Tis a damned shame that neither the hutias or the greater hedgehog tenrec are doing anywhere near as well as some of the other species mentioned within this thread.....
In point of fact, these are now not kept in captivity whatsoever! Which from one point of view is a shame, as I missed the last ones in the UK - which were at Kirkleatham Owl Sanctuary only a few miles down the road from me - due to not knowing they were there. But from another point of view I'd much rather have never seen the species because the breeding programme had gone as well as it did, as opposed to having never seen the species because the programme failed and the species was lost.
Slight, mooted, possibility of otter shrews here in the future, perhaps in Lemur Lake, but the other tenrecs were suffering some odd complications unseen in the wild in captivity, and breeding was selecting for animals that bred well in captivity, rather than sp. that would do well with re-introduction, so they were 'gotten out of'. There's still ongoing habitat work with them as part of the wider community work in Madagascar.
Quite agree on the kestrels, on both counts. If you really, really wanted to see some, I could recommend a visit to Black River Gorges National Park in Mauritius, where Carl Jones and crew still monitor the wild population.
It's actually your fault! I shared your articles with the team, and later we were discussing how the collection – in the future and down the line – has to be more of a window onto the regions and unique species we support. Aquatic mammals came up, as we have potentially suitable areas. That's about it for now though!
