Anteaters in mixed exhibits

Enzo said:
Hello.

The typical Cerrado/Pantanal mix (Brazilian tapir, capybara, giant anteater, greater rhea, grey brocket deer) is somewhat common across Brazilian zoos. Of course, a species or two might be missing, but seeing two of the four species together is almost guaranteed at any zoo you visit.

My local zoo is home to a Cerrado-themed enclosure, where one can (or at least could) see capybaras, giant anteaters, greater rheas and grey brocket deer sharing the same space. Former denizens of this exhibit included Brazilian tapir, collared peccary (could still be there) and lowland paca. Many wild birds, like muscovy ducks, frequently bathe in the enclosure's pool.

São Paulo has giant anteater mixed with grey brocket deer. Pomerode houses its anteater(s) with greater rheas, whereas Sapucaia do Sul is home to a huge enclosure where anteaters are mixed with capybaras, red brocket deer and greater rheas.

Dallas World Aquarium is (or was) home to a diverse species-mixed exhibit containing giant anteaters, red-backed bearded sakis and a three South American birds (black-necked aracari, Montezuma oropendola and Northern helmeted curassow). Ergo, it seems giant anteaters can even be housed alongside smaller primates. I wouldn't recommend mixing them with capuchins, though.
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Also available in Madrid (minus Brocket Deer obviously).
 
ZooNews2024 said:
All of the monkeys listed would eat the 'porridge/gruel' put out for Tamanduas, very keenly in most instances and perhaps even in preference to their own diets. Maybe there are mitigation/control measures, maybe not - this was the reason for my original question.
South American monkeys are particularly dirty too, so presumably there has to be a way of stopping feeding areas from being fouled by primates.
Giant Anteaters are an easier line to draw, as although the rheas/capybara/tapirs/mara are on quite similar diets and will eat each others food, the gruel fed to an GA is of a quite different texture and composition.
Rodent mixing with both edentates and primates also has the considerable disease risk, with toxoplasmosis and especially yersinios being of huge concern.
The instances of visible and invisible stress when housed like this potentially affecting welfare and longevity of sensitive species subject to anorexia, is another issue.
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It's indeed sensible to raise control measures and also, I would imagine, to think (reputable) zoos will have thought of them too.

In the case of the World's Apart exhibit there are feeding areas and separation options etc for the Tamandua and small primates, so that sort of thing has been taken into consideration in the exhibit design, which I would assume form part of any thoughtful grouping.

YWP has Capybara and Mara in their mixed exhibit with small primates (no anteaters, but the rodent point) and again has housing and feeding areas which are distinct giving good options for the animals (as well as visitors).

If you can cite instances where animals have died prematurely specifically as a result of being mixed, that would be useful as otherwise, while valid to raise it as a risk, it doesn't support the suggestion that zoos mix animals with no regard to welfare or success. There will always be exceptions of course, but the general evidence appears to be these exhibits do work for all concerned. Exhibit and housing design seems to play a large role in successful mixes and that in itself suggests no small thought goes into creating them.
 
Avifauna mixes them with Vicunas, Lesser rhea and Southern screamer. Artis with Capybara, Brazilian tapir, Southern screamer and Patagonian mara. GaiaZOO with Azara's agouti and various ibises, ducks, ground birds and pigeons. Pairi Daiza with Capybara and Brazilian tapir. Overloon with Capybara and Lesser rhea (and maybe Bush dog, we haven't seen that one yet). And finally Zie-Zoo with Vicuna, Lesser rhea, Patagonian mara and pond sliders.

They're very mixable animals
 
Blackpool Zoo have their giant anteaters sharing an outdoor space with capybaras and Patagonian maras, but as far as I can tell they also have their own indoor area.
 
Lafone said:
It's indeed sensible to raise control measures and also, I would imagine, to think (reputable) zoos will have thought of them too.

In the case of the World's Apart exhibit there are feeding areas and separation options etc for the Tamandua and small primates, so that sort of thing has been taken into consideration in the exhibit design, which I would assume form part of any thoughtful grouping.

YWP has Capybara and Mara in their mixed exhibit with small primates (no anteaters, but the rodent point) and again has housing and feeding areas which are distinct giving good options for the animals (as well as visitors).

If you can cite instances where animals have died prematurely specifically as a result of being mixed, that would be useful as otherwise, while valid to raise it as a risk, it doesn't support the suggestion that zoos mix animals with no regard to welfare or success. There will always be exceptions of course, but the general evidence appears to be these exhibits do work for all concerned. Exhibit and housing design seems to play a large role in successful mixes and that in itself suggests no small thought goes into creating them.
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The link between yersiniosis (carried largely by rodents) and primates is well known to others, if not to you, and was a scourge of zoo primate collections (Banham, Twycross and others) historically - to the point where Banham at least, was at one stage in the process of developing a site-specific vaccine against the strain they had at the zoo. There is plenty of information available. Please just search for it, if you dont know anything about the subject - rather than demanding individual instances from me, that I cannot rememeber.
With regard to one individual death, I do know that Chester lost an Anteater featured on TV, from Cowpox, which is again carried by and incubated in, rodents - but I've no idea if it was housed with capybaras/maras/agoutis etc. You'll need to look that one up yourself too, if you are looking for specific instances.
 
ZooNews2024 said:
With regard to one individual death, I do know that Chester lost an Anteater featured on TV, from Cowpox, which is again carried by and incubated in, rodents - but I've no idea if it was housed with capybaras/maras/agoutis etc.
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I can't comment on other zoological collections which a) keep anteaters in mixed exhibits and b) have had cases of cowpox fatalities, but I believe that the occasional losses of stock at Chester to cowpox (another example being juvenile cheetahs on a few occasions more than a decade ago now) have been firmly tied to the fact the zoo has a large population of wild water voles living within the grounds.
 
Anyway
ZooNews2024 said:
The link between yersiniosis (carried largely by rodents) and primates is well known to others, if not to you, and was a scourge of zoo primate collections (Banham, Twycross and others) historically - to the point where Banham at least, was at one stage in the process of developing a site-specific vaccine against the strain they had at the zoo. There is plenty of information available. Please just search for it, if you dont know anything about the subject - rather than demanding individual instances from me, that I cannot rememeber.
With regard to one individual death, I do know that Chester lost an Anteater featured on TV, from Cowpox, which is again carried by and incubated in, rodents - but I've no idea if it was housed with capybaras/maras/agoutis etc. You'll need to look that one up yourself too, if you are looking for specific instances.
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Demanding answers? Really.

Anyway, looking at it it doesn't appear to be a current issue or caused by mixing species or careless disregard for welfare.
 
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