...and other mammals in NZ zoos

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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15+ year member
seeing as we've already covered http://www.zoochat.com/17/wild-cats-nz-zoos-49654/ and http://www.zoochat.com/17/ungulates-nz-zoos-49936/ and http://www.zoochat.com/17/primates-27726/, I figured may as well go the whole hog and cover all the other exotic mammal species in NZ zoos. Turns out, surprise surprise, there's not very many. Including the cats, ungulates and primates listed in the other threads, there are less than eighty exotic mammal species in NZ zoos (and that's including a number of introduced wild species which I have put in the list below but which are rarely or never found in zoos). I think I've got all the species, but probably some of the zoos that have them aren't listed.

Carnivores
*Sun bear -- Wellington
*African hunting dog -- Hamilton, Wellington, Orana
*Small-clawed otter -- Auckland, Franklin, Hamilton, Brooklands, Wellington, Orana, Willowbank
*Red panda -- Auckland, Hamilton, Brooklands, Wellington
[*Coati -- there used to be lots of coatis in NZ but I can't find them today on any of the zoo websites!]
*Meerkat -- Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Natureland, Orana
*Ferret -- found wild in NZ, recently banned from being kept as pets here but can be seen in several zoos still
*Stoat and weasel -- both wild in NZ, not usually seen in captivity but I've seen a weasel on display at Nga Manu
*Californian sealion -- Auckland and Napier Marineland [according to their website Auckland also has a subantarctic fur seal and a NZ fur seal, both being rescued animals that cannot be returned to the wild; Marineland also has NZ fur seals]

Rodents and Lagomorphs
*Rabbit and hare -- domestic rabbit in childrens' zoos of course, but the wild species never in zoos
*Black rat, brown rat, Polynesian rat, house mouse -- domestic rats and mice in childrens' zoos, wild ones never displayed as far as I know
*Chinchilla -- kept as pets in NZ, probably found in some childrens' zoos
*Guinea pig -- common in childrens' zoos
[*Mara -- as with coati, used to be everywhere but now I can't find any on the zoos' websites]
*Brazilian agouti -- Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington
*South African crested porcupine -- Auckland (according to their website it is a North African but according to ISIS its a South African), Wellington, Orana
*North African crested porcupine -- Orana

Insectivores
*European hedgehog -- wild in NZ; occasionally displayed in zoos. I've seen them at, eg, Willowbank. There are albino ones at Living Art

Bats
*Grey-headed flying fox -- one at Auckland
*Little red flying fox -- Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington
[NZ short-tailed bat -- Auckland (is a native not an exotic but have now included it anyway)]

Marsupials
*Brush-tailed possum -- wild in NZ, occasionally displayed in zoos
*Red kangaroo -- Auckland, Orana
*Eastern grey kangaroo -- Wellington [I'm not sure where all the kangaroos in NZ went!]
*Red-necked (Bennett's) wallaby
*Parma wallaby
*Tammar wallaby
*Brush-tailed rock wallaby
*Swamp wallaby -- the wallabies are all wild in NZ, red-neckeds are most common in zoos. I don't know if there are any rock or swamp wallabies left in NZ collections
 
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Are those the only species of Walabies which have been introduced to NZ. It is interesting that wallabies which are endangered in Aus are thriving in NZ.
 
Was it the Tammar wallaby that was almost extinct over here and introduced ones were brought back over from New Zealand.
 
Parma Wallaby

:)

Hix
 
Thanks for spending the time to come up with these lists Chlidonias! I found them all to be very enjoyable reading.
 
Auckland Zoo no longer holds Mara. As far as I understand Nyack is a South African Crested Porcupine.

I agree these lists make fascintating reading and really appreciate the effort taken to put them together. Well done.
 
regarding the wallabies, I've covered them several times on various threads, so I'll just quote myself from http://www.zoochat.com/17/wellington-zoo-update-3508/index4.html
Chlidonias said:
Kawau Island was once owned by Sir George Grey (Governor of NZ) and he used it as a private free-range menagerie of sorts, introducing all manner of foreign animals including five species of wallabies. If he had introduced thylacines as well that would have been great but he didn't and the wallabies went out of control with no predators. The island is an important kiwi and weka area and the wallabies are destroying all habitat. In 1992 the Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand was formed by private citizens on the island with the aim of eradicating the wallabies and possums on Kawau. They are supported in this endeavour by DoC and the Auckland Regional Council. Their plan was for all wallabies to be gone by 2005. I'm not actually sure if it has been completed yet, but large-scale poisoning was definitely carried out a few years ago.
Parma wallabies had previously been exported to Australia (at that time they were thought to be extinct in Aus). The tammar wallabies turned out to be a mainland subspecies formerly also thought extinct. Before poisoning was carried out, many parma, tammar and brush-tailed rock wallabies (endangered in Aus) were exported to Aus to establish captive populations there. There are still large numbers of tammar around Rotorua which are probably descended from Kawau animals. There are also thousands of red-necked (Bennett's) wallabies in the South Island.
With possums and wallabies eradicated from Kawau the island will become another island sanctuary for NZ species such as kokako, saddleback, etc etc.
Click to expand...
to the above I would add that apparently there are still some wallabies on Kawau which haven't been taken care of yet, but once they are gone then the only ones left in NZ will be the red-neckeds on the South Island and the tammars around the Rotorua area (both species are too well established over large areas to eradicate). The fifth wallaby species that was released on Kawau by George Grey was the black-striped wallaby, which is not thought to have established for long after release (hence the reason I didn't include it in the wallabies found in NZ).
 
daveb said:
As far as I understand Nyack is a South African Crested Porcupine.
Click to expand...
it had been my understanding that the only North African in NZ was at Orana but the Auckland website calls their's cristata (North African) and gives the distribution of cristata. However I checked ISIS and according to their records Auckland has africaeaustralis (South African). So I have changed the list to say this.
 
snowleopard said:
Thanks for spending the time to come up with these lists Chlidonias! I found them all to be very enjoyable reading.
Click to expand...
glad to be of service. The thing with being a small country with only a few proper zoos is that I really already knew pretty much everything that was here, so it was just a matter of checking a few websites to see what their zoo distribution was. Of course I like lists anyway so it was fun for me too. The most interesting thing was finding out that some species that I had been used to seeing over the years weren't in fact found here any more, like the coatis and maras (I checked ISIS just before and according to that, for the zoos that contribute, the only coati in the region is one at Melbourne Zoo, and the only maras are six at Dubbo!!); and some common things like kangaroos are hardly found anywhere in NZ anymore. Some zoos sneak under the radar so there potentially could be still coatis and maras at, eg, Franklin or Keystone or somewhere like that, but basically they're functionally extinct here.
 
There were Mara at Adelaide Zoo when I was there last December.

:)

Hix
 
I figured there had to be more than six mara in Australia, but Dubbo was all that ISIS listed
 
i think in one sense its a good idea...dingo would make great contact animals and so if they help drive attendance or create an improved zoo experience then its ok.
but as Childonias said, there are so many species in desperate need of new blood in NZ, and the region does need additional holders for other dog species. would like to have seen these resources perhaps used elsewhere.
 
While I agree that space for a canid species might have been better used for a program species, the reality is that importing dingoes into NZ is as probably difficult as importing a pet dog. Add the value of a contact animal for the public and the resources used (particularly enclosure space) are alot less than for dhole, hunting dog or maned wolf.
 
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