Fauna of Pacific,Altantic & indian Ocean Islands in UK Zoo's

Eric

Eric

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
We all know that Madagascar and the southeast Asian islands are well represented in UK zoo's, But i'm just just curious how well,or more likely under represented,are fauna from other islands from our three big ocean bodies are.?

Hawaii..? I've often seen Nene Goose in collections including the WWT,but others from the chain?
Lord Howe,Christmas,Seychelles,Maldives,Ascencion,Falkands,Azores etc etc?

PS Sorry about the Atlantic spelling mistake!
 
Eric said:
We all know that Madagascar and the southeast Asian islands are well represented in UK zoo's, But i'm just just curious how well,or more likely under represented,are fauna from other islands from our three big ocean bodies are.?

Hawaii..? I've often seen Nene Goose in collections including the WWT,but others from the chain?
Lord Howe,Christmas,Seychelles,Maldives,Ascencion,Falkands,Azores etc etc?

PS Sorry about the Atlantic spelling mistake!
Click to expand...

One of the animals I’ve seen most often in collections in terms of the Falklands (and present on geographically associated islands) would be the Striated Caracara. Quite a popular bird in zoos and really interesting to watch. I’ve seen them in the wild and they never fail to make me smile when I see them now - all sorts of places from large to small do keep them and they are also popular in flying displays etc as at the Hawk Conservancy. Some places theme their enclosures (all things wild for example have a Falklands themed enclosure) but mostly they are in regular bird of prey aviaries with free flight when I’ve seen them.

Much of the fauna on some of the islands mentioned are introduced or common elsewhere (Guinea fowl on Ascension for example).
 
Quite a few invertebrates from the Portuguese Atlantic islands (Madeira and the Selvagens) are either already in captivity or are planned to be in the near-future. The first one to come into captivity was the Desertas wolf spider (Hogna ingens), which arrived at Bristol Zoo in 2016. This was followed by at least two species of Desertas land snails (Discula lyelliana and Geomitra coronula). I believe there are also still plans for the Selvagens longhorn beetle (Deucalion oceanicum) to be brought to Chester Zoo for a captive breeding programme.
 
Some penguin species kept in the UK are limited to a few islands, including northern rockhopper penguin from the South Atlantic. I think western rockhopper is also present.

Also, off the top of my head, pink pigeon from Mauritius, Round Island skink from Round Island, Aldabra giant tortoise from the Seychelles.
 
There are a fair number of reptiles from tropical islands. Various Cyclura rock iguanas, aooles, Solomon Islands Skink, Fiji Banded Iguana and others. Some birds as well - Red-fronted Parakeet from NZ (these are also in the pet trade and have various colour mutations), Keas. Also Rodrigues and Livingstones Fruit bats.
 
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