Perenties Outside Australia

LaughingDove

LaughingDove

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
I was surprised to find recently that several zoos in the United States as well as seemingly one in Mexico and one in Israel hold Perenties. Does anyone know when and where they were exported from?

Apart from finding that the LA Zoo imported them from Taronga, I can't see much. Several of the US holders listed on Zootierliste seem like quite small facilities - are they getting them from Australian Zoos as well? Are substantial numbers bred outside Australia? It seems that there are illegal/smuggled animals about outside Australia in the private trade as well, but that's perhaps hardly surprising.

I'd be interested in any information that anyone has.
 
There have been perenties outside Australia for some time now - I first saw them in Dallas back in 2008, and those were specimens that had been bred at that zoo. There’s a common tendency with herps for a species to be a rarity held at few facilities, then someone cracks their husbandry and starts breeding them, and then suddenly they’re seemingly everywhere.
 
It's intriguing that Perenties seem to be popping up here and there and for sure they are ending up in major facilities. Of the 8 American zoos on Zootierliste with Perenties, 5 of them are notable AZA collections. That would be Omaha, Dallas, Los Angeles, Toledo and Gladys Porter and they all have significant reptile collections.

Of the remaining 3 American zoos, Reptile Gardens (South Dakota) used to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most reptile species of any zoo on the planet. They would always claim to have 225+ reptile/amphibian species and subspecies, even though when I visited in 2014 I counted 130 on-show herps and perhaps there's loads more behind the scenes as is the case with many zoos.

Reptilandia Reptile Lagoon (Texas) is a fairly new facility with approximately 100 reptile/amphibian exhibits and around 130 species in total.

As for Iguanaland (Florida), this is another brand-new U.S. zoo and there's a whopping 250 species there and they are almost entirely lizards, turtles and tortoises.
 
snowleopard said:
It's intriguing that Perenties seem to be popping up here and there and for sure they are ending up in major facilities. Of the 8 American zoos on Zootierliste with Perenties, 5 of them are notable AZA collections. That would be Omaha, Dallas, Los Angeles, Toledo and Gladys Porter and they all have significant reptile collections.

Of the remaining 3 American zoos, Reptile Gardens (South Dakota) used to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most reptile species of any zoo on the planet. They would always claim to have 225+ reptile/amphibian species and subspecies, even though when I visited in 2014 I counted 130 on-show herps and perhaps there's loads more behind the scenes as is the case with many zoos.

Reptilandia Reptile Lagoon (Texas) is a fairly new facility with approximately 100 reptile/amphibian exhibits and around 130 species in total.

As for Iguanaland (Florida), this is another brand-new U.S. zoo and there's a whopping 250 species there and they are almost entirely lizards, turtles and tortoises.
Click to expand...
I’d also like to add the Virginia Zoo, they recently added them to their collection.
 
Reptiles are of course widely smuggled and varanids bred often in private hands in the US. I would not be surprised if animals in zoos originated from private breeders who originally got their stock from smuggled animals. Time seems to wash away sins.
 
Thanks, everyone for the thoughtful replies. It sounds like a relatively recent but rapid increase in number of holders in the US. I suppose any zoo that breeds them is going to struggle to hold a large number of adults, even if just because of the size!

Maybe it won't be too long before some end up crossing the Atlantic and ending up somewhere in Europe? Who knows. I suppose it will depend on whether any zoo in Europe is sufficiently interested to put in the time and money.
 
MRJ said:
Reptiles are of course widely smuggled and varanids bred often in private hands in the US. I would not be surprised if animals in zoos originated from private breeders who originally got their stock from smuggled animals. Time seems to wash away sins.
Click to expand...

This does seem to be particularly true for reptiles. I remember when Borneo Earless Monitors first popped up in the private trade it was clear these were smuggled but now they seem to be breeding in decent numbers and appearing in lots of zoos.

As for perenties, there's a reference in this news article https://sanfernandosun.com/2016/04/28/la-zoo-welcomes-additional-animals-to-australian-collection/ which says that the LA Zoo imported a pair from Taronga so at least some of the US population must descent from legitimate imports.

(Unrelated, but while looking for information on legitimate imports of Perenties to the US from Australia yesterday, I discovered that a perentie is also a sort of Australian off road vehicle which does confuse the search a bit :P )
 
  • Like
Reactions: MRJ
LaughingDove said:
Thanks, everyone for the thoughtful replies. It sounds like a relatively recent but rapid increase in number of holders in the US. I suppose any zoo that breeds them is going to struggle to hold a large number of adults, even if just because of the size!

Maybe it won't be too long before some end up crossing the Atlantic and ending up somewhere in Europe? Who knows. I suppose it will depend on whether any zoo in Europe is sufficiently interested to put in the time and money.
Click to expand...

There are already perentie in Europe, or at least were until recently. Zoo Zurich imported a young trio from the Australian Reptile Park, they were on show for a few years, but are now replaced by Exiuma Island iguanas. I am not sure what happened to the perentie...
 
Does anyone else know why they were so short-lived at Frankfurt?
Their failure seems odd, given the successes in the US.
 
ZooNews2024 said:
Does anyone else know why they were so short-lived at Frankfurt?
Their failure seems odd, given the successes in the US.
Click to expand...

I assume you meant Zurich rather than Frankfurt, as I don't think the latter collection ever had them; it's definitely a bit odd, and I never heard any firm confirmation on what happened (barring the fact they were at Zurich a total of 6 years from mid-2017 to May 2023, that two animals died early into this period, and that the final animal was sent to Dallas Zoo), but the speculation I've heard from a few quarters is that the other two died in accidents as a result of something to do with their outdoor enclosure whilst very young.

Having visited Zurich earlier this year, I can't add much concrete to this information other than to note that a) the outdoor exhibit still has a lot of theming and signage for the species, so it's possible they intend to get more and b) the exhibit in question does have a very steep and deep dry moat between the exhibit and the public, which I could definitely imagine a young animal falling into and becoming injured.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Having visited Zurich earlier this year, I can't add much concrete to this information other than to note that a) the outdoor exhibit still has a lot of theming and signage for the species, so it's possible they intend to get more and b) the exhibit in question does have a very steep and deep dry moat between the exhibit and the public, which I could definitely imagine a young animal falling into and becoming injured.
Click to expand...

New director, new plan... What has only been an Australia house for a few years is now slated to become an endangered island species exhibit, hence the iguanas.
 
lintworm said:
New director, new plan... What has only been an Australia house for a few years is now slated to become an endangered island species exhibit, hence the iguanas.
Click to expand...

Indeed, although that was already the case before my visit too - and I seem to recall the iguanas are not held in that outdoor exhibit, but only the indoor one.

The shift towards island species is a good one I reckon.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I assume you meant Zurich rather than Frankfurt, as I don't think the latter collection ever had them; it's definitely a bit odd, and I never heard any firm confirmation on what happened (barring the fact they were at Zurich a total of 6 years from mid-2017 to May 2023, that two animals died early into this period, and that the final animal was sent to Dallas Zoo), but the speculation I've heard from a few quarters is that the other two died in accidents as a result of something to do with their outdoor enclosure whilst very young.

Having visited Zurich earlier this year, I can't add much concrete to this information other than to note that a) the outdoor exhibit still has a lot of theming and signage for the species, so it's possible they intend to get more and b) the exhibit in question does have a very steep and deep dry moat between the exhibit and the public, which I could definitely imagine a young animal falling into and becoming injured.
Click to expand...

You assumed quite correctly, and thank you.
I am sorry for the error; and yes of course I meant Zurich, but I am out of time to edit the mistake though.
I guess they are very fast, and large enclosures could be a hazard, as they are for some hoof-stock which are 'safer' in smaller housing.
It is interesting that the Zurich 'Australia House' is being changed so soon, but new people do seem to have to make their mark - even in some cases if they then leave very soon afterwards.
 
ZooNews2024 said:
You assumed quite correctly, and thank you.
I am sorry for the error; and yes of course I meant Zurich, but I am out of time to edit the mistake though.
I guess they are very fast, and large enclosures could be a hazard, as they are for some hoof-stock which are 'safer' in smaller housing.
It is interesting that the Zurich 'Australia House' is being changed so soon, but new people do seem to have to make their mark - even in some cases if they then leave very soon afterwards.
Click to expand...

For further reference, this is the outdoor exhibit in question:

full
 
I remember watching a episodes of the Croc Diaries where Steve Irwin himself packed up Perenties to be shipped to Dallas Zoo from Australia Zoo, I would imagine these would of been among the first Perenties Dallas received as this would of been back in the late 90s early 2000s
 
LaughingDove said:
Several of the US holders listed on Zootierliste seem like quite small facilities - are they getting them from Australian Zoos as well?
Click to expand...

This might be more clear now from @snowleopard's post, but none of the US holders are "small" facilities actually; 6 of them are major city zoos with sizable reptile collections and the other 3 are among the largest reptile zoos in the country.

Two zoos here have bred them: Dallas multiple times (first in 2001, then again in 2018 and 2023) and Omaha also in 2023. I know that at least Iguanaland received two of the 2018 hatchlings from Dallas, according to their website.

As evidenced by the first breeding date, Dallas has had them since at least 2001; all the other holders are only since 2016 or more recent.

lintworm said:
I am not sure what happened to the perentie...
Click to expand...
Rayane said:
The last one was due to leave for Dallas as far as I know
Click to expand...

Perhaps this animal?

Log in to Facebook
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top