Philadelphia Zoo Philadelphia Zoo News 2023
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A Francois’ langur was born to Mei Mei on August 30:
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article279638744.html
The baby, born Aug. 30, has since been named Ông Cụ, which means “very old man” in Vietnamese and “is used when a boy is speaking wisely beyond his years,” the zoo said.
Fortunately, Ông Cụ is not only bonding with his mom, but his other family members — including dad, Chester; aunt, Ling; and sisters, Quy Bau and Lei — are “obsessed with him.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article279638744.html
The baby, born Aug. 30, has since been named Ông Cụ, which means “very old man” in Vietnamese and “is used when a boy is speaking wisely beyond his years,” the zoo said.
Fortunately, Ông Cụ is not only bonding with his mom, but his other family members — including dad, Chester; aunt, Ling; and sisters, Quy Bau and Lei — are “obsessed with him.”
Other August/September 2023 News:
On August 3rd, it was announced that the zoo transferred (1.1) Hoffmann's two-toed sloths named Oro and Chrispa to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois.
Oro and Chispa, Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloths | Lincoln Park Zoo
On September 13th, the zoo announced that they acquired (0.0.2+?) pink-headed fruit doves which are now on exhibit in the McNeil Avian Center.
On Wednesdays... we wear pink! We... - Philadelphia Zoo
On September 16th, it was announced that the zoo will be transferring a (0.0.1) Cuban iguana to Iguanaland in Florida in the future.
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On September 17th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) golden-breasted starling named Goose hatched in June and is now on exhibit.
Our golden breasted starling chick... - Philadelphia Zoo
On August 3rd, it was announced that the zoo transferred (1.1) Hoffmann's two-toed sloths named Oro and Chrispa to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois.
Oro and Chispa, Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloths | Lincoln Park Zoo
On September 13th, the zoo announced that they acquired (0.0.2+?) pink-headed fruit doves which are now on exhibit in the McNeil Avian Center.
On Wednesdays... we wear pink! We... - Philadelphia Zoo
On September 16th, it was announced that the zoo will be transferring a (0.0.1) Cuban iguana to Iguanaland in Florida in the future.
Log into Facebook
On September 17th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) golden-breasted starling named Goose hatched in June and is now on exhibit.
Our golden breasted starling chick... - Philadelphia Zoo
Some pieces of recent news not mentioned.
- The venomous snakes are all gone. For a while, the zoo still kept the last two in their collection, the cottonmouth and the sidewinder ratttlesnake. The cottonmouth went to Reptiland, but the sidewinder unfortunately passed away from heart disease.
- The zoos last Madagascar giant jumping rat, Edward, sadly passed away at the ripe old age of 14. He was the oldest of his species in the world. His passing marks the end of an era for a critically endangered species at the zoo, as they are on phase out. There are now only 3 MGJRs in the US, including one at Bronx, and two at Omaha.
- Several new animals in the reptile house with the venomous snakes gone, including American toad, gray tree frog, and eastern box turtle.
- The golden coin turtle moved to Turtle Consevancy in California. A loss for a critically endangered species at the zoo, but at least they didn’t pass away
- The venomous snakes are all gone. For a while, the zoo still kept the last two in their collection, the cottonmouth and the sidewinder ratttlesnake. The cottonmouth went to Reptiland, but the sidewinder unfortunately passed away from heart disease.
- The zoos last Madagascar giant jumping rat, Edward, sadly passed away at the ripe old age of 14. He was the oldest of his species in the world. His passing marks the end of an era for a critically endangered species at the zoo, as they are on phase out. There are now only 3 MGJRs in the US, including one at Bronx, and two at Omaha.
- Several new animals in the reptile house with the venomous snakes gone, including American toad, gray tree frog, and eastern box turtle.
- The golden coin turtle moved to Turtle Consevancy in California. A loss for a critically endangered species at the zoo, but at least they didn’t pass away
(Impulsive rant incoming)
Of course they would be on phase-out. Why wouldn't they be on phase-out. A genuinely rare species that should be appealing to the AZA but isn't, for reasons that can only result in mere headscratching at best. Perplexed, disheartened and disappointed don't even begin to describe how I feel.
(Rant over)
Small mammals seem to be a category that has suffered particularly irreversible losses in the last two decades as a result of the phase-out of small mammal buildings and exhibits in general, with only a handful of animals from this species-rich category doing relatively well. I hope to see one of these guys before the phase-out is complete.
Having a better population would be a good start - and unless Europe's population is large enough to spare some, you'd have to jump hoops to try and import some from Madagascar. The AZA is focusing primarily on species that can be kept going while staying reasonably genetically healthy - and Malagasy Giant Jumping Rat is definitely not in that category. Interest for such species is low as it is.
The heyday of small mammals is indeed over, many species died out as the AZA has shunted into sustainability and trade regulations keep going into effect. As many small mammals have relatively short lifespans, either frequent breeding or regular imports were needed - so it was expected that many would fall off sooner or later. Many are likely to vanish within the next decade. Even several commonly seen species are not doing so well as it might seem in terms of sustainability (Tamandua and Kinkajou for example). Going forwards it will likely primarily be species of particular note that are widespread among the AZA, though given the private trade there will likely always be some oddballs around. There's only so much space available, and the solid populations of Meerkats, Red Pandas, Golden Lion Tamarins, and Prehensile-tailed Porcupines are going to be priority over the handful of jumping rats, Pygmy marmosets, and cusimanse.
In year 2019, 17 institutions kept 54 giant jumping rats. Worldwide. Majority of them are kept in Europe and their population here seems stable/secured for now.
The irreversible damage is done, I agree. I just feel if small mammal buildings had been treated like bird and reptile houses, we would have seen more stable populations from this category survive into the present. Space for these animals has been reduced very severely over the last three decades so it would be naive to expect breeding success in those circumstances.
Mary
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I genuinely think the AZA is making really bad choices with phasing out so many unique species that are often in need of conservation breeding. I'm sure they're not being malicious about it but I hope there's some restructuring in the AZA.
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Many of the phase out species were/are on their way out anyway - when a species can't be kept going without relying on imports, that isn't worth it. Sun Bear is a good example of this. Despite trying for years success in breeding them was near zero and they are aging out. Space is the other prime issue, and when there's too many contenders for a specific slot, someone has to get cut. This has been the case for Gaur, which has a smaller population than Banteng.
They're not being 'malicious' about it at all, the AZA is trying to keep stable, genetically viable populations going for the long term. If the founder population is small or poor genetically, they're almost always going to be first on the phase-out block. Especially true for hoofstock, because once we lose a species, regulations are such we're not likely to ever get them back. Even when a species is numerous genetics can still get in the way - Masai Giraffe is having increasing issues with inbreeding depression due to a small founder base. A species can be rare and in need on conservation help, but if your founder population is tiny or struggling, it's not always going to work out.
The founder base conundrum is always one that confuses me. The problems with Masai giraffes is often credited to a "small founder base", when that population actually has a much larger founder base than a lot of other ungulate SSPs that aren't struggling as much- such as takin, babirusa, Pere David's deer, and Visayan warty pigs. While I am not denying the Masai giraffe population is struggling, why is the "small founder base" having such a big impact on the giraffe population if it isn't having a big impact on these other species?
Inbreeding depression seems to affect different taxa to different degrees and in different ways. You are correct that those taxa have seemed to escaped with little to no ill-effect from their small founder bases (the same could be said for many bird populations); however, there are many more species that are struggling because of it — Soemmerring’s and Cuvier’s gazelles, gerenuk, giant eland, okapi, Malayan sambar, amongst others are all populations that have seen increased infant mortality and disease/medical condition rates due to inbreeding depression from their small founder bases. That is ultimately the reason Cuvier’s gazelles were phased out.
Does there appear to be any trends as to what populations have more or less inbreeding depression issues? I would've assumed there's a genetic basis to resistance to inbreeding, but perhaps it isn't the case if taxonomically similar species both show little-to-no inbreeding depression (e.g., Pere David's deer), and significant inbreeding depression (e.g., Malayan sambar). Could it simply be the luck of how healthy the founder base was/a matter of genetic drift?
If they had more space to breed the animals, short lifespan would be less of an issue. Most major zoos phased out small mammal buildings in the 1990s, leading to less space and less breeding for all but a few major examples. If you dwindle to only have two or three holders of any species, regardless of any circumstance otherwise, your program is probably good as dead long term, as the discussion about hoofstock is illustrating clearly, and a number of hoofstock programs are being supported by dedicated spaces at facilities like SDZSP with no parallel facilities for small mammals, and even well supported hoofstock *still* struggle.
To clarify, I am *not* trying to shame Philadelphia for anything, if anyone is interpreting this as such.
I think the big difference between small mammals and many other groups is that, because of the short lifespan, phase outs happen at a much quicker rate than with longer lived animals. Asiatic black bears were phased out in 2008, and yet there are still a few individuals left because they are such long-lived animals. Non-SSP gibbon species are similarly a very long-term phase-out due to long lifespans. In the future, if cetaceans are eventually phased out of zoos that'd be an even longer process! To compare, if most rodents or rodent-like small mammals were phased out, the process would take a decade, if that.
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