Species you'd like to see in zoos

Several specimens have been and are currently kept in captivity. => Search "Marine Iguana"

 

Species i would like to see in captivity would be the hoatzin and the paradise flycatcher

 

They did better than the green iguanas in the early days of reptile keeping. And if captive bred would be excellent pets like the green iguana. Sounds like kagus - were once available and did well, but died out in collections then were no longer imported.

 

The captive situation of marine iguana vs. Kagu is markedly different.

 

How so?

 

Yes marine iguanas are illegally held in captivity but either way, marine iguanas proved hardier then the green iguana in very early herpetoculture. So they are predictable as a good candidate for zoo exhibits and eventually the pet trade.

 

I would love to see a king saxony bird of paradise, in particular, or many other birds of paradise in general. Birds of paradise seem to be very underrepresented in general, much less in zoos.

 

Ditto also astrapia more sifakas king and goldies also wilson bird of paradise also these marine iguanas why not the land iguanas Darwin finches endemic mockingbird sea lion penguin(also snares and of course the yellow eyed) and flightless cormorant.

 

Birds of paradise were even (briefly) naturalized in the Caribbean: one old book on softbills compared them to sternids and explicitly denied they are delicate hothouse flowers: I imagine YMMV but... they do look hardy.

Could a PNG/IJ shipment fit in a few birds of paradise, bowerbirds, marsupials, pigeons etc? There are even interesting freshwater fishes there besides rainbow fish.

 

Sumatran or Javan rhinos were more common in the early days of zoos than White rhinos - which illustrates that this is not a good indicator for the adaptability of a species to captivity. From what I've seen, the contemporary indoor husbandry of marine iguanas is, if undertaken professionally, rather cost-intensive (marine paludarium, adequate food), even more so than that of green iguanas. [starting at 9.01]

 

No need to say 'even' when referring to fishes
Alfred Russel Wallace brought 2 lesser birds of paradise from Singapore to London Zoo in 1862. They ate rice, bananas and cockroaches. His principal difficulty was finding enough cockroaches for them when aboard a P & O steamship. Don't forget that the highlands of New Guinea get quite cold at night. By the way there are many wonderful species of lory and other parrots from the area, plus reptiles such as Boelen's python and the pig-nosed turtle; examples can be seen in a few zoos, but more would be nice.

 

I would love to see:

. platypus

. echidna

. kiwi

. any species of tree kangaroo

. sixgill shark

. vampire squid

 

These are in captivity.

 

Echidna and tree kangaroo are not the commonest zoo animals but not platypus or kiwi tier (absent/near absent outside Australasia). Echidna are not some ultra difficult animal to maintain but they don't really breed so zoos don't like holding them despite their educational value (unusual phylogenetic position, general lack of Australian mammals.)

Deepwater aquaria are rare outside of Japan: but it could be done. Just about every continent has deep waters off its shelf, though it would be an investment to capture them at depth (can submarines be hired)?

Jellyfish tanks are now moving into people's homes, who knows? In our lifetimes we might see chilled, non-pressurised(?) deepwater aquaria as private status items. Reef aquaria are using chillers more often and in time the tech must become higher powered at a lower cost. When that happens deep water first comes into more public aquaria and then the home.

I hope to see small squaliform sharks - and maybe own them. Sometimes cookiecutters are shipped when they are caught near the surface (like nautiluses). I only saw one once, like the nautiluses they need specialist aquaria however the fact they move up the water column and are caught at shallow depths makes them do-able.

 

Interesting. I somehow missed the nocturnal house (and hummingbirds) at Avifauna. Echidna are easy to maintain but not to breed whilst tree kangaroos I imagine don't like our browse.

(How many arboreal tetrapod herbivores native to the temperate/cold northern hemisphere are there? I can think of only the North American porcupine: is it because our leaves are somehow difficult to digest? Just a thought.)

Kiwis look easy enough to maintain: am I right? But like echidnas they don't breed easily with humans around. What about around other nocturnal house fauna like boobooks?

Now I would like to see wekas, Mysticinus, takahe, kakapo, and the NZ glow worms if you can direct me.

 

I would like to see some of the island endemic invertebrates displayed. Everyone concentrates on island birds and mammals, but it practically guaranteed that there are vastly more endemic and endangered invertebrates and their conservation is seriously neglected. It is a great pity that there was never any attempt to bring species like the St Helena Giant Earwig, Madeira Large White Butterfly, or Gran Canaria Bush Cricket into culture, as breeding groups could almost certainly have been set up quite easily. The IUCN Red List is very deficient with regard to invertebrates of all types, which often have restricted ranges and are undoubtedly threatened by deforestation and invasive species. The other major group are the freshwater fish with restricted habitats - the peat swamps of SE Asia are heavily impacted by deforestation and oil palm plantations and are the type of habitat with a large proportion of endemics.

 

Not sure about the desert bighorns, but regarding the Chacoan peccary, I know the Beardsley Zoo has a few. I'm confident they're not the only institution with them.

I was just reading this exact section of The Malay Archipelago the other day, funnily enough.

Now, several species of Paradisaeidae can currently be found in zoos, but they don't appear to be too common. Any particular reason why? Do some not fare as well as others in captivity?

 

All information I can find is that Paradisaeidae are (mostly?) hardy, starling-like and omnivorous; the texts do not mention breeding however. I admire the family and coming from NG ought not be impossible to source were demand there. There are desert bighorn sheep at Arnhem in NL.