British Isles Cup Redux - League A - ZSEA (Banham / Africa Alive) vs Aspinall Foundation

ZSEA vs Aspinall- ISLANDS

  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .
TeaLovingDave

TeaLovingDave

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15+ year member
This one will hopefully be quite an interesting one, as these two organisations from the southeast of England fight it out in the category of ISLANDS.

The scope of this category has been discussed at some length already, of course, so I need not go over that matter again :) I hope for erudite and informed arguments on both sides!
 
Again, what is actually the definition of "islands" that we are going by in this cup ? Are we including South-East Asia ? Australia ?

Both parks have a good selection of Malagasy mammals and particularly when it comes to primates.

There are 9 Lemur species held between the two parks run by ZSEA which include : The crowned lemur, blue eyed black lemur, black lemur, mongoose lemur, black and white ruffed lemur, red bellied lemur, red ruffed lemur, ring tailed lemur and the Sambirano bamboo lemur.

The Aspinall parks hold 8 lemur species which include: Belted ruffed lemur, lesser bamboo lemur, greater bamboo lemur, black and white ruffed lemur, black lemur, ring tailed lemur, red bellied lemur and the crowned lemur.

In addition to their lemurs both ZSEA and the Aspinall parks have the island's apex predator, the fossa.

Port Lympne zoo also apparently holds the hedgehog tenrec which boosts the number of Malagasy species held between the Aspinall parks up to 10 species (of three different mammalian orders) to the 11 held by ZSEA (of two mammalian orders).

In terms of conservation in Madagascar it is very much in the favour of the Aspinall parks.

ZSEA do support the AEECL (The lemur conservation association) and its in-situ and ex-situ work with lemurs. However, the Aspinall foundation actually has a direct boots on the ground presence on the island and has some very impressive community conservation programs with species like the golden bamboo lemur. The foundation also conduct and support in-situ conservation work with species such as the indri, bamboo lemurs, mongoose lemur, diademed sifaka, crowned sifaka and black and white ruffed lemur.
 
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In terms of other island endemics ZSEA have the Sri Lankan leopard subspecies and if Australia is included under "islands" rather than as a continent then ZSEA gain the red kangaroo.

In terms of the Aspinall parks if the South-East Asian islands are included then they gain a carnivore, a bovid, and a number of Old world monkeys and Lesser apes such as : the Sumatran riger, Sulawesi macaque, Javan gibbon, siamang, Javan gibbon, fishing cat, lowland anoa etc (if Australia is included then the Aspinall parks gain a marsupial too, the Bennett's wallaby).

With birds, reptiles, amphibians and inverts (due to the focus of the Aspinall parks on mammals) things move towards being in ZSEA's favour in terms of species kept.

Birds : Bali starling (If Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea are included under "islands" then this is boosted by boobook owl, Ducorp's cockatoo, emu, galah, kookaburra, sulphur crested cockatoo and Swainson's lorikeet).

Reptiles: Rhinoceros iguana.

Inverts: Halloween hissing cockroach, New guinea spiny stick insect, Madagascan hissing cockroach.

In terms of conservation, ZSEA apparently does no direct conservation in-situ work and so again the Aspinall foundation comes out on top. I personally voted in favour of the Aspinall foundation because of its conservation work in Madagascar and ex-situ work with lemurs which is more significant to me than the range of species kept by ZSEA.
 
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I'm voting for ZSEA, and not simply because I work at Banham. I do feel overall that the variety of island animals the two zoos have slightly outdoes the counterpart for the Aspinall zoos. Sure, they're equal with Madagascar, but Banham does cover quite a few others beyond that...such as several more from Australia (well, not a heap more, but I only recall the Red-Necked Wallaby at Port Lympne, so anything's better than one).
 
CrashMegaraptor said:
I'm voting for ZSEA, and not simply because I work at Banham. I do feel overall that the variety of island animals the two zoos have slightly outdoes the counterpart for the Aspinall zoos. Sure, they're equal with Madagascar, but Banham does cover quite a few others beyond that...such as several more from Australia (well, not a heap more, but I only recall the Red-Necked Wallaby at Port Lympne, so anything's better than one).
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Yes, I agree in terms of species kept, ZSEA is a sure winner in that sense. However if the island chains / larger islands of South-East Asia are included in the category "islands" then the Aspinall foundation would come out on top.

Personally, what swayed my vote was the conservation output as I felt that the Aspinall parks just had a far greater impact with their in-situ work in Madagascar.
 
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Three island reptiles added to Aspinall parks with the addition of the endemic rhinoceros iguana which is also kept at ZSEA and the carpet and green tree pythons.

Also, if we include recent historical holdings then you would have to add the crowned sifaka to the Aspinall parks lemurs.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Again, what is actually the definition of "islands" that we are going by in this cup ? Are we including South-East Asia ? Australia ?
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As noted, we have already discussed this :) broadly speaking Australia, southeast Asian islands, Madagascar, islands of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the Caribbean.
 
pipaluk said:
If the whole of Indonesia is counted, Aspinall win on mammals but they have no birds. zsea have a few birds in this category. It is a close one 2-1 either way
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Yes, it is quite a tricky one because if you base the decision on terms of mammals and reptiles the Aspinall parks have more.

However, if you also take into account Australasian and Asian birds in addition to marsupials and inverts then ZSEA have the edge (the Bali starling is quite a jewel in their crown too).

Ultimately though I voted based on ex-situ / in-situ conservation output.
 
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