Exciting to see a new holder for sloth bears in the US.
Niko would be the more valuable male by far. Deemak is from one of the three well-represented lines in the Sloth Bear SSP. It really surprises me that Niko hasn't been given a breeding recommendation despite the fact he isn't from one of the three main lines.
I thought Keematee was sent to Miami for breeding? Do you have a source for her transfer to Fresno Chafee? I'm not saying your wrong, it'd just be a confusing choice for the SSP to send her to Miami and then send her to Fresno only shortly after.
I'm glad that this population has been having a lot of breeding success. It's doing a lot better than either of the other TAG-managed bear populations. Unfortunately, however, there isn't exactly much space in the current holders to increase the population size beyond where it's at, with most holders at their max for individuals. Over the next few years, the Sloth Bear SSP really needs to try and recruit some new holders, in particular talking with the holders of both phase out bear species (Sun and Asiatic Black Bears) to ensure they switch to sloth bears. The species is a personal favorite of mine, and I love to see the population is doing well, and really hope that more zoos start holding the species so the population can continue to succeed. If the population doesn't gain holders, the population's breeding success may not continue for much longer.
I don't want to speculate about specific zoos gaining the species, while there's a need for more zoos to keep this species, individual zoos may opt to replace a phase-out bear species with a non-bear, and that's okay too. There are also other zoos equally likely to switch to sloth bears in the future. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is down to a single, elderly Asiatic Black Bear, Topeka, Pueblo, Mesker Park, and El Paso all house single elderly sun bears, and Honolulu has two elderly sun bears. There are plenty of options in the future for zoos to acquire sloth bears as replacements for another bear species, I'm just hoping some of these zoos (or other holders of sun/asiatic black bears) actually make the swap.
I think Virginia and Roger Williams are more likely to swap to Sloth Bears than Cheyenne Mountain is. The former 2 zoos have dedicated, well-developed Asian zones and no other bears outside said zones. Meanwhile, Cheyenne Mountain has grizzlies in Rocky Mountain Wild, their Asiatic Black Bear habitat isn't really connected to anything else, and they recently demolished their old monkey house and lost their last mountain tapir. I'd rather see them do something else with that area than plonk some sloth bears into a mid-tier habitat. But that's just what I think will happen.
