Swift parrot (Lathamus discolor), 2020-05-24

Zoos outside Australia have swift parrots? I know they were in European aviculture but still.

@Yoshistar888 According to Zootierliste 33 zoos in 12 European countries hold Swift parrots. So they are not super-common, but not hugely rare here in Europe either.

Given that the species is critically endangered I would say that is a good thing.

@KevinB The only zoo I can think of that has swift parrots in Australia is Moonlit Sanctuary.

I'm surprised by your surprise. I've seen them even in regular pet shops.

@Kakapo I did not know that a species critically endangered in its native habitat is apparently quite common in aviculture. That said, are you sure the pet shop birds were not other Australian species such as red-rumped parakeets, that are vaguely similar to swifts? I have seen those at my pet shop, but never any swifts here in Belgium.

@KevinB Red Rumped parrots don’t look like Swift parrots at all.

And swift parrots are just completely unmistakable.

Many of the most supercommon fishes in aquaculture, seen in every pet shop in the world, are nearly extinct or totally extinct in the wild. Clown loach, Endler's livebearer, galaxy rasbora, etc etc. Same applies for axolotl, for example.

Maybe is not inconvenient to remind that IUCN never uses the captive population of a species for diagnose their status, except in the Extinct in the Wild species for differenciate them from the Extinct ones.

@Kakapo
After a little more research I must say I did underestimate how little the swift parrot resembles other species, I'm sorry about that.

I am a member of quite a few parrot keeper and aviculture groups on Facebook and while I've seen a lot of parrot species on there I've never seen anyone discussing owning swift parrots. I was in fact able to find very few examples of them in aviculture. At my local pet shop I have seen at least a dozen parrot species for sale over the years but never anything with an endangered status. So maybe them being so present is a specific thing for certain countries or regions?

You are of course right that a species' captive population does not necessarily reflect its conservation status in the wild. However if a species is more abundant in captivity and perhaps more knowledge exists of its husbandry and breeding, that might to some extent be helpful in conserving the species and educating about the species, and maybe even in breeding animals to release back into the wild.

From recent zoo news and 2 clutches hatching in 2021/22, it seems Featherdale Wildlife Park also maintains swift parrots.

SOURCE: Featherdale News [Featherdale Wildlife Park]

Perhaps repose the question:
How large is the ex situ population in Australian zoos?

If Zootierliste is anything to go by, the European population of Lathamus discolor is maintained at 35 collections within Europe \ Eurasian Russia.