Gunther's gecko 1983

a k a Round Island gecko, Phelsuma guentheri. This is a sensitive species which wasn't officially on display when I visited Jersey Zoo. However this specimen was in one of the exhibits and was unlabelled - but unmistakable. I'm not sure if any of the Jersey-bred animals were ever reintroduced to Round Island or one of its neighbours. Maybe it was not necessary as the wild population recovered when the natural vegetation of the island was renewed. Reptile Centre, Jersey, 4th August 1983. Scanned from a Kodachrome slide.

I know a part of the captive-bred animals went to privat-breeders but have never heared any more about ( breeding ) results in those collections. Anybody else with information about that ?

I know Jersey send part of their own-bred specimens to other European collections ( Chester and Rotterdam - where I saw my first specimen ) but also to North America :
Albuquerque Zoo ( USA )
Houston Zoo ( USA )
Picton ( Canada )
Does anyone know what happened with those animals, did they ever bred and are there still Gunther's day geckos in America ???

Chester received 2.3 from Jersey in 1983. They twice bred them.

1984 3 hatched
1985 2 hatched

Chester's last specimen died in 1991

This photo of Round Island gecko (and the one of the Round Island skink) are fantastic gentle lemur. Having read so much about them growing up, I would have loved to have been able to see them when I visited Europe. Maybe I will see the skinks next time I'm over, hopefully they do well and can be kept in other collections. Are either species privately held in Europe?

It seems a shame that many previously-vital captive breeding programs are abandoned by zoos once the wild populations are (temporarily in some cases) secure. This has been a much voiced opinion about Durrell, but also London's oryx and others. Is this still a pattern (will Mountain Chickens and Montserrat Orioles eventually become lost from captivity?) or has zoo's thinking on this changed?

zooboy28 said:

This photo of Round Island gecko (and the one of the Round Island skink) are fantastic gentle lemur. Having read so much about them growing up, I would have loved to have been able to see them when I visited Europe. Maybe I will see the skinks next time I'm over, hopefully they do well and can be kept in other collections. Are either species privately held in Europe?

It seems a shame that many previously-vital captive breeding programs are abandoned by zoos once the wild populations are (temporarily in some cases) secure. This has been a much voiced opinion about Durrell, but also London's oryx and others. Is this still a pattern (will Mountain Chickens and Montserrat Orioles eventually become lost from captivity?) or has zoo's thinking on this changed?

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I don't know of any still in private collections, although it's not impossible that there are some. Unfortunately neither species is particularly eyecatching, and if they are no longer as endangered as they were, their appeal to many keepers may have fallen away.
Several zoos are still working hard with the mountain chickens, which are not easy to breed. In theory the Montserrat oriole should be a good zoo exhibit - attractive, not too large and quite easy to breed. According to Zootierliste there are 15 zoos holding the species in Europe, but in some cases this may only be one pair or just an odd bird. Montserrat is a relatively small island with considerable volcanic activity, so that although a recent survey shows that the wild population is not doing badly, it would be a pity if it died out inzoos and then had to be rescued again if a large area of its habitat was threatened.

Alan