Zoos are constantly in flux and nothing changes as quickly as the zoo collection itself. Species come and go all the time and whereas not every zoo will open a new exhibit every year, the species collection will change every year. These mutations make up the bulk of Zoochat news and discussions. On Zoochat the the arrival of quokkas in Europe is applauded whereas the loss of the last lesser grison is mourned. But with so many changes happening across the continent it is hard to keep track and easy to lose the overview of what is happening. I have the feeling that there are multiple narratives around, which are all based more on assumptions than on real data.
@LaughingDove , Europe's newest arrival: the quokka
The goal
This thread started as a pet project in which I was simply curious about which species were the “winners” and “losers” in the current zoo landscape. So which type of species would thrive in a21st century zoo and what would be the reason to phase out others. I quickly realised that to answer such questions looking at the species present now is not enough and the gain and loss of species on a continental scale would need to be incorporated. This meant creating an overview of species newly held this century, species lost this century, species increasing in popularity and species losing popularity. Fortunately we have www.zootierliste.de in Europe which has amassed a gigantic database on current and former holdings, which is the only way to make such a project work. It might not always be fully accurate (more on that later), but the amount of information that is present means it is possible to undertake such an effort for mammals and birds. For reptiles, amphibians and fish, data quality is however too low, especially on former holdings, to be included. Because of data quality issues I have also limited myself to the 21st century, but there are other reasons for that too, which I will explain in a later post.
@TeaLovingDave has already created 2 threads about species lost since 1990/2000 and while there will be some overlap with his threads, this endeavour is by no means meant as a competitor. The goal of those threads is to a large extent geared to creating a photographic library of species kept in Europe at some point in the recent past. This thread will aim at describing trends in European zoo collections and trying to understand those trends and the mechanisms behind them.
@Maguari , With the death of "Happy" in 2020 Amazon river dolphins have disappeared from Europe, probably for good
What is Europe?
For the purposes of this thread I use a somewhat narrow definition of Europe by excluding Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey from the survey. Cyprus, which is an Asian country despite being an EU member, is also excluded. I did however include the Canary Islands, which are geographically African, but for all other purposes European and a popular holiday destination for Europans (and zoochatters). The reason to exclude Russia, Belarus & Ukraine is twofold: (1) I have more doubts about data quality for these countries and (2) they are hardly ever visited by zoochatters anyway, which makes them less interesting when comparing perceived trends with real trends. Zoos in those countries also have a slightly different mentality compared to many other European countries with imports of wild caught species being more widespread still. If I refer to Europe or “the continent” in this thread, it is to the narrow definition, not the Wikipedia definition.
@alexkant Currently present in Russia, but absent in Europe, the Philippine tarsier
It's survey time
In the past months I have created a monster excel sheet with all mammal and bird species that have been present in Europe in the 21st century and by now all mammal texts have been written. This is promising to be a monster thread, with the mammal texts alone surpassing all I wrote for “Europe’s 100 must see exhibits”. However before we start with the family and species accounts I would like to ask you to fill in a small survey. It seems every zoochatter has an opinion about collection management and I am curious to see what you think has been going on in terms of European zoo collections this century. The survey can be found here:
https://forms.gle/gz85frchqFGJNcNm7
The results of the survey won’t be used against you and it can be completed anonymously. The results willvserve as a benchmark of what some of the perceived changes are. These can then be compared to the changes that have actually took place.
To give enough people a chance to fill in the survey I will wait 2 weeks before starting with the family and species accounts. In the meantime I will post some more information on the methods used in the thread and the format in which families and species will be covered. So fasten your seatbelts, we’re going on an adventure!
@Therabu An aardvark on a victory stroll. In the past 30 years the number of aardvarks in Europe has grown fourfold
@LaughingDove , Europe's newest arrival: the quokka
The goal
This thread started as a pet project in which I was simply curious about which species were the “winners” and “losers” in the current zoo landscape. So which type of species would thrive in a21st century zoo and what would be the reason to phase out others. I quickly realised that to answer such questions looking at the species present now is not enough and the gain and loss of species on a continental scale would need to be incorporated. This meant creating an overview of species newly held this century, species lost this century, species increasing in popularity and species losing popularity. Fortunately we have www.zootierliste.de in Europe which has amassed a gigantic database on current and former holdings, which is the only way to make such a project work. It might not always be fully accurate (more on that later), but the amount of information that is present means it is possible to undertake such an effort for mammals and birds. For reptiles, amphibians and fish, data quality is however too low, especially on former holdings, to be included. Because of data quality issues I have also limited myself to the 21st century, but there are other reasons for that too, which I will explain in a later post.
@TeaLovingDave has already created 2 threads about species lost since 1990/2000 and while there will be some overlap with his threads, this endeavour is by no means meant as a competitor. The goal of those threads is to a large extent geared to creating a photographic library of species kept in Europe at some point in the recent past. This thread will aim at describing trends in European zoo collections and trying to understand those trends and the mechanisms behind them.
@Maguari , With the death of "Happy" in 2020 Amazon river dolphins have disappeared from Europe, probably for good
What is Europe?
For the purposes of this thread I use a somewhat narrow definition of Europe by excluding Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey from the survey. Cyprus, which is an Asian country despite being an EU member, is also excluded. I did however include the Canary Islands, which are geographically African, but for all other purposes European and a popular holiday destination for Europans (and zoochatters). The reason to exclude Russia, Belarus & Ukraine is twofold: (1) I have more doubts about data quality for these countries and (2) they are hardly ever visited by zoochatters anyway, which makes them less interesting when comparing perceived trends with real trends. Zoos in those countries also have a slightly different mentality compared to many other European countries with imports of wild caught species being more widespread still. If I refer to Europe or “the continent” in this thread, it is to the narrow definition, not the Wikipedia definition.
@alexkant Currently present in Russia, but absent in Europe, the Philippine tarsier
It's survey time
In the past months I have created a monster excel sheet with all mammal and bird species that have been present in Europe in the 21st century and by now all mammal texts have been written. This is promising to be a monster thread, with the mammal texts alone surpassing all I wrote for “Europe’s 100 must see exhibits”. However before we start with the family and species accounts I would like to ask you to fill in a small survey. It seems every zoochatter has an opinion about collection management and I am curious to see what you think has been going on in terms of European zoo collections this century. The survey can be found here:
https://forms.gle/gz85frchqFGJNcNm7
The results of the survey won’t be used against you and it can be completed anonymously. The results willvserve as a benchmark of what some of the perceived changes are. These can then be compared to the changes that have actually took place.
To give enough people a chance to fill in the survey I will wait 2 weeks before starting with the family and species accounts. In the meantime I will post some more information on the methods used in the thread and the format in which families and species will be covered. So fasten your seatbelts, we’re going on an adventure!
@Therabu An aardvark on a victory stroll. In the past 30 years the number of aardvarks in Europe has grown fourfold
. If some publications come out of what you mention, it would be interesting to see.
