and unfortunately as a result of that fur trade, these south american giant aquatic "rats" now have established themselves in every continent but australia and antarctica! i'll never forget the experience of sitting on a bag of rice on the back of a bus in northern loas, feeling somewhat carsick and half asleep, when a villager jumped on board and casually dropped a hog-tied live copyu in my lap. had the copyu's owner not have such fast reflexes, the poor rat would cave continued on its trajectory out the moving bus' doorway.
East Anglia can be among the coldest parts of the UK in winter- when an easterly wind blows from Siberia- and winters were quite a lot more severe back then- yet the Coypu survived and multiplied- must have been those fur coats and plenty of nice Sugarbeet crops to raid (hence their pest status) I think Coypu is the only mammal introduced to the UK that existed in large numbers that's been successfully exterminated by an eradication programme.
Does anyone know how long the southern elephant seals lived for in the zoo in the mid eighties? Does anyone have any pics of these seals or any other captive elephant seals (one of my favourites).
As aim building on a database about the past and current maintaning of bird of Paradise in captivity I would be very grateful if you could give me some info about any of these species ara, info of any sort is much appreciated
Hi sebbe. Here's what I know of it:- In the late 1940s to early 1960s the Director of Taronga Zoo was Sir Edward Hallstrom, an eccentric millionaire. He had an animal collector named Fred Shaw Mayer working for him in New Guinea (the same guy who Astrapia mayeri is named after.) In 1947 Hallstrom imported 118 Birds of Paradise (collected by Mayer.) Many (but by no means all) of these birds went to Taronga. The rest were traded to other zoos internationally in exchange for animals Taronga wanted. Unfortunately the great majority of these imported birds were cocks - very few hens. (I think they were mainly caught by noose at display sites) so not many opportunities to breed. In 1948 a complete ban on bird importation into Aust. meant no more Birds of Para. (or any others.) These were on display at Taronga in 1959/60:- Lesser B.o.P. ( Paradisaea minor) Prince Rudolph's Blue (P. rudolphi) Count Raggi's (P. raggiana salvadori) Empress of Germany's (P. raggiana augustavictoriae) Ribbon Tailed (Astrapia mayeri) Princess Stephanie's (A. stephaniae) Greater Sickle-bill (Epimachus fastosus) Lesser Sickle-bill (E.meyeri) Crinkle-collared Manucode (Manucodia chalybatus) Wattled (Loboparadisea sericea) Lesser Superb (Lophorina superba) Six Plumed (Parotia spp.) Greater Six Plumed (Parotia spp.) There were a couple of notable ( for their time) breedings; in 1958, 2 young Empress of Germany's were hatched and parent raised, a male and a female,giving the zoo 2 pairs. Two years later both the young male and the old female (the mother) died, so the young female was paired with her father, and in 1965 hatched a young one, which unfortunately died. Shortly after that the father also died, so the young female was then paired with the zoo's remaining old Count Raggi's male and after a few false starts 2 eggs laid on 29th and 30th Sept. 1972 hatched (on 20th and 21st October.) The male was hastily removed and the hen, herself bred at Taronga, turned out to be a good mother, successfully rearing the chicks ( a male and a female) to maturity. An article written by Kerry Muller, Curator of Birds at that time, put success down to the following; Aviary must be large and heavily planted; male must be removed without disturbance to the hen; fattening foods limited when attempting to breed; lots of insect food when young in nest; females never housed together (too much rivalry); cooling system (such as sprayers) when temperature over 32 degrees c. Unfortunately, Taronga's collection faded away due to age and no new blood. By 1974 the only Birds of Para. at the zoo were the young pair of Raggianas, an old male Crinkled Collared Manucode, an old male Ribbon tailed Astrapia and an old female Lesser B.o P. (Bear in mind that, apart from the Raggianas, these birds had been imported as adults 27 years earlier.) The last of these at Taronga was the old male Crinkle Collared Manucode. He was the only one still alive in 1980 (including the Raggianas) and died soon after that. The only members of the family to be seen in Aussie zoos today are the Riflebirds (Ptiloris) which, after all, are native to northern Australia.
Nice thread. Would be interesting to do the same thing for the UK. Although we havn't suffered from the same importation bans as in Australia (at least until relatively recently) there does seem to be a distinct lack of among African antelope in UK collections. When did the last Wildebeest in the UK die out I wonder?? ISIS lists Lisbon as holding the only (1?) in Europe but there may be other non-isis animals around? Seems very strange to me that despite almost every zoo having some form of 'African Savanna' exhibit, none feature this species. I am not a zoo professional so wonder as to the reason (hard to maintain; incompatible with other species such as giraffe, rhino, zebra, etc???).
I think there is a similar thread for the UK already, this one. http://www.zoobeat.com/38/animals-not-show-britain-8396/
Wow! Thanks Ara, thats is a amazing amount of info, a really interesting history behind the Taronga collection. I was not aware that Taronga has keept such a large collection of BoPs, may very well have outnumbered all BoPs collections in Europe by the same time. This info will be really helpful in my contintuing work, heartful thanks
Must have been on another planet when I checked ISIS. Port Lympne also have them and there are loads in Europe. Another case of check before you reply I'm afraid!!
Yep... West Midlands Safari Park had a good sized herd of wildebeest when I went, though that's a few years ago now. To appease all you Aussies out there of the fact that we Brits seem to have hijacked your thread which should be about animals Down Under, I will say this... considering you have so many unique, endemic species in your homeland, and have such a wide range of habitats, I think it's perfectly understandable that Ausralian zoos would be chiefly concerned with protecting and conserving such a diverse and distinctive range of native species.
