How do you think extinct animals would have done in zoos?

TheMightyOrca

TheMightyOrca

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Sometimes I like to think about how things would be if extinct species were still around, and that includes their place in zoos! I thought about posting this in the main forum, but the topic felt a bit too "out there", ha ha. So, take any species that went extinct before being brought into captivity on a large scale. (this can include species that have been in captivity, like the thylacine or the dodo) If they were still around, (assume their numbers are big enough for large scale captivity to at least be a possibility) what would their place in zoos be? Would they be common or rare, would they even be in captivity at all? Would we be debating the ethics of woolly mammoth captivity? Would we discuss how to improve Utahraptor exhibits? Would smilodon be common in zoos, found in captivity all over the world? Would dwarf elephant feeding be a popular zoo attraction? What's your reasoning?

My guesses... The Caribbean monk seal would have been a staple of aquariums on the Gulf coast, and would be a centerpiece at many Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean exhibits in other places as well. The Gulf of Mexico doesn't have much in the way of visible marine mammals (there is big variety of cetaceans, but most stay out far from shore and aren't seen very often) so Gulf coast aquariums and zoos would be glad to have some GoM charismatic megafauna to display.

Africa themed areas are so common in zoos because there is a lot of charismatic megafauna. But if extinct Pleistocene megafauna in other places survived today, Africa would have more competition! I bet North America areas especially would be bigger and more popular if we still has mastodon, smilodon, terror birds, miracinonyx, glyptodont, and others.

Steller's sea cow would not be common, (assuming they're in their limited, final range of the Commander Islands) but a few aquariums in Russia, China, and/or Japan would display wild-caught (maybe a few rescued) individuals. A captive breeding program would be attempted, but won't succeed. Existing sirenians aren't much for breeding in captivity, it would be even harder with one that grows up to 30 feet! If they survived in their larger, older range, they'd still be rare in captivity because of the breeding thing, but a few rescued ones might be found in North American zoos.
 
-Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis) would have done well as most canids in captivity.
-Dodo - I don't think so.
-Bali tiger - would have done well as Sumatran tiger.
-Quagga - would have done well like Grant's zebra I think.
 
Nikola Chavkosk said:
-Dodo - I don't think so.
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Disagree - I think Dodos would do quite well, and being such a large pigeon would make displays as popular as the Crowned Pigeons. And as a ground nester you wouldn't have the problems you get with some of the tree-nesting pigeons that put three twigs together and then wonder why their eggs end up smashed on the ground below.

:p

Hix
 
Several extinct animals bred in zoos: nubian wild ass, Javan tiger, passenger pigeon and carolina parakeet for example. Pity that either too few of them were exported, or the population management was not yet invented. Some English even released young passenger pigeons trying to introduce them to England.

Russian animal books wonder whether Steller sea cow could be domesticated. I ever seen a speculative drawing of a corral/pool with sea cows munching kelp and wearing identification tags on their tail bases.
 
If passenger pigeons were still alive, they would probably be extremely common and zoos in North America, at least, would be largely uninterested in exhibiting them.

Thylacines would probably be a well-established species in captivity, as would dodos, which I imagine would have become endangered at some point if they didn't go extinct. Great auks probably would have ended up as a popular alternative to penguins, and Carolina parakeets would have been common in regional zoos of the US.

I agree that Steller's sea cow would have been very rare in captivity, with Russia perhaps being an exception.

As for more distant extinct species: zoos in the north would be opening up larger, more enriching enclosures for mammoths instead of sending tropical elephants away; saber-toothed cats would be endangered and a flagship zoo species; giant lemurs would not be kept outside of Madagascar because of dietary issues; giant marsupials would be hoarded jealously by Australia; moas would be loaned out by NZ to support conservation efforts in their country; and European zoos would be struggling to prevent interbreeding between wild aurochs and domestic cattle.
 
Someone wrote a book about keeping pet dinosaurs however the tone was whimsy. Had it been speculated on better it could have been used to explain problems in captive management of animals: proper diet, mixed exhibits etc.
 
Passenger pigeons bred extremely well at Knowsley btw. Tragedy.

I doubt most Holocene casualties were much different in demands from living relatives: giant tortoises, relatives of Caloenas, crocs on islands, lemurs, ratites. Oddest were prbly sylviornithids and the thylacine. The latter did well.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
If passenger pigeons were still alive, they would probably be extremely common and zoos in North America, at least, would be largely uninterested in exhibiting them.

Thylacines would probably be a well-established species in captivity, as would dodos, which I imagine would have become endangered at some point if they didn't go extinct. Great auks probably would have ended up as a popular alternative to penguins, and Carolina parakeets would have been common in regional zoos of the US.

I agree that Steller's sea cow would have been very rare in captivity, with Russia perhaps being an exception.

As for more distant extinct species: zoos in the north would be opening up larger, more enriching enclosures for mammoths instead of sending tropical elephants away; saber-toothed cats would be endangered and a flagship zoo species; giant lemurs would not be kept outside of Madagascar because of dietary issues; giant marsupials would be hoarded jealously by Australia; moas would be loaned out by NZ to support conservation efforts in their country; and European zoos would be struggling to prevent interbreeding between wild aurochs and domestic cattle.
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Yeah, I think thylacine (assuming breeding got figured out and Australia allowed exportation) would have been common in Australia areas. Add some diversity and all.

Agreed on the distant species too, mammoths would totally be popular in northern zoos as an alternative to elephants.

Your mention of the moa has me thinking, what about the Haast's eagle? I'm not terribly knowledgable about raptor captivity and breeding so it's hard for me to guess.

Hix said:
Disagree - I think Dodos would do quite well, and being such a large pigeon would make displays as popular as the Crowned Pigeons. And as a ground nester you wouldn't have the problems you get with some of the tree-nesting pigeons that put three twigs together and then wonder why their eggs end up smashed on the ground below.

:p

Hix
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If dodos were interesting enough for zoos in the past, I can totally buy people keeping them in an alternate modern day where they never went extinct.
 
I think the American megafauna would make a spectacular zoo display. Not just mammoths, but mastodons, short-faced bears, American lions, ground sloths, giant condors and of course sabre-toothed cats. They would all pull in the punters.
 
Batto said:
Dwarf elephants such as Elephas/Palaeoloxodon falconeri would allow even smaller zoos to keep elephants. ^^
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And persisted into the Bronze Age late enough to appear as a baby mammoth in an Egyptian fresco. ;)

Suggests they were hairier than they are depicted in paleoart as well. Todays elephants and the mammoth inhabit extremes of climate and have large body sizes. Smaller elephants in warm temperate climes did not need either woolly coats or hairless hides.
 
I defiantly believe that Toxodon could do fairly well as well as Quagga, Dodo etc.

Everyone would scramble to have the largest crocs they could, I recon sea world would see orca replaced with icthy's and perhaps plesiosaurs too.

Terror birds would be a very popular exhibit but very hard to maintain in captivity, I imagine cassowary husbandry times 100 for them!

I wouldn't mind mammoths of course, woolly rhino's and other ice age mammals could do well in Europe, though dinosaurs for the most part would struggle due to the colder temperatures. Oh and Gigantopithacus, would rival the gorilla as the big staple ape of collections world wide.
 
SealPup said:
Is there any point as long as the Tilos dating stands, though?
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Yeah-the lack of actual physical evidence (i.e. the body of said dwarf elephant in an ancient Egyptian setting). Without that, it’s just speculation.
 
Charlie Simmomds said:
I defiantly believe that Toxodon could do fairly well as well as Quagga, Dodo etc.

Everyone would scramble to have the largest crocs they could, I recon sea world would see orca replaced with icthy's and perhaps plesiosaurs too.

Terror birds would be a very popular exhibit but very hard to maintain in captivity, I imagine cassowary husbandry times 100 for them!

I wouldn't mind mammoths of course, woolly rhino's and other ice age mammals could do well in Europe, though dinosaurs for the most part would struggle due to the colder temperatures. Oh and Gigantopithacus, would rival the gorilla as the big staple ape of collections world wide.
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Actually, there were plenty of dinosaurs living in cold regions. So European dino zoo options might be a bit wider than you think.

Prehistoric marine reptiles would definitely be commonplace in aquariums, (unless for some reason they're prone to dying in captivity) though it would mostly be limited to small and medium sized species. Maybe we'd see a few larger ones if they survive well in captivity, but since there aren't really any modern day equivalents it's hard to say whether that would be the case. If they could survive well, maybe some very large aquariums and places like SeaWorld would hold a few larger species. They probably wouldn't overshadow cetaceans much since they probably wouldn't be as trainable. And as you say, big crocs would totally be popular!
 
Batto said:
Yeah-the lack of actual physical evidence (i.e. the body of said dwarf elephant in an ancient Egyptian setting). Without that, it’s just speculation.
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Egyptians knee the Agean: the dwarf eles were psrt of their known world. As far as I know no bones of human pygmies are known from Egypt but few doubt they are depicted in art.
 
@SealPup: poor orthography won’t help to bring your point across. The ancient Egyptians might have known bits of the Aegean sea due to trade and the Sea Peoples battles, but they were not explicitly researching them.
If I were to follow your argument, then I would have to believe that people with animal heads or bestial chimeras also used to live in ancient Egypt...All we have is a single depiction of a small reddish elephant creature that might just be a product of the vivid imagination of its creator. Dragons and unicorns also did not exist just because they were depicted in ancient manuscripts.
 
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