marmoset23
Active Member
Animal wonders Montana has prehensile and created porcupine beavers and many others used as ambassadors she also has youtube channel that I recommend checking out.
Best mammals for Ambassador programs?
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I've seen a handful of episodes of her channel- she does a lot of work with turacos right?
Speaking of safety with Cat ambassadors, a cheetah at Columbus Zoo injured a keeper today- Columbus Zoo cheetah lunges toward keeper who works with giraffes | NBC4 WCMH-TV
This cat wasn't an ambassador.
Even if this specific Cheetah wasn't an ambassador, I can think of many Zoos in the world that do have Cheetahs as ambassadors, though most are well trained.
Also worth noting it was not one of its handlers that was injured, it was a keeper passing by that the handlers invited closer. A hoofstock keeper nonetheless, so the smell of hoofstock may have triggered something perhaps.
Either way, the occurrence of such incidents is quite low given how many Cheetahs, Servals, Caracals, Clouded Leopards, Mountain Lions, Bobcats, and lynxes are used in programs and worked with in direct contact.
In many cases education animals are rescues or have been hand-raised for various reasons. Generally it's fairly rare to attempt breeding with any program animal during or after being an ambassador.
Roger Williams has bred their Ambassador nine-banded armadillos. I've also heard of Ambassador fennec foxes being in breeding situations.
Mountain lions can be used in programs? I'm aware that cheetahs, cloudeds, servals, ocelots, and caracals are, and bobcats and lynx don't surprise me as they're as safe, if not more, as those aforementioned cats, but I'm surprised using a mountain lion in this way is safe, as they can do some serious damage if they wanted to.
Yeah I've seen them used before. Seemed a bit risky to me.
marmoset23
Active Member
Yes currently she has two
Ambassador cubs are raised very differently. Their future is decided at a few weeks old (they're often singletons or ones that mothers couldn't care for), so they're immediately raised around people and are constantly handled. For places with ambassador and exhibit cats (of any species), the ambassadors are usually kept apart. Isabelle lives with her two sisters.
It's also worth noting that she wasn't born at an AZA facility.
Yes, that is the problem. Seeing an ambassador animal one always hopes this is the animal which had to be hand-raised for other reasons, and that all effort is made to let it live normal life. But one is never sure. Otherwise this is a circus lite in a zoo - basically animal's life is destroyed for entertainment.
But how does being an ambassador "destroy" an animal's life? Animal ambassadors recieve high quality care and are trained with positive reinforcement to do presentations. This isn't like a circus where they have subpar husbandry and travel city to city preforming stunts. From what I've seen, most animal ambassadors actually enjoy doing presentations and don't show signs of stress during them. Ambassador programs also aren't usually for "entertainment", they are for education.
This is a very poor and narrow view of how ambassador animals are treated. The behaviors are trained in the exact same way as any other animal in a "normal" exhibit, they are kept to the same standards, they have extremely enriching lives, etc. In no way are their lives "destroyed." Also many parent reared animals can be good ambassadors. They way of thinking that only hand reared animals are good ambassador animals is quickly becoming antiquated.
Animallover360
Well-Known Member
Species I’ve seen include opossums, rabbits, tortoise, skunks, and macaws.
Sophie Brugmann
Active Member
Does anyone have a capybara as an ambassador?
Seems to be the perfect choice. Generally docile, enjoys human contact, easily trained, food motivated, reproduce easily and in large numbers, so taking an animal out of the population is not a problem...
Seems to be the perfect choice. Generally docile, enjoys human contact, easily trained, food motivated, reproduce easily and in large numbers, so taking an animal out of the population is not a problem...
Sophie Brugmann
Active Member
Also one addition here: EAZA STRONGLY discourages the use of leashes and harnesses because it suggests the ability to control the animals in a household environment and therefore might give the impression of them being pets.
I'm not aware of any capybara being used, but I am aware of agouti being used- who share many of the same qualities as the capybara but are much smaller.