Exotic Mammals in Australian Zoos

Grant Rhino said:
Let's hope they bring in some more black and white colobus then and start focusing on that species at least. A few zoos in Australia have them, so why not increase the numbers...

It saddens me to see how Old World monkey species seem to be neglected so much in Australia. There are heaps of New World monkeys being bred, but the Old World ones are simply ignored: We have one group of Vervets at Werribee, one group of Dusky Leaf Monkeys at Adelaide (the most beautiful species in my view), a few Colobus in various places, a group of Francois langurs at Sydney and one at Mogo (apparently) - yet there seems to be no effort to breed any of these in large numbers...

What have the New World monkeys got that is so interesting that the Old World monkeys don't have......
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there was a male colobus imported from the USA in 2006, but really the continued breeding of them seems pretty half-hearted. They are hybrid animals as well, so of no use in conservation terms.

Nobody seems interested in the vervets - they are very much a one-facility concern - even though they would fit perfectly into the African savannah exhibits which every zoo has. Having said that, patas were even better (larger and more colourful) and look what happened to them.

The Francois' Langurs are part of a global studbook so it's not that essential to have lots of holders here (i.e. animals can easily be moved between overseas zoos where necessary, although obviously it would be easier and less stressful for the individual animals if movements could be within Australia). Mogo was said to have two individuals on that news thread, but I don't know.

The dusky langurs are from just three (unrelated) founder animals. They breed really well at Adelaide. There really is no reason two species of langurs can't be held in Australia, but again nobody seems interested. The ZAA langur of choice is Francois' so I can't see Adelaide or other zoos importing more duskies (well, at least until Taronga give up on Francois' of course....).

Even mandrills are basically being ignored now, and almost nobody wants to touch macaques.


I think part of the overall reason is that the South American primates are generally smaller and perhaps more peaceful, so are more zoo-friendly. The zoos are also going through a "South American" spurt at the moment. Having said that, I feel like even in the northern hemiphere zoos, New World primates are generally more common than the guenons and langurs.
 
There appears to be a real lack of interest in many species which are held in Aussie zoos old world monkeys are one of them the group of Duskys at Adelaide are now down to four, It makes one wonder how many species will be lost from collections here over the next ten years, the idea of phasing out species to bring in another species that in itself never gets imported is just plain dumb and shows one that some of the major zoos are really doing a half ass job of it, while some of the smaller regional zoos like Altina, Mogo and the Darling Downs zoo are so much more progressive and doing what the big major zoos should be doing!
 
Zorro said:
...the group of Duskys at Adelaide are now down to four...
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you're right! I just checked and the (former breeding) female has gone, so the animals left at Adelaide now are her four offspring, two males and two females.
 
Grant Rhino said:
From memory, they had binturong and ruffed lemur in them. But, I will be there again this week and I will make a point of checking what is in each of these enclosures and I will write it down just to check. I will also try to find out where the francois langurs are.
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They're in an enclosure heading towards the tigers. The enclosure is a little unique in that the base of the front is made of stones piled up and fixed in place, then the cage frame work is attached to the top of it.

:p

Hix
 
Okay, I've been to Mogo today and I can confirm the following (after chatting with a keeper):

1. The de brazzas have gone (they have passed away) - the binturong is in their former enclosure (opposite the ruffed lemurs)

2. The spider monkeys have gone (to Hunter Valley Zoo) - the francois langurs (2 males) have their former enclosure
 
Zorro said:
There appears to be a real lack of interest in many species which are held in Aussie zoos old world monkeys are one of them the group of Duskys at Adelaide are now down to four, It makes one wonder how many species will be lost from collections here over the next ten years, the idea of phasing out species to bring in another species that in itself never gets imported is just plain dumb and shows one that some of the major zoos are really doing a half ass job of it, while some of the smaller regional zoos like Altina, Mogo and the Darling Down zoo are so much more progressive and doing what the big major zoos should be doing!
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I would argue that the major zoos have been doing a full-arsed job. Totally agree with your comments. Why phase a species out with the half-hearted idea of getting a new species in, which never sees the light of day??? Ridiculous planning both at at zoo and regional level. How many exotic species have been lost over the last 20 years compared to those introduced to the region?
 
After 40 years of watching Aussie zoos up close makes me wonder if government run zoos are really the way to go, I am not knocking one and all zoo people working out our major zoos as there are some wonderful and outstanding staff out there doing a good job but as some would know as with many a government run agency can sight and vision. I have to take my hat off to some of the smaller private zoos here which appear to be more progressive only limited by how much funds they can spend. Just one example, It took one small zoo to import ten Grants zebra into the country in one import from the USA as some would know zebra here are quite inbred, its should of been looked at and dealt with by one or more of our major zoos. The importation of Bongo when it was allowed saw a couple of pairs shipped into the country which did not take much foresight to see it was only a matter of time before inbreeding and lack of bloodlines was going to be an issue here. The Cairns zoo Mareeba animals that were for sale on the market were shipped off to a Bali zoo when our ZAA could of stepped in and snapped up the river Hippos and Pygmies which can not even be imported into the country and are dwindling in numbers by the year, The lions held there I believe were from English imports and their line could have been used here for captive breeding within the zoo programs here.
 
Why can't hippos or pygmy hippos be imported? Is there concern about them escaping and becoming invasive?
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Why can't hippos or pygmy hippos be imported? Is there concern about them escaping and becoming invasive?
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Until new IRA laws are in place importing is banned also Giraffe and a list of other species are also banned other than animals coming from New Zealand. Its a disease issue!
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Why can't hippos or pygmy hippos be imported? Is there concern about them escaping and becoming invasive?
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for any exotic animal to be imported into Australia (or New Zealand) there has to be specific legislation for that species (or sometimes groups of related species). There are many species in the zoos, such as hippos, which cannot currently be imported because they were present in the countries before the changes in biosecurity laws. It is up to the zoos to apply to get species added to the lists of species allowed to be imported, but it is a lengthy procedure - it can take several years from first application to first import - and application does not necessarily mean that approval will be granted for the species to be added to the list of approved species.
 
Meerkats can be added to Wildlife HQ with two arriving the other day in fact a pair which is only the second zoo in Qld to have the species!
 
Hi everyone,

I have recently rejoined zoochat after a long absence (former name 'LOU').

I was reading through the ZAA online census and plan today and came across a few interesting tidbits i thought i'd pass on:
- Monarto Zoo have acquired 1.1 African Crested Porcupine - the first in Australia
- Werribee have acquired 3.4 Lowland Nyala
- Perth Zoo have applied for an exceptional circumstances permit to import Sunda Loris
- There are plans to import Sri Lankan Leopards, with Darling Downs, Adelaide and National Zoo all showing interest (this was discussed earlier in the thread)
- And most excitingly (to me at least), apparently several ZAA members are joining the EEP's De Brazza's Monkey program, with plans to import this year (how things have changed!). Interested zoos include Darling Downs, Hunter Valley and Tasmania (specifically with the latter planning to "import" in the "short term").

Sorry if this is old news and has already been mentioned elsewhere - though other than the sri lankan leopards, it didn't appear that any of these changes had been mentioned in this thread.
 
oh cool. I wasn't aware the porcupines and nyala had arrived. I'm a bit behind! (The nyala arrived at Werribee seven months ago...)

For the other news, Perth has been trying for the loris for ages (at least a couple of years - it has always been for one loris which is just ridiculous); the Sri Lankan leopard plan has been in the works for ages, and much the same for the de Brazza's monkeys (although if they actually do get imported this year then that would be great!). As usual it is mostly the "smaller" zoos leading the way for these species.
 
Sad to report that Bagheera, Gorge's black leopard, passed away from old age recently, leaving none of the species left in the country. He was around 23 years old. His enclosure is set to be revamped to house a serval (from Adelaide) in the future.
 
Zorro said:
Meerkats can be added to Wildlife HQ with two arriving the other day in fact a pair which is only the second zoo in Qld to have the species!
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And also golden lion tamarin - the first zoo in Queensland to hold this species.
Capybara are expected to arrive shortly too.
 
Noticed that Wildlife HQ got their meerkat pair from Symbio, they were the only two there and never bred. I know Symbio got a replacement male from Altina, have they sourced a female for him yet? Can't imagine them keeping one meerkat on its own.
 
Ashanti said:
Sad to report that Bagheera, Gorge's black leopard, passed away from old age recently, leaving none of the species left in the country. He was around 23 years old. His enclosure is set to be revamped to house a serval (from Adelaide) in the future.
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Very sad news.
I was lucky enough to meet Bagheera recently. Such a lovely old soul who has lived a very much-loved life. No doubt he will be sorely missed by the team at Gorge Wildlife Park.
 
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