When were the last tasmanian devils in the UK? I seem to remember travelling to see some not so long ago and getting very annoyed that they never came out, despite multiple visits.
Is my memory playing tricks?
Species I would like to see in UK Zoos
- Thread starter crested seriema
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When were the last tasmanian devils in the UK? I seem to remember travelling to see some not so long ago and getting very annoyed that they never came out, despite multiple visits.
Is my memory playing tricks?
Last ones in the UK were at London Zoo in the Clore until 1991.
And apart from the possible one(s) mentioned at Chester in the 1930's, I don't think anywhere else except ZSL in UK has exhibited them since?
Correct. It is a pity that dasyurids have become so unfashionable in captive collections - almost as much as didelphids, which are even more scarce and currently entirely absent from UK collections.
Just before the outbreak of WWI, in point of fact!
Quite right TLD, apologies to all
Either way, we are long overdue the return of the species
In one of his books Gerald Durrell talks about a Tasmanian Devil that was found dead in the wild (?) in Guernsey. It was presumed to have escaped from the defunct Guernsey Zoo, and Jersey was called in to identify the unknown animal. OK I know that is not technically the UK.
Actually even Australian zoos have struggled to maintain dasyurid populations. The reason is they must be bred in the first year or two of their lives, leading to a rapid growth in population. Once all the available zoo spaces are full people stop breeding and when more animals are required all available animals are "too old" to breed.
However the Australian insurance program for Tassie devils is reaching capacity at around 500 animals, and the program will be looking to place lots of animals soon. I'd predict that before the end of the decade any reputable zoo that wants them will be able to obtain (post-reproductive) animals. We have already seen exports to New Zealand and the USA.
ZTL has them listed as former holdings at whipsnade and Edinburgh too, a few zoos I've been to in Europe had them too, I'm thinking I might be remembering wrong though.
Indeed; we've already discussed the Edinburgh animal - it was held pre-1914 and thus does not affect the observation by Pertinax that only ZSL has held the species since the 1930's in the UK. Whipsnade, of course, is a ZSL collection itself.