Most exotic animals seen on the pet trade

birdsandbats said:
Exactly how are Golden Lion Tamarins invasive within their native range? Surely witch such an endangered species, having them in their original range can only be a good thing?
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The Golden-headed Lion Tamarin is the introduced species. They were originally released accidentally (by a private collector) around the start of the 2000s in forest at Niteroi, which is within the historical range of the Golden Lion Tamarin. At the time of the first proper study (in 2009) there were already 107 individuals recorded, in 15 groups.
 
birdsandbats said:
Exactly how are Golden Lion Tamarins invasive within their native range? Surely witch such an endangered species, having them in their original range can only be a good thing?
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You misread what I wrote , I said the golden headed lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) which is a species that is naturally endemic only to the Atlantic rainforest of the State of Bahia. It was introduced as an invasive species to Rio accidentally through some escaping from a private collection of a pet owner.
 
Jurek7 said:
This is an obvious, and relatively easy, role for Brazilian zoos: educate people not to keep pet primates. Especially good reason is safety of the owner and its family, because baby pet monkeys start attacking people when they grow up. And capture the out-of-place monkeys and rehome them to zoos, at least the minority of former pets which actually established themselves in the wild.
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No , it definitely isn't such an easy problem to resolve. The common and black eared marmosets that are now invasive are largely the descendants of historic escapes and releases from the pet trade in the 1970's , 1980's and 1990's (in some cases the environmental police here did not help matters because they simply took seized animals to the nearest forest fragment and released them).

There is absolutely no way that zoos would be able to accomodate all of the invasive marmosets here in this area of Brazil as there are far too many of them. It would be wonderful if North American or European zoos would do so but I sincerely doubt that this is a viable option.

There still is an illegal pet trade and the trafficking of marmosets for sale as pets and in that sense you are right to suggest that Brazilian zoos do have a role in educating the public. However, this is a much wider problem because these invasives are now very well established within the range of Callithrix flaviceps and aurita and without the intervention of conservation they will cause the genetic extinction of these species through hybridization (aurita particularly).

Another way that zoos here may be able to reduce some of the problems is by educating people living in urban areas that surround forest fragments not to feed invasive marmosets. The invasives are often provisioned with food by well intentioned people and this also helps facilitate their spread into areas where there are buffy tufted and buffy headed marmosets leading to hybridization.

But that is easier said than done, right ? I mean feeding cute little monkeys bananas is an appealing thing for most people to do (particularly when they see similar videos on social media). Many resent being told not to do this (even if the reasons for this are thoroughly explained) and think "what is the harm in that?".
 
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EsserWarrior said:
Japanese Beetles are too small. I have no idea how to care for House Sparrows. I'd like to get a Cane Toad to educate people about invasives. (Three months until I get the permits!)
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But wouldn't it be easier to use something closer to home? House Sparrows or European Starlings would be idea, I think. Or maybe a Rusty Crayfish? A clump of Zebra Mussels? Using a local invasive would help your audience understand that this isn't just a problem that happens far away, it happens right here!
 
birdsandbats said:
But wouldn't it be easier to use something closer to home? House Sparrows or European Starlings would be idea, I think. Or maybe a Rusty Crayfish? A clump of Zebra Mussels? Using a local invasive would help your audience understand that this isn't just a problem that happens far away, it happens right here!
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It would have to be a species that will be comfortable in front of an audience, but it also has to be able to catch the audience's attention and not be too terribly small. (Size isn't an issue if the class is small, though.) Or it has to be interesting enough to keep people's attention.
 
EsserWarrior said:
It would have to be a species that will be comfortable in front of an audience, but it also has to be able to catch the audience's attention and not be too terribly small. (Size isn't an issue if the class is small, though.) Or it has to be interesting enough to keep people's attention.
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I think either of the two birds or the crayfish would fit this well, I think. You could get a tame House Sparrow by raising one from a chick.
 
birdsandbats said:
I think either of the two birds or the crayfish would fit this well, I think. You could get a tame House Sparrow by raising one from a chick.
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People tend to be more attracted to larger/colorful birds. I could possibly acquire some invasive natives to use in programs where people specifically ask for Wisconsin invasive species and have an intense interest in them. (Possibly at a Nature Center or Summer Camps.)
 
EsserWarrior said:
People tend to be more attracted to larger/colorful birds. I could possibly acquire some invasive natives to use in programs where people specifically ask for Wisconsin invasive species and have an intense interest in them. (Possibly at a Nature Center or Summer Camps.)
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What animals are you thinking of here? The only example I can come up with is White-tailed Deer?
 
@Onychorhynchus coronatus
I think much can be done, if you consider that:
- Just catching one or few species in one or few key reserves will make a difference.
- A good education campaign, helped by social media or maybe a popular TV show (and cute monkeys are a topic which any TV station will jump at) could reduce the number of new escapees within few years to manageable number.
- One does not need to catch every escaped primate. Most will never establish themselves, or live in habitat patches isolated from related native species.
 
Jurek7 said:
@Onychorhynchus coronatus
I think much can be done, if you consider that:
- Just catching one or few species in one or few key reserves will make a difference.
- A good education campaign, helped by social media or maybe a popular TV show (and cute monkeys are a topic which any TV station will jump at) could reduce the number of new escapees within few years to manageable number.
- One does not need to catch every escaped primate. Most will never establish themselves, or live in habitat patches isolated from related native species.
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As I have already mentioned in my other comment it actually is not new escapees from the pet trade that are the problem but rather the invasives that have already become established in the wild over decades which are the problem.

While some geographic barriers to dispersal may prevent encroachment by invasives into the habitat of native species it is worth mentioning that these landscape features are really quite rare in Brazil. This country is not Mexico or Peru with their vast cordilleras / mountain ranges, where there are rivers here there are anthropogenic crossings such as bridges and destruction of the Atlantic rainforest due to urbanization just further facilitates invasion. In most cases biological invasion by invasive marmosets will inevitably occur unless there is the intervention of conservationists.

I'm not sure what you are basing that statement on but I really don't think you have looked at the ample scientific evidence we have on this subject. It has notably been the case in Brazil that most escaped invasive primate species do in fact end up establishing themselves very successfully in the wild.

For example, Callithrix jacchus is a Caatinga / dry forest species and native to the arid North while Callithrix pencillata is a Cerrado / grassland species native to the Central plateaus of the country. However, both of these marmosets have adapted exceptionally well to both what remains of the Atlantic rainforest ecosystem and to anthropogenic environments like towns and major cities.

Moreover, introductions of invasive primate species do frequently have a knock on impact on native primate species either through competition, hybridization or disease transmission and can have devastating effects that precipitate local or total declines of natives.
 
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EsserWarrior said:
Quaker Parrots are common in the education industry, so they could be a likely candidate.
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Except that there is no evidence that there is no evidence of Monk Parakeets having any negative effect on the ecosystem (at least not for the Illinois/Indiana population). They likely occupy a unique niche within urban environments.
 
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