European animals in North American collections

okapikpr said:
Actually zoos dont usually theme their areas solely of the policital continents that they are named for, but the zoogeographic realms. In zoogeography...Central American is combined with South America to creat the Neotropics, the rest of North American is the Nearctic. Europe and Northern Asia are the Palearctic and the rest of Asia is Oriental. Africa represents the Ethiopian realm and the last contains Australia.

This is the reason why there are no spider monkeys in North American exhibits.
Click to expand...

This is probably why some (ie, our friend) actually think Central America is not a part of the real "North America" -- they think in terms of zoogeography, instead of real geography. That's understandable.

But I was thinking, there actually are a few "North American" (sort of) exhibit areas that include one very Central American animal, jaguars. I know that Fort Worth's "Texas Wild!" exhibit has jaguars -- representing a species that "once was" native to Texas. A similar logic is the reason that Oakland's future "California!" exhibit will include jaguars -- because they once were native to the Golden State.

This all makes me think of an interesting aspect of being an American touring zoos in Europe and elsewhere -- a different perspective. It made me laugh, when touring the Prague Zoo, to see Canada geese on display along with American bison. Even the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City also had Canada geese on exhibit. This is, I'll admit, a very attractive species to see, but (I believe) you'll never (or rarely) see them exhibited in a USA zoo, as they are all over outside, even here in the cities. A friend of mine from Nigeria (Africa) told me that seeing Canada geese all over is one of the most amazing things about America to him. He said that if they were in Nigeria, they would all be killed and eaten.
 
sorry but that sound Latin American or Spanish or Portuguese! unless your saying mexico is a part of ameica...

oops... :o:o
 
Sun Wukong said:
Once again, FYI (this time, in a North American language...;))
"América Central, también llamada Centroamérica, es un subcontinente que conecta América del Norte con América del Sur."
América Central - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Click to expand...

Sorry folks, but we really need to establish this -- if only for Sun Wukong to realize that he can actually be wrong!

Looking at the Spanish version of Wikipedia for "América Central", I actually am surprised that they don't make this clearer. But even in what you quoted, it says that Central America is a "subcontinente" or subcontinent. When something is a "sub"-anything, it is a classification underneath a larger classification. For example, a "subtitle" is a smaller title underneath a main title; a "subcontractor" is hired by the general contractor to do a specific job that is part of the overall project; or a "subroutine" is a peice of computer code that does a specific task, which is within a larger "rountine" or program. So a "subcontinent" is a smaller part of a larger "continent". The most famous subcontinent is India. I wonder, Sun, do you believe India is not a part of Asia?

Looking further down in this Spanish Wikipedia site, it says:
"Debido a que en los países angloparlantes utilizan indiscriminadamente el nombre "America" para referirse únicamente a Estados Unidos, se suele dividir al continente americano en dos subcontinentes (Norte y Sur). Centroamérica es entonces considerada como la región sur del continente norteamericano, y que incluye países: Guatemala, Belice, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Panamá."
>> Run that through an online translator and you get:
"Because in the English-speaking countries they use the name indiscriminately; "America" in order to talk about solely to the United States, usually it is divided to the American continent in two subcontinents (North and South). Central America then is considered as the South region of the North American continent, and that includes countries: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama."

The English Wikipedia site makes this more clear:
"Central America is a central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent,"
and:
"Physiographically, Central America is the tapering isthmus of southern North America,"

If there's any further doubt, take a look at these maps of "North America":

North America Map Map of North America, North American Map, America Map - Worldatlas.com

Map of North America

North America Atlas: Maps and Online Resources — Infoplease.com

About.com: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/maps/view/namericm.html

Time to concede, Sun! Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama are all (technically) part of NORTH America.
 
Ok...

It is not fun to hear children scream, but it is cool to see them having fun.

Central Americal is part of North America, but some of it is close to South America, and they share some of the same species.
 
The Bronx Zoo has Western Capercaillie.
Also, several US zoos exhibit Smew, a species that is found in Europe and Asia.
 
The Bronx Zoo displayed Wild Boar and Mouflon in the 1980's. Wisent as well. The Catskills Game Farm had a fair representation as well. How are Fallow Deer holding out in American Zoos (mostly privately owned collections I'm guessing)? One thing I really enjoyed about Europe were the Wild Parks; small wooded zoos filled with native and introduced European Wildlife. Most American Zoos do "America" well. Maine, West Virginia, Virginia, Alaska, and South Carolina have small zoos devoted to local wildlife. New York's Bear Mountain and Pennslyvania's ZooAmerica as well. Way off topic!!! Sorry. Maybe Germany could sponsor a European Wild Park in the States; maybe the Green Party will support as a kind of foreign educational aid? The demise of Game Farm type hoof stock collections is kind of a zoo tragedy.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
There are Fallow Deer at Gatorland.

~Thylo:cool:
Click to expand...

Yeah. They are a pretty popular Deer Park/Petting Zoo animal. I believe Forest Park Zoo and Southwick's Zoo in Massachusetts have them as well. Maybe Sika at FPZ? Mixed Sika and Fallow at Southwick's. I don't know the breed morphology involved with different populations of Fallow Deer, but I'd see some classic "toads" in Belgium. Classic spotted, with impressive builds and headgear. Beautiful animals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top