Quite a lot of places in Australia keep Tawny Frog-Mouths.
What about sensitive sub-terrain species such as marsupial moles and purple frogs?
Can Any Animal be Held in Captivity?
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What about sensitive sub-terrain species such as marsupial moles and purple frogs?
TheEthiopianWolf03
Well-Known Member
I think the list for animals that could not be kept in zoos goes like this...
Deep sea animals (Due to how much pressure they are used to having and how they live in complete darkness)
Sub terrain animals because they would hide underground most of the time
Large aquatics (This includes whales, dolphins, and large sharks but some facilities have managed to keep animals like whale sharks)
There are some exceptions to this list obviously but this is pretty much it. I also do realize there are birds, mammals, and other animals that don't fit into this category but still don't do very well in zoos. The list that I made was more pointed towards animals that couldn't or wouldn't have a suitable habitat in a zoo.
Deep sea animals (Due to how much pressure they are used to having and how they live in complete darkness)
Sub terrain animals because they would hide underground most of the time
Large aquatics (This includes whales, dolphins, and large sharks but some facilities have managed to keep animals like whale sharks)
There are some exceptions to this list obviously but this is pretty much it. I also do realize there are birds, mammals, and other animals that don't fit into this category but still don't do very well in zoos. The list that I made was more pointed towards animals that couldn't or wouldn't have a suitable habitat in a zoo.
Of course, this merely means they may not make particularly good display animals, rather than meaning they cannot be kept in captivity
so this particular category doesn't really fall within the remit of the thread.
Well, it depends on your definition of deep, but:
Chambered nautilus (several aquaria)
Vampire squid (Monterey Bay Aquarium, 2014)
Japetella squid (MBA, 2014)
Flapjack octopus (MBA, 2016-present)
Goblin shark (Sea Paradise, Japan, 2016-?)
Deep sea isopod (several aquaria)
Spotted ratfish (several aquaria)
Tima sp. (undescribed) (Aquarium of the Pacific)
Supposedly, blobfish (Blob Fish Cafe)
Japanese spider crab
They haven't all done extremely well in captivity, but progress is being made on their husbandry.
Manta rays and ocean sunfish are two that come to mind as being pretty large and still being maintained, apart from the whale sharks you have mentioned. In addition, dolphins of multiple species including Commerson's dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, white-sided dolphin, and several others are maintained.
I can add to that young Smooth lumpsuckers at COEX Aquarium (I don't think they breed them but all individuals were young), South Korea.
Along with Bering wolffish, Southern pigfish and more generally Blotchy swellshark at the same aquarium. (although if we take the traditional definition of 1800 metres and more all of these except the lumpsucker aren't deep-sea animals).
So, basically we can find exceptions for most of the ''hard-to-keep'' kind of captive animals (but there are some animals we still can't keep on a long- term at all)
TheEthiopianWolf03
Well-Known Member
The reason I put sub terrain animals on the list is because they wouldn't have a good ZOO habitat. People will most likely not see them at a zoo since they spend so much time underground.
As for the deep sea animals, creatures that live in the twilight zone or deeper. Animals that are adapted to the darkness and the pressure underwater.
They wouldn't make a good zoo exhibit ether because they would be in full darkness. The only exception to that rule are bioluminescent animals but then there's the pressure to take into account.
On the bottom of the list, I said that there are some exceptions to this list. Ocean sunfish and manta rays are some of the animals that fit that exception. Sorry if I didn't explain it clearly.
As for the deep sea animals, creatures that live in the twilight zone or deeper. Animals that are adapted to the darkness and the pressure underwater.
They wouldn't make a good zoo exhibit ether because they would be in full darkness. The only exception to that rule are bioluminescent animals but then there's the pressure to take into account.
On the bottom of the list, I said that there are some exceptions to this list. Ocean sunfish and manta rays are some of the animals that fit that exception. Sorry if I didn't explain it clearly.
Where are ocean sunfish still kept in captivity? Last I heard, the one at Monterey Bay died and had not been replaced.
Also, if you are only going to have animals in captivity in order to watch them on cameras, why not just find videos of that animal online?
There have been several zoochat threats (e.g., deep sea creatures in aquariums) on deep sea animals in aquariums and the list of species kept, especially in Japan, is very long. It is actually impossible to mention an exact limit as it varies depending on animal type. Very roughly, the more complex an animal is the harder it is to bring it to the surface alive. For example: Fish<octopus<sea star. This means that a few aquariums, especially in Japan, now sometimes surpass 300 m for fish and occasionally considerably deeper. There are even commercial enterprices that supply "ordinary" high-end aquarists, at Curaçao and in Indonesia, that approach 250 m too, and may use several days to slowly bring a fish to the surface. In less sensible inverts a few public aquariums and research institutes now can bring up things from around 500 m and are slowly approaching 1 km. Pressure is typically the main problem, but temperature, which often rises quite dramatically as you approach the surface, is an issue too. Compared to these issues light is a secondary problem and can be solved by using red light, a colour most deep water animals can't see (however, there are exceptions). Another issue is chemistry. In keeping certain deep sea animals alive Monterey Bay realized that oxygen was a problem. Oxygen is necessary for aerobic life, but it also has several toxic properties. This means that true deep-sea animals, which often live in areas with relatively low oxygen, really don't do well in the high oxygen levels of surface water. However, the most extreme is the deep sea vent aquarium at Enoshima. It not only provides warm and cold streams to mimic the seeps, but also adds sodium sulfide that transforms into hydrogen sulfide. Highly toxic to humans and flammable, but necessary for some deep sea vent organisms. Then there's the Abyss Box at Océanopolis Brest, which displayed deep sea shrimp and crabs, and provided a pressure similar to that at 1800 m below the surface. Small in volume at only 16 liters, but a larger can presumably be made larger with sufficient $.
There are only really three aquatic groups that currently are out of reach: Species from the absolutely deepest waters, the largest whales (as mentioned previously) and certain pelagic species (e.g., blue shark).
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Nightjars got mentioned a few days ago. Common Nighthawks have been used as education animals. Non-releasable wild casualties took well to handling and substitute diets.
European Nightjars have bred under captive conditions.