Endangered, from Europe or North America and overlooked in zoos

J

Jurek7

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
The post of TeaLovingDave made me think. There are, surprisingly, animals which live in the very rich and well researched Europe and North Amrica, are endangered, but receive very little attention of zoos and conservation.

One example are the big endemic lizards from Canary islands, below. Another might be European Mink. In the USA, it would be endemic songbirds from Hawaii. What others can you think about, and how zoos could help them?

TeaLovingDave said:
Simony's Lizard (Gallotia simonyi)

Endemic to El Hierro in the southwest Canary Islands; previously recorded throughout the island and surrounding islets, but now restricted to a tiny 4 hectare area of sparsely-vegetated cliff faces in the mountains of the northeast, and a handful of scattered reintroduced populations in the west. The species is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN due to continued habitat loss, fragmentation of remaining populations and persecution by feral cats.

Two subspecies are currently recognised, one of which was extirpated in the 1930s:

G. s. simonyi - now extinct; formerly occurred on the offshore islet of Roque Chico de Salmor
G. s. machadoi - occurs in northeast El Hierro

No photographs of this taxon are present within the Zoochat gallery.


La Gomera Giant Lizard (Gallotia bravoana)

Endemic to La Gomera in the western Canary Islands; the species formerly occurred throughout the island, but when described from subfossil material in 1985 was believed to have been entirely extirpated by the mid-1800's. However, a tiny remnant population was rediscovered in 1999, restricted to a pair of isolated and sparsely-vegetated dry cliff faces in a one-hectare area within the Parque Rural de Valle Gran Rey in the west of the island. The species is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN due to severe population fragmentation, low numbers of breeding adults and the risk to extant populations posed by predation by feral cats and rock falls in the remaining habitat.

Monotypic; no photographs of this taxon are present within the Zoochat gallery.


La Palma Giant Lizard (Gallotia auaritae)

Endemic to La Palma in the northwest Canary Islands; the species is known only from fossil and sub-fossil remains, and is presumed to have been extirpated at some point within the last 500 years with the proximate cause assumed to have been predation by humans and feral cats, and habitat destruction; however, due to sightings of giant lacertids on La Palma in 2007 which are potentially assignable to this taxon the species is currently classified as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) by the IUCN.

Monotypic; no photographs of this taxon are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Tenerife Speckled Lizard (Gallotia intermedia)

Endemic to Tenerife in the central Canary Islands; the species was discovered in 1996 and is restricted to a handful of scattered and highly fragmented populations on the western and extreme southern coastlines of the island, although the species is presumed to have historically ranged throughout the island. The species occurs in sparsely-vegetated and rocky coastal habitats and boulder fields. Currently classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN due to the limited and highly-fragmented range of the species, low population and the risk of inbreeding depression within populations.

Monotypic; no photographs of this taxon are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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I wouldn't put the European Mink on this list. There is an EEP for this species and the captive breeding center to support reintroductions is located at Tallinn Zoo. That it is a species that is not much on display has more to do with the visibility of the species than with a lack of interest. If ever the American mink can get eradicated from mainland Europe and Asia there can be a case for wider breeding and reintroductions, but that is not the case yet so at the moment what can be done is being done.

I would say the same about the Hawaiian songbirds. There is some captive breeding and some species could be good display birds, but the main threat is still there so in-situ actions that can be supported are limited.
 
If I'm honest, the clearest candidate for this thread, at least in a European context, is freshwater fish. There are dozens, probably hundreds of species of highly endangered freshwater fish species found in European rivers, brooks and streams yet these species hardly ever find themselves into captive breeding programs on the continent. This is a subject I feel quite strongly about given several Critically Endangered species of goby in particular are endemic to sections of a few rivers around my 'hometown' of sorts yet as far as I can find out hardly any effort has been made to establish any sort of insurance population. I'm sure there is a similar problem with invertebrates but I'm nowhere near well informed enough to make judgements on that front.
 
I have seen saigas in Berlin Tierpark and Cologne, but the species is no longer kept in western Europe

I saw a marbled polecat at Tropical Wings. This vulnerable species is only kept at 3 ZTL zoos.
 
Queens Zoo and Roger Williams Park Zoo both have behind-the-scenes breeding projects for New England cottontails, however neither displays this local, threatened species. It'd be very nice from an educational standpoint for these zoos to dedicate some exhibits to this species that they work with anyways, as many visitors associate the term "endangered species" with megafauna from far-off lands (e.g. tigers, elephants, pandas, gorillas), and may not realize there are many smaller, threatened species living in our own communities
 
Florida zoos do have programs for Florida grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) and Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis). But those species are mostly kept and bred behind the scenes. The eastern indigo snake, which is designated as threatened by the federal government, does get displayed to the public and there is a breeding program for them as well.

There is also the Key deer, with currenty one zoo (Santa Fe College Teching zoo) keeping a male on display. While I do now know why there aren't more being kept, I could guess that obtaining them definitely is not easy, because if it were then they would be more common.

The most famous FL endangered species is the manatee. However the federal law prohibits the breeding of this species, which is not as bad as it sounds when you consider the fact that it is done to prevent captive bred animals from taking space away from unreleasable rescues.

Sadly the rainbow snake (Farancia erytrogramma) is locally extinct at Florida and I do not know if there are any plans to breed them in captivity.

The Florida scrub jay is deemed vulnerable per the IUCN, but I don't expect a breeding population anytime zoo due to the complications by the MBTA.
 
amur leopard said:
If I'm honest, the clearest candidate for this thread, at least in a European context, is freshwater fish. There are dozens, probably hundreds of species of highly endangered freshwater fish species found in European rivers, brooks and streams yet these species hardly ever find themselves into captive breeding programs on the continent. This is a subject I feel quite strongly about given several Critically Endangered species of goby in particular are endemic to sections of a few rivers around my 'hometown' of sorts yet as far as I can find out hardly any effort has been made to establish any sort of insurance population. I'm sure there is a similar problem with invertebrates but I'm nowhere near well informed enough to make judgements on that front.
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While there are certainly difficulties with getting certain species to breed in captivity, I wholeheartedly agree with this and would even expand it towards amphibians and reptiles. Pelophylax cerigensis (Karpathos Water Frog) and Podarcis raffonei (Aeolian Wall Lizard) come especially to mind as critically endangered species endemic to Europe, and both have similar species already maintained in captivity. Both may be locally common enough that collection several individuals is not a major thread to the remaining populations (especially if it concerns eggs, juveniles or larvae) but geographically so restricted that one major environmental disaster could mean a huge decline or even extinction.

There are many more of course, including several species of Pelophylax, Podarcis and Iberolacerta. Europe has eight endangered and eleven vulnerable endemic amphibians, as well as sixteen endangered and six vulnerable endemic reptiles (as well as five more non-endemic endangered/vulnerable species). Captive breeding may not be the answer for all of them, but I believe several species would benefit - both directly from an insurance population or indirectly from education. Indeed, for a handful of species such programmes have already started.

In terms of birds, I've always wondered why White-headed Duck is so scarce in European zoos. Though not the easiest species of waterfowl, they breed quite regularly in private collections so both the knowledge and the individuals are theoretically available. Even if not useful for actual re-introduction, they present a fine educational story and are rather attractive for the public as far as waterfowl go.
 
I was unaware that the white-headed duck was uncommon in zoos. Chester certainly used to have some signage talking about threats including hybridisation with introduced ruddy ducks, not sure if that is still up.
 
For European birds the flagship species is probably Northern Bald Ibis (EN). Turtle Dove (VU) is in several collections. Sociable Lapwing (CR) is not in current collections as per Zootierliste but several other Vanellus plovers have been bred in captivity so it might be possible with them as well. As far as I am aware Razo Skylark (CR) has never been kept or bred in captivity but other larks have been so it might be possible of neccessary. Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch (EN) has had captive bred birds released but as far as I know they have never been exhibited - several European finch species are in aviculture so more might be done with these qnd other localised finch species.
 
I would mainly think (for Europe) about many snakes and lizards, native to our continent and threatened, but scarce within European collections.
 
Some larger examples:

Balkan Lynx (not the Carpathian Lynx!) is critically endangered. There are even some animals in Balkan zoos, but this subspecies is out of the radar completely:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Greater Spotted Eagle is extremely rare in Europe, and several rescues are in zoos. But no attempt has been made to breed or release them, even by falconry centres.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Desmans are fascinating little mammals, but for some reason no zoo nor smaller nature centre displays neither Pyrenean or Russian Desmans:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Then there is a group of narrowly endemic rodents, which are also completely out of the radar:
Roach's Mouse-tailed Dormouse:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Hungarian Birch Mouse
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Nordmann's Birch Mouse
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Oltenia Blind Mole-rat
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Aoudad is not strictly European, but there is an introduced population in Spain, and it is an extremely common zoo animal which lives wild "at the doors" of Europe, in North Africa. But only handful of zoos keep pure subspecies, even if there are some in North African zoos, and wild ones in Spain are also pure subspecies.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
 
amur leopard said:
If I'm honest, the clearest candidate for this thread, at least in a European context, is freshwater fish. There are dozens, probably hundreds of species of highly endangered freshwater fish species found in European rivers, brooks and streams yet these species hardly ever find themselves into captive breeding programs on the continent. This is a subject I feel quite strongly about given several Critically Endangered species of goby in particular are endemic to sections of a few rivers around my 'hometown' of sorts yet as far as I can find out hardly any effort has been made to establish any sort of insurance population. I'm sure there is a similar problem with invertebrates but I'm nowhere near well informed enough to make judgements on that front.
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And what species are they?
 
Lota lota said:
And what species are they?
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I was predominantly referring to several Cottus species, principally the Herault sculpin (Cottus rondeleti). Not sure why I said goby - it's very much a sculpin.

I think my concern was amplified my ample research into freshwater fish along the Adriatic coast in particular, with Greece and Croatia in particular providing the last strongholds for dozens of Critically Endangered fish species, some of which are only found along 100m stretches of an isolated creek.
 
I would add some songbirds species that are declining in Europe, even if these species aren't especially popular among zoos.
In France, native passerines are nearly absent from the collections. The situation may be slightly better in some other countries like Austria, Switzerland or Germany.
 
My first thought was the mediterranen monk seal. Probably education would be a great help alone. How many people know about seals at the mediterranen sea?

Another example the bavarian pine vole, where Innsbruck is builing up an ex-situ population.

Another interesting animal is the great bustard. There are breeding centers for Europes giant bird but they are nearly absent from zoos. Although they are quite an attractive species.
 
I saw a great bustard at Birdworld several years ago; it is kept at 35 ZTL zoos. According to ZTL, the only captive ZTL Bavarian pine voles are at Innsbruck. The Mediterranean was kept at 10 ZTL zoos.
 
Dassie rat said:
I saw a great bustard at Birdworld several years ago; it is kept at 35 ZTL zoos. According to ZTL, the only captive ZTL Bavarian pine voles are at Innsbruck. The Mediterranean was kept at 10 ZTL zoos.
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was kept at 35... Currently 9 holders, three of them at Russia. The pine vole population is increasing, more zoos will follow by time.
 
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