Pinniped species in captivity?
By all means do! Confirmation of even just part of this lot would put this place on par with some of the Japanese aquariums with regards to rare species!
Dibatag
Well-Known Member
A quick ISIS check shows 3 female harp seals, 1female hooded seal, 1 female atlantic walrus and a pair of Pacific Walrus. In addition to these rarer ones there are also 3 female grey seals and four female harbour seals. Bare in mind these are all coming from ISIS and we all know how iffy that can be.
Being a devoted marine mammal fan and one who always hopes for their return to the much improved zoos of today compared to those in which they were usually short-lived in the past, my heart took a few extra beats upon seeing Northern Elephant Seal listed by you.
At first I thought you were listing this species based on that young ones can be seen during open days at some of the rescue facilities on the West Coast, as well as very occasionally at the San Francisco Zoo, but then I remembered that you took this from ISIS and such facilities don't (far as I know) contribute to ISIS. So I checked and indeed there is: 0.1 specimen is listed for the San Diego Zoo.
Now, here comes the million dollar question: anyone knows anything about this animal? I searched Google News but found nothing and same goes for the zoo's website.
I'm afraid this one is long since dead.
I should probably have realised that, though I know, as I check marine mammal statuses on ISIS every now and then, that this animal was not registered there last time I checked, which would have been sometime last year. In fact, I have a friend who tells me that San Diego has not had an Elephant Seal on public display since 1981.
San Diego's entries are indeed infamous for inaccuracy and out-of-date info. It seems odd since their late registrar, Marvin L. Jones (whose name was well known both in the USA and Europe, particulary among those who take interest in zoo history) was renowed for his close eye for detail and vast knowledge, but come to think of it, I'm not sure if Marvin was even responsible for ISIS when he was at the Zoo from 1981 to 1995, it may have been someone else. But these are just speculations, I knew him a bit.
If I didn't realise that you clearly have access to the membership area of the ISIS website and are thus able to see more details than me, I would think you're joking with this...
I've always found the harbour seals at the Gold Coast Seaworld to be a very odd animal to be in Australia. I mean I know they have the Californian sealions and polar bears and what-not, but harbour seal just seems such a random species to acquire.zooboy28 said:
I don't recall Harbour Seals from my visit just over three years ago. When and from where were they recieved?
Interestingly, I don't recall seeing a single seal in Australia, apart from one. But that one happens to have been Taronga's Leopard Seal 'Brooke' (which had since died but replaced by two younger ones found strayed around the time of my visit) so I'm still pleased!
I've never actually been to Sea World. I know they have/had harbour seals but I've never been able to find out when or from where they arrived (and that's always annoyed me because I do think they are just an odd animal to be there!). They aren't mentioned at all on the Sea World website. I know they were already there in 1998 (via Google searches) but that's it. Perhaps they have died since then. One of the Australians might know (Hix or Jay).Baldur said:
They were on the program 'The Zoo' a few weeks ago. I believe I saw 3, 1 male and 2 females. The male had to have eye surgery to remove one eye as he had cataract. I am not sure, however, when they got them or from where. This was the ame episode where the Giant Pandas were about to or had arrived in Australia, so maybe mid to late 2009?
Hope that helps Chli. And, welcome back!
I took a couple of photos of the Twycross seals and they are HERE
London Zoo had some many, many years ago. It would be nice to see them in a UK collection again.
thanks, they've been there a long time then (at least 12 years); maybe they were just imported at the same time as some Californian sealions. I do still wonder about why though. They aren't considered important enough to warrant any mention at all that I can see on their website - even though they are the only ones in the country - so it makes me question why they even bothered when the general public probably couldn't care less.UrMumzAGoat said:
I believe so.
And I also think there are only two sub-antarctic fur seals in captivity (both rescued animals): 1 at Auckland and 1 at Melbourne