I wasn't aware that they went to Pairi Daiza. And I'm not sure what happened to the hornbills and BOP, but you may be right.
Shoebills in captivity
- Thread starter vogelcommando
- Start date
Ill just list them so no one else has to use google translate.
Current JAZA members
Kobe Animal Kingdom
Nasu Animal kingdom
Ueno zoo
Noichi zoo
Chiba city zoo
Izu shaboten koen/cactus park
non JAZA zoos
Kakegawa kachoen
And Matsue vogel park
former holdings
Nagasaki biopark
Meccha sawareru zoo (this one is owned by the notorious animal exhibitor/collector Yoshinori Horii, I’ve heard that he had two birds but gave one of them to Matsue vogel park and keeps the other to exhibit it or keep it as a pet)
Number of birds kept in Japan :
6(+1?) - 8(+1?)
Kobe 1-1
Nasu 0-1
Ueno 1-3
Noichi 1-1
Chiba 1-1
Izu 1-0
Kakegawa 0-1
Matsue 1-0
Not completly clear what's with Moriyama City which has/had 1-1 (?)
This is realy a huge number of these birds kept in one country, didn't know that !
Can anybody list breedings? I think Shoebills bred in captivity only a handful of times.
I read years ago that Shoebills did not breed, because most were taken as chicks from nests and imprinted on humans. I wonder if it is true, and are there any seroius attempts to breed the remaining few (artificial insemination?)?
I read years ago that Shoebills did not breed, because most were taken as chicks from nests and imprinted on humans. I wonder if it is true, and are there any seroius attempts to breed the remaining few (artificial insemination?)?
I believe part of the issue is that pinioned/flightless birds will not breed in captivity and that's what a lot of birds are. Too small of aviaries is also likely to be an issue. In the US, only ZooTampa has ever managed to breed their Shoebills and they were kept in a massive aviary which sadly no longer exists.
~Thylo
Only 3 collections have had succes sofar : Pairi Daiza, Zoo Tampa and Al Wabra.
If my memory is not letting me down, the pair at Al Wabra didn't have a massive aviary but it was a flight that was closed on the top I think, when I have time I will check my photos. I don't recall if they were pinioned.
Off topic, most of the BOP went to Wisbroek.
Couldn't find any proof that the species was bred there.
Mid-2010s they should have had 4 Shoebills but most reports after that only speak about one bird being kept there,
Mid-2010s they should have had 4 Shoebills but most reports after that only speak about one bird being kept there,
Last I discussed Shoebills in captivity with a friend of mine with ZIMS access (this being how I knew about Pairi getting the Al Wabra birds via Jurong) they mentioned the Uganda center having 6 birds, though 5 are listed as unknown sex.
~Thylo
Re the shoebills breeding, it seems to be a combination of factors, but the three main ones are:
Birds need to be non imprinted (AFAIK all the ones that have bred were caught as adults)
Birds need to be flighted
Birds need to be kept in enclosures that are mainly water and at least semi private
When you look at the three successful breeding facilities, all three were larger, netted over enclosures with non-imprint, flighted pairs, and featured large amounts of water. Lowry Park's exhibit was built over an artificial lake, Al Wabras was virtually entirely water except for the nesting platform, and Pairi Daizas had a significant water portion as well.
When you look at other facilities, it's easy to see why they don't have success.
Japan: Most of their birds are very imprinted, and lots of the enclosures aren't very private
San Diego: Birds are flight restricted
Houston: Birds are in smaller aviary without lots of water, and viewable from all sides
Dallas: Virtually no water, birds seem somewhat imprinted
Europe: I don't know enough about the situation of the european birds to comment.
Birds need to be non imprinted (AFAIK all the ones that have bred were caught as adults)
Birds need to be flighted
Birds need to be kept in enclosures that are mainly water and at least semi private
When you look at the three successful breeding facilities, all three were larger, netted over enclosures with non-imprint, flighted pairs, and featured large amounts of water. Lowry Park's exhibit was built over an artificial lake, Al Wabras was virtually entirely water except for the nesting platform, and Pairi Daizas had a significant water portion as well.
When you look at other facilities, it's easy to see why they don't have success.
Japan: Most of their birds are very imprinted, and lots of the enclosures aren't very private
San Diego: Birds are flight restricted
Houston: Birds are in smaller aviary without lots of water, and viewable from all sides
Dallas: Virtually no water, birds seem somewhat imprinted
Europe: I don't know enough about the situation of the european birds to comment.
In Europe I’m unsure about Prague’s birds and whether they’re imprinted or not, but they certainly don’t appear pinioned. The onshow pair have an enclosure with not much water in it though.
Unclear as to what Walsrode’s birds are like with regards to imprinting but given their enclosure is open-topped this will mean they’re pinioned. They have a fairly decent portion of water but not the same as PD, AW or Tampa.
All six of Pairi Daiza’s animals are in three large netted enclosures with a fair amount of water in two of them. At least three of their animals aren’t imprinted, though I’m unsure about the female they acquired from Wuppertal. I would assume the two offspring they had at the zoo, who both still live there, were hand-reared and therefore probably imprinted. Unsure about whether they’re pinioned or not but I imagine that’s not the case for five of them, maybe all six although again I’m not entirely sure about the Wuppertal female.
Side note: it seems Al Wabra did have two pairs of shoebills as both pairs came under Jurong’s ownership, although one pair was given to Pairi Daiza a few years back. The pair Jurong currently have will soon be at Pairi Daiza as well, meaning PD will at that point have 3.5 shoebills
Unclear as to what Walsrode’s birds are like with regards to imprinting but given their enclosure is open-topped this will mean they’re pinioned. They have a fairly decent portion of water but not the same as PD, AW or Tampa.
All six of Pairi Daiza’s animals are in three large netted enclosures with a fair amount of water in two of them. At least three of their animals aren’t imprinted, though I’m unsure about the female they acquired from Wuppertal. I would assume the two offspring they had at the zoo, who both still live there, were hand-reared and therefore probably imprinted. Unsure about whether they’re pinioned or not but I imagine that’s not the case for five of them, maybe all six although again I’m not entirely sure about the Wuppertal female.
Side note: it seems Al Wabra did have two pairs of shoebills as both pairs came under Jurong’s ownership, although one pair was given to Pairi Daiza a few years back. The pair Jurong currently have will soon be at Pairi Daiza as well, meaning PD will at that point have 3.5 shoebills
Indeed, the Bronx recieved the very first one and Washington was a little p*ssed off because they recieved their first only 10 days later so missing the honor of being the first one....
This bird at Washingthon lived there for 18 months and afther its dead another was obtained in 1928.
One of Washingtons Shoebills
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Bib Fortuna
Well-Known Member
In the past few days I have researched something in old zoo guides. Shoebills have been something special since they were kept in the zoo and accordingly they were discussed in the zoo guides and almost always depicted.The fact that Artis did not do this in the 1960s prompted me to ask when it was kept there because it was unusual.In the Bronx Zoo guide, shoebills are first mentioned and illustrated in the 1939 issue. And so far there were probably only three zoo guides who used shoebills as the cover picture, all three from Germany: Berlin Zoo 1962, Walsrode 1972 and Duisburg 1976.
In 1910 an American visitor reports about the 3 Shoebills living at that moment at the Zoo. All 3 were kept together and shared their enclosure with 2 Saddle-billed storks. He also published a photo of one of the birds :
Shoebill at Giza Zoo - 1910 ( no copyrights on this one anymore )
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Thanks for this.
Do you have a reference for this please; i.e. who was the American visitor and where was the report published?
Thanks.
C.Willian Beebe write about his visit to the Giza Zoo in : Zoological Society Bulletin nr. 39 - May 1910 pp. 660 - 662.
Thanks very much for providing these details; much appreciated.
The oldest shoebill in the world died at least 50 years old.
Bill the shoebill, believed to be world's oldest, dies at central Japan zoo - The Mainichi
Bill the shoebill, believed to be world's oldest, dies at central Japan zoo - The Mainichi