Anteaters were earlier than aardvarks
Giant Anteaters and Aardvarks in Australian zoos
- Thread starter Shirokuma
- Start date
Anteaters were earlier than aardvarks
I don't recall ever seeing Giant anteaters at Melbourne Zoo. In fact my first time seeing one/two was at Adelaide mid/late 70s. Looking at some photos I notice that Adelaide still have an anteater in 89. Not too sure how long ago was the aardvark at Melbourne around late 70s/early 80s, but definitely more than 1 and always hidden in the den/large box under the red spotlight. Prairie dogs would be circa same era in the same complex as wombats, armadillos and porcupines.
Also saw my first Tayra, Senegal bushbaby, slender loris, springhaas, sloth, mongoose lemur and Pallas cat at Adelaide.
No anteaters at Taronga on my first visit in 86, but remember jaguarundi, singing dog and racoon dog.
Ah diversity in Australian zoos...
According to the Adelaide Zoo annual report 86/87 they had couple of giant anteater plus female from Melbourne on breeding loan (status at 30 June 1987). Probably next year male died because at 30 June 1988 there were only two females. Next season new male from San Diego Zoo arrived so at 30 June 1989 zoo had one male and two females (one of them Melbourne's). I haven't subsequent reports so I don't know how long they lived there.
I thought about that too, but it wasn't listed in the Dubbo inventory for 1978-79 either.
Hix
Whilst going through the CITES database (CITES Trade Database), I found the year for aardvarks being imported to Australia.
It is listed as 2 live animals being exported from Canada and Imported to Australia in 1976 for the purpose of 'Zoo'.
It is listed as 2 live animals being exported from Canada and Imported to Australia in 1976 for the purpose of 'Zoo'.
very good.Whilst going through the CITES database (CITES Trade Database), I found the year for aardvarks being imported to Australia.
It is listed as 2 live animals being exported from Canada and Imported to Australia in 1976 for the purpose of 'Zoo'.
Which means that Melbourne Zoo had (at least briefly) both giant anteater and aardvark at the same time in 1976 (see post #17 above where a newspaper link mentions giant anteater in passing).
The Int. Zoo Yearbook vol.30 mention in the "census of rare animals in captivity" section for 1989 1-1 Giant anteaters at Adelaide and for 1990 1-0.
The next question is why aren't any Australian zoos bringing in giant anteaters and/or aardvarks now?
the last one (the male from San Diego) died in September 1990.
Giant anteaters were part of the plan of the next phase of "Predator Prey" at Melbourne Zoo (along with Snow Leopards, Malayan Sun Bears and the already established Lions, Cape Hunting Dogs and Philipine Crocodiles)
That said, it was part of the plan, but plans change constantly so I don't know if its still part of the plan.... It seems like a natural choice though - as a different sort of predator eating a different sort of prey.
neither aardvarks nor giant anteaters can currently be imported.
Really? How come?
Maybe this is why I've heard nothing more about the anteaters for Predator Prey....