Are any saiga on display and if not why? Is it some welfare issue or because they're hard to obtain?
Are These in Captivity?
- Thread starter MonkeyBat
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Cologne's last animal died a few years back. There's been many others in captivity, and a lot of breeding. I think there are a few groups in Russia and Kazakhstan? But IIRC, its mainly because they tend to randomly have mass die offs...
Do these mass die offs only happen in captivity? Does anyone know why it happens or is still a mystery?
There are hundreds of Saiga is captivity (semi-captivity?) at Askaniya Nova in Ukraine.
~Thylo
~Thylo
Considering that a good 200,000 died in a mass die-off in the wild, I'd say no
. They're just sensitive I think, though not sure.Don't they have like 500?
Considering that a good 200,000 died in a mass die-off in the wild, I'd say no
Don't they have like 500?
I believe the die-offs are due to disease that they all just have which spike randomly.
ZTL lists them as having 140.237.186 as of 01/01/19.
~Thylo
Recreating the lifestyle as a ocean surface dweller would be rather difficult in the confined space of an aquarium. Hence, no Portuguese man o' war in captivity.
The reasons (flightiness, male territorial behavior, high accident rate, susceptibility to endoparasites etc.) why saigas are hardly kept in captivity these days have been discussed several times on ZC (=> Search). It has nothing to do with the in situ mass die-offs contributed to Pasteurella multocida or PPR.
The reasons (flightiness, male territorial behavior, high accident rate, susceptibility to endoparasites etc.) why saigas are hardly kept in captivity these days have been discussed several times on ZC (=> Search). It has nothing to do with the in situ mass die-offs contributed to Pasteurella multocida or PPR.
A sideways kreisel tank could work for the man o' war, something like this:
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Then ask yourself: why hasn't anyone implemented that scenario?
what do you mean by that?
Isn't it obvious? If the solution to keeping Portuguese man o' war was that simple, why hasn't anyone realized it? It's a fascinating species, even for the general audience, and unlike cetaceans or larger animals, the majority of the anti-captivity lobby would be hardly interested to raise a stink. So the non-existence of a husbandry indicates that it might not be as easy as you propose.
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I never said that it would be that simple, I said that it could be possible in theory.
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The fact that none of the Japanese aquaria, Monterey Bay or Shedd have so far not displayed it makes me guess that my assumption is correct. ^^
Is it just me, or do Japanese aquariums hold a lot more rarer species in captivity?
Please don't bully me I don't know a lot about these things
Please don't bully me I don't know a lot about these things
Waikiki Aquarium claims (according to their website) that they keep Portuguese Man-o'-war. However I don't think that could be sure.
There was a paper published by the International Zoo Yearbook in 2006 that detailed attempts to keep the species in captivity. I can't read the entire thing (maybe a ZSL member could?) but here is the abstract:
ZSL Publications
There was a paper published by the International Zoo Yearbook in 2006 that detailed attempts to keep the species in captivity. I can't read the entire thing (maybe a ZSL member could?) but here is the abstract:
ZSL Publications
I disagree with this, there are thousands, millions even of species not kept in captivity but who could with modern husbandry techniques. There are also many species which would be popular with general audiences and zoo enthusiasts alike who are not kept. The lack of recent attempts to keep a taxa in no way automatically implies that keeping of said taxa is impossible. There are loads of theoretical ways to keep loads of species which are simply never realized, sometimes even regardless of individual institutional interest.
~Thylo
And I disagree with you.
In a world with a more and more uniform ex situ species "collection" in zoos and aquaria (certainly not millions), the fact that certain species are not kept there is a good indicator that there are certain factors at play that negatively impact their ex situ husbandry, modern husbandry techniques or not. However, there are still private keepers and scientific institutions (like universities) that need to be considered when it comes to peculiar husbandries, present or past (like river dolphins kept in the cellar of a Swiss mental health institution). But if even these, like in said case, do not show any results, then it's safe to assume it is (currently? ) not possible to keep Portuguese man o' wars successfully in captivity.
And I disagree with you.
Oh I agree that the Portuguese Man o' War probably cannot be kept successfully in captivity, I think the existence of the many monkey, ungulate, rodent, bird, and herp species alone that definitely can be kept successfully but currently aren't for any number of reasons (up to and including simple lack of interest/funds to try) entirely disagrees with the idea that any animal which has not yet been kept successfully must therefore not be capable of being kept successfully
We're still discovering new species, of course there will be an innumerable number of animals which could be kept, but aren't, especially in the era of downsizing biodiversity in zoos for the sake of more sustainable populations.~Thylo
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