North American Sloth Bear Population

Out of curiosity, other than Amy x Goof building up the sloth bear population in the US, is there any reason zoos are continuing with hybridizing sloth bears rather than focusing on keeping the Indian/Sri Lankan subspecies distinct?
 
StoppableSan said:
Out of curiosity, other than Amy x Goof building up the sloth bear population in the US, is there any reason zoos are continuing with hybridizing sloth bears rather than focusing on keeping the Indian/Sri Lankan subspecies distinct?
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It'd take essentially imports of an entire new founder base for that to happen. Any of the Amy x Goof line out of Capron Park are not subspecific (this includes any out of Brookfield, Philadelphia, or Little Rock in recent decades), but neither are any of the Mick x Priya line out of Tautphaus Park Zoo (again including cubs out of Little Rock and Philadelphia). Cubs out of Cleveland or Woodland Park *might* be pure Sri Lankan (I'm not 100% certain though), but that's of course not a healthy founder base for a population. There's even less purebred mainland sloth bears out there, so it'd be even harder to do that. I know, zoological purists want all zoo animals to be subspecific, but unfortunately in the reality of zoo populations today that isn't always possible.
 
Neil chace said:
It'd take essentially imports of an entire new founder base for that to happen. Any of the Amy x Goof line out of Capron Park are not subspecific (this includes any out of Brookfield, Philadelphia, or Little Rock in recent decades), but neither are any of the Mick x Priya line out of Tautphaus Park Zoo (again including cubs out of Little Rock and Philadelphia). Cubs out of Cleveland or Woodland Park *might* be pure Sri Lankan (I'm not 100% certain though), but that's of course not a healthy founder base for a population. There's even less purebred mainland sloth bears out there, so it'd be even harder to do that. I know, zoological purists want all zoo animals to be subspecific, but unfortunately in the reality of zoo populations today that isn't always possible.
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Based on that, are there zoos in the US that are still trying to maintain a subspecific approach or are they all going to breed generic sloth bears?
 
StoppableSan said:
Based on that, are there zoos in the US that are still trying to maintain a subspecific approach or are they all going to breed generic sloth bears?
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I doubt there are zoo intentionally managing Sri Lankan sloth bears, however it's likely at least the Woodland Park pairings might yield pure Sri Lankan sloth bears. Personally, I'm more concerned though with having a genetically healthy sloth bear population, which would mean more zoos need to start having breeding success.
 
 
GFgomez said:
Did Keesha pass away ?
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Not sure. Considering there hasn't been any news on her since she turned 26 (two years ago) I would be surprised if she was still around. She would be 28 years of age this month and surely one of the oldest sloth bears worldwide.
 
If you email Zoo Miami they might be able to tell you about if keesha is still around or not. I've found emailing zoo's help alot with compiling lists.
 
Smaggledagle said:
(1.0) sloth bear Namba passed away at the Lee Richardson Zoo in Kansas at age 20 on February 20th possibly due to cancer.

Lee Richardson Zoo
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Cancer is unfortunately an *extremely* common form of death in sloth bears. Both of Namba's maternal grandparents similar died of cancer. (Article on sloth bear mortality in zoos can be found here: Causes of mortality in sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) housed in U.S. zoos | Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research). Interestingly enough, Namba's mother, Khali, is still alive and living at the Little Rock Zoo.
 
Are there any updates on Hank and Kematee's cubs at Zoo Miami? They announced their birth back in January but I haven't seen anything on their progress, names, or when they might go on exhibit.
 
TheGytrash said:
Are there any updates on Hank and Kematee's cubs at Zoo Miami? They announced their birth back in January but I haven't seen anything on their progress, names, or when they might go on exhibit.
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Their hasn't, although I would assume their would be an announcement for names very soon considering they're approaching three months of age.
 
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