What animals will you IMPORT if given chance?

[Jurek7]

From Brazil, I would import southern river otters and neotropical river otters. Endangered, popular, and currently Western zoos breed enormous number of only asian short-clawer otters.

Blond, Crested and Kaa'por Capuchins - endangered, with small range which will always make them in danger of extinction in the wild. And thriving in zoos.

Kaboman's or dwarf tapirs - again, tapirs are thriving in zoos.

Pity that many current conservationists seem to be stuck in the 1970s - they think zoos keep animals in small cages, and want to import them only to make money.

I also think there is little resemblance between thriving mostly domestic trade in pet animals in Brazil or elsewhere and one-time import of relatively few founder animals to modern zoos. Later will be strictly regulated, relatively small, and resulting animals would most likely breed so well that there will be too many of young for possible places to keep them. Good example are Bali starlings in zoos (very common and thriving) and in the wild (almost extinct, foreign zoos fund releases, but locals cannot protect the birds from being poached back).

From elsewhere in the world:

Weka and takahe from New Zealand - thrive in zoos, partially winter-hardy, charismatic and unusual.

From Australia, orange-bellied and ground parrots. It is a surprise for me why a bird so easy to breed in collections as a small Australian parrot is endangered with full extinction, instead of overrun with escaped cagebirds. Related princess parrot is beginners bird in Europe.

Also:

Pure-bred subspecies of Barbary sheep from North Africa. Common and thriving in zoos, endangered in the wild, and zoo stock is almost exclusively hybrid zoo-mix.

West African and Central African lions - again currently at the brink of extinction in the wild. In fact, being carelessly exterminated in their home range.

Pure-bred Malayan, Indochinese and Bengal tigers to the West. Again, common and thriving in zoos, endangered in the wild, with good reason to make safeguard population.

Four more otter species - spotted-necked, marine, smooth-coated and hairy nosed otters. Again endangered, popular and would find spaces.

Central American squirrel monkey - again, endangered species which would find holders.

Ethiopian wolf, Walia Ibex and Prince Ruspoli Turacos - three more species very easy to breed in zoos, which have tiny relict ranges in Ethiopia and will always be one step from extinction in the wild.

Bannerman's turaco from West Africa, several island pigeons from Melanesia and Polynesia, several island species of scops owls - yet more birds with extremely small ranges which would thrive in collections.

 

[jayjds2]

I think you're overreacting a bit when it comes to otters. Currently, the AZA is focusing on Giant, Spotted-Necked, and Asian small-clawed otters. There are also a few places focusing on breeding North American River otters. Any other otters which are in the US (there are both African clawless and smooth coated that I know of) don't have a sustainable population or just didn't make it into the AZA. I know that the smooth-coats are breeding.

 

[Nikola Chavkosk]

From Brazil, I would import southern river otters and neotropical river otters. Endangered, popular, and currently Western zoos breed enormous number of only asian short-clawer otters.

Blond, Crested and Kaa'por Capuchins - endangered, with small range which will always make them in danger of extinction in the wild. And thriving in zoos.

Kaboman's or dwarf tapirs - again, tapirs are thriving in zoos.

Pity that many current conservationists seem to be stuck in the 1970s - they think zoos keep animals in small cages, and want to import them only to make money.

I also think there is little resemblance between thriving mostly domestic trade in pet animals in Brazil or elsewhere and one-time import of relatively few founder animals to modern zoos. Later will be strictly regulated, relatively small, and resulting animals would most likely breed so well that there will be too many of young for possible places to keep them. Good example are Bali starlings in zoos (very common and thriving) and in the wild (almost extinct, foreign zoos fund releases, but locals cannot protect the birds from being poached back).

From elsewhere in the world:

Weka and takahe from New Zealand - thrive in zoos, partially winter-hardy, charismatic and unusual.

From Australia, orange-bellied and ground parrots. It is a surprise for me why a bird so easy to breed in collections as a small Australian parrot is endangered with full extinction, instead of overrun with escaped cagebirds. Related princess parrot is beginners bird in Europe.

Also:

Pure-bred subspecies of Barbary sheep from North Africa. Common and thriving in zoos, endangered in the wild, and zoo stock is almost exclusively hybrid zoo-mix.

West African and Central African lions - again currently at the brink of extinction in the wild. In fact, being carelessly exterminated in their home range.

Pure-bred Malayan, Indochinese and Bengal tigers to the West. Again, common and thriving in zoos, endangered in the wild, with good reason to make safeguard population.

Four more otter species - spotted-necked, marine, smooth-coated and hairy nosed otters. Again endangered, popular and would find spaces.

Central American squirrel monkey - again, endangered species which would find holders.

Ethiopian wolf, Walia Ibex and Prince Ruspoli Turacos - three more species very easy to breed in zoos, which have tiny relict ranges in Ethiopia and will always be one step from extinction in the wild.

Bannerman's turaco from West Africa, several island pigeons from Melanesia and Polynesia, several island species of scops owls - yet more birds with extremely small ranges which would thrive in collections.

You're right, animals that thrive or can be expected to thrive in captivity, should be well represented in captivity, if enough holders can be found. I think there is no need for Bengal tigers to be represented in other zoos than Indian, since there is a thriving population in Indian zoos, and western zoos should focus on keeping current captive popualtions but also to establish safeguard population of Malayan and Indochinese tigers.

 

[Jurek7]

With about 1000 Asian small-clawed otters and hundreds of tigers in European zoos (and growing!) there is enough holders to keep sustainable populations of all species of freshwater otters and all subspecies of tigers.

I think conservationists underestimate the danger of keeping species in only one reserve or country.

Many times such species were wiped by an unforeseen disorder (often in the form of social unrest or revoultion, which stopped any conservation). For example, Pere David's Deer was extinct in China in the Boxer Revolution, and wildlife in Russia was decimated after the fall of communism in 1990s. Wisent was protected for centuries in Poland, but was wiped out during a revolution, than almost wiped again by WWI and then again during WWII. Polish conservationists were unusually generous in sending live Wisents as gifts to other countries. Without this, Wisent would be extinct in 1920s. All these animals were well protected for decades or centuries, so a short-sighted person would think they were safe and best left in their native area.

Unfortunately, most conservationists are rather closed-minded and short-sighted. They want monopoly on their animals, even if they cannot protect them very well. So India keeps Bengal tigers (and different Indian states don't cooperate with each other), Ecuador keeps monopoly on Galapagos wildlife, Ethiopia doesn't want to export live mountain nyala (but hunting them is fine), DRC kept monopoly on northern white rhinos (until they were all killed by poachers) etc.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

With about 1000 Asian small-clawed otters and hundreds of tigers in European zoos (and growing!) there is enough holders to keep sustainable populations of all species of freshwater otters and all subspecies of tigers.

You've already proved the later half of your sentence with the first half. With such a large existing population of other species/subspecies, there simply isn't enough room to start other for different taxa. Don't forget, as the populations grow, more holders will be needed for the additional animals.

~Thylo

 

[Nikola Chavkosk]

With about 1000 Asian small-clawed otters and hundreds of tigers in European zoos (and growing!) there is enough holders to keep sustainable populations of all species of freshwater otters and all subspecies of tigers.

I think conservationists underestimate the danger of keeping species in only one reserve or country.

Many times such species were wiped by an unforeseen disorder (often in the form of social unrest or revoultion, which stopped any conservation). For example, Pere David's Deer was extinct in China in the Boxer Revolution, and wildlife in Russia was decimated after the fall of communism in 1990s. Wisent was protected for centuries in Poland, but was wiped out during a revolution, than almost wiped again by WWI and then again during WWII. Polish conservationists were unusually generous in sending live Wisents as gifts to other countries. Without this, Wisent would be extinct in 1920s. All these animals were well protected for decades or centuries, so a short-sighted person would think they were safe and best left in their native area.

Unfortunately, most conservationists are rather closed-minded and short-sighted. They want monopoly on their animals, even if they cannot protect them very well. So India keeps Bengal tigers (and different Indian states don't cooperate with each other), Ecuador keeps monopoly on Galapagos wildlife, Ethiopia doesn't want to export live mountain nyala (but hunting them is fine), DRC kept monopoly on northern white rhinos (until they were all killed by poachers) etc.

Agree. You are right.
But some hurdles here would be for example import ban for Artyodactila in Europe or USA from African countries.

Imagine what will happen if big fires appear on western tip of Java, or big tsunami hit the western tip of Java, - the all remaining Javan rhinos will have a little chance to survive.

 

[SHAVINGTONZOO]

Why it is hard to find holders for black rhino, such charismatic species?

How much do you think an enclosure capable of holding rhinos might cost?

 

[Nikola Chavkosk]

How much do you think an enclosure capable of holding rhinos might cost?

It depends in wich country, here in R. Macedonia, I would estimate that enclosure of total size of let say 4,000 square metres (4 x 1,000 m2) fenced with wire fence (some 400 metres total lenght of fence with heigh of 2 m - aproximately 1,600 euros (2 euros/square metre), plus metal sticks with concrete basis (some 3,000 euros), plus indoor enclosures (at least 4 x 100 m2) - made of metal construction, wire fence and plastic panels (some 20,000 euros), plus trees needed for planting the enclosures (eg. 1000 trees x 5 euro each = 5,000 euros). This some of the cheapest options, enclosures without concrete, concrete rocks or simmilar, because that's not neccesarly and often it's not the best solution as for animal welfare. Here can be added other expenses like heating solution, double fence/electric fence for greater security, pool for bathing, etc. Some total of 35,000 euros?

After all I don't know why the enclosures are so expensive to built, when in fact, you don't need to use much concrete (unless the species in questions normaly lives in rocky areas, animals like snow leopard or many caprines for example), neither too much digging? You don't need to use concrete walls, diggs, rocks, concrete hills for giraffes, gorillas, rhinos or for elephants - who mostly lives in open savanas and/or plane forests. Such enclosures would be even unnaturalistic-looking.

 

[HorseChild]

Some endangered and rare species...

Sumatran rhinoceros

How do you propose to fix the problems Cincinnati Zoo had in keeping them?

Addax
Scimitar-horned oryx

Why would you want to import addax and oryx? Less than 100 addax have been sighted in the wild this year, and scimitar-horned oryx already have a well-established worldwide breeding program. If anything, we need to be releasing more of them into the wild.

Saola (if they can bee keep in captivity)

No one knows if saola can be kept in captivity. No one has had much luck trying, and not much is even known about the species in the wild. Hopefully, this will change in the future.


Narwhal (i believe that they can be keep in captivity)
Great white shark (i believe that they can be keep in captivity)

No one has successfully kept great white sharks in captivity. The last one that was caught died after only 3 days. Narwhals don't do too well in captivity either.

Sorry for my english, i'm brazilian...

See my replies above, in bold.

 

[HorseChild]

After all I don't know why the enclosures are so expensive to built, when in fact, you don't need to use much concrete (unless the species in questions normaly lives in rocky areas, animals like snow leopard or many caprines for example), neither too much digging? You don't need to use concrete walls, diggs, rocks, concrete hills for giraffes, gorillas, rhinos or for elephants - who mostly lives in open savanas and/or plane forests. Such enclosures would be even unnaturalistic-looking.

Are you aware of how strong rhinos and elephants are? You need extremely strong fences, or moats, etc to keep containment in outdoor areas, and indoor areas must be build of concrete and metal. Elephants can rip up trees with just tusks and trunks. So yes, you do need lots of concrete and metal to keep elephant and rhinos contained.

 

[FelipeDBKO]

See my replies above, in bold.

Sorry, that was one of my first posts here, and actually had better options.

Sumatran rhinoceros?
The Sumatran rhinos are endangered, which is why it would be great they start to be created successfully in captivity. Yes, it would be difficult, but who said that it would be easy? If I'm wrong correct me, but in my opinion they aren't as difficult to care in relation to other rhinos. Just aren't accustomed to the captivity.

Addax, Scimitar-horned oryx?
What problem importing Addaxes? And I don't just want to create the Oryxes, but reintroduce them in nature.

Saola?
I think that Saolas can be kept in large and comfortable exhibits

Great white shark, Narwhal?
If we can keep Belugas, Orcas, Tiger sharks, Whale sharks, etc., because we can't keep Great white sharks and Narwhals?

 

[arafan]

I'm sorry but there are some things I need to say.
Sumatran rhinoceros?
There is allready an programm going on in Indonesia and it there are so few animals that we should collect them all in one place and try our best to breed them, it doesn't make much sense to import an animal that even in it's "natural" habitat isn't breeding that well. Of course there's the question with the Cinncinatti zoo, but I think they had a lot of luck with the breeding pair, together with the great maintenance, they had some great success and that's what is important for Indonesia, estabilish an good population in the breeding stations, then try to rewild some of the animals and at the end thinking about to send some animals to other coutries.

Addax, Scimitar-horned oryx?
It would make no sense to import Addaxes, the most part of the population in wild has the same funders as the ones in captivity, and the Addaxes are not that rare in the world of the zoos, the same is with the oryx

Saola?
I think it would be good to try starting estabilish an population of Saolas in captivity, but the problem is that we almost know anything about them. Of course we could find a lot out about them, but they are so rare that we shouldn't risk it. First we should find out more about them in the wild and plenty more important find the animals.

 

[HorseChild]

Sorry, that was one of my first posts here, and actually had better options.

Sumatran rhinoceros?
The Sumatran rhinos are endangered, which is why it would be great they start to be created successfully in captivity. Yes, it would be difficult, but who said that it would be easy? If I'm wrong correct me, but in my opinion they aren't as difficult to care in relation to other rhinos. Just aren't accustomed to the captivity.

Why do you say Sumatrans aren't as difficult to care for as other rhinos? They require a much more specialized diet than the black, Indian, or white rhino. I would say we don't have as much husbandry knowledge of Sumatran rhino, which means that currently, they are technically more difficult to care for, though Cincinnati has made great strides in increasing husbandry knowledge.

Addax, Scimitar-horned oryx?
What problem importing Addaxes? And I don't just want to create the Oryxes, but reintroduce them in nature.

Where would you import Addax from?

Saola?
I think that Saolas can be kept in large and comfortable exhibits.

You may think that, but no one has yet successfully kept one in captivity. There needs to be more research done on them in the wild before anyone bring them into captivity.

Great white shark, Narwhal?
If we can keep Belugas, Orcas, Tiger sharks, Whale sharks, etc., because we can't keep Great white sharks and Narwhals?

I don't understand what you're trying to say here. Yes, we keep those other species in captivity, but the reality of the world currently is that narwhals and great white sharks haven't been successfully kept in captivity long-term. Do I think we one day will be able to? Yes, but that day isn't today.

Responses above.

 

[Nikola Chavkosk]

Are you aware of how strong rhinos and elephants are? You need extremely strong fences, or moats, etc to keep containment in outdoor areas, and indoor areas must be build of concrete and metal. Elephants can rip up trees with just tusks and trunks. So yes, you do need lots of concrete and metal to keep elephant and rhinos contained.

Yes of corse, thus I wrote underground concrete basis for metal cylinders, and double-fence.

And big problem for black rhinos and Sumatran rhinos in captivity, is their diet wich includes grass/alfalfa and their hay. Such plants should be completely cut of the diet of browser rhinoceroses, becase they contain 100 to 1000 higer amount of iron than leaves (browse); the results of diet with grass/alfalfa (hay) is rhinoceroses who suffer from hemochromatosis (excesive iron deposition in internal organs) making rhinos sick, less fertile, also causing death, and also resulting with many rhino calf deaths after or prior the birth, because of the iron deposited in the fetus.

 

[SealPup]

A lot of Australian and island fauna. I imagine most the Galapagos species would share a Bass Rock (Rotterdam) type exhibit peaceably - marine and land iguanas, penguins, cormorants.

And there are not enough Australian/NZ endemics in Europe. Macropods could populate an exhibit as easily as African antelopes or Eurasian cervids.