What species would you like to see at Jersey Zoo ?

Is that the same book where he kept some scaly-tails? None of them survived for long

 

I think the horses may have come from Marwell,and I course they had Babirusa there at one time,had a chat with a keeper be it a long time ago who said that Jersey would no longer keep any cats as they did not think they could provide the right conditions in a zoo.

 

So Jersey will keep meerkats, but not mere cats

 

What is a scaly tail ? is it a kind of rodent ?

 

I guess theres only one way to find out, we shall have to speak to A.P. Wolf

Big cats I understand, but its a shame if this also applies to small cats as I think some species would be a good fit with Jersey.

Afterall, many species featured in the Durrell books (African golden cat, Geoffroy's cat, ocelot, margay ?), are of conservation concern (and quite neglected globally by conservation) and are small enough to be accomodated on site.

Fishing cats might be quite good replacements for short claw otters and their enclosure too.

 

Gerald Durrell wrote about his experiences with giant otter shrews in his first book The Overloaded Ark (1953).

Durrell also contributed an article about the giant otter shrew to the ZSL journal Zoo Life (Winter 1953 edition).

 

Thanks Tim ! I think I must have read that book at some point though funny enough I don't remember having read it.

I would love to read that article, will have to see if I can find it.

 

It's a long while since I've read the book but, if I remember correctly, Gerald Durrell writes about scaly-tails in The Bafut Beagles.

Yes scaly-tails, sometimes called flying "mice" or pygmy flying "squirrels" are rodents of the genus Idiurus.

My scanner is currently broken but I should be able to send you a scan of the article in due course.

 

Ah I see, I haven't heard of them though I must have read that chapter on them as I do remember reading "The bafut beagles".

Thank you Tim ! That would be much appreciated !

 

Very interesting, I can see now a bit of the resemblance to springhares from their faces but I wouldn't have thought it / detected it if you hadn't of mentioned it. They remind me a bit of some of the flying squirrels or the possums.

 

Convergent evolution re: gliding

 

Yes, a very interesting one for sure.

I love these examples of convergent evolution ! Fascinating stuff !

 

The long-fingered striped possum converges with the aye-aye in having a long slender finger and a similar feeding style. It also converges with skunks due to its coat pattern and using scent to dispel enemies.

 

I can definitely see a resemblance between the coat pattern of the skunk and this possum and also the enlongated claw with the aye-aye (though the aye-ayes claw is truly huge).

I'm actually always suprised and fascinated by the converge of Australian marsupials and many old and new world species.

 

A couple more species that I believe could also make good candidates for species kept at Jersey zoo:

Mammals

Superagüi lion tamarin - This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management (none currently in captivity / no insurance population) and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the mammal collection, native to the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest which is a focal area of the Durrell trust and the trust was historically involved with the conservation of this species.

Northern brown howler monkey - This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the mammal collection, native to the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest which is a focal area of the Durrell trust, could be a good replacement for the black and gold howler monkeys currently kept.

Kaapori capuchin monkey - This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the mammal collection, native to the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest which is a focal area of the Durrell trust, charismatic and very active species, bound to become "crowd favourites".

Roloway monkey - This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the mammal collection, native to tropical West Africa where Durrell undertook his collecting expeditions and featured in his books so could highlight current conservation concerns there, a charismatic species.

Black blue-eyed lemur - This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the mammal collection,native to Madagascar which is a focal area of the Durrell trust, also a strikingly beautiful and charismatic species.

Silky sifaka - A critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the mammal collection,native to Madagascar which is a focal area of the Durrell trust, also a strikingly beautiful, "cute" and charismatic species.

James' sportive lemur - This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the mammal collection,native to Madagascar which is a focal area of the Durrell trust.

Fossa - These would be an excellent addition in my opinion, it is a vulnerable species that requires ex-situ management, adds diversity to the mammal / carnivore collection, native to Madagascar which is a focal area of the Durrell trust, also a fairly large, active and charismatic species.

Ring tailed mongoose - Although not currently endangered these would be an excellent addition in my opinion, a better replacement for meerkats and surely a better model species for conservation research purposes too, a handsome species, active and native to Madagascar which is a focal area of the Durrell trust.

Durrell's Vontsira - These would be an excellent addition in my opinion, it is a vulnerable species that probably requires ex-situ management, adds diversity to the mammal / carnivore collection, native to Madagascar which is a focal area of the Durrell trust, new to science so captive management could be useful for research into this poorly known species, could showcase trusts work and is also named after founder.

Giant otter - These would be an excellent addition in my opinion, it is an endangered species, adds diversity to the mammal / carnivore collection, native to Brazil / South America which is a focal area / region of the Durrell trust, good replacement for Asian short clawed otters, large, charismatic, active bound to become "crowd favourites".

Mountain tapir - These would be an excellent addition in my opinion (albeit probably on the unrealistic to obtain scale), it is an endangered species, adds "hoofstock" to collection, native to Colombia / South America which is a focal area / region of the Durrell trust, Jersey already focus on species native to the Andean cloud forests and Páramos like the spectacled bears so could be a good fit.

Birds

Ridgway's hawk - This would be an excellent addition IMO, it is a small critically endangered raptor species that could benefit from ex-situ management, would fit well IMO with the zoos philosophy and focus, reflects the Durrell Trusts work in the Dominican Republic / Hispaniola.

Alagoas cussasow - This species is extinct in the wild urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo, adds diversity to the bird collection, native to the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest which is a focal area of the Durrell trust.

Banded ground cuckoo - This would be an excellent addition IMO, it is a small critically endangered bird species that could benefit from ex-situ management, would fit well IMO with the zoos philosophy and focus on "little brown jobs".

Tooth billed pigeon - This would be an excellent addition IMO, it is a small critically endangered bird species that could benefit from ex-situ management, would fit well IMO with the zoos philosophy and focus on "little brown jobs" and as it is called "the little dodo" fits with the Durrell logo and emphasis on island conservation.

Sumatran ground cuckoo - This would be an excellent addition IMO, it is a small critically endangered bird species that could greatly benefit from ex-situ management, would fit well IMO with the zoos philosophy and focus on "little brown jobs", the Durrell trust already work in Sumatra and focus on this region.

 

I was looking back through this thread that I posted a while ago and saw that I would like to see the ring tailed mongoose kept at Jersey zoo. Thought I'd add a few things regarding this species and the Durrell trust that I've been able to find out since through reading.

The zoo did once try to obtain the ring tailed mongoose during the famous Gerald Durrell trip / expedition to Jersey in 1990 which brought back aye-aye, giant jumping rat and several other Malagasy species to the zoo. However, despite attempting to capture it the mongoose unfortunately eluded them and they never caught any.

On the website of the zoo and the "Advancing the Ark" feature of the Durrell Index (link below) the narrow striped mongoose is listed as being primarily of education importance within the zoos collection as "It helps us to tell important stories about the threats to this remarkable habitat, and about our wider efforts in Madagascar to save species and support local people."

Ark - Durrell

I can't argue with that and it is a brilliant species to use for educating about Madagascar but I would say that the ring tailed mongoose and the fossa could also conceivably join the ark for the same reason and in place of the meerkat.

 

They use to have an outstanding collection of Tamarin species not to sure what they have these days. They put in a lot of effort into ultra rare Island birds and reptiles, I am not sure what if any species have been added in resent years but when Darrel was there he was much the driving force!

 

I agree @Zorro, they most definitely did.

The black lion tamarins that they still have are most definitely now the Callitrichid jewel in their crown as they are the only ones kept outside of Brazil now. Huge support from the Durrell trust for their in-situ conservation too.

The pied tamarins that they have are also another jewel in their crown, though these are also kept by many other zoos around the world now. Similar to the BLT there is huge support from the Durrell trust for their in-situ conservation too.

Apart from that they apparently have golden lion tamarin, silvery marmoset and emperor tamarin.

I think the golden lion tamarins are more historically significant species and because of the conservation connection whereas the silvery marmosets and emperor tamarins are kept as model species for research purposes that can be applied to other threatened Callitrichid species.

 

In retrospect some of the species that I listed that I would like to see at Jersey now seem inappropriate / unsuitable for various reasons, these would be :

Southern Muriqui - Better conserved in-situ in Brazil, difficulties with Brazilian bureaucracy to obtain them, no similar historic experience with large neotropical monkeys which would be transferable to these animals.

Superagüi lion tamarin - As with muriqui, better conserved in-situ and too too much to deal with in terms of Brazilian bureaucracy to obtain them.

Araripe manakin - As with the muriqui and SLT, probably better conserved in-situ and too much to deal with in terms of Brazilian bureaucracy to obtain them.

Lord Howe stick insect - As @MRJ mentioned in one thread Australia really does have this species covered and Durrell don't work in the region so it wouldn't really say anything in terms of Durrell's work.

Panamanian golden frog - Similar to the Lord Howe island stick insect in that American zoos have this species covered and Durrell don't work in the region so it wouldn't really say anything in terms of Durrell's work.

Mountain tapir - Far too difficult to obtain, better conserved in-situ.

Durrell's Vontsira - Difficult to obtain, better conserved and researched in-situ.