Zoos with the rarest / most endangered freshwater turtles

Jurek7 said:
I meant interesting and innovative exhibits in general, not necessary shock value conservation message and not necessarily bringing human or cultural elements. London is home to great museums and BBC wildlife unit which produce world-class education, at the same time educative, entertaining, tasteful and innovative. This seems to completely miss London zoo.
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So, you mean things like interactive audio-visual display boards for educational output and things like this ?

I agree that the Natural History Museum for example excels in this regard and come to think of it I can't really remember anything of this kind at the London Zoo.

That said, couldn't most zoos improve in this regard?
 
Jurek7 said:
I meant interesting and innovative exhibits in general, not necessary shock value conservation message and not necessarily bringing human or cultural elements. London is home to great museums and BBC wildlife unit which produce world-class education, at the same time educative, entertaining, tasteful and innovative. This seems to completely miss London zoo.
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Isn't the BBC Wildlife Unit based in Bristol?
 
A beautiful outdoor enclosure for Yangtzee river softshell turtle at Suzhou Forest zoo in China.

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Photo credits to @FunkyGibbon and @Himimomi.
 
This looks like a very interesting place indeed, the turtle conservation centre at cuc-phuong in Vietnam.

The entrance and sign.
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The surroundings look very peaceful and naturalistic
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An Annamese leaf turtle, a critically endangered species endemic to Vietnam which has been hunted to near extinction in the wild.
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A giant asian pond turtle, a species native to Vietnam that is listed vulnerable by the IUCN due to overexploitation for food.
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Great looking aquariums / enclosures for these species and the signage looks brilliant too.
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A keeled box turtle, an endangered species native to Vietnam, it has become locally extinct across much of its range due to overexploitation for food.
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Interesting idea, a turtle walkthrough enclosure that apparently holds keeled box turtles.
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A great conservation education display which shows a recreation of a "log fall trap" used by poachers to trap box turtles in forests throughout Indochina.
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View of education building with signage, terrariums and touch displays.
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Turtle ponds at the centre.
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As well as educating people about endangered native / endemic turtles the centre also evidently educates visitors about the issue with invasive red eared terrapins that are part of the pet trade and can end up in local rivers.
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Photo credits to @Maguari.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
So, you mean things like interactive audio-visual display boards for educational output and things like this ?
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Audiovisual display boards are hardly innovative, and are easily misused (for example produce annoying background murmur). Best I can say is that both BBC nature films and London museums are able to surprise me by showing something I would not think of myself. An example could be turning Mappin Terraces to an exhibit of snow leopards with a fake livestock hut with bleating of sheep from a loudspeaker, and a heated roof so that snow leopard would sleep on it. The second part would be forested asian black bear exhibit with discreet visible bear trap (like this turtle trap above, it is common design of hunter trap) and a fireplace of charcoal burners. And lots of Himalayan cedars, colorful rhododendrons and other original Himalayan plants from Kew Gardens.

Back to the turtles, at least few years ago there were still lots of elderly turtles suffering in borderline adequate terraria in European zoos. I wonder if all specimens of rare species were already brought into breeding groups in good situations?
 
Jurek7 said:
Audiovisual display boards are hardly innovative, and are easily misused (for example produce annoying background murmur). Best I can say is that both BBC nature films and London museums are able to surprise me by showing something I would not think of myself. An example could be turning Mappin Terraces to an exhibit of snow leopards with a fake livestock hut with bleating of sheep from a loudspeaker, and a heated roof so that snow leopard would sleep on it. The second part would be forested asian black bear exhibit with discreet visible bear trap (like this turtle trap above, it is common design of hunter trap) and a fireplace of charcoal burners. And lots of Himalayan cedars, colorful rhododendrons and other original Himalayan plants from Kew Gardens.

Back to the turtles, at least few years ago there were still lots of elderly turtles suffering in borderline adequate terraria in European zoos. I wonder if all specimens of rare species were already brought into breeding groups in good situations?
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Those are some interesting ideas but do you think they would work in practice ?

The heated roof sounds interesting but wouldn't it drive the snowleopard's crazy with all of the bleating of sheep on the loudspeaker ?

I do like the idea of showcasing a bear trap or other kinds of artifacts used to hunt or trap animals in their native range in zoos though. Of course these kinds of things are shocking but I do think it really highlights the anthropogenic drivers of these species endangerment to the public.

Regarding the turtles in European zoos, it doesn't really suprise me. As we discussed earlier in the thread the problem is that turtles often play second fiddle in mixed species aquarium type exhibits to crocodiles or fish of whatever which is really quite sad...
 
Freshwater turtles and their crocodilian companions / cage mates in zoos around the world.



Slider turtles and a West African dwarf crocodile at Tierpark Hellabrun in Germany.
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A turtle and his Morelett's crocodile amigo at Guadalajara zoo in Mexico.
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A painted turtle, a giant Asian pond turtle and a freshwater crocodile at San Diego zoo in the USA.
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A dwarf caiman and a Giant South American river turtle at the Detroit zoo in the USA.
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Sliders, Geoffroy's side necked turtle, red footed and leopard tortoises and broad snouted caiman at the São Paulo zoo, Brazil.
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A pair of South American river turtles and a Cuvier's dwarf caiman at Buffalo zoo in the USA.
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A snake turtle and dwarf caiman buddy at Antwerp zoo in Belgium.
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A turtle and gharial companion at the Honolulu zoo in Hawaii.
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An alligator snapping turtle and a Chinese alligator at the Cincinanti zoo in the USA.
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Photo credits to @German Zoo World, @Moebelle, @TheGerenuk, @snowleopard, @carlos55, @geomorph, @Bisonblake,@David Matos Mendes.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Freshwater turtles and their crocodilian companions / cage mates in zoos around the world.



Slider turtles and a West African dwarf crocodile at Tierpark Hellabrun in Germany.
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A turtle and his Morelett's crocodile amigo at Guadalajara zoo in Mexico.
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A painted turtle, a giant Asian pond turtle and a freshwater crocodile at San Diego zoo in the USA.
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A dwarf caiman and a Giant South American river turtle at the Detroit zoo in the USA.
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Sliders, Geoffroy's side necked turtle, red footed and leopard tortoises and broad snouted caiman at the São Paulo zoo, Brazil.
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A pair of South American river turtles and a Cuvier's dwarf caiman at Buffalo zoo in the USA.
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A snake turtle and dwarf caiman buddy at Antwerp zoo in Belgium.
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A turtle and gharial companion at the Honolulu zoo in Hawaii.
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An alligator snapping turtle and a Chinese alligator at the Cincinanti zoo in the USA.
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Photo credits to @German Zoo World, @Moebelle, @TheGerenuk, @snowleopard, @carlos55, @geomorph, @Bisonblake,@David Matos Mendes.
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Red-eared Slider and Chinese Alligator are mixed at Milwaukee. At one time Shedd Aquarium had a Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman/Matamata mix, but I'm not sure that one still exists.
 
Jarne said:
A species with a fate similar to the Northern white rhino. It seems he has been given an expansion compared to the breeding pair of exhibits they were in.
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Yes, I agree and if there is nothing more that can be done then I think it is similar and has a lot of parrallels with pallitative care of terminally sick patients in human medicine.

Just make him comfortable in his twilight years, showcase him to the public as a tragic and educational example of the last of his species and try to do your best for his close relatives to avoid their extinction.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
A snake turtle and dwarf caiman buddy at Antwerp zoo in Belgium.
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Spectacled caiman and Branderhorst snapping turtle. This is the exhibit I mentioned where they bred the turtles probably for the first time in European zoos. Possibly even the first time in Europe altogether. The caimans have now been replaced by three American alligators, which I believe are too large for the exhibit and they aren't even fully grown yet.
 
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