Australian mammals in overseas zoos

Back to mammals, of the marsupial kind, albaqurcheue (soz werid name, come on pat u carnt have a go at me for getting that one worng!) zoo will receive 12 tassie devels within the comming months. found it on a american press release, so no idea where they are comming from.
 
Rookeyper -that's interesting about the bilbies, I wonder if any are making their way to Europe. I assume they have been seen outside Australia before but I don't know where/when. You've had a lot of marsupials at Fort Wayne - what happened to them all (aprt from the kangaroos and wallabies).

I hope that the husbandry of these animals and the devils will be improved as I wouldn't want them to go the same way as eg douc langurs in Europe or all previous devil exports, ie they are kept in lots of zoos for a while, a flurry of breeding, and then they gradually all die out.
 
Tiger quolls have such a short life-expectancy--we housed them for three years+, had mating but no joeys and there were no more in the US. Kowari--had young but the exhibit space wasn't large enough so they went to another zoo. Rock wallabies--our male was a bit whacko was sent to another institution where he could get further away from the female and watch other more normal animals. Tree kangaroos--had 2 joeys but they all moved to other institutions per SSP recommendations. Water rats--males killed the females, eventually died themselves. Our exhibit opened in 1987 and continues to be one of the most popular parts of our zoo to this day. Our kangaroos have nearly an acre to roam. We have one of the most genetically diverse mobs of kangaroos in the US--I'm the studbook keeper! At this point we areen't breeding because there is not a male in the US who is a good mate for our mob. We currently have the oldest female in the US--she is 21+ and going strong! We've had a couple of Parma joeys in the past years, and now have a new male with our 2 females.
Devil husbandry in the US has been ramped up and won't
 
@Rookeyper: About the tree kangaroos-overheated outdoor enclosures wouldn't be a problem in many non-Australian, more western zoos, but rather the opposite. And Mycobacterium avium is unfortunately not just limited to birds-just like the other MOTTs tree kangaroos are susceptible to. You forgot btw. to list which combination of two animals, one tree kangaroos, the other a typically Australian species, should be avoided...:)
The other mentioned husbandry experiences of Australian animals are similar to the ones other zoos experienced and co-factors to creating the current meager status of Australian endemics in zoos outside of AUS; this underlines my remark about the importance of careful planning ahead and preparing for any new founder populations of Australian species in other zoos.
If You're looking for Australian Water Rats, do ask Frankfurt Zoo; they have plenty of them "backstage".
 
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Go on then, SWk, pray enlighten me. What shouldn't you mix with tree kangaroos? Dingoes? Wedge-tailed eagles? Saltwater crocodiles?
 
Unknown to most people echidnas are not aimiable little termite eaters but ruthlessly hunt in packs in the forest. They can leap 10m into the air and shoot their poisonous spines into their prey. They have a particular fondness for tree kangaroo meat and therefore should never be housed with them.

Are you by chance a vet, Wukong? You seem very knowledgable, just curious
 
Pygathrix said:
Unknown to most people echidnas are not aimiable little termite eaters but ruthlessly hunt in packs in the forest. They can leap 10m into the air and shoot their poisonous spines into their prey. They have a particular fondness for tree kangaroo meat and therefore should never be housed with them.
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Lol... You forgot about their ability to shoot bolts of lightning out of their eyes and balls of fire from their a*se... (Braveheart hack)

In English Sun Wukong means Monkey King...
 
So that's why Chester moved the echidnas from an open enclosure to a glass fronted vivarium type exhibit. To protect the public from being attacked by poionous spines, fire balls and lightning bolts. I'm keeping away from Paignton's open air enclosure from now on. Not that they ever show themselves when I visit anyway.
 
Rookeyper said:
The tree kangaroo issue is somewhat more complicated. Housing is an issue--males should not be housed with females with pouch young due to predation..
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and yet the melbourne zoo, which is having huge success with it program for goodfellow's tree kangaroo, attributes a part of this to the fact that they do leave their males and females together, year round and with young. yet i assume your talking about matschie's tree kangaroos (since they are much more common in zoos) and that of course means it could be different for them.

anyway, if its really gotten to that, that the housing of males is compromising a breeding program, then it just illustrates everything that sucks about zoos. its 2008 and having two tree kangaroo enclosures is a problem. how on earth do zoos think they can manage breeding programs when they don'tt have the money or will power or both to build the necessary facilities.

Rookeyper said:
Other issues include strict export laws from Australia, retroviruses, and the stress of a long trip. The TAG folks continue to work to solve some of these problems.
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hold on, both tree kangaroo species in captivity outside australia are non-australian species. they come from new guniea and as far as i'm aware we gave PNG independence back in the 70's!

in fact the US has waaaaay more tree-kangaroosin zoos than us australians do!
 
Let me unveil the secret of the echidna that brings doom to tree kangaroo: it's-their quills! Tree kangaroos are not just prone to stepping on loose quills lying around and thus hurting their feet; due to a strange habit nature has bestowed upon them, they have the habit to eat echidna quills, even whole quills. Nobody knows why, but it doesn't do their intestines any good...
 
I was speaking of other species when I mentioned Australian export laws. Before anyone takes offense, I am not challenging the export process in any way!
Yes, we did have Matschies tree kangaroos, and I do know they are from New Guinea. I'm glad to know that Melbourne is having success with the Goodfellows. Tree kangaroos are incredible. We never exhibited ours with the echidnas! After one summer outside we moved the animals inside to a different enclosure. That's where breeding was successful.
 
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