What species would you like to see at Jersey Zoo ?

One species I always thought they were lacking is the Socorro dove. It seems to fit their overall theme very well but I think they'll avoid them. Other European zoos have got them covered, plus Jersey doesn't really work in Mexico anymore.

 

Gerald and Lee Durrell visited Madagascar about 30 years ago to save animals threatened by rainforest destruction. I wonder if Jersey Zoo should organise a similar expedition to visit the Amazon and Pantanal and rescue endangered species there.

 

Sort of an updated list of the species that I still do think would add to the Durrell ark would be :

Buffy tufted marmoset- Probably the species I would most like to see at Jersey (for obvious reasons), this species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo. It adds diversity to the mammal collection, native to the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest forests which are a focal area of the Durrell trust. The trust is involved with the conservation of this species and could obtain the species in the future.

White footed tamarin - This species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo. It adds diversity to the mammal collection, native to the Colombian tropical dry forests which are a focal area of the Durrell trust. The trust is involved with the conservation of this species and have been trying to obtain it for years anyway.

Buffy headed capuchin monkey - A critically endangered species that requires ex-situ management and relatively easy to obtain. It adds diversity to the mammal collection, native to the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest which is a focal area of the Durrell trust. It would be very popular animals with visitors and meet the educational criteria.

Roloway monkey - This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo. It 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 / Sclater's lemur -This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo. It 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 which could replace ring tailed lemurs. Jersey have experience with lemurs ex-situ and this could be transferrable to the species.

Mongoose lemur -This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo. It 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 which could replace ring tailed / red fronted brown lemurs. Jersey have experience with lemurs ex-situ and this could be transferrable to the species.

Ring tailed mongoose - Although not currently endangered these would be an excellent addition in my opinion. A better educational 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.

Fossa - 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. Meets the educational criteria and Jersey have transferrable experience with keeping Euplerids.

Hispaniolan solenodon - It is a small endangered mammal species that could benefit from ex-situ management and would fit well IMO with the zoos philosophy and focus on smaller taxa (wouldn't take up too much space either). It is a "living fossil" and reflects the Durrell Trusts work in the Dominican Republic / Hispaniola.

Hispaniolan hutia - A small endangered mammal species that could benefit from ex-situ management, would fit well IMO with the zoos philosophy and focus on smaller taxa (wouldn't take up too much space either). It would reflects the Durrell Trusts work in the Dominican Republic / Hispaniola and Jersey obtained much experience with keeping the Jamaican hutia in the past that is transferrable.

Brazilian Merganser duck- This critically endangered species urgently requires ex-situ management and could truly benefit from being kept and bred by Jersey zoo. The species adds diversity to the bird collection. Difficult to obtain but is native to Brazil which is a focal country of the Durrell trust and Jersey has experience with waterfowl which could be transferrable to the merganser and its conservation .

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. It would fit well IMO with the zoos philosophy and focus, reflects the Durrell Trusts work in the Dominican Republic / Hispaniola. Jersey has transferrable experience with the historic keeping of the Mauritius kestrel.

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. It adds diversity to the bird collection, native to the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest which is a focal area of the Durrell trust.

Ricord's iguana - An endangered species that requires ex-situ management as the natural habitat is threatened by lake Enriquillo growth. It could add diversity to the species kept at the reptile /amphibian house while also reflecting the Durrell Trusts work in the Dominican Republic / Hispaniola. Jersey has experience with husbandry West Indian iguanas which could be transferrable to Ricord's conservation.

Golden lancehead viper - A critically endangered species that urgently requires ex-situ management, could add diversity to the species kept at the reptile / amphibian house, it could replace the eyelash pitvipers and meet the conservation criteria.

 

Yes, I agree with you, it would be a good fit as it is an island endemic species and a bird.

I agree with you that other European (and American) zoos have the species covered but Jersey still does have an influence in Mexico but through the supporting role of training and in-situ work rather than ex-situ.

My former coordinator at Chapultepec studied at DESMAN and received training there are renewed links to between Jersey and Mexican zoos and conservation groups.

 

It would be amazing but I tend to think that those kind of expeditions that were still possible in the 1990's would no longer be feasible anymore and particularly with the current administration of Brazil.

Regarding the Pantanal, a colleague of mine just got back from the Pantanal and returned with an awful lot of injured animals (over 200 parrots) that are injured and sick including jaguars.

A very bad situation there at the moment indeed, nothing less than an ecocide in fact.

 

I'm sorry to hear about that. It's a pity that the Pantanal is being allowed to be destroyed. I've heard that part of the problem that led to the famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s was due to rainforest destruction, leading to a lack of land that could produce food. Another part of the problem was due to the government using arable land to provide cash crops for export, rather than for food for Ethiopian people. A speaker said that more food was exported to the UK from Ethiopia in 1985 than the UK exported to Ethiopia.

 

I do agree that Giant Otters would be ideal there. I just wonder if any of the Round Island species they use to have are still in the collection?

 

I am sure Durrell would love to work with these animals. However it needs somebody in Brazil to help them solve bureaucratic problems. I wonder if there are any Brazilian conservationists who would help?

 

Yes, Brazil is pursuing a very dangerous course in terms of agri-business expansion into these ecosystems.

As a country Brazil has always been a bread basket for the world but it cannot afford to come at this kind of tremendous and irreversible ecological cost and there will eventually be truly terrifying consequences for this current policy.

By the way, I didn't know that about Ethiopia (a country I find fascinating) and indeed that is tragic but somehow it isn't suprising to me.

 

Well I work for the Mountain Marmoset Conservation Programe here in Brazil and we actively work with the Durrell trust in the conservation of the buffy tufted and buffy headed marmoset. They help us a great deal with our ongoing work.

All I can say is that I would dearly like to see the buffy tufted marmoset kept and bred at Jersey zoo one day as I know it is a species that would truly benefit from being there.

I don't know whether it will happen in the near future and the future is always uncertain so I can't really say and wouldn't like to comment any more on that front.

However, if by some stroke of good fortune it does happen (and fingers crossed but this is far from certain) it will be an excellent outcome and a dream come true.

 

I think giant otters would be a massive improvement as a replacement of Asian short clawed otters (can't stand the damn things) but I don't know if that would ever happen or be likely to so I left them off of this new thought experiment / list.

Yes, they definitely do still keep the round island boa, Telfair's skink and orange tailed skink and still do in-situ work on the island.

 

I believe they were breeding the Round Island Boa at one time!

 

Not sure if they are still breeding them but apparently they historically managed to breed over 1,500 of these snakes so quite a conservation success story in many ways (but like all conservation interventions far from finished).

 

At least with the buffy headed capuchin I don't think there would be a need because this primate is already kept in captivity in a number of European zoos so it would probably be the easiest of these to obtain.

The only reason why the white footed tamarin isn't currently being held at Jersey as I understand it is due to some bureaucratic issue with the Colombian environmental ministry. The irony is that Colombian rescue centres and zoos are filled with individuals of this species and have even put them on contraceptives to stop them breeding. They really do need to be at Jersey IMO.

The golden lancehead viper would be significantly harder with bureaucracy as there is a lot of restrictions around this species given fears of biopiracy etc. However, it is kept by several Brazilian zoos and bred at São Paulo zoo (who have strong historic connections with Jersey) and Instituto Butantan so not impossible if the will to obtain them was there.

The Brazilian merganser would be a hard one in terms of legislation and bureaucracy etc but it is at Zoo Itatiba who are breeding the species and this zoo is connected / partnered with zoo Schmidling in Austria so there are contacts and connections in Europe. Again if the will to obtain them was there then it wouldn't be impossible but admittedly very difficult and unlikely.

The Alagoas currasow is held at Sorocaba zoo (who have strong historic connections with Jersey) and also at several private captive breeding facilities here in Brazil and I imagine that it may be tough in terms of legislation and bureaucracy but not impossible if the will to obtain them was there.

 

Having a read on Wiki about the Jersey zoo sounds impressive in all the work they have done over the years with the ultra rare species also having an interesting collection, I hope their new plans come to pass for them. I like the work within the zoo grounds for the native species including all the plantings and nest boxes provided!

 

My suggestion for a species that might be possible to obtain and that could benefit from a new ex situ breeding group at Jersey (or elsewhere) is the red-bellied guenon (Cercopithecus erythrogaster erythrogaster). I believe that the confiscated pair at Monkey World have now got 2 daughters living with them. If a male could be found, a new potential breeding group could be established, and it might be an ideal species for Jersey as it is attractive, relatively small and critically endangered. Needless to say this would require the full co-operation of the governments of Togo, Benin or Nigeria - and preferably of all three, although the original pair were actually smuggled through Ghana. It is not impossible that a suitable male could be living as a pet or at a rescue centre in Africa. Ideally this species could be helped by an in situ breeding programme, which the Durrell Trust might be well placed to assist.

 

Yes, I think the worth the new emphasis on this rewilding campaign is very interesting too, intriguing to think what direction this could take in the future.

Seems like with the adder, grass snake and Chough (and I suppose work with the Scottish wildcat too) they are putting some emphasis on native UK biodiversity too.

 

That is a really interesting suggestion @gentle lemur !

I wonder if Jersey would consider doing this with the species.

It is a West African species and Durrell was in West Africa and wrote about it as part of his books on collecting so it could fit well with the collection.

 

I would like them to still focus on doing what they do best working with ultra rare small species which they excel at

 

Yes, I think so too and I would be very disappointed if they departed from this focus.

Some of the species I included in my new updated list above sort of reflect on this and take into account Jersey's transferrable experience that could be applied from this and keeping within focal regions.

Buffy tufted marmost and white footed tamarin - Jersey has a lot of experience if not the most experience with callitrichids ex-situ and Colombia and Brazil are historic focal areas.

Ricord's iguana - Jersey has a lot of experience in breeding iguanas and particularly those from the West Indies like Lesser Antillean iguana and rhinoceros iguana and have historically and to this day worked heavily in Hispaniola.

Black blue eyed / Sclater's lemur and mongoose lemur - Jersey has a lot of experience in breeding lemurs and have historically and to this day worked heavily in Madagascar.

Brazilian merganser - Jersey has a lot of experience in waterfowl husbandry and conservation and have brought several species back from the brink.

Ridgway's hawk - Jersey has a lot of experience in breeding endangered birds of prey like the Mauritius kestrel and brought the species back from the brink so there is transferable husbandry experience which could be applied to the Ridgway's hawk and the trust have historically worked heavily in Hispaniola / Dominican Republic.

Hispaniolan hutia - Jersey historically excelled in breeding the Jamaican hutia and gained a lot of experience in the husbandry of these rodents and have historically and to this day worked heavily in Hispaniola.

Some from the new list would admittedly be wild cards like solenodon and golden lancehead viper but I highly doubt that they would struggle to keep or breed them in captivity, quite the opposite actually.