How many Manatees!

Nix

Nix

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5+ year member
So if you google Manatees in Captivity it says that only Cincinnati Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Zoo Tampa , Jacksonville Zoo, Mote Marine Aquarium, Miami Seaquarium, Zooparc de Beauval, River Safari and Bishops Museum display manatees. I first thought that only these zoos display west Indian Manatees
but River Safari Displays Amazonian Manatees. I was reading some things on Zoochat that say many zoos display manatees from China to Mexico. Most of them are West African which is the rarest of all the manatees (then how come are there so many in captivity!) So I need to know once and for all which zoos in the world display these breathtaking creatures, So if you know of a Zoo that has them at this time, let me know. I'm trying to make a list of all zoos with manatees. Thanks!
 
For European zoos that have mantees, you can use zootierliste. ZootierlisteHomepage
According to zootierliste the following European zoos have Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus)

Germany:
- Tiergarten Nürnberg

Denmark:
- Zoo Odense
- Randers Regnskov

France:
- Zoo de Vincennes (Paris)
- ZooParc de Beauval

Italy:
- Genova Aquarium

Netherlands:
- Burgers Zoo

Poland:
- Wroclaw Zoo

Spain:
- Madrid Faunia
 
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Nix said:
River Safari Displays Amazonian Manatees
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These are actually West Indian manatees, not Amazonian.

Otherwise, Toba aquarium in Japan has African manatees and dugongs and Sydney SeaLife also has dugongs. Not too sure about other collections outside NA and Europe.
 
The São Paulo aquarium holds a male Amazonian manatee. His name is Tapajós and he lives in an enclosure with various species of fish native to the Amazon basin. In Brazil, there are also various conservation projects which maintain specimens from both species living in South America.
 
Dallas World Aquarium have Antillean Manatees, the only collection in the US with the Antillean sub-species.

Atagawa Tropical and Alligator Garden in Japan has a single Amazonian Manatee.
 
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amur leopard said:
These are actually West Indian manatees, not Amazonian.

Otherwise, Toba aquarium in Japan has African manatees and dugongs and Sydney SeaLife also has dugongs. Not too sure about other collections outside NA and Europe.
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West Indians really! I thought they have amazonians considering they keep them in the flooded forest section
 
SeaWorld Orlando has West Indian (latirostris ) manatees. Most of the captive manatees in Florida are animals that had to be taken in from the wild due to a number of reasons, and could not be released.

Bishop Museums habitat is closed for renovations, the manatees there are transient on their way to release. They used to house one (Snooty) full time, but he died a few years ago.

I am pretty sure that Clearwater Marine Aquarium has housed them for brief periods off exhibit (again, injured animals), but I could be wrong about that.
 
TZDugong said:
Dallas World Aquarium have Antillean Manatees, the only collection in the US with the Antillean sub-species.

Atagawa Tropical and Alligator Garden in Japan has a single Amazonian Manatee.
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For DWA it's singular as well, they only have one manatee.

SwampDonkey said:
I am pretty sure that Clearwater Marine Aquarium has housed them for brief periods off exhibit (again, injured animals), but I could be wrong about that.
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You're correct :) They're very involved with manatee rescue, but they are all kept behind the scenes and they don't have any permanent residents.

Most captive animals in the US, not just Florida, are rescues. Both Columbus and Cincinnati take in rescued animals, usually ones that need longer non-emergency care to be able to be released again (freeing up space in Florida tanks, and justifying the trip up to Ohio). Columbus has one permanent resident, Stubby, who has been there since 2005; her tail is partially amputated and she has some skin issues that make her unreleasable. Both zoos released manatees last autumn. Cincinnati is currently doing some renovations and doesn't have any, renovations should be done by summer.
 
red river hog said:
Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and The Seas With Nemo and Friends in Florida both have Florida Manatees.
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Right, I forgot about those parks. The Seas (for anyone that is not aware) is the large aquarium area in Epcot Center at Disney World. Homosassa is right by where you can see them in the wild pretty much year round. The manatee in my avatar is from a picture my wife took at Crystal River Fl when we went snorkeling with them a few years ago.
 
Homosassa is where Stubby came from :) She was part of their research study on papillomaviruses in manatees. Hers ended up being a minor infection, but she was still unreleasable due to her tail and skin issues, so she got sent on to Columbus.
 
Manatees have been kept in the past in multiple European facilities as well, with obvious mixed results:

African manatees have been kept in both the Netherlands and Belgium, with Antwerp holding a specimen for 16 years (there’s actually a photo of the manatee on this website’s Antwerp Gallery which is oddly displayed on land)

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.

West Indian manatees have been kept with relative success and are the most prevalent sirenian to be kept in Europe. Facilites that stoped holding them in the last 2 decades include Tierpark Berlin, Artis, Singapore and Zoomarine Portugal. They have however also been held further back in facilites including London, Hannover, Antwerp and Duisburg (Duisburg however might be holding them in the future again now that the Amazon dolphin exhibit lays empty).

Dugongs have never been kept in Europe but a pair of facilities have held them in Singapore.
 
Zz123 said:
Safari world in Thailand display African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis)
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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?
 
Skukuza said:
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..
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Or you can go to COEX aquarium in seoul, which is a popular tourist destination without performing orangutan.

Or farglory ocean park in Hualien, Taiwan. Although that wont be that much of a popular tourist destination either.
 
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