Desman-mania: Has anybody here seen a desman?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I've recently become reacquainted with the weird and wonderful desman. I learned about them many years ago in a nature documentary about the Pyrenees.

They are wonderfully weird, but completely obscure in North America. Do desmans have any kind of public profile in Europe? Does anybody but animal nerds know what they are?

Has anybody here ever seen one in the Pyrenees, or one of their Russian cousins?

Has anybody ever attempted to keep the Pyrenees desman in captivity? From what I read it seems to be highly endangered and seems like it would be a candidate for captive breeding conservation programs, but obviously not if no one has ever kept them.
 
According to ZTL, Paris (Ménagerie/Jardin des Plantes) held the Pyrenean species at some point, but does not specify when.

The Russian species was held by three zoos - Kaliningrad Zoo, Moscow Zoo, Leningradsky Zoopark - from the 1970's until the early 1990's.

I would greatly love to see either species, but I suspect this is near-impossible. It is a great shame that the Pyrenean species is not better studied, and has not had populations taken into captivity for breeding, as the two species are very unique.
 
There is a paper on trial husbandry of Pyrenean Desman in one of the old International ZOO Yearbooks, just don't have time to find it. The Russian desman was kept (or maybe still is) kept in Czernogolovka reserve in Russia. Guys from Tierpark Berlin know more.
 
Rhinopithecus said:
There is a paper on trial husbandry of The Russian desman was kept (or maybe still is) kept in Czernogolovka reserve in Russia. Guys from Tierpark Berlin know more.
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EARAZA report (data of 01 Jan 2013) claims that Scientific-Experimental Station «Chernogolovka» (Moscow) still keeps Russian desman (1.1).
 
Rhinopithecus said:
There is a paper on trial husbandry of Pyrenean Desman in one of the old International ZOO Yearbooks, just don't have time to find it. The Russian desman was kept (or maybe still is) kept in Czernogolovka reserve in Russia. Guys from Tierpark Berlin know more.
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Volume 13 (1973) pages 174-177
 
In the German small-mammal-keeper magazine Rodentia the last issue contains an intresting article about the small mammals of the Moscow Zoo. In it it is mentioned that they cooperate with the Severtzov Institute and that at that institute Marina Rutkovkaya has tried to breed Russian Desmans but sofar without succes. It is feared that the animals left now are to old to breed ( they seem to become only 5 years old ) :(.
A nice picture of one specimen is also provided with the article.
 
vogelcommando said:
In the German small-mammal-keeper magazine Rodentia the last issue contains an intresting article about the small mammals of the Moscow Zoo. In it it is mentioned that they cooperate with the Severtzov Institute and that at that institute Marina Rutkovkaya has tried to breed Russian Desmans but sofar without succes. It is feared that the animals left now are to old to breed ( they seem to become only 5 years old ) :(.
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Fortunatelly Russian desman is probably not so rare as we thought, say, 20 years ago. One man who loves fishing met this animal on the Moscow river. There were some recent records of Russian desman in my region - after a long break.

 
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Thanks for the info everybody. Thanks for posting the cool video of the Russian desman, callorhinus.
 
Kind of looks like a platypus. I wasn't even aware they existed until reading this thread.
 
I tried looking for a wild desman yesterday morning but was (unsurprisingly) unsuccessful. Last year I got my first good look at a water vole in the UK after several years of trying to sight one, so it will likely take many more attempts before I'm privileged enough to see a desman. :)
 
Water shrews, star-nosed moles, potamogale and platypus would all be equivalents of desmans in other countries - all equally unusual and amazing critters.
 
desmans indeed are elusive! But sometimes you need (and get) some luck. in 2010 I spotted 2 water shrews on the same day, 1 hunting and the other crossing the path, apart from 2 animals I saw in a life-trap, this are the only water shrews I have seen, although looking out for them quite often and even more often trying to catch them with life-traps...
 
nanoboy said:
You were in Portugal on work or pleasure? Conference?
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Pleasure. I look forward to travelling for work but I doubt it'll be for several years. :)

I've been requested to write a little report on my trip, so I'll do that when I get the chance.
 
devilfish said:
Pleasure. I look forward to travelling for work but I doubt it'll be for several years. :)

I've been requested to write a little report on my trip, so I'll do that when I get the chance.
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If your trip was for pleasure, who is the report for? The NHS giving you so much leave already, or it was a quick jaunt?
 
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