Favourite lemur species
- Thread starter Onychorhynchus coronatus
- Start date
If so many lemurs are now Critically Endangered, why are so few of them in captivity? Has it become illegal to export them. Some are poor fits for captivity, like the Indri, and others have populations too small and therefore are risky to meddle with, but many are left unexported.
It's not really feasible/possible to get lemurs out of Madagascar anymore unfortunately. Sometimes it happens, but I believe these animals are always those already kept in captivity within Madagascar which are far and few between. The only recent lemur imports from Madagascar I can think of are a few Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs coming to the US to try and build up that population. That said, there seems to already be more lemur species in captivity than at least American zoos are willing to work with. The two ruffed, Aye-Aye, Ring-Tailed, one sifaka, and only four Eulemur seem to be all the AZA is willing to work with, with all others as phase-outs except Grey Mouse which I think may be a candidate SSP with three current holders. This is in contrast to Europe who seems content with working with all those kept in America as well as an additional ruffed subspecies, an additional sifaka species, three bamboo lemurs, all Eulemur bar Sanford's (now absent from captivity), and three mouse lemurs. How many of these will be successful programs remains to be seen, and some are likely doomed to fail, but their commitment to lemur taxa is admirable.
~Thylo
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I'm not a lemur expert by any means but I am going to go out on a limb and say I think at least some of it could be explained by a lack of interest by many zoos.
But as you have already said at least some of these species are just never going to do well ex-situ and thus are better conserved with in-situ conservation management.
I remember reading on Zootierliste that France (Mulhouse and some others) has several exclusive species.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Which ones ?
Ok, not as exclusive as I thought, but Europe (and maybe Israel) have many species not kept or rare in the US.
ZootierlisteHomepage
ZootierlisteHomepage
I've checked ZTL and Mulhouse Zoo has several lemurs not found in many zoos, but lacks exclusive species.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
The Duke lemur centre (though not a zoo I know) probably has exclusive species.
Many died of old age, such as the Diademed Sifaka, and it's unlikely these species will be legally exported from Madagascar in the future.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Yes, I agree, these wont be easily replaceable , but they may still have exclusive species being kept there currently.
I haven't found any type of lemur currently living in only one ZTL zoo.
The center's website (BBC Radio 4 - Crossing Continents, Poland's Gay Pride and Prejudice) lists the following:
Fat-tailed dwarf lemur (2 ZTL Zoos)
Grey mouse lemur (27 ZTL Zoos)
Aye-aye (5 ZTL Zoos)
Collared brown lemur (8 ZTL Zoos)
Crowned lemur (34 ZTL Zoos)
Blue-eyed black lemur (11 ZTL Zoos)
Mongoose lemur (17 ZTL Zoos)
Red-bellied lemur (54 ZTL Zoos)
Red-fronted brown lemur (29 ZTL Zoos)
Eastern lesser bamboo lemur (0 ZTL Zoos)
Ring-tailed lemur (446 ZTL Zoos)
Red ruffed lemur (143 ZTL Zoos)
Black-and-white ruffed lemur (185 ZTL Zoos)
Coquerel's sifaka (0 ZTL Zoos)
Slow loris (0 ZTL Zoos)
Pygmy slow loris (0 ZTL Zoos)
I'm surprised how many ring-tailed lemurs are kept at the center, considering how common the species is in zoos.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I think that is the wrong link for the Duke website as it is a BBC radio programe episode.
Interestingly I read or saw somewhere here on zoochat that they keep their aye ayes with slow loris which seems like such an unusual mixed species enclosure and particularly due to the venom of the loris.
I'm not sure of this but I guess one of the reasons why Duke may keep so many ring tails is because of these lemurs being of interest in research terms probably due to their social behaviour or vocalizations etc.
They are an endangered species too even if common in zoos so I guess they are also of conservation value.
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Duke is the only holder of Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur in the US afaik.
Their single Red-Bellied Lemur is also a hybrid afaik.
~Thylo
Their single Red-Bellied Lemur is also a hybrid afaik.
~Thylo
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
That is quite an interesting point and one I hadn't really considered but I really should do.
Do lemur species hybridize often ?
Is hybridization a major conservation concern for lemurs ?
(I don't know a great deal about lemur conservation so I am trying to improve my general knowledge about these primates)
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I think many of the Eulemur species can and do hybridize in captivity. In Europe there are a lot of E. rufus and E. rufifrons hybrids, in fact there are so many that ZTL gave up in trying to identify and list the pure holdings
I believe there are a lot of hybrid White-Fronted Lemurs in captivity but I'm not sure which species they'll be hybrids with. The Varecia ruffed lemurs will also hybridize readily with one another, producing rather bizarre-looking animals. These are semi-common in the US exotic pet trade although pure animals are much more common. The various mouse lemurs in Europe have hybridized to a small extent due to the Ganzhorn's and Goodman's having unknowingly been kept in mixed groups with Grey. Afaik all of the hybrids and pure animals have been identified and separated at this point.~Thylo
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I think many of the Eulemur species can and do hybridize in captivity. In Europe there are a lot of E. rufus and E. rufifrons hybrids, in fact there are so many that ZTL gave up in trying to identify and list the pure holdings
~Thylo
Thank you for your reply, very interesting to learn about the extent of this.
For some reason I just didn't think it would be a major issue with lemurs as it is with some monkey species.
I take it that this is mostly a phenomenon connected with different closely related species being held together in captivity rather than something that occurs naturally or due to anthropogenic stressors in the wild ?
You're welcome
I'm not entirely sure whether or not this is an issue with wild populations, however I know most congeneric lemurs don't actually live within the same regions of Madagascar and I'm not familiar with any introductions of taxa to regions outside their native range (apart from Common Brown Lemur to Mayotte, which has previously lemur-less) so I don't imagine it's much of an issue, if it even is at all.
That said, I didn't know about the marmoset introductions in Brazil until you informed me of them so...
~Thylo
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
You're welcome
I'm not entirely sure whether or not this is an issue with wild populations, however I know most congeneric lemurs don't actually live within the same regions of Madagascar and I'm not familiar with any introductions of taxa to regions outside their native range (apart from Common Brown Lemur to Mayotte, which has previously lemur-less) so I don't imagine it's much of an issue, if it even is at all.
That said, I didn't know about the marmoset introductions in Brazil until you informed me of them so...
~Thylo
Yes, this is what I thought the situation would be too.
I dont know for sure but I would imagine there is at least some areas of the country where the ranges and habitats of closely related species overlap and a small amount of natural hybridization may occur (which isn't in itself so much of a problem if it is natural, localised and infrequent).
I wonder whether the anthropization of many habitats in Madagascar may lead to greater incidence of hybridization between species ?
