Australasian Colobine Population

Tiger91 said:
Id like to think they're not staring down the barrel of a phase out, But if Taronga jump on this South American train, instead of redeveloping the old bull elephant exhibit and surrounds. I can see them switching wild Asia into wild South America. The only thing stopping this would be the Indian rhino. All species there in the complex have an equivalent swap out of South American origin. Bar the otters.
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Taronga’s Francois langurs:

The lack of breeding suggests a long term phase out could be on the cards. No infants have been bred at Taronga since the export of the previous breeding male, despite their being options for unrelated pairings.

The youngest males could still be around in 15-20 years, so it’s likely Taronga will hold them in some form for the next couple of decades, even if it’s a non-breeding troop.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Taronga’s Francois langurs:

The lack of breeding suggests a long term phase out could be on the cards. No infants have been bred at Taronga since the export of the previous breeding male, despite their being options for unrelated pairings.

The youngest males could still be around in 15-20 years, so it’s likely Taronga will hold them in some form for the next couple of decades, even if it’s a non-breeding troop.
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If this is correct it would be amazing since this is/was the chosen Langur species for the region where all others were to be phased out to make room for this ZAA chosen species. As most would likely know that species like the Javan, Lion, Dusky and others have been pushed aside for this project. We find after quite a few years that "only" Taronga zoo had and maintained a group of the Francois species (apart from 2 spare males) with them exporting excess to some asian zoos instead of them finding their way into other regional zoos as was the apprent plan and no one can convince me that there were not at least a handful of other zoos within the region that would be been happy to hold them.

Its strange how we have a very similar parallel to what happen to the idea of the phasing out all the bear species within the regions zoos to make way for just one species of Asian bear (apart from a pair/trio of Polar bears at SeaWorld and not including Adelaides Giant Pandas) in which ended up another fail for a combination of reasons, At the end of the day this phase out mentality has backfired where many animals have disappeared from our regional collections to replaced with something better managed which has not worked out, I hope there are some lessons learnt in all of this but somehow I be surprised if it has/had!
 
Zorro said:
If this is correct it would be amazing since this is/was the chosen Langur species for the region where all others were to be phased out to make room for this ZAA chosen species. As most would likely know that species like the Javan, Lion, Dusky and others have been pushed aside for this project. We find after quite a few years that "only" Taronga zoo had and maintained a group of the Francois species (apart from 2 spare males) with them exporting excess to some asian zoos instead of them finding their way into other regional zoos as was the apprent plan and no one can convince me that there were not at least a handful of other zoos within the region that would be been happy to hold them.

Its strange how we have a very similar parallel to what happen to the idea of the phasing out all the bear species within the regions zoos to make way for just one species of Asian bear (apart from a pair/trio of Polar bears at SeaWorld and not including Adelaides Giant Pandas) in which ended up another fail for a combination of reasons, At the end of the day this phase out mentality has backfired where many animals have disappeared from our regional collections to replaced with something better managed which has not worked out, I hope there are some lessons learnt in all of this but somehow I be surprised if it has/had!
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It's hard to compare the situation we have with the Francois Langurs to the one we have with Sun Bears.

The Sun Bear situation is far more precarious and falls back on a variety of factors outside of our control. On the other hand, the Langur situation is far less understandable when you consider the 'reason' why other zoos within the region have failed to acquire them.
 
Zorro said:
If this is correct it would be amazing since this is/was the chosen Langur species for the region where all others were to be phased out to make room for this ZAA chosen species. As most would likely know that species like the Javan, Lion, Dusky and others have been pushed aside for this project. We find after quite a few years that "only" Taronga zoo had and maintained a group of the Francois species (apart from 2 spare males) with them exporting excess to some asian zoos instead of them finding their way into other regional zoos as was the apprent plan and no one can convince me that there were not at least a handful of other zoos within the region that would be been happy to hold them.

Its strange how we have a very similar parallel to what happen to the idea of the phasing out all the bear species within the regions zoos to make way for just one species of Asian bear (apart from a pair/trio of Polar bears at SeaWorld and not including Adelaides Giant Pandas) in which ended up another fail for a combination of reasons, At the end of the day this phase out mentality has backfired where many animals have disappeared from our regional collections to replaced with something better managed which has not worked out, I hope there are some lessons learnt in all of this but somehow I be surprised if it has/had!
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It’s been a shame to see Taronga’s once thriving breeding troop of Francois langurs stagnate. There’s 10 holders in Europe and 15 in North America so I’m unsure whether Taronga not receiving additional breeding females (what they really need at this point) is due to the EEP not seeing value in holding a breeding troop in a geographically isolated facility (when there are European holders to fulfil that role); whether Taronga are disinterested in breeding; or a combination of both!

For a breeding programme to really thrive, multiple holders are certainly advantageous, increasing the regional capacity and enabling regular breeding.
 
Jambo said:
It's hard to compare the situation we have with the Francois Langurs to the one we have with Sun Bears.

The Sun Bear situation is far more precarious and falls back on a variety of factors outside of our control. On the other hand, the Langur situation is far less understandable when you consider the 'reason' why other zoos within the region have failed to acquire them.
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As I did state for a "combination" of reasons"!. As for the "Langur situation" it's no less understandable than other zoos not being able to aquire obtaining Indian rhinos, Dhole, Persian Onager and other species!
 
Zorro said:
As I did state for a "combination" of reasons"!. As for the "Langur situation" it's no less understandable than other zoos not being able to aquire obtaining Indian rhinos, Dhole, Persian Onager and other species!
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Part of the issue is other larger zoo's not wanting to import. Until Darling downs and altina started importing more animals/species. Thee was a fairly large disinterest in importation of species.
 
Jambo said:
It's hard to compare the situation we have with the Francois Langurs to the one we have with Sun Bears.

The Sun Bear situation is far more precarious and falls back on a variety of factors outside of our control. On the other hand, the Langur situation is far less understandable when you consider the 'reason' why other zoos within the region have failed to acquire them.
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Let's be real, the sun bears were always going to fail. The zoo's imported animals from rescues/rescued from animals stuck in illegal trade of memory. The feel good story was there and a 'win' for conservation. However, these animals come with a host of issues and behavioural non breeding is an issue the region has faced. It's been mentioned that attaining new animals is an issue to there stagnation. The reality is they could acquire sun bears from the same conditions and try again. But they are after animals that are able to form and maintain a breeding population. Something that is harder to acquire and will take exponentially more time.

At this rate, it may be a better idea then sitting there with none!. Surely some of the sanctuaries having breeding animals they would be happy to shift.
 
Further details on the Adelaide's colobus infants. The colobus infant born to 0.1 Zamba on 29 May has been sexed as female and the infant born to 0.1 Adale has been sexed as male. The most recent infant was born on 27 June.

It has been fantastic to witness this species regain numbers steadily in the region with a healthy cohort of youngsters across Canberra and Adelaide to stabilise demographics - reported on their FB page.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
Further details on the Adelaide's colobus infants. The colobus infant born to 0.1 Zamba on 29 May has been sexed as female and the infant born to 0.1 Adale has been sexed as male. The most recent infant was born on 27 June.

It has been fantastic to witness this species regain numbers steadily in the region with a healthy cohort of youngsters across Canberra and Adelaide to stabilise demographics - reported on their FB page.
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Let's hope they don't drop off the radar like they did before!
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
The colobines are a subfamily of Old-World Monkeys that represent the colobus and langurs mainly. Neither group is really large enough to receive their own population list but together with the mandrills represent the main three group of primates that Australasian Zoochatters always agree need more attention and management in our region. In the region there are currently three species with small populations – François' Langur (Trachypithecus francoisi), Dusky Langur (Trachypithecus obscurus) and Eastern Black-and-white Black Colobus (Colobus guereza). The François' Langurs and colobus are slowly increasing following recent births of the former and an import of the latter. The four Dusky Langurs are at a standstill with no opportunity for growth without imports. Of the four major Australian zoos, Perth Zoo doesn’t keep any colobines and they are a group of primates that haven’t really taken off among smaller zoos (maybe due to availability, cost and other factors unbeknown to me). There are no colobines in New Zealand zoos currently though Auckland did express interest to acquire a langur species but nothing has eventuated.

The region has had a long historical association with several langur species especially across the past thirty years – everything from Purple-faced Langurs, Silvered Leaf Langurs, Javan Langurs and Hanuman Langurs. Corrections and further information would be greatly appreciated – especially from Zoochatters around the Adelaide and Melbourne region to flesh out the colobus info at their local zoos.


François' Langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi) in Australasian zoos:
The François' Langurs are managed under an EEP for the species. Taronga’s group have been very successful with births with an expected male bias that comes with the species in captivity. Their group started with a 1.1 pair imported from Japan in 2004 (Hanoi and Saigon). Both were later exported but two of their full offspring remain in the region – female Elke (2009) who was the first to be born and Keo-co (2011) who is at Canberra currently. A harem was later created with the arrival of 1.1 langurs from Beijing (Bobo and Meili) in 2010 and a female from the Netherlands (Noel) in 2012. Both females have produced multiple offspring with Bobo and their most recent one being a male in March 2021. They currently have six growing males that I am sure will soon need to move of the out of the group.

The two Taronga-bred males at the National Zoo and Aquarium currently were initially moved to Mogo but have now been at Canberra for a few years. It remains to be seen if other zoos in the region will acquire the surplus males at Taronga or if they will move overseas.

National Zoo and Aquarium, ACT, Australia
1.0 Keo-co (Saigon x Hanoi) 30-01-2011 at Taronga Zoo
1.0 Tam Dao (Saigon x Meili) 00-08-2011 at Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo, NSW, Australia
1.0 Bobo (unk x unk) 00-00-0000; imported from Beijing Zoo, China in 2010
0.1 Meili (unk x uk) 00-00-0000; imported from Beijing Zoo, China in 2010
0.1 Noel (unk x unk) 00-00-0000; imported from Rotterdam Zoo, Netherlands in 2012
0.1 Elke (Saigon x Hanoi) 19-03-2009 at Taronga Zoo
1.0 Nangua (Bobo x Meili) 07-11-2015 at Taronga Zoo
0.1 Embe (Bobo x Noel) 21-07-2016 at Taronga Zoo
1.0 Jing (Bobo x Meili) 03-06-2017 at Taronga Zoo
1.0 Didi (Bobo x Noel) 30-04-2018 at Taronga Zoo
1.0 Minh (Bobo x Meili) 00-00-2018 at Taronga Zoo
1.0 UNK (Bobo x Noel) 26-09-2019 at Taronga Zoo
1.0 Manchu (Bobo x Meili) 22-03-2021 at Taronga Zoo

François' Langur Population Total: 13 (9.4)


Dusky Langurs (Trachypithecus obscurus) in the Australasian zoos:
There is only one zoo holding Dusky Langurs currently – four full siblings at Adelaide restricting any chance of future breeding without imports. The four langurs are mixed with two Malayan Tapirs with a large central Moreton Bay fig as the centrepiece of what looks to be a spectacular exhibit. While there were other members of the initial group, the pair that produced all four offspring in such a short yet so successful bracket were a male (Goblin) from Twycross Zoo, UK that arrived in 2004 and a female (Flier) from Singapore that arrived in 2001.

Adelaide Zoo, SA, Australia
1.0 Jingga (Goblin x Flier) 07-8-2006 at Adelaide Zoo
1.0 Nanti (Goblin x Flier) 21-07-2008 at Adelaide Zoo
0.1 Nakal (Goblin x Flier) 23-01-2011 at Adelaide Zoo
0.1 Tevy (Goblin x Flier) 05-08-2012 at Adelaide Zoo

Dusky Langur Population Total: 4(2.2)


Eastern Black-and-white Colobus (Colobus guereza) in Australasian zoos:
The colobus bred at Melbourne stem from a C.g. kikuyuensis male from Perth (Brodie) and a C. g. guereza female (Clover). They produced several offspring most of which are now at Canberra across two different groups. Melbourne’s currently have two individuals – an older individual and a female born around 2012. I haven’t managed to confirmed where they were born but have placed their place of birth as Melbourne** as a safe assumption with the younger female probably being an offspring of the pair mentioned above. I believe this is also a photo of the older colobus when she was born in 1996 (note the photo of the Javan langur infant born in 2000): The other mums on Mother's Day

The former Monarto group comprised of a male imported from the United States and several Adelaide-born females I believe. I am not sure what the name of the male was but he would be the sire of the males at Adelaide (Jasiri and Kyoda) and the breeding female at Canberra (Safi). The remnants of Monarto’s group moved to Adelaide Zoo in 2018 – a female born at Canberra and two males bred at Monarto. Adelaide imported a second group in 2020 comprising of an older female born in Zoo Dresden, Germany and her two daughters that were born in France. The latter three females are C.g. kikuyuensis and the subspecies of Monarto’s former animals is probably a mixture of some sort (though this assumption hasn't been confirmed).

The National Zoo and Aquarium currently house three females (grandmother and mother from Monarto and daughter bred at Canberra) with a Melbourne-born male called Indi. They are the most recent facility to have bred the species in 2015. At the time of her birth it remained largely unknown who was the infant’s sire – *older male Chadwick or the Melbourne male. The zoo house another two males in their Jamala Lodge separate from the group of four – males Colby and Colin.

Adelaide Zoo, SA, Australia
0.1 Amanda (unk x unk) 00-00-1994 at Zoo Dresden, Germany; imported in 2020
0.1 Charlie (Chadwick x unk) 00-00-2002 at National Zoo and Aquarium
0.1 Zamba (unk x Amanda) 00-00-2004 at La Vallée des Singes, France; imported in 2020
1.0 Jasiri (unk x Greystoke) 00-00-2008 at Monarto Safari Park
1.0 Kyoda (unk x Masika) 00-07-2009 at Monarto Safari Park
0.1 Adale (unk x Amanda) 00-00-2010 at La Vallée des Singes, France; imported in 2020

Melbourne Zoo, VIC, Australia
0.1 Mkasu (unk x unk) 00-00-1996 at Melbourne Zoo**
0.1 Kipenzi (Brodie x Clover) 00-00-2012 at Melbourne Zoo**

National Zoo and Aquarium, ACT, Australia
0.1 Masika (unk x unk) 00-00-1998
1.0 Indi (Brodie x Clover) 09-01-2006 at Melbourne Zoo
0.1 Safi (unk x Masika) 00-00-2008 at Monarto Safari Park
1.0 Colby (Brodie x Clover) 26-09-2009 at Melbourne Zoo
1.0 Colin (Brodie x Clover) 03-06-2011 at Melbourne Zoo
0.1 Halle (*Indi x Safi) 00-06-2015 at National Zoo and Aquarium

Colobus Population Total: 14 (5.9)
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I take it that the total Colobus population would be somewhat larger now?
 
Zorro said:
I take it that the total Colobus population would be somewhat larger now?
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Assuming the older trio at the National Zoo are still alive (their deaths haven’t been reported in this thread), I believe the regional population is 7.12 Black and white colobus:

1.2 at Melbourne Zoo (non breeding troop)
4.5 at Adelaide Zoo (breeding troop)
1.3 at the National Zoo (breeding troop)
1.2 at the National Zoo (retirement troop)
 
Zoofan15 said:
Assuming the older trio at the National Zoo are still alive (their deaths haven’t been reported in this thread), I believe the regional population is 7.12 Black and white colobus:

1.2 at Melbourne Zoo (non breeding troop)
4.5 at Adelaide Zoo (breeding troop)
1.3 at the National Zoo (breeding troop)
1.2 at the National Zoo (retirement troop)
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A couple more holders would be ideal at this time!
 
Zorro said:
A couple more holders would be ideal at this time!
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The natural progression from here would be for the young males at Adelaide (with or without their father) to disperse to another facility as a bachelor troop. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Werribee replace Vervet monkey with Black and white colobus long term, so that could be an option (with Melbourne retaining their non-breeding troop).

Otherwise, it’s a possibility some of the small regional zoos might have an interest in holding this species - Mogo, Darling Downs, Altina etc.
 
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