Barbary Macaques

G

Grant Rhino

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Hi everyone

Ive been reading quite a bit lately about barbary macaques and Ive seen them in Gibralter and in various zoos (Budapest Zoo springs to mind) and Ive got a few questions about them:

1. When did they die out in Southern Europe?

and pardon this laymen question:

2. Could it ever be a viable option to reintroduce them into Southern Europe? (Im basing this on the precedent set by the bloke in Scotland who has began reintroducing moose, boar and other animals which have died out in Scotland - he is fighting to bring in wolves at the moment)

3. The population is apparently extinct in Tunisia - is anything being done to reintroduce them into Tunisia?

4. Roughly how many zoos house them?

Cheers, Grant
 
4. I can answer #4 for you, at least partially, there are 136 zoos holding the species in Europe, and I don't think there are any in Australasia. Not sure about North America though.

For species holdings in European zoos, check out this site: ZootierlisteHomepage it has lists of all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and some fish kept in European zoos.
 
Grant Rhino said:
Hi everyone

Ive been reading quite a bit lately about barbary macaques and Ive seen them in Gibralter and in various zoos (Budapest Zoo springs to mind) and Ive got a few questions about them:

1. When did they die out in Southern Europe?

and pardon this laymen question:

2. Could it ever be a viable option to reintroduce them into Southern Europe? (Im basing this on the precedent set by the bloke in Scotland who has began reintroducing moose, boar and other animals which have died out in Scotland - he is fighting to bring in wolves at the moment)

3. The population is apparently extinct in Tunisia - is anything being done to reintroduce them into Tunisia?

4. Roughly how many zoos house them?

Cheers, Grant
Click to expand...

1) The last time the Barbary Macaque was native to Europe was during the last Pleistocene Interglacial, at which time they ranged as far north as Germany and the British Isles. The last survivors of this population died out 30,000 years ago when the most recent glacial period started, at which point they were restricted to the southern point of the Iberian Peninsula.

2) Not at all viable; although we are in another interglacial period now, much like the last time they were native to Europe, the climatic and habitat conditions are very different. In short, there is no longer a niche for them.

3)No such programme is planned at this time, I believe.

4) Currently 136 collections in Europe hold the species - not sure about collections outside of Europe.
 
Someone must know a thing or two with regards to ISIS or ZIMS here.
I can no longer positively cite or claim how large a population is in Europe at all for lack of access (not even the print out version of status as per date). :(
 
zooboy28 said:
4. I can answer #4 for you, at least partially, there are 136 zoos holding the species in Europe, and I don't think there are any in Australasia. Not sure about North America though.

For species holdings in European zoos, check out this site: ZootierlisteHomepage it has lists of all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and some fish kept in European zoos.
Click to expand...

This is a very good (and useful) website. Is there a similar one for Australasian zoos?
 
TeaLovingDave said:
1) The last time the Barbary Macaque was native to Europe was during the last Pleistocene Interglacial, at which time they ranged as far north as Germany and the British Isles. The last survivors of this population died out 30,000 years ago when the most recent glacial period started, at which point they were restricted to the southern point of the Iberian Peninsula.
Click to expand...

So its fair to say that they have been gone for a little bit too long...
 
Grant Rhino said:
This is a very good (and useful) website. Is there a similar one for Australasian zoos?
Click to expand...

Not as such, except for the threads in the Australian forum on exotic mammals, birds, reptiles in each zoo, which I have linked in one of your threads before. You can become an individual member of ZAA (Australasia's Zoo and Aquarium Association) and this will give you access to their census, which gives detailed info of species held at ZAA zoos (which are not all the zoos in Australasia, but all the big ones and a fair number of smaller ones too). There was a worldwide database called ISIS, but that is in the process of being/has been superseded by ZIMS, and is not currently publicly available (although as it is tax-payer funded it should theoretically be - discussion of this is probably somewhere in the general zoo discussion forum).
 
zooboy28 said:
Not as such, except for the threads in the Australian forum on exotic mammals, birds, reptiles in each zoo, which I have linked in one of your threads before. You can become an individual member of ZAA (Australasia's Zoo and Aquarium Association) and this will give you access to their census, which gives detailed info of species held at ZAA zoos (which are not all the zoos in Australasia, but all the big ones and a fair number of smaller ones too). There was a worldwide database called ISIS, but that is in the process of being/has been superseded by ZIMS, and is not currently publicly available (although as it is tax-payer funded it should theoretically be - discussion of this is probably somewhere in the general zoo discussion forum).
Click to expand...

Thanks zooboy28 - you sent me these in my patas monkey thread. They were very useful although there are a few minor inaccuracies in them (particularly with off-display animals - which is to be expected). It would be great if there was a publically accessable website with all of this info up in an official manner. In any case, the lists in those threads are good enough for 99% of public queries.
 
Barbary Apes may have been introduced in Mediterranean islands in the Antiquity.
For example the island of Ischia (off Southern coast of Italy) was formerly called Pithecussa ("monkey island" in Greek).
It's likely that these populations have died out in the timeline, for unknown reasons.
One has to remember that many Northern African species have been introduced with more or less success in Southern Europe, like the Crested Porcupine (Italy) or the Genet (Spain, France...).
 
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