Giant otter-shrews in zoos

[DDcorvus]

@gentle lemur, I agree with you on birds and luckily wild-caught bird imports are almost gone in Europe. New species are still be established in captivity but mostly this is being done in South-America (quetzals, some psittacines b.e.) or in Asia. When established there they might anyway come to Europe, but then most of the work has been done already. In Europe there are still people working on estashing some species (BoP and CotR b.e.), but then it involves cooperation between a few individuals and some of the specialized birdparks like Wuppertal and Walsrode.

Mammals and then especially small mammals (rodents, small carnivores, tenrecs) are still arriving as import of wild-caught animals is not banned and just regulated by CITES. Some of the latest imports included highland and lowland streaked tenrecs, both species that are far from being established. In the end these imports are much rarer and on a smaller scale then the ones of fishes, reptiles and in the past birds as there is fewer interest in small mammals from private individuals. Luckily most people prefer to stick with the domesticated ones, so people getting into the obscure ones are usually specialized geeks. Although you keep the usual idiots that think that a raccoon might be a wonderfull pet for their children. They usually learn the hard way....

 

[DDcorvus]

Sorry for the double post, but if the RSCC was still operating I would have not been surprised to see some ottershrews arriving in Europe. There are some individuals working with tenrecs, but they are already having their hands full with species that can easily be obtained like the earlier mentioned streaked species.

 

[DesertRhino150]

Its ecology does sound though rather like that of the Platypus; if host range countries could acclimatise the animal it might be done.

When you look at all the main semi-aquatic, medium-sized insectivores, the ones that seem to do best are those where there are investments to breeding them in the host country. I'd say the platypus is the best example, with a low number of successful breedings and the Russian desman has recently had advances in their care, with animals being kept for an extended time and a single breeding in 1954.

All the others (the yapok, star-nosed mole and the otter shrews) seem to have only been kept half-heartedly and often outside their host country. The main problem with propogating these species is that either they are not currently threatened, or the countries they live in do not have the money to begin a breeding programme.

Secondly, although the website seems to have taken them down, there was an American website that, in 2010, was offering giant otter shrews as exotic pets. I imagine if they died as quickly as all the previous captives had they wouldn't be offered for sale.

And finally, I was looking around on the internet about the captive breeding of desmans, and I have found about the intent to breed aquatic tenrecs on Madagascar. The method that would be used (that I think could be moved on to use on other semi-aquatic insectivores) would be to simply fence off a section of a stream and allow the animals to forage for themselves. The scientists would then establish how they live and then attempt 'proper' captive husbandry. I think this method could potentially be very successful and might even be a suitable long-term captive propogation method.

In case anyone is interested:

If you click the top [DOC] link it should take you to the info on Russian desman captive keeping (pages 5-6):
[ame=http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=4&oq=desmana+&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADFA_enGB472GB472&q=desmana+moschata+captivity&gs_upl=0l0l0l3704lllllllllll0&aqi=g4s1&pbx=1]desmana moschata captivity - Google Search[/ame]


The Zoochat thread where the American pet otter shrews are discussed:
http://www.zoochat.com/2/escape-abcs-94004/index10.html

The aquatic tenrec semi-captivity idea (page 45, if it doesn't take you there immediately):
African Insectivora And Elephant-Shrews: An Action Plan For Their Conservation - Martin E. Nicoll, Galen B. Rathbun - Google Books

 

[Chlidonias]

Secondly, although the website seems to have taken them down, there was an American website that, in 2010, was offering giant otter shrews as exotic pets. I imagine if they died as quickly as all the previous captives had they wouldn't be offered for sale.

its quite likely that company was listing the giant otter-shrews on spec., as it were, rather than actually having them already captive and imported.

 

[jusko88]

Does anyone know if there's any US zoo that has Russian Desman and Star-Nosed Mole on exhibit? I would love to see these 2 species real bad

 

[DesertRhino150]

Sorry for resurrecting such an old thread, but I found some information that may be of interest.

In the autobiography of Alan Root, the British wildlife filmmaker who also filmed aquatic genets among other animals in the Congo, he mentions capturing and filming a giant otter shrew which survived for several months. His secret was to have a narrow horizontal slit at the entrance to its artificial burrow so that all the water was squeezed from its fur, as they seem to die primarily from being unable to dry their coats. The design was based upon a sleeping box he had seen made for a platypus.

 

[kiang]

Sorry for resurrecting such an old thread, but I found some information that may be of interest.

In the autobiography of Alan Root, the British wildlife filmmaker who also filmed aquatic genets among other animals in the Congo, he mentions capturing and filming a giant otter shrew which survived for several months. His secret was to have a narrow horizontal slit at the entrance to its artificial burrow so that all the water was squeezed from its fur, as they seem to die primarily from being unable to dry their coats. The design was based upon a sleeping box he had seen made for a platypus.

I remember this very film, not for the shrews or the genets, but for his underwater filming of chevrotain, amazing footage.

 

[Zoovolunteer]

Regarding new species of birds being established - there is in the hobbyist circuit numerous species of European bird being regularly bred or at least semi-domesticated (other than waterfowl of course, which are widely kept). I think almost all of the finches and most of the thrushes (even unusual ones like ring ouzel) are in aviculture, as are most of the raptors. Notable exceptions are the various woodpeckers and the warblers, though I believe some warblers at least have been bred in captivity as part of laboratory research.

 

[tenrec]

The Nimba otter shrew (Micropotamogale lamottei) - a species listed as near threatened in the 2016 IUCN Red List - was kept by Peter Vogel (in Côte d'Ivoire?) in the 1970's. Among several individuals, he had a female that gave birth to a single young 51 days after capture. The young survived at least to day 20. He also later unsuccessfully had a PhD student try to maintain the species in captivity. Please see details in "Highlights and disappointments during 40 years of research on otter-shrews" by Peter Vogel, published in Afrotherian Conservation (Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Afrotheria Specialist Group) Number 10 (September 2014), pp. 9-11, available at http://www.afrotheria.net/PDFs/Afrotherian_Conservation_10_Sept_2014.pdf
Regarding the giant otter-shrew (Potamogale velox), I am aware of but have not seen the following publication: Nicoll, M. E. (1985): The biology of the giant otter-shrew Potamogale velox. Nat. geog. Soc. Res. Rep. 21: 331-337.
[As far as Malagasy tenrecs - not otter-shrews! - are concerned, let me slip in that anyone interested in these fascinating and diverse mammal family is very welcome to browse through the bibliography at Tenrec Resources and Information - many tenrec publications are available for free and are linked there.]

 

[DavidBrown]

The Nimba otter shrew (Micropotamogale lamottei) - a species listed as near threatened in the 2016 IUCN Red List - was kept by Peter Vogel (in Côte d'Ivoire?) in the 1970's. Among several individuals, he had a female that gave birth to a single young 51 days after capture. The young survived at least to day 20. He also later unsuccessfully had a PhD student try to maintain the species in captivity. Please see details in "Highlights and disappointments during 40 years of research on otter-shrews" by Peter Vogel, published in Afrotherian Conservation (Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Afrotheria Specialist Group) Number 10 (September 2014), pp. 9-11, available at http://www.afrotheria.net/PDFs/Afrotherian_Conservation_10_Sept_2014.pdf
Regarding the giant otter-shrew (Potamogale velox), I am aware of but have not seen the following publication: Nicoll, M. E. (1985): The biology of the giant otter-shrew Potamogale velox. Nat. geog. Soc. Res. Rep. 21: 331-337.
[As far as Malagasy tenrecs - not otter-shrews! - are concerned, let me slip in that anyone interested in these fascinating and diverse mammal family is very welcome to browse through the bibliography at Tenrec Resources and Information - many tenrec publications are available for free and are linked there.]

Thanks for your information, tenrec, and welcome to Zoochat. There are several tenrec fans here.

 

[tenrec]

Thanks David. I've been lurking around for a couple of years, though never really active... Regarding tenrecs in the UK: apart from Sparsholt College, are you aware of any institutions or private keepers currently successful with streaked tenrecs (Hemicentetes nigriceps or H. semispinosus)?

 

[DavidBrown]

Thanks David. I've been lurking around for a couple of years, though never really active... Regarding tenrecs in the UK: apart from Sparsholt College, are you aware of any institutions or private keepers currently successful with streaked tenrecs (Hemicentetes nigriceps or H. semispinosus)?

Stuart Short (stubeanz here on Zoochat) would be the person to ask. He is in the know about all tenrec happenings in the UK. You could send him a private message on Zoochat. I will also alert him to your query.

 

[stubeanz]

Thanks for notifying me about this thread David.

In terms of the 5 spiny species in the UK

Echinops telfari- commonly kept and bred

Setifer setosus- once very rarely kept but within the past 5 years increasing being kept with multiple breedings each year.

Tenrec ecaudatus- a few notable UK breedings have meant that there are at least 50 or so kept within the UK and with 3-5 litters are born every year we should see that rise significantly.

Hemicentetes nigriceps - sparshokts still keeps a small group but haven't had any breeding for a while I believe. They are occasionally kept in the UK but rarely bred requiring very particular heating and humidity and a diet of soft bodied inverts. There are a few keepers of individuals or pairs but really a big colony is required to breed them.

Hemicentetes semispinosus - again as with the other streaked species, very rarely kept. Sparsholts have moved out of these but their animals went home to live with the tenrec keeper there that was the driving force behind all the breeding etc she has left for another college and I believe she now just keeps two males but is looking for more if possible.

If you are interested in tenrecs feel free to join my Facebook group 'Everything Tenrec' I hope that's allowed admin?