An other species that we have lost:
Japanese Serow(Capricornis crispus) last held in Usti, 2018
@Dianamonkey's photo
Japanese Serow(Capricornis crispus) last held in Usti, 2018
@Dianamonkey's photo
Species we have lost over the last quarter of a century
- Thread starter TeaLovingDave
- Start date
Leipzig will hold this species according to their masterplan.
According to ZTL Wildpark Altenfelden in Austria had Snow sheeps (Ovis nivicola), at least until 2017. There is also a picture on the Zuinstitutes from 2015. Were the animals ever on display ? Does someone know their story ?
To the best of my knowledge, although the collection *did* have the species at one time, by the time the last individual died the population had represented hybrids with domestic Mouflon for several years.
The last Hunter's sunbird in Kerzers died a little while back.
I believe next on the list are Variable sunbirds, who seem to be gone from Stuttgart, and according to ZTL not signed anymore in Hamburg. The last one in Kerzers died. I don't know about the last male in Zamosc, Poland.
I believe next on the list are Variable sunbirds, who seem to be gone from Stuttgart, and according to ZTL not signed anymore in Hamburg. The last one in Kerzers died. I don't know about the last male in Zamosc, Poland.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I agree, and there is an additional reason: such "low-profile" species are often kept in a zoo because of the interest of a single person, which could be a curator, head keeper, a department head or even just a single animal keeper with an exceptional interest. With a change of staff, other employees often feel no attachment to these species, because they do not see a commercial value to keep them. The animals are still routinely cared for, but nobody does more than a general maintenance protocol prescribes and this is usually not enough for those species to breed. Couple of years later, the said species is lost from the ZOO collection and nobody really cares, until years later another single employee regrets this and does an extensive effort to get it back. Same happens in private collections. There are very few exceptional people who are interested in keeping the same species for several decades when that species is not getting a lot of attention and they also donćt earn anything with it (often not even appreciation from colleagues!).
Also, in my experience, there are animal keepers who are also keen observers of their animals, and this is what you need to get many species to breed. The majority of animal keeper work on routine, and they are not necessarily to blame for that, because for observing animals you need time, which is often lacking (or misused with taking some extra breaks in some cases). How many directions allow keepers "observation time" on a daily basis? Keepers who keep observing those non-commercial animals regularly are the first to be overburdened with work and to leave the zoo-world
Very interesting and pertinent comment and well said !
Wilhelma Zoo does stil keep variable sunbirds. They are found in the new bird house.
Well the most major loss since the last update here is definitely Amazon river dolphin! Sri Lankan sloth bear is another recent loss though of course the other subspecies is still present. There is always the looming loss of other species down to very small numbers e.g. Panay cloudrunner, eastern gorilla, Bornean bearded pig, aardwolf...Any possibilities of an update of losses/regains on the horizon? Just refound and reread this whole thread, and still find it one of the most thought-provoking on here
I can't think of any more off the top of my head that have actually been lost but I'm sure others can name some.
Yeah, the loss of Baby was the main one that I could think of too, along with eastern aardwolf, depending on how you split your aardwolves. I'm sure there'll be others in the more speciose bird groups such as parrots, pigeons and various passerines, but then there's more likely to be regained species among those groups too.
Any possibilities of an update of losses/regains on the horizon? Just refound and reread this whole thread, and still find it one of the most thought-provoking on here
Funnily enough it's definitely something I've considered of late, although the thread would take a *LOT* of updating - both because of further losses, and some which we have regained!
I may well start afresh with a sequel thread starting from 2000 onwards - this would both avoid rehashing old ground and the need to remove regained species, and prevent the issues which a vague and unfixed point like "the last quarter-of-a-century" would have caused had I not chosen to ignore them and keep this thread fixed to a 1990 starting point even several years in!
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
I've just read in my review of Faunia (Madrid, Spain) that the last brocket deer in Europe died few weeks ago :-( not only a species, but a whole genus lost from Europe, since the other 4 species kept formerly in other collections also deceased earlier
I saw her in 2017:
I saw her in 2017:
Attachments
Last Ethiopean klipspringer died in Valencia.
I do wonder if these were truly Pavonine at all.
I recall I read recently a book published in 2000 in regards to quetzals and trogons, and the book’s taxonomy is interesting - it chooses to classify, if I recall correctly, the golden headed quetzal as a subspecies of Pavonine quetzal - and the crested quetzal as a subspecies of resplendent quetzal.
I recall also that a zoo in Italy around 2014 got golden headed quetzals… which it labelled Pavonine. I wonder if this was for the same reason…
So if this logic is applied, it could be that those held at Wuppertal were in fact golden headed after all!
I believe this to be the case. The true Pavonine has an orange-red bill, yellow towards its tip; the Golden-headed has an all-yellow bill. I remember specifically examining the last male at Wuppertal and finding his bill to be entirely yellow. I think the zoo labelled their birds as being Pavonine because the bird curator was following a taxonomy that viewed Golden-headed as a subspecies of Pavonine.
Apenine chamois.
Just visited Hellabrunn for the first time. Was really looking forward to seeing this species, but they're all gone.
Species is now extinct in captivity it seems.
And I just missed my chance at seeing them.
Such a sad news... I saw tree animals not long ago. The species is still present at few zoos in France and Spain, but the subspecies was unique.