Time was when Frankfurt had both species of this odd and beautiful bird in adjacent aviaries. I've never seen them anywhere else. I wonder how long they live for. Next time we talk about them it will probably be in the "animals you'll never see in a zoo thread"
I remember them at Frankfurt: the yellow-headed species was kept at a few other zoos and bred at one or two back in the '70s. Will we see them again? Never say never. Alan
London Zoo was the first to display both species. The first grey-necked Picathartes was captured by Cecil Webb in 1948 in the Cameroons and was still alive at the Zoo seven years later (in "London Zoo" by Philip Street, 1956). Gerald Durrell had two adult birds brought to him whilst collecting in the Cameroons six months later but they both died of aspergillosis on the voyage back to England. The first white-necked Picathartes was captured by Jack Lester in Sierra Leone in 1954. It was a well-grown chick taken from a nest and hand-reared. When it came back to the Zoo they then had both species on display for the first time anywhere. In the 1966 International Zoo Yearbook (the only issue I have) there are 12 white-necked Picathartes listed in four zoos (Bronx with one, Antwerp and Berlin with two each, and Frankfurt with seven!). There are no grey-necked Picathartes listed. Anyone have other issues of the Yearbook?
I have 19 volumes of IZY. And for those of us that are familiar with this text there is an index of rare species in captivity in the back of each edition. My most current edition is 1995, so my books dont have a accurate census of rare species.
The still living female in Frankfurt was born in the early/mid 1980s. All in all, the case of the picathartes in a zoos is another missed opportunity, similar to that of other species that could not establish themselves in zoos, although they reproduced and seemed to do well under the husbandry back then. But gentle lemur is right-Never say never...
Was ever any long-tailed ground roller in Western zoos, besides one now living in Walsrode? Does Tsimbazaza zoo still keep them, I suppose Walsrode got their offspring?
I seem to remember seeing them in the Bird Hall on visits to Frankfurt in the late sixties. Did they always live in that hall? Is the last bird still there now ?
I visited many times in the early eighties when I lived in Frankfurt, and they were always in the Bird Hall.
I'm pretty sure that the white-necked Picathartes were loose in the free-flight section of the Bird Hall at one time, and that was where they were breeding (?). When I was there and they just had the lone grey-necked left, she was in one of the glass-fronted aviaries. Picathartes look so awesome the way they bounce along the ground! The Bird Hall was my favourite part of Frankfurt (well, and the Grzimek House of course), although some of the cages were very small near the entrance end (for finches and things). A pigmy kingfisher of some sort was my second-favourite bird in there because it was so damn tiny!!
I went to Frankfurt last year, and the Picathartes was very active. I got some great pictures, but I accidently deleted them off my computer....
what sort of rabbits are kept in zoos? I'm not talking about domestic bunnies of course, but wild ones, particularly endangered species like volcano rabbits, hispid hares, Sumatran rabbits, etc (I already know the last two aren't kept anywhere). Jersey's volcano rabbits all died out from the original try with them, didn't they? Was another attempt made to keep them, or did any other zoo give them a go?
Various European zoos keep and breed Mountain Hares (Lepus timidus), I've seen them at Innsbruck, Neumunster and Vienna (where they were breeding in a mixed exhibit with Lammergeiers and an albino Common Rook). Innsbruck also have Brown Hares (Lepus europaeus).
I believe the Volcano rabbits were a one -off and neither Jersey nor elsewhere has had them since....
Tokyo Ueno has 4 listed on isis for ages which I thought must be a mistake but then I found this blog posted Jan 2008 which contains a poor quality picture of a rabbit in a grotty cage labelled Volcano Rabbit. Coming-of-Age Day (????) - Part2 (Ueno Zoo/???????) SecretZone in Japan
Pygmy rabbit which is endemic to USA and down to about 30 animals in the wild is not a widely known species. There are a small number in US zoos.
The still living picathartes at the Frankfurt Zoow as the last one which hatched there, that was in 1984. San Diego tried to import them a few years ago, but it failed.
The pygmy rabbit has declined but there are far more than 30 animals and it is 'only' considered near threatened by IUCN. I think you're talking about the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit (pygmy rabbit currently considered monotypic, but genetic work has shown that the Columbia Basin population perhaps should be recognized as a subspecies as has been isolated for 7000+ years) is probably extinct in the wild (30 is the number from 2000/2001) and virtually extinct in its pure form in captivity. Only a small handful (2-3?) of pure exist but lots of inbreeding and the current attempts involve trying to hybridize them with individuals from the main population of the pygmy rabbit to raise fitness. Last number I heard there were about 100 Columbia Basin X main population hybrids.
Have to correct myself, as I recently talked with one of the zoo staff there: the single female Four-horned Antelope still exists at Jardin des Plantes.
