there's at least 5 current/former keepers or zoo owners in the thread. But this is besides the point, which is to note that if you read the thread from the start you'll have noted plenty of us disagree with the use of the word "hate" too
But I don't hate the animals or the keepers, I just 'hate' to see a very limited number of forms in zoos. I actively enjoy seeing rare domestic breeds, especially the weird looking ones. I love watching meerkats, but I would rather see a wider variety of mongooses. I really don't see that any meerkat keepers reading this are going to be shocked or appalled to hear that. Neither can I imagine that they will be offended by the suggestion that critically endangered species matter more. There is room for a little subtlety here. ZooChat and the discussions I have had on here about the highs and lows of zoos and zoo-visiting have benefitted my life immensely. Not perhaps as much as visiting zoos themselves, but without this site I wouldn't even know of most the zoos I have visited in the last four years. My name is Josh Wilkes and I live in the West Midlands. I'm only back in the UK for a few months but I'm trying to get a good few visits in while I'm back. I suspect that I've already passed through your neck of the woods but I'll make the same offer to any keeper who is offended by this thread: you can PM me and if I'm coming to your zoo I'll buy the first round of drinks, we can hash it out and then hopefully have a much more pleasant chat than this exchange has produced.
I have a special affinity for mongoose. But doesn't mean that meerkats aren't as important, both in a zoo (as they're a huge money maker), in the wild (as is the presence of any species within a delicate ecosystem), and to the person that cares for them in captivity (because why would they do it otherwise?). But you're welcome to come visit and buy me a drink. I might even change your mind about rare breed domestics. If you doubt that, then you're only throwing down a challenge And Andrew...I may have an alpaca for a picture, but my photo is posted on this site. And I've made no secret about the institutions that I've worked at.
I dont "hate" to see any species , but I am always disappointed to see the major and inordinate focus and emphasis that zoos put on African and Asian megafauna. Very mediocre in my opinion , but I suppose I have an aesthetic preference for native/regional species style zoos. Also , I am usually bored with seeing stock species in zoos such as meerkats, ringed tailed lemurs, short clawed otters etc.
Obvious is the number 1 cetacean, with Polar Bears being an close second. Iam allways a bit disapointed with most enclosures for big cats,great apes, giraffes and elephants, but it depends on the zoo.
"I don't like seeing endangered species in zoos because I want zoos to have obscure species that no one knows about from Inaccessible Island"
Off topic but out of curiosity , are there any zoos (either within the species range or outside of it) which currently keep pangolins? I know that there have been past studies into dietary requirements and how to keep these animals alive in captivity for ex-situ conservation but haven't heard anything yet of them being held in zoos.
Quite a few, these days. In the USA, a handful of collections hold White-bellied (Phataginus tricuspis) In Europe, Leipzig holds Chinese (Manis pentadactyla). In Asia, various collections in native ranges hold Indian (Manis crassicaudata), Chinese and Sunda (Paramanis javanica)
Yes, there are quite a lot. Some reputable zoos in Asia keep them long-term (Ueno, Taipei & SG Night Safari off the top of my head). Various other Asian zoos hold them from time to time. Probably Philippine pangolin could also be seen (in addition to TLD's list) if you were lucky with timing (I don't know that any are known atm). Leipzig's Chinese came from Taipei.
Yep, omitted that because I didn't know of any offhand similarly one cannot rule out fleeting holdings of native taxa in African collections.
Very interesting. So the only zoo that currently holds them outside of the species native range is Ueno zoo in Japan ?
Sorry , I didn't see your comment Dave. This is good news IMO as if there is an animal in need of ex-situ conservation and captive breeding it is definitely the pangolin. Do you think more zoos in Europe / North America will eventually start keeping pangolins?
