Exotic Mammals in Australian Zoos

@WhistlingKite24 Altina seems to just keep getting better and better, its great to see in the face of a lot of the major Australasian Zoos downsizing their species numbers that the private institutions like Altina and co keep increasing their species holdings. Will be interesting to find out how they have designed their Emperor Tamarins exhibit for them.
 
steveroberts said:
@WhistlingKite24 Altina seems to just keep getting better and better, its great to see in the face of a lot of the major Australasian Zoos downsizing their species numbers that the private institutions like Altina and co keep increasing their species holdings. Will be interesting to find out how they have designed their Emperor Tamarins exhibit for them.
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This is it in a nutshell, At what point would it become embarrassing for the big public major zoos that they keep reducing the species level held while the smaller regional zoos keep increasing the number of species that are held?. Surely it will affect visitor numbers and income?, Would questions be then asked as to why this has come about?. Would the members say of one of boards of one of our major zoos who have no back ground zoos zoo or captive animal keeping have a clue what to do about it?.
It appears we are seeing the decline of the big public zoos and the rise of the smaller private zoos. I wish we still had some of the Directors of the past around today to guide the big zoos into the direction they need to go rather than this constant trimming back and having people who appear not to have whats needed to keep improving, Considering they have so much of the public money to do it.
 
Chlidonias said:
*American Bison (Bison bison) – Altina; Halls Gap; Mansfield; Monarto; Werribee; Wings Wildlife Park. Also in private hands.
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Hunter Valley Zoo now have American Bison according to recent social media: Log into Facebook | Facebook
Chlidonias said:
*Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) – Adelaide; Tasmania Zoo
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The mandrill population has since shrunk. Adelaide Zoo currently only have three (2.1) Mandrills following a death and a transfer. One female had to be euthanised and another female moved to Tasmania. The email response from Adelaide: "23 year old female, Moabi was put to sleep after medical issues presented themselves. Although not old, it was hoped she had a few more years left in her, unfortunately this was not the case. The 10 year old female, Mayombe was sent to Tasmania Zoo on 10th September 2021, to be company for another female Mandrill. This leaves Adelaide Zoo with a family group, with the young male, Jumoke at nearly four years of age with his parents. Mayombe and Jumoke are full siblings."
 
@WhistlingKite24 Thats awesome about the American Bison now at Hunter Valley. Sorry to hear about the Mandrill situation, we need new unrelated individuals in the country badly and several Zoos to come on board, looking in the direction of the private Zoos when saying that now rather than the big city ones, by the formers impressive trajectories in the last decade.
 
steveroberts said:
@WhistlingKite24 Thats awesome about the American Bison now at Hunter Valley. Sorry to hear about the Mandrill situation, we need new unrelated individuals in the country badly and several Zoos to come on board, looking in the direction of the private Zoos when saying that now rather than the big city ones, by the formers impressive trajectories in the last decade.
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@steveroberts Its time the major city zoos started to step up to the plate but as far as Mandrills are concerned if they were going to save them they would have done something by now?. The smaller zoos around the country cant keep picking up after the big guys, Lets ask a question here, Why is this happening why are so many species being just cast off the way they are?, Could there be a target to reach for having smaller collections or is it just bad management?.
 
@Zorro absolutely, wish a bunch of us here could sign a letter of encouragement to go out to the major Zoos and we could draft it as a group perhaps? Surely even the big Zoos would want some honest feedback from people in the public who support them; but can offer suggestions as to reminding the Zoos that many of the species they've given up on sustaining are still very much appreciated and care about by more people than they probably realise and consider reviving ongoing programs of housing them with new individuals being introduced from time to time from Europe & North America.
 
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Zorro said:
Why is this happening why are so many species being just cast off the way they are?, Could there be a target to reach for having smaller collections or is it just bad management?.
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I think it’s a combination of the two. The public expect better welfare for captive animals (larger exhibits), which is driving the shift towards less species being held. However, it’s easy to see this is as much a cost saving initiative with zoos phasing out large herbivores etc.

Sadly many of the zoos seem to be run by zoo boards which know comparatively little about the species they hold and are making decisions solely on what will save them the most money. An example of where this approach really falls flat is when zoos choose to hybridise or inbreed rather than import.
 
@Zoofan15 You're so right, its so frustrating I honestly think the current board members are being too conservative about bringing down costs. Yes enlarge exhibits definitely but there's still some space for more exhibits than they claim. They've gone overboard on space for the public in my opinion.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15 You're so right, its so frustrating I honestly think the current board members are being too conservative about bringing down costs. Yes enlarge exhibits definitely but there's still some space for more exhibits than they claim. They've gone overboard on space for the public in my opinion.
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Another trend I hate is the increasing homogeneity within the region’s zoos. This is becoming increasingly rampant in New Zealand’s zoos, with them all mostly holding the same species.

10-15 years ago, they still managed to participate in regional and international breeding programmes while maintaining a variety of different species, which served as their point of difference. It was common to hear people say they liked Auckland for the orangutans, elephants, hippos and flamingos; Wellington for the sun bears and chimps etc.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
The 10 year old female, Mayombe was sent to Tasmania Zoo on 10th September 2021, to be company for another female Mandrill.
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Please tell me the male Mandrill at Tasmania Zoo hasn’t died, as is implied by this statement. They had 1.1 last I was aware - a female born 2002 and a male born 2011.

It’d be nice to see Tasmania Zoo import and breed rather than just holding non breeding pairs.
 
steveroberts said:
wish a bunch of us here could sign a letter of encouragement to go out to the major Zoos and we could draft it as a group perhaps? Surely even the big Zoos would want some honest feedback from people in the public who support them;
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@steveroberts would gladly contribute to a letter to go out to the major zoos, but I doubt that much would come of it. I think we would get more traction writing to the state ministers responsible for funding of the zoo bodies.
Sadly there are now very few active members on the Aussie and NZ forums, and zoochat doesn’t have the numbers to be considered a lobbyist group
 
Zoofan15 said:
An example of where this approach really falls flat is when zoos choose to hybridise or inbreed rather than import.
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I think you need to provide evidence for that statement.
 
kiwimuzz said:
@steveroberts would gladly contribute to a letter to go out to the major zoos, but I doubt that much would come of it. I think we would get more traction writing to the state ministers responsible for funding of the zoo bodies.
Sadly there are now very few active members on the Aussie and NZ forums, and zoochat doesn’t have the numbers to be considered a lobbyist group
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The zoos would only consider our point if there there was financial reasoning behind it. Any concept of species diversity and progressive planning has long gone out the window.

While the forum may be lacking in numbers, I wouldn’t underestimate public support. While they’re largely disinterested in anything that isn’t megafauna or a meerkat, they’re feeling increasingly short changed by zoos whose prices are inversely proportional to the number of species they see.
 
MRJ said:
I think you need to provide evidence for that statement.
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Zoos that have allowed their purebred Grant’s zebra herds to become hybridised by importing a generic Plains zebra stallion to breed with the purebred mares; or continue to breed generation after generation of inbred generic giraffes rather than work on importing purebred stock. It makes a mockery of the argument that zoos hold insurance populations of these species’ wild counter parts when they have no value - even theoretical (I’ll admit I’m not aware of any zoo releasing these species into the wild).

It’s pretty obvious this is occurring because the zoo’s are aware the general public neither know or care whether the animals they see are purebred or inbred - and therefore the conversation concept has fallen flat in favour of generating a profit. I understand zoos (unless government funded) need to turn a profit to survive; though interestingly it’s mainly the smaller, non government funded zoos showing the import initiative and putting the main zoos to shame.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I think it’s a combination of the two. The public expect better welfare for captive animals (larger exhibits), which is driving the shift towards less species being held. However, it’s easy to see this is as much a cost saving initiative with zoos phasing out large herbivores etc.

Sadly many of the zoos seem to be run by zoo boards which know comparatively little about the species they hold and are making decisions solely on what will save them the most money. An example of where this approach really falls flat is when zoos choose to hybridise or inbreed rather than import.
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Well I am not so sure about the former lets take a look at the Western Plains zoo, They imported two groups on Onager one from Rotterdam and another from the USA. They were a good fit for the zoo and did really well also an Endangered species (I believe the wild population was/is around the 1000 mark). They bred well but now dwindled down to almost nothing, This had nothing to do with a lack of space and appears more to do with losing interest. Also look at the Maned Wolf again they were the only zoo in the Region with them as they are with the Onager, They again appeared to lose interest, nothing there about not having enough room for them. If it were not for Altina stepping in and taking them on they would have been just another flash in the pan like Taronga Dholes. ;)
 
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steveroberts said:
@Zorro absolutely, wish a bunch of us here could sign a letter of encouragement to go out to the major Zoos and we could draft it as a group perhaps? Surely even the big Zoos would want some honest feedback from people in the public who support them; but can offer suggestions as to reminding the Zoos that many of the species they've given up on sustaining are still very much appreciated and care about by more people than they probably realise and consider reviving ongoing programs of housing them with new individuals being introduced from time to time from Europe & North America.
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I like your stye @steveroberts . But I believe a letter would fall on deaf ears, Not just this, It should never have to get to a point where this is required. I believe its not encouragement thats required but a change in direction.
 
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