Marsupial Questions

Coelacanth18

Coelacanth18

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Premium Member
Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone knows more about the demographic history/situation with the following marsupial species in Europe:

  • Sulawesi bear cuscus
  • New Guinea ground cuscus
  • Feathertail glider
  • Dusky pademelon
  • White-striped dorcopsis
  • Agile wallaby
  • Swamp wallaby
I know that there is some information on ZTL, but I'm curious about the more in-depth origin of these species and how well they are doing in captivity. Thanks in advance.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
White-striped dorcopsis
Click to expand...

Prague has 1.2 specimens, one of the females having been born there in October 2016.
Pairi Daiza (Belgium) has a single 1.0 specimen.
Apparently BestZoo (Netherlands) acquired the species in 2016, but I don't have any information on numbers or how they're doing. Maybe a Dutch ZooChatter can give us an update?
 
With regards to the bear cuscus, a personal favourite species of mine, there are currently 10 in Europe.

Pairi Daiza in Belgium hold 1:2
Lesna in Czech Republic hold 1:1
And Wroclaw have 2:3

Where they came from is more of a mystery.
One pair is presumably the ones that were kept at RSCC in the U.K., however I'm not 100% sure on which.

I believe the rest have all come from animal dealers or private owners, who in turn got them directly from an undisclosed location in south east Asia.

As for how they are doing, I think it is too early to tell, but if somebody manages to start breeding them, then they will possibly gradually become more common across the continent. However, that has yet to happen as far as I'm aware.
 
Thanks for the info so far, everyone. @giant_anteater, Wroclaw was where the original pair from the RSCC went; although I can't know for certain, I would assume they are still there.
 
MikeG said:
Prague has 1.2 specimens, one of the females having been born there in October 2016.
Pairi Daiza (Belgium) has a single 1.0 specimen.
Apparently BestZoo (Netherlands) acquired the species in 2016, but I don't have any information on numbers or how they're doing. Maybe a Dutch ZooChatter can give us an update?
Click to expand...

BestZoo currently has a group of 1.2 white-striped dorcopsis as well. Haven't seen them personally, but asked a friend who has.
 
MikeG said:
Held at 4 zoos, but only Magdeburg and Munich now have breeding populations:
Click to expand...

Of course, even this is a distinct improvement on the state of affairs even a few short years ago, when the species was on the verge of disappearing due to mismanagement.

Mind you, the figures you cite suggest that Tierpark Berlin has had a bit of a die-off given the fact that they received the entire group formerly held by Rotterdam, a total of 1,4,1 individuals.
 
When I was at Best Zoo last year they had 1.2 dusky pademelon not white-striped dorcopsis, unless these are a new arrival.

As for Wroclaw's bearcuscus I don't think they came from RSCC.
 
@Al, are you 100% positive about that? BestZoo is listed as a dorcopsis holder, but isn't listed (in neither current nor former) for pademelon... Perhaps they were signed incorrectly? Either that, or they're listed incorrectly on zootierliste.

(If the latter is the case, I'll be gutted... Missed the taxon in both Pairi Daiza and Prague last year, BestZoo would have been the only place left for me to see them!)
 
Last edited:
Coelacanth18 said:
Feathertail glider
Click to expand...

I don't know how big the European founder population was, but currently this species is held in large numbers & breeds freely:
Poznan has about 150 individuals
Budapest = c.100
Moscow = c.50
Randers (Denmark) = c.40
Frankfurt = c.30
Zamosc (Poland) = c.30
with smaller numbers in quite a few other zoos.
 
With regards to dusky pademelon, all animals stem from 1.2 animals that came to Plzen a few years ago and this species is spreading rapidly since they started breeding them.

With regards to Agile wallaby, I assume there must be some in private hands as well, that is where Rotterdam got theirs from a few years ago.
 
lintworm said:
With regards to dusky pademelon, all animals stem from 1.2 animals that came to Plzen a few years ago and this species is spreading rapidly since they started breeding them.
Click to expand...

That's what I gathered as well. 1.2 is a very small founder base, but I suppose it would be difficult to source more. That being said, do you or anyone else know exactly how they were sourced? ZTL just says "Jakarta"; I don't know if that means a zoo in Jakarta, a private individual, or if that was just the transit point.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
ZTL says that they did, although I can't speak to the credibility of their source (which is listed).
Click to expand...

Given the way the reference section on ZTL works, you cannot tie a particular source annotation to a particular edit; if your assumption is that the information comes from the edit made by myself referred to in the references, you'd be incorrect :p in point of fact, as mentioned by myself in this post from 2015, I contacted the collection directly and was told their Bear Cuscus represented an entirely-new import, information I then added to the ZTL page.

Unfortunately, since I edited ZTL to reflect this information someone has jumped to conclusions and replaced my edit with the incorrect RSCC information. This serves as a rather good demonstration of why one cannot rely on ZTL too much; there are too many idiots who jump to conclusions and make edits without making certain their information is correct..... especially where UK collections are concerned, sadly.
 
Regarding swamp wallaby, I am not sure, but from the available info on Zootierliste, it appears the Zoo Zurich has played a major role in establishing this species. It is at least a species that is gradually becoming more and more common in Europe.
 
giant_anteater said:
With regards to the bear cuscus, a personal favourite species of mine, there are currently 10 in Europe.

Pairi Daiza in Belgium hold 1:2
Lesna in Czech Republic hold 1:1
And Wroclaw have 2:3

Where they came from is more of a mystery.
One pair is presumably the ones that were kept at RSCC in the U.K., however I'm not 100% sure on which.

I believe the rest have all come from animal dealers or private owners, who in turn got them directly from an undisclosed location in south east Asia.

As for how they are doing, I think it is too early to tell, but if somebody manages to start breeding them, then they will possibly gradually become more common across the continent. However, that has yet to happen as far as I'm aware.
Click to expand...
Are you sure about Pairi Daiza? The last thing I heard was that they only imported a pair and one has "disappeared" (did the female gave birth and was behind the scenes?).
I'm also unsure about Worclaw, according to Zootierliste they recived 1,2 animals from RSCC, the male passed away and in 2015 there were just 1,1 animals there, did they got a new pair?
 
arafan said:
I'm also unsure about Worclaw, according to Zootierliste they recived 1,2 animals from RSCC, the male passed away and in 2015 there were just 1,1 animals there, did they got a new pair?
Click to expand...
0.2 Bear Cuscus arrived in March 2016
1.0 arrived in May 2016
These joined the 1.1 already at the zoo.
 
Bear cuscus in Wrocław:
two females arrived in 2014 (one female died soon – she arrived in bad condition)
male arrived in 2015, both animals are kept together in Monkey House
1,2 arrived in 2016, these animals are kept separately behind the scenes.
I’m sure that these aren’t animals from Sandwich. They are from private owner (from Czechia I presume).

Feathertail gliders arrived to Poznań in 1999 from Taronga Zoo (10,10). I think that all animals in Europe are descendants of this group.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top