What species would you like to see at Jersey Zoo ?

One group of animals that could be a good conservation project for Jersey Zoo are the endangered rodents of Cameroon's montane forests - they would reflect both Gerald Durrell's prior work in the area and the 'highlands and islands' focus of the zoo.

Hartwig's soft-furred mouse Praomys hartwigi (Vulnerable) and Cameroon soft-furred mouse P. morio (Endangered) - Several members of this genus (including P. tullbergi and P. albipes have been bred in captivity before, so should be possible with these species too.

Mount Lefo brush-furred rat Lophuromys eisentrauti (Critically Endangered) and Dieterlen's brush-furred rat L. dieterleni (Endangered) - At least one species in this genus (L. flavopunctatus) has been bred under laboratory conditions before, again providing a starting point for these species.

Eisentraut's striped mouse Hybomys eisentrauti (Endangered) and Cameroon highland mouse Hybomys badius (Endangered) - This genus has been described as very easy to breed in captivity and has sometimes been recommended as a laboratory animal; when given a highly nutritious diet can breed almost continuously.

Burton's vlei rat Otomys burtoni (Endangered) and Western vlei rat Otomys occidentalis (Vulnerable) - While one species (O. irroratus) failed to mate in captivity due to intraspecific violence, others (O. sloggetti) breeds freely under laboratory conditions; some research would be needed to determine the sociality of the two Cameroonian species.

Mount Oku hylomyscus Hylomyscus grandis (Endangered) - At least one species in the genus (H. stella) has been bred in captivity before.

Mount Oku rat Lamottemys okuensis (Endangered) - This is a monospecific genus and the only one that has not been bred in captivity before (to the best of my knowledge).

 

Thank you for your comment @DesertRhino150 !

That is quite an impressive list and I must say that I agree that there could be more focus on rodents at Jersey zoo (and in zoos in general).

I also definitely agree that it would reflect the West African theme and historic connection of Gerald Durrell to that region in his early collecting trips.

 

By the way, regarding rodents in zoos and their ex-situ conservation there is an interesting paper from the 90's you may want to check out : "Rodent Conservation, Zoos, and the Importance of the “Common Species”"

Posted the link below.

https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.n...s5uX3nMbTA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

 

Quote I really liked and wanted to share from the paper posted above (@Shirokuma may want to take a look at this ):

"The traditional emphasis on megafauna has at least two shortcomings. People receive a very narrow view of the animal world, as being dominated by large creatures, and continue therefore to ignore a major portion of the planet’s biodiversity and, conversely, the problems of just knowing and preserving it. Additionally, important regions or areas of global biodiversity are almost totally overlooked in zoo plans if those regions lack large animals. Thus, we see flourishing in every zoo multi-million dollar African savannahs and Asiatic jungles, but less commonly find installations focusing on the Atlantic Forest of Brazil (although lion tamarins of the genus Leontopithecus represent one of the most successful zoo conservation stories), on the Colombian Chocò, the Philippines or the Eastern Arc Forests of Tanzania, all identified as among the biologically richest and unique regions on the planet [Myers, 1988, 1990]."

 

According to the Bartlett society (whose website I have finally just figured out how to use lol) there have been quite a lot of guenon species historically kept at Jersey.

This was mainly in the 60's and 70's and I assume many came there as a result of Durrell's collecting in West Africa or from animal dealers, these include :

Roloway guenon - 1966-69 (no idea they had these at one point, could they perhaps get into keeping them again ?)

Diana monkey- 1965-72

Mona monkey-1959-68

Martin's putty nosed guenon - 1959-64

Buttikofer's lesser white nosed guenon-1965-69

Preuss's guenon-1961-72

Sclater's spot nosed guenon-1959-63

 

Another suprise for me found on the Bartlett society site was the fact that Jersey have in fact already kept the Hispaniolan hutia (from 1976 to 1981) and the Cuban Hutia (1973 to 1976).

Evidently though for not for as long or as successfully as they did with the Jamaican hutia which they kept for almost two decades ! (1972 to 1992 ).

 

I was just reading though this paper called "An analysis of zoo visitors' favourite and least favourite animals" which was a survey study done at Jersey Zoo in 2013.

Apparently the animals that rated highest as the top 10 favourites of the visitors were the following mammals :

1. Gorillas.

2. Orangutang.

3. Otters.

4. Meerkats.

5. Lemurs (presumably ringtailed).

6. Fruitbats.

7. Aye-aye.

8. Spectacled bear.

9. Gibbons.

10. Tamarins.

It is quite suprising that the bear wasn't up there in the top 5 and encouraging that that the aye-aye and fruitbats made the top 10.

 

From the same paper the least liked by the public were the following:

1. Snakes (in general).

2. Birds (in general).

3. Fruit bats (as many people disliked them as liked them apparently).

4. Reptiles (in general).

5. Bald ibis.

6. Aye-aye.

7. Flamingos (quite odd...)

8. Red river hogs.

9. Bears.

10. Gorillas

Strange that "birds", bears, gorillas and flamingos (of all things) were amongst the most disliked.

 

From another paper by the same author Neill Carr, a survey study also done at Jersey called "Ideal animals and animal traits for zoos: General Public Perspectives".

Visitors were asked what animals they would most like to see and this was what was recorded:

1. Elephants 2. Big cats 3. Monkeys 4. Penguins 5. Bears 6. Tigers 7. Giraffe 8. Gorillas 9. Meerkats 10. Pandas.

So bears, gorillas, meerkats are already at Jersey whilst giraffes, pandas (also a bear but for some reason not seen as such by public) and elephants are unviable. I don't think big cats would fit and apparently neither do the current management (good for them IMO).

What I think would hypothetically work would be a greater variety of monkey species kept and there are plenty to choose from which would fullfill both ex-situ criteria and entertain visitors (the buffy tufted capuchin and Roloway monkey for example).

Penguins too could be an interesting one and similarly fullfill both criteria with species like Humboldt's and Magellanic penguins.

This was Carr's conclusion on the topic:

"The problem is arguably associated with those animals that neither have box office characteristics nor are highly undesirable. These are Gerald Durrell's little brown jobs, the mundane animals that people neither love nor loath but even worse, simply do not see. It is arguably only with the aid of other, more attractive (or even unattractive) animals, that visitors will be drawn into the work of zoos and become interested in the mundane, which when looking beyond the surface veneer are actually often recognisable as just as exotic, if not even more so, than the box office animals."

"Consequently, box office animals should not only be seen as important for the economic survival of zoos but also as tools through which visitors can learn about the importance of their survival and the preservation of their natural habitat. This can be extended beyond this group of animals to encompass those never likely to gain the status of ‘box office’ attraction."