futurekeeper
Well-Known Member
does anyone have any infomation on the animals in europe, looking at isis they seem to be spreading. while a little while ago they were just in shaldon and 1 or 2 others.
Cusimanse
- Thread starter futurekeeper
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sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
It's good to see this species becoming more common in zoos. With so many interesting mongoose species out there, it is so depressing to see meerkat after meerkat on display. How many separate exhibits for them are there at Regent's Park, for example? Is it three? And now Bristol is building a new meerkat exhibit with all the old stuff in it that's been seen time and again before (take a bow, pop up tunnels!). Meanwhile, cusimanse are on show, in a few places, as a sort of an afterthought, while others, such as march mongooses, are kept in small and probably ultimately unsustainable numbers.
Edinburgh, Pilsen, Berlin Tierpark, Copenhagen, Vienna: all deserve praise for being, as far as I know, meerkat-free zones.
Edinburgh, Pilsen, Berlin Tierpark, Copenhagen, Vienna: all deserve praise for being, as far as I know, meerkat-free zones.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Atleast 1 lot of new blood has been imported by Shaldon since the first animals came in.
Gigit
Well-Known Member
I expect zoos see it as a good marketing move to have meerkats while the 'Compare the Meerkats' adverts are running. Paignton put on meerkat talks every day this summer, for the first time as far as I can remember. They are also exhibiting a delightful family of cusimanse that has attracted a lot of attention.
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
I don't think meerkats are depressing. They are widely-exhibited in the UK, granted, but I think they help children to understand social grouping and cohesion in smaller, less identifiable, mammal species. Some collections are mixing them with yellow or dwarf mongoose, aardvark, and bat-eared fox, I think they make for an interesting exhibit, you would think Bristol might incorporate a new species to mix with the meerkats given the zoo is on such a small site.
I do think that nowadays, a low-quality meerkat exhibit really does show itself up to be just that, given the standard of many recent (and not so recent) enclosures for this species.
I do think that nowadays, a low-quality meerkat exhibit really does show itself up to be just that, given the standard of many recent (and not so recent) enclosures for this species.
futurekeeper
Well-Known Member
do you know where it came from, or where any of shaldons animals went?
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
I don`t know where they came from but I know they brought in atleast 1 pair that were quarantined for them at Banham Zoo and while in quarantine i believe they bred.
They were a common species in the 50s and 60s when mammals could be imported without rabies quarantine, I remember them being in the old central mammal house at ZSL probably in the late 60s.
Then they were not seen again until 4 custom siezed animals were given to ZSL to quarantine which eventually went to Marwell. They bred there and a pair went to Shaldon, one of the original imports and one born at Marwell to make an unrelated pair. This pair has been extremely prolific and more unrelated animals were imported from Asson zoo in France which also breeds them very successfuly from a different blood line. Newquay has also imported 3 animals from Asson this year.
A mixed exhibit with Diana monkeys failed at Newquay, it was fine with adults but the Dianas regarded babies as squeeky toys. They now have a new exhibit to themselves.
The EAZA small carnivore TAG will monitor cusimanse within Europe as a model species for Liberian mongoose should they become available. They will certainly spread to more collections but won't compete with meerkats for world domination.
Then they were not seen again until 4 custom siezed animals were given to ZSL to quarantine which eventually went to Marwell. They bred there and a pair went to Shaldon, one of the original imports and one born at Marwell to make an unrelated pair. This pair has been extremely prolific and more unrelated animals were imported from Asson zoo in France which also breeds them very successfuly from a different blood line. Newquay has also imported 3 animals from Asson this year.
A mixed exhibit with Diana monkeys failed at Newquay, it was fine with adults but the Dianas regarded babies as squeeky toys. They now have a new exhibit to themselves.
The EAZA small carnivore TAG will monitor cusimanse within Europe as a model species for Liberian mongoose should they become available. They will certainly spread to more collections but won't compete with meerkats for world domination.
Marwells pair unfortunately only bred once , at the time this was thought to be the first U.K. breeding for many many years. Sadly both original animals have now since died. This species has the potential to increase in population within U.K. collections as more zoos are prepared to take on animals , this is very good news as they are a wonderful species which , I`m sure, will only grow in popularity in time.