Montgomery is on my "want" list, the issue is getting there, it is not a really easy city to get to for me without making it a rather long road trip.
Worst Mixed-Species Combinations?
- Thread starter Emanuel Theodorus
- Start date
This observation I found quite odd and somewhat disconcerting given the rather carnivorous nature of this species:
At Safari West, I saw four breeding pairs of laughing kookaburras sharing a flight with a red-eyed dove, a pied imperial-pigeon, a breeding pair of hamerkops, a violet turaco, a pair of demoiselle cranes, a spur-winged lapwing, a spotted thick-knee, and a blue duiker.
Before that, at Lincoln Park Zoo, they had a kookaburra sharing space with their kagu, tawny frogmouth, and blue-faced honeyeater.
I saw a photo of wild kookaburras killing a rainbow lorikeet, so them taking out birds medium sized or smaller so seeing them in a mixed species flight I found quite unusual.
At Safari West, I saw four breeding pairs of laughing kookaburras sharing a flight with a red-eyed dove, a pied imperial-pigeon, a breeding pair of hamerkops, a violet turaco, a pair of demoiselle cranes, a spur-winged lapwing, a spotted thick-knee, and a blue duiker.
Before that, at Lincoln Park Zoo, they had a kookaburra sharing space with their kagu, tawny frogmouth, and blue-faced honeyeater.
I saw a photo of wild kookaburras killing a rainbow lorikeet, so them taking out birds medium sized or smaller so seeing them in a mixed species flight I found quite unusual.
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
I’ve kept kookaburra with a variety of slightly smaller birds without problems. The problem comes when/if you try to breed those species with kooks present. Then you need to worry about eggs and chicks. There are a lot of aviaries I’ve seen or worked that are great exhibits, but just don’t work for breeding
Checks out, I mean they are geese.
Actually they're shelducks, not geese.
It can be done successfully, but is still risky. I knew of one zoo to lose a Red-Crested Cardinal and a Madagascar Fody to a Blue-winged Kookaburra in a large aviary. I've also witnessed zoo Kookaburras kill and eat wild birds that wander into exhibits, and on one opportunity see a Laughing Kookaburra with two Frog legs sticking out of its beak!
I once saw a traveling zoo called "Outback Adventure" or something like that at a local fair. As you could guess it focused on Australian species. They had a kookaburra cage right nest to another cage for Bourke's Parrots. They later took the kookaburras away as one had killed one of the parrots when it came close, pulled its head off through the bars, and ate it.
Yikes!
I guess I can say though what the worst mix is for good:
Any mixed species exhibit in which the mix is the direct cause for the death of one or both species.
Yet we still mix zebras constantly...
From what I've read on this site they don't exactly play well with others. Especially Grevy's zebras.
Right, that was my point. I quoted about the worst mixed combination being one where the mix is the cause of death, and many species have been injured or killed by zebras. However we still constantly see them mixed with other species.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
The only time I’ve ever seen Grevy’s Zebras mixed with another mammal is at Detroit, and both of the Wildebeest there are male.
And I think zoos continue to mix zebras with other animals because zebras by themselves are underwhelming.
I saw them mixed with ostriches in Omaha years ago. Yes, zebras do look good with other animals but at what cost? I'd like to see all three species mixed (in a single sex herd). That would be neat to see the differences.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
Last time I checked, ostriches were birds.
But it’s not like every zebra mix is a total disaster. I think it depends on the species mixed, the sex of the animals, if there’s any breeding, age, etc.
Yeah, zebras seem like one that there is a lot of good and bad examples of mixes. The trends for this one aren't even that clear either, as oftentimes a mix that works in one place may completely fall apart somewhere else, or even with different individuals. Really I think Plains Zebra are one of the few species that too many zoos keep anyways, so I wouldn't mind seeing some zoos phase out zebras altogether, with some keeping mountain zebras in "safer" mixes (giraffe, white rhino, and ostrich come to mind).
This might be part of it, along with trying to work with limited space.
Yeah, there really doesn't seem to be any particular trends other than breeding groups of zebra are most problematic. Both Plains and Grevy's are equally problematic, with all manner of injuries inflicted on other species.
This is recommended actually, and hopefully more zoos will make the swap.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
One could say that the results are “mixed.”
Are Mountain Zebras not as bad? I wonder why, if that’s true.
From what I have heard they are not nearly so problematic. They are the smallest of the three, might have something to do with it.