Are there any current captive Solenodons?
Captive Solenodons
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devilfish
Well-Known Member
Yes there are. A few Hispaniolan solenodons are maintained off-show in ZooDom, the Dominican Republic's National Zoo (I'm not sure how many they currently have). The zoo houses a number of other fascinating rarities, including Hispaniolan hutia and Ridgway's hawk.
Cuban solenodons have been kept very briefly by a couple of zoos in southern Cuba in recent years, normally as part of a scientific study.
Cuban solenodons have been kept very briefly by a couple of zoos in southern Cuba in recent years, normally as part of a scientific study.
In 2006 a live almiqui or cuban solendon was captured in Holguin province. It was named Alejandrito and after study was released in a natural park of the Sierra Maestra de Cuba. There are no almiquis currently in Cuba´s 20 zoos, but there is a mounted specimen in the Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad de la Habana. I saw it last year on my cuban visit but my camera battery was dead. Here is an article in english on Alejandrito.
https://zaxy.wordpress.com/2006/08/01/extinct-almiqui-found-by-farmer/
Here is a interesting article on the capture and release a dominican solendon. Esta en español. http://desdesantiago.net/tag/solenodonte/
https://zaxy.wordpress.com/2006/08/01/extinct-almiqui-found-by-farmer/
Here is a interesting article on the capture and release a dominican solendon. Esta en español. http://desdesantiago.net/tag/solenodonte/
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what sort of captive diet issues do insectivores tend to have?
Among others that it is difficult to emulate the diversity of arthropod species usually consumed in the wild. Commonly fed arthropod species such as mealworms, crickets etc. that are commercially produced for the pet trade have certain nutrional (Ca
ratio, amount of fat, chitin composition of the exoskeleton etc.) and other (smell, taste) disadvantages in comparison to the natural diet; while this can be partly compensated via increased effort, it can still lead to health issues in somes species/individuals, such as nutritional MBD, obstipation, rectal prolapse, gastrointestinal foreign bodies, hepatitic steatosis, anorexia, obesity etc.
yes, but that is pretty standard knowledge (not the list of ailments, but all the preceding text). Solenodons shouldn't be any more difficult to keep than hedgehogs or elephant shrews (for example), and given the ages that solenodons have lived to in zoos, a captive diet doesn't seem to pose too many issues.Among others that it is difficult to emulate the diversity of arthropod species usually consumed in the wild. Commonly fed arthropod species such as mealworms, crickets etc. that are commercially produced for the pet trade have certain nutrional (Ca
I'll keep that in mind if such a question is raised again the next time...
http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/51642021.jpg
On a side note: specimens of Solenodon paradoxus were kept in European zoos for several years (I think the record for longevity in captivity of the genus is something like 10-11 years) till the 1970s. So far, programs such as "Last Survivors" do not seem to have gone anywhere...
https://www.durrell.org/latest/news...xtraordinary-mammal-comes-into-the-spotlight/
According to “Longevity of Mammals in Captivity" (Richard Weigl, 2005) the longevity record for a captive solenodon is eleven years eight months and is held by a Hispaniolan solenodon, that was captured in January 1965, arrived at Bronx Zoo 28th April 1965 and died in Washington Zoo 13th September 1976.
(Incidentally I recall the Hispaniolan solenodon in the Clore Pavilion at London Zoo nearly fifty years ago )