How many Manatees!

Skukuza said:
This seems remarkedly under reported here on Zoochat given their have been several discussions around the scarcity of African Manatees in captivity.

I cant see pictures of these in the media gallery and the internet doesn't turn up much either.

There are some snaps on Tripadvisor but nothing great and some guest photos on their Facebook page.

Seems that these are potentially an easier destination to reach than their Chinese or Japanese counterparts for UK ZC's given the popularity of Bangkok as a tourist destination vs say Toba...

(you would have to balance your species hunting desires against some ethical concerns around cub petting and performing orangutans of course...)

Can you shed any more light on the Manatees at Safari World? How many? how long have they been there? sex ratio? any breeding?
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How many ? => Now 4 - 5 not sure
how long have they been there? => Since 2017
sex ratio? => I don't know
any breeding? => 0
 
The predominance of captive manatees in China is the West African manatee, and there were numerous breeding reports (Chimelong Ocean Kingdom is the first).
 
Unenlagia90 said:
The predominance of captive manatees in China is the West African manatee, and there were numerous breeding reports (Chimelong Ocean Kingdom is the first).
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Are there even other species of manatees in captivity in China? I mean the Haichang definitely would have west african too.
 
I'm an African manatee researcher and I've been keeping track of this species in zoos and aquariums for years. I study genetics of African manatees, so it's really helpful for me to know where captive manatees originated, as it's really hard to get samples from wild African manatees. Here's what I know (if anyone has corrections or updates to this, I'd be very interested to know!)
- Chimelong Ocean World, China: 11 manatees (at least 2 M, 3 F), 5 were born there. At least 3 came from DRC, it is unclear where the others originated from.
- Hangzhou Underwater World, China: 2 manatees (1 M, 1 F) from Cameroon
- Ocean Aquarium of Penglai, China: may have 4 manatees from Cameroon?
- Haichang Polar Ocean World, China: 2 manatees from Cameroon (2 M)
- Yantai Haichang Whale Shark Aquarium, China: may have 1 manatee? Unknown where it came from or when
- Quancheng Oulebao Polar Ocean World, China: at least 3 manatees (1 F) including 1 calf likely born there. I'd be grateful for any information about how many manatees they have, when and where they came from
- Toba Aquarium, Japan: 3 manatees (2 F, 1 M) that came from Guinea-Bissau
- Coex Aquarium, S. Korea: 3 manatees (1 F, 2 M) that came from either Cameroon or Guinea
- Far Glory Ocean Park / Hualian Ocean Park, Taiwan: 1 manatee (M) remaining (a second one died in 2004 a month after it arrived). Both are from Ivory Coast
- Safari World, Thailand: 5 manatees (3 M, 2 F) on exhibit (of 7 that were imported in 2017 from DRC, also illegally)

Other aquariums that previously had African manatees, but I don't think they do anymore: Nanning Zoo and Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park (AKA Tiger Beach Ocean Park & Ji Di Guan - Pole Aquarium).
Thanks for any other info! And thanks to @Nix for asking this question!
 
Randomname0183 said:
Amazonian manatees have been kept in slightly more facilities, with Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK all keeping them roughly around the 30s. However, Rotterdam held them much later in the 70s, and London in the 1880s.
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According to the ZSL records, the only Amazonian manatee held at London Zoo was the animal acquired in 1896; the others were all West Indian manatees.
The manatees kept in the London Zoo Aquarium in the 1930s were identified as West Indian manatees, not Amazonian manatees, on their record cards.
 
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