Which species "struggle" in captivity?

Dassie rat said:
Shrews and other mammals with voracious appetites often don't adapt well to captivity
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Shrew (and mole) husbandry is something I have become rather fixated on. I've spoken with many different keepers at this point who have tried with mixed success. Short-tailed shrew, Least Shrew, and Northern Water Shrew all seem feasible with the former two having been displayed at several institutions in the past. European Water shrew is being kept at at least one facility in the UK apparently without difficulty. Then of course in Japan there is the Tama Zoo's Mole House that includes several shrew species.

I think the issues are, as you mentioned, the high metabolic rate as well as relatively short lifespans. I think the real nail in the coffin though is lack of visitor interest. Personally I could probably watch a water shrew all day if given the opportunity, but to the average zoo visitor they're basically just wet mice. Combine that with the aforementioned extra care considerations of the group and you have an exhibit that simply does not make much sense for most institutions. Of course there are exceptions as I've mentioned.

Further, and this is more anecdotal and my personal opinion, I find that the keepers I spoke with who were unsuccessful with shrews were all what I would call "stereotypical mammal keepers". What I mean by this is they are used to charges that are generally fed "dead" food (meat, grain, hay, etc.) once or twice a day. A shrew that needs 4-5 live insect feedings a day is just a whole different ballgame to them. Those who were successful were all more what I would call "stereotypical herp keepers" or "stereotypical aquarists", folks for whom live feedings and multiple daily feedings are closer to their norm.

Ken Catania of Vanderbilt University has kept and bred all of the North American shrew species in his lab and described them as "easy and largely trouble free" but he is certainly an individual used to keeping a wide variety of species with specialized needs as his research focuses on species with specialized adaptations (moles, shrews, mole-rats, grasshopper mice, crocodilians, electric fishes, and tentacled snakes off the top of my head).
 
Several North American grouse species don't adapt well in captivity probably b/c they can get stressed easily. All of Greater Sage Grouses in Calgary Zoos are behind the scenes. Spruce, Sooty, Dusky Grouse and Ptarmigans are very rare in captivity.
Many Lagomorph species also don't do well in captivity, like Pikas.
 
Corangurilla said:
How have I gone this long without realizing this? I don't think I've ever seen a lagomorph in a zoo that wasn't a domestic rabbit.
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Many wild lagomorphs are flighty and easily stressed, making them generally ill-suited for display. There are some around, the odd Snowshoe Hare and mountain hares, and the volcano rabbits in Mexico (is that population still going?) They are difficult to maintain long-term populations with as they breed fast and numerous combined with a short lifespan. Pikas have done reasonably well in captivity but maintaining a population of them has been tricky.
 
Great Argus said:
Many wild lagomorphs are flighty and easily stressed, making them generally ill-suited for display. There are some around, the odd Snowshoe Hare and mountain hares, and the volcano rabbits in Mexico (is that population still going?) They are difficult to maintain long-term populations with as they breed fast and numerous combined with a short lifespan. Pikas have done reasonably well in captivity but maintaining a population of them has been tricky.
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A few more lagomorphs around in North American zoos include an Antelope Jackrabbit at ASDM, a population of Desert Cottontails as DWA, the occasional rescue Eastern Cottontail, and a program for New England Cottontail.
 
ZTL lists the following lagomorphs:
Daurian pika: Berlin Tierpark
Mountain hare in 16 collections with the Alpine subspecies in 8 collections
Corsican hare: Poppi
European brown hare in 31 collections with the Central Russian hare in 3 collections
Wild European rabbit in 35 collections
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Although in my experience the vast majority are about as far from wild as one can get despite these claims :p
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I remember Norfolk Wildlife Park actually crossing wild rabbits with small wild coloured domestics, to get steady animals for an exhibit
 
Such tiopics were discussed already before on the forum.

I will add: nobody as yet kept and repeatedly bred tarsiers for a long time. Although, unlike many other animals, many tried, also in recent times and in Asia.
 
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