South American mammals in West Europe vs USA/Canada

SusScrofa

SusScrofa

Well-Known Member
I noticed that Western European zoos have a much better collection of Central & South American mammals than US & Canadian zoos. You guys have a better carnivore collection including more zoos with Bush Dog, and also have grison and small cats like Oncilla and Margay that are not (or nearly so) found in our collections. Your primate collection from the region beats ours with Silvery Marmosets, Black Lion Tamarin, Red Howler Monkey and various other species found in your zoos that are either absent or nearly absent from the entirety of our country; I don't think we have a single species in this group that is endemic to our collections vs yours. On the ungulate side, you guys have White-lipped Peccary which I'm sure are absent here, and more Vicuna as well. I think Pampas Deer as well?
I would think the closer proximity and more suitable climate (in states like Florida, Texas and California) would give the US the advantage in displaying neotropical mammals but we seem to be significant losers here. The UK alone might beat the entirety of the US and Canada in this regard. Any reasons for Western Europes strong collection?
 
SusScrofa said:
I noticed that Western European zoos have a much better collection of Central & South American mammals than US & Canadian zoos. You guys have a better carnivore collection including more zoos with Bush Dog, and also have grison and small cats like Oncilla and Margay that are not (or nearly so) found in our collections. Your primate collection from the region beats ours with Silvery Marmosets, Black Lion Tamarin, Red Howler Monkey and various other species found in your zoos that are either absent or nearly absent from the entirety of our country; I don't think we have a single species in this group that is endemic to our collections vs yours. On the ungulate side, you guys have White-lipped Peccary which I'm sure are absent here, and more Vicuna as well. I think Pampas Deer as well?
I would think the closer proximity and more suitable climate (in states like Florida, Texas and California) would give the US the advantage in displaying neotropical mammals but we seem to be significant losers here. The UK alone might beat the entirety of the US and Canada in this regard. Any reasons for Western Europes strong collection?
Click to expand...
Maybe there are many zoos of various sizes in our Old continent ?
South American wildlife is very rich, but lacks very large species (larger than a tapir). It's a very good option for a small to medium zoo, that are very numerous in Europe.
It's strange, however, that Southern US zoos don't seem to be interested (according to you) to the Southern part of the continent. Perhaps because of cultural reasons ?
I would finally add that there are no more Pampas Deer in Europe for many years. South American deer remain very rare in our zoos, except the Southern Pudu. I think they don't look very exotic, as Eurasia counts many native deer species.
 
Haliaeetus said:
Maybe there are many zoos of various sizes in our Old continent ?
South American wildlife is very rich, but lacks very large species (larger than a tapir). It's a very good option for a small to medium zoo, that are very numerous in Europe.
It's strange, however, that Southern US zoos don't seem to be interested (according to you) to the Southern part of the continent. Perhaps because of cultural reasons ?
I would finally add that there are no more Pampas Deer in Europe for many years. South American deer remain very rare in our zoos, except the Southern Pudu. I think they don't look very exotic, as Eurasia counts many native deer species.
Click to expand...
Latin American-themed exhibits are fairly popular at least in Florida; three zoos that I've been to here (Miami, Palm Beach and Brevard) had great exhibits. Its just that we display the same species over and over. Geoffroy's Spider Monkey and Marmoset, Black Howler Monkey, Cottontop and Golden Lion Tamarin, Chacoan Peccary etc basically always take up the South America-themed parts of a collection. Husbandry of certain animals might be worse here, as our Bush Dog populations seem to have collapsed while in Europe there has been some degree of success breeding them.
 
Last edited:
I’d like to point out North America still does have some wins with South American fauna vs. Europe. We have populations of all three species of South American Tapir. If including Mexico (which is part of North America) we have more species of South American otters. North America has more fully aquatic marine mammals than Europe. Breeding of South American bird species like Andean cock-of-the-rock was perfected here. Unlike Europe the primate species of North America are very hard to judge because of the different species found in unlabeled roadside zoos which have numerous rare species.
 
Lack of interest plays into things (Bush Dog, Jaguarundi) as does low population (several of the primates). Limited space has also been a damper as the AZA seeks to bolster what handful of populations are doing well and more or less drops the rest.

Westcoastperson said:
If including Mexico (which is part of North America) we have more species of South American otters.
Click to expand...

No idea where you are going with this as there are no Neotropical Otter in the US or Canada. The only otter we have from Central/South America is Giant, same as Europe.

Westcoastperson said:
North America has more fully aquatic marine mammals than Europe.
Click to expand...

No idea where your point is here either given we're talking about neotropical fauna. Two Commerson's Dolphin is hardly an advantage.

Westcoastperson said:
Breeding of South American bird species like Andean cock-of-the-rock was perfected here.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. Most of it was done by private collections and DWA afaik. Though as far as Europe goes, Lesser Rhea, Spix's Macaw, Andean Flamingo, James's Flamingo, Mountain Caracara, Southern Lapwing, Montserrat Oriole, and more come to mind as being absent from the US. Europe is breeding some hummers still, we are not. Their neotropical owl collection puts ours to shame, as does their cracids. They have more tinamou than we do.

We have a couple slight perks - more new world vultures (though the only unique species is California Condor), more Magellanic Penguins, and more neotropical birds of prey. More or less it.

Westcoastperson said:
Unlike Europe the primate species of North America are very hard to judge because of the different species found in unlabeled roadside zoos which have numerous rare species.
Click to expand...

Mostly hard to judge due to poor signage, poor import and transfer records, and hybridization. Most of the species found in the roadsides aren't all that rare in the wild.
 
Great Argus said:
No idea where you are going with this as there are no Neotropical Otter in the US or Canada. The only otter we have from Central/South America is Giant, same as Europe.
Click to expand...
Mexico has a good population of rescued marine otters.
Great Argus said:
Mostly hard to judge due to poor signage, poor import and transfer records, and hybridization. Most of the species found in the roadsides aren't all that rare in the wild.
Click to expand...
I didn’t mean rare in the wild I just meant it’s hard to judge Americas overall primate collection because of the many imported poorly signed primate species. For example know roadside zoos have a few different species of night monkey are marmoset not found in larger AZA zoos.
 
Chlidonias said:
I don't know if that is true or not, but it sounds really suspect. Why would Mexican zoos have a whole lot of rescued Marine Otters? They are from Peru and Chile, which is quite a long way from Mexico.
Click to expand...
I believe they are pet trade rescues.
 
SusScrofa said:
Your primate collection from the region beats ours with Silvery Marmosets, Black Lion Tamarin, Red Howler Monkey and various other species found in your zoos that are either absent or nearly absent from the entirety of our country; I don't think we have a single species in this group that is endemic to our collections vs yours
Click to expand...

There are a handful of species, most notably Monk Saki and Geoffroy's Tamarin.
 
SusScrofa said:
There are no zoos in the US or Canada with Monk Saki as far as I'm aware. I'd love to be proven wrong though!
Click to expand...

Having double-checked, the species I was thinking of was Bolivian Titi!
 
I think Dallas World Aquarium is an exception, they have several unique species: three-toed sloth, howler monkey...
 
Neotropical Otters are a US native species, since there's a population in the Rio Grande Valley along the US-Mexico border.
 
birdsandbats said:
Neotropical Otters are a US native species, since there's a population in the Rio Grande Valley along the US-Mexico border.
Click to expand...

I had never heard this to be honest, having spent plenty of time in the valley. Looking it up it appears they used to occasionally occur in the river, but haven’t been seen in modern times. Most of the ideas of otter populations on the border seem to date to Native American imagery from what I read.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top