Twycross Zoo Twycross zoo

I have a lot of the Twycross annual reports . The 2007 has not yet been published but the previous couple were quite detailed publications . Before then , under the old regime , the reports were rather brief . I can check out how many I have and could do some research on the data - a full inventory with stock movements is included in them .

Several months ago when I clicked for the Twycross web-site a new 'under development' site appeared , with the new World Primate Centre logo . Next time it was back to the old one which , until recently had not been up-dated for a very long time . Did anybody else see this - I am sure I did not imagine it !

 

Yes, they should be, under 'census of mammals born in captivity'. You can simply check by species. Remember each edition publishes details from the year or so previously but they should all be listed.

 

Someone on this forum said their website was being revamped and would be updated regularly from then. But it hasn't, and until these latest additions hadn't been updated since last June!

 

thank's for the pointers...I have never had the money to purchase international yearbooks, so have never seen what's listed in them, but I live near enough to ZSL library these days, it would just be interesting to look at the last 30 years at Twycross in terms of what primates they had in the mid 70s, and from that point onwards which ones bred if at all, and whether these were surviving young, parent or hand-reared, to really try and map out their true primate history. As I have said before, the lifespans of primates generally mask an overall steep decline of many species roughly continuous with the decreasing availability of those species through imports eg many guenon species, some langurs, proboscis monkeys etc Then you have another category of the captive population of certain species 'saved' by just a few collections that then allowed the population to regrow and radiate out through managed programs to other zoos eg. some more successful guenons, eg De Brazza/Diana and lastly there are the species that have done well and thrived pretty much anywhere, eg Eastern colobus, Black howlers, most macaques etc

 

They have had limited breeding success with unusual and uncommon species such as Doria's tree kangaroo, spotted cuscus, proboscis langur, crowned lemur, pileated gibbon and Malayan tapir to name a few.

 

Pileated gibbons seem to be one of the species they are successful over other zoos with. Crowned lemurs have generally bred well in most of the collections holding them. I am more interested in their primate history, and that of other zoos, but particularly to examine a collective primate history at Twycross in the light of their re-branding as a centre for primate excellence.

I would be interested to see how well the other mammal species you mentioned bred also. In a wider context, once you strip away the association hierarchy, funding levels, acquisitions of founder stock etc, I think it is an interesting time to research and identify the institutions causing positive feedback (with species that might otherwise have disappeared from captivity if it wasn't for the success of this minority of collections), while at the same time examining which collections have largely been net consumers of primates in particular, because the last few founder animals from the last major imports of a number of species are dying off now.

 

Twycross Primate breeding records.

Maybe you could list the results of your research- just the main numbers of the major relevant species bred there over that period?

I think the breeding of species like the Guenons has been very sporadic, while the Proboscis died out entirely and some of the Langurs e.g.the Spectacled/Dusky have dwindled also. otherwise I would expect there to still be larger numbers of several species than they actually have.


Pileated Gibbons- they have certainly bred several and in the earlier days handraised some too. I have seen a mother with a baby on more than one occassion. Although one of the Gibbon houses seems to hold several 'pairs' of Pileateds, one time I was told they only had a single breeding female though I don't know if that's still the situation now.

On the other hand, groups which have bred freely at Twycross(as they do elsewhere too) include Orangutan, Bonobo, Siamang(?) Eastern Colobus and (in the past) Dusky Langurs.

 

African Monkeys at Twycross 1987 to 2006

Extracted from Annual Reports , the following have been represented , unless shown diffently the number at end of 2006 is the same as current ISIS report -

De Brazza - 3 in 1987 - 1 arrived , 3 departed , 1 died - 0 since 1991

Diana - 6 in 1987 - 1 born (1987) , 4 arrived , 7 departed , 2 died = 0.1 , currently on ISIS 1.1

Schmidt's ( C. ascanius ) - 3 arrived (1988 first) , 3(1) born - last 1994 , 3 died = 1.1

Crowned Guenon - 5 arrived (1992 first) , 6(1) born - last 2000 , 2 departed , 7 died = 0.1

Hamlyn's - 6 arrived ( first 1994 ) , 2(1) born -1995 , 1 departed , 4 died = 1.1

Whiteside's - 3 arrived (1997) , 2 departed , 1 died - 0 since 2005

Roloway - 4 arrived (first 1988) = 2.2

Lowe's - 7 arrived (first 1999 ) , 3 departed = 2.2

Lesser Spot-nosed - 7 arrived ( first 1999 ) , 2 departed , 2 died = 1.2

( the last 2 species arrived as small confiscated babies )

L'Hoest's - 2 arrived (2003) - (1) born , 1 died = 1.0 , currently 0

Allen's Swamp - 7 arrived (first 1989) , 2(1) born 1990 , 2 departed , 2 died = 1.3

Eastern Colobus - 14 at start , 42(11) born , 3 arrived , 15 departed , 26 died = 3.4 , current 2.3 . Since 1997 numbers have dwindled with only 7 successful births and 10 deaths .

I think this group of monkeys is the least successful of those held . I will try to look at others soon .
Ask if any questions on further details on any of the above species .

 

The figures speak for themselves.

They are pretty much what I expected, except there are more species than I supposed which have not bred at all or have had only one/two successful births.

 

Yeah, thanks, I'm actually pleasantly surprised even though the stats aren't exactly amazing. It could even be that Twycross did not pursue maintaining certain groups if they weren't part of ESBs/EEPs. But this is a small part of a bigger picture, really interesting though.

 

I'm surprised you say that. Only the Crowned Guenons bred in any number(6) Several of the other Guenon species never bred, or at best have had one successful birth. Most species they either have less than they started with or don't keep them at all now. Not a single guenon species has built up into a self-sustaining group, which considering this is a specialist collection for Primates, is an interesting record. Edinburgh and Port Lypmne have both achieved more- though even here only with one or two species each.

I am not including the Colobus as they are free breeders everywhere.

 

Gibbons at Twycross 1987 to 2006

Details as African monkeys posted yesterday -

Siamang - 8 to start , 22(3) births , 4 arrived , 10 departed and 9 died , leaving 7.5 ( current ISIS 7.4 )

White-cheeked crested - 8 at start , 5(1) births , 2 arrived , 6 departed , 4 died , leaving 2.2 ( current ISIS 3.2)
( 4 of the births were in the first 4 years from mixed sub-species stock , I believe the new breeding pair is pure )

Lar - 8 at start , 6(1) born , 4 arrived , 9 departed , 3 died , leaving 2.3 (current ISIS 3.2 )

Agile - 4 at start , 10(2) born , 2 arrived , 4 departed , 3 died , leaving 4.3 ( current ISIS 3.3 - I think 1 went to Bristol )

Pileated - 8 at start , 12 born , 2 arrived , 8 departed , 6 died , leaving 4.3.1 ( current ISIS 5.2 )
( in the early years they had 5 or 6 females )

Mueller's - single old male throughout period

Kloss' - the single male died 2006

I think these figures are impressive . It does not appear that they have tried to breed the commoner lar particularly . All species have bred in recent years .

I will look at the S. American monkeys next .

 

There not bad considering the age Gibbons can live too, and also quite a long interbirth time.

21 year snapshot, those figures are actually not bad.

 

Much better results than the Guenons- especially Siamangs, but nearly all the others too. Setting aside my prejudices temporarily, I'd have to say this is a good breeding record.

 

I would say that the siamang and agiles are pretty reasonable breeding records but beg to differ on the pileateds and white-cheeks. Both started with 8 individuals (potentially 4 pairs for each species). The white-cheeks had 4 successful births (1 per pair) and 4 deaths (okay the latter could be due to old age) over the 20 year period. The pileateds are better with 12 births (3 per pair), but they had 6 deaths during the same period. Again I stress the point that a collection that prides itself on housing primates must do more than holding large numbers of individuals and species. Neither example should be considered a 'success'.

One must ask the question - why did Twycross hold only a single Mueller's and Kloss gibbon over 20 years? The latter's rarity in collections is understandable (to a point), but Mueller's??? Banham Zoo had difficulty getting rid of their surplus stock.

Interestingly during the 80s both Perth Zoo, Australia and Twycross held impressive collections of gibbons (all known species at the time), including an individual Kloss gibbon each. Each collection had the opposite sex, but both the Perth Zoo Director and Molly refused to send either individual away to be paired. Both died lonely. A waste of a rare species.

 

South American Monkeys - Twycross 1987 to 2006

Just a couple of notes on the figures posted previously and today . In a few cases the closing stock for one year did not agree with the opening stock on the following year's report , I have adjusted to allow for this .

As I am sure most of you know , the departed figure includes - ' donation , exchange , sale or culling .

Black howler - number at 1.1.1987 - 11 , 65(10) born , 3 arrived , 24 died , 22 departed , leaving 11.11.1 . ( ISIS as at 19.9.08 10.11.3 )

Red howler - 5 arrived ( first pair 1989 ) , 20(9) born , 15 died , leaving 0.1 (none now )
( the group initially bred well , up to 13 at end of 1997 , then 9 died between 1998/99 and it was steadily down hill after this )

White-faced saki - 2 at start , 10(1) born , 5 arrived , 2 died , 12 departed , leaving 1.1 ( same now )
( the births were all between 1987 and 1995 )

Woolly monkey - 3 at start , 14(7) born , 11 arrived , 6 died , 3 departed , leaving 9.3 ( current ISIS 9.2 )
( another species where losses seem to be mostly females )

Red- faced black spider - 8 at start , 16(6) born , 2 arrived , 13 died , 2 departed , leaving 4.1 ( current ISIS 3.1 )
( in 1997 there were 5 females )

Variegated spider monkey ( A. belzebuth hybridus ) - 3 at start , 4 born , 4 arrived , 3 died , 4 departed , leaving 1.2 ( current ISIS 1.2 )
( they originally females only breeding with a male black-handed , there may still be 1 sub-spec. hybrid , difficult to follow some of these on the reports )

Brown-headed spider monkey ( A. fusciceps robustus ) - 8 arrived ( first in 1989) , (2) born , 2 died , 4 departed , leaving 1.1 ( still same )

Brown capuchin - 4 at start , 3(2) born , 4 arrived , 6 died , 1 departed leaving 1.1 ( still same )
( the original group died out by 1999 , the last female lived with the female uakari , new stock arrived 2000 )

Pale-fronted capuchin - 3 arrived ( first 2001 ) , 1 departed , leaving 0.2 ( still same )

The following species are no longer in the collection -

Douroucouli - 3 at start , 1 born , 3 arrived , 2 died , 5 departed 9 last in 1996 )

Red uakari - 2 at start , male died 1987 , female died 2000 .

Squirrel monkey - 7 at start , 16(3) born , 7 arrived , 4 died , 21 departed ( last in 1997)

Weeper capuchin - 4 arrived 1991 , 2 departed 1992 , 2 departed 1993 .

Black-handed spider monkey ( A. geoffroyi ) - 1 at start , 1 arrived , 2 departed ( 1990 )

Hybrid spider monkey - 2 at start , 2 born , 4 departed ( last 1992)

Black spider monkey ( A. paniscus chamek ) - 3 arrived (1991) , 2 died , last departed 2002 .

 

Some interesting breeding records there. They seem to have done very well with the black howlers, squirrels and sakis, moderately well (good breeding let down by high deaths) with the red howlers, woollys and red-faced spiders, and quite poorly with all the other species. Strange that they don't seem to have done well with capuchins (surely the easiest New World monkey to keep/breed) or the other spider monkeys.

I am still struggling to see what makes Twycross a 'great world-class' primate collection apart from a nice catalogue of species that they have kept alive for some period of time!

 

Bele- excellent analytical skills here. can you finish the job with a breakdown for the remaining primates- presumably mostly Langurs, and finally the Apes?

 

Thanks Pertinax . I am enjoying this project , some results are quite surprising , some sad e.g. red howlers - I would like to know what happened in 1998/99 - the annual veterinary reports makes no mention of the 9 deaths . I will do some more this week - Langurs , Callithrichids , Lemurs and Apes left .

My earliest report is for 1981 - they then had proboscis monkeys , spotted cuscus and Doria's tree kangaroos in the collection - I remember all of these .