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Wombats in Zoos

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by Fodders, 8 Jun 2007.

  1. Fodders

    Fodders Well-Known Member

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    How many zoos outside of Australia have Wombats? Especially common wombats. Also do any zoos in the world have Northern hariy nosed womabts? They are very rare I beleive.
     
  2. Writhedhornbill

    Writhedhornbill Well-Known Member

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    Check ISIS. No European zoos house the Hairy nosed womabts, but quite a few have the common wombats. London Used to have common Wombats, and Penny would like to see Chester getting them very soon!!
     
  3. Yassa

    Yassa Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Duisburg has 3, Hannover 2 (both Germany), Plankendahl (Belgium) 2.
    I don`t think there are many more.. 6 of these 7 were imported just last year from Australia
     
  4. Writhedhornbill

    Writhedhornbill Well-Known Member

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    Do they breed regularly? I've haven't heard of a captive wombat birth in a while.
     
  5. Zoo_Boy

    Zoo_Boy Well-Known Member

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    in australia of course, we have a few births, just 2 years back dubbo reported the first twins born in this species!
     
  6. patrick

    patrick Well-Known Member

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    northern hairy-nosed wombats...

    there are no northern hairy-nosed wombats in captivity anywhere in the world. obvioulsy, being right up there as one of the 50 worlds rarest mammals and being and australian native, its not something that hasn't been considered here in australia. if i remember correctly (and i could have this all mixed up) western plains zoo in dubbo attempted to keep this species some 10 years ago, bringing in a wild caught male (might have needed rehbilitating) refused to eat properly (?) and for fear he would die it was re-released or it did die or smething like that. sketchy i know, but i just cant remember. it was something i read a long time ago.

    anyhow, currently there is a big shift amongst our major zoos to keep and attempt to breed the southern hairy-nosed variety, the idea being that it can be considered an analogue species for it rarer cousin. should we master the art of captive breeding of the more common southerns - we may indeed one day see our zoos confident enougt to attempt a CBP for the NHNW.
     
  7. jwer

    jwer Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    European status, during the 60 and 70's some zoos held wombat's and even reported births during that period but after around 1985 they kept declining untill only an elderly pair was left at Duisburg Zoo (germany). Because of that Duisburg recently imported 3.3 from Australia and gave 1.1 to Hannover Zoo and 1.1 to Planckendael (Mechelen, Belgium the open-range sister zoo of Antwerp Zoo). No reported births at any of these three parks yet, but i believe the animals imported were fairly young...
     
  8. Writhedhornbill

    Writhedhornbill Well-Known Member

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    I really hope some UK zoos get them. I know you agree fodders!!!

    With the Northern hariy noseds, how many are there in the wild? Last count I heard was about 300.
     
  9. Zoo_Boy

    Zoo_Boy Well-Known Member

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    u must have heard many years ago, my last hearing was about 60, as endagered as the javan rhino!

    i hope u r right, 300 would be awesome!
     
  10. Fodders

    Fodders Well-Known Member

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    Yes I agree. I really do hope that the northern wont become extinct. Do you Know how many southern nosed there are in the wild?
     
  11. Writhedhornbill

    Writhedhornbill Well-Known Member

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    On Arkive, it says that there maybe as many as 110 but as few as 20 breeding females. Similar story to the Echo parakeet. Only abou 5 females there. Sorry, don't know about the southern hairies!!
     
  12. Zoo_Boy

    Zoo_Boy Well-Known Member

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    southern are in no were close to endangered as the northens, as a fact, the southern species is used in captivity in breeding programs, in hope to get valuable research on breeding, so if the need arises to bring captive northerns in to captivity, we have the grounding for a successful program
     
  13. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    northern hairy-nosed wombat population in 1981 was 20 individuals, in 2003 115 individuals and in 2005 90 individuals.

    southern hairy-nosed have a wild population of about 300,000

    there are up to a million common wombats in the wild.
     
  14. Fodders

    Fodders Well-Known Member

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    Hooray for the common wombats. Theyre my favourite and if there are up to a million of them they shouldn't really become extinct for a very long while. I really do hope to see one in my lifetime even if it means going all the way to Australia.
     
  15. Fodders

    Fodders Well-Known Member

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    Hooray Im very glad for the commons. If there is up to a million it should mean that they shouldn't become extinct soon. I really hope to see one in my lifetime even if it means going to Australia.
     
  16. jwer

    jwer Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Yeah that would be a real pain...

    (they are usually at least visable at all three european collections, so if you're short on cash hop over to Belgian and visit the ones there ;) )
     
  17. patrick

    patrick Well-Known Member

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    excuse me!! didn't anyone tell you? australia is gorgeous!! :)
     
  18. Coquinguy

    Coquinguy Well-Known Member

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    i dunno, manchesters pretty nice ;)
     
  19. Writhedhornbill

    Writhedhornbill Well-Known Member

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    I Think Jwer was referring to the money involved, not how the place looks.
     
  20. ^Chris^

    ^Chris^ Well-Known Member

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    I think he was being sarcastic, but let that be a lesson to us all.