Species formerly kept in Brazil
Nyalas, nilgai and wildebeests are between, as well as reticulated giraffes, that we already said here.
Since we've already talked about the giraffes and wildebeest on this thread, I'd like to give more space to the species we haven't discussed about yet.
An example is the red river hog. Probably the only institution in the country to ever hold one of those is the Rio de Janeiro zoo, with a single individual obtained in 1952. The specimen was sent from the Antwerp zoo, along with two moustached guenons, a wild boar, a dorcas gazelle, two red foxes and two seagulls of unspecified species. The guenons, gazelles and foxes are not kept in Brazil anymore as well.
Yeah, I was bringing them up again, once you recalled the ungulate topic.
For curiosity, have you found anything about Okapis being kept here? I have never heard anything about specie in S. America actually. I don't think it has ever been kept here at all.
According to the Correio da Manhã newspaper, the Antwerp zoo sent a male okapi called Alafu to the Rio de Janeiro zoo back in 1957, which would make the zoo the first one in South America to have one of those animals. Sadly, the animal died during the flight.
According to one of the files I've sent on the thread where we discuss about the Bioparque do Rio, the Rio de Janeiro zoo, back in 1990, imported both Patagonian maras and viscachas from the now closed Buenos Aires zoo and bred them. Here's the document:
http://www.unirio.br/unidades-academicas-1/ppg-pmus/jose_alberto_pais.pdf
http://www.unirio.br/unidades-academicas-1/ppg-pmus/jose_alberto_pais.pdf
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Never been kept in South America, however, is currently kept in wider Latin America in Mexico in the Leon zoo.
Oh, what a shame! It would be awesome to have this species being bred here. Unfortunately, nowadays it's not actually worthy to do it... A lot of effort would be needed, just to introduce one more species that is already bred in many other places...
That makes Leon zoo the only in L. America to keep them, right? Do they breed the species?
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
yep, no I dont think they have any plans for breeding as it is only one individual they keep and I think it may be post reproductive or perhaps castrated.
Since we've finished with the suids, I'd like to start with the deer. The only species of deer formerly kept in Brazil I can think of is the wapiti. Apparently, back in the 1890's, the Vila Isabel zoo offered the National museum some wapiti specimens (possibly taxidermized). I read this on the same file that informs us about the maras and viscachas.
Do we still keep sambar deers in any zoo? SP zoo no longer lists them in the collection. If there's still any left, it would be in Curitiba or Sapucaia, I think.
There are two species of deer which we call "sambar" (Rusa timorensis and unicolor). I believe many farms and breeding facilities keep animals from both species. Regarding the deer in Curitiba, they're red ones, not sambars. The Sapucaia do Sul/Porto Alegre zoo could still have them, but I doubt they do.
Other zoos that keep sambars are the ones in Rio de Janeiro and Volta Redonda. The Rio de Janeiro zoo's Instagram account claims they have Sunda sambars (Rusa timorensis). However, that can be proven wrong by a newspaper from the Correio da Manhã newspaper, which says that the sambars in Rio de Janeiro came from India, not from any country in Southeast Asia.
Yeah, I was reffering to the ones that are not the species kept in Rio. This one I usually call rusa deer instead of sambar. I've seen they have quite a big herd of these, but didn't know VR also kept them. How is their exhibit in there?
I'm mentioning Curitiba and Sapucaia because I remember seeing sambars in some old maps of these institutions. I also imagine they don't keep them anymore.
For some picture comparison, I tend to think the zoo's classification is right, but I'm not sure. I'm considering only the visual aspects I could distinguish, once I don't deeply know any of the species (R. timorensis nor R. unicolor). If the newspaper says they come from India, it could also mean that they came from somewhere else, made a flight connection in India and then came to Brazil. There are many possibilities, but who knows...
I'm anxious to know if they are gonna keep all the individuals they hold nowadays, and wich will be their enclosure (yes, probably somewhere around the elephant area, once they will be located in the "asiáticos" section, but where exactly is still a mistery...)
If the animals kept at zoos are hybrids between mainland and Sunda sambars (or from unknown species), we have various farms that keep animals from both species. For instance, the Haras Claro farm keeps mainland rusa and the Serra Azul farm holds some Sunda ones.