IUCN Red List 2019 - Discussion

Coelacanth18 said:
The original release was wild European rabbits. Given how rapidly that population exploded, one might think domestics haven't really had much of a genetic impact. I also have some opinions about the necessity of maintaining subspecific "purity"... but that not being the subject of this thread, I'll simply acknowledge the very low likelihood that European wildlife managers will decide to buy thousands of one-way tickets to Spain for Australian-born bunnies.
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Very true on that last point! I'm sure we could all have a very fun discussion regarding maintaining subspecific purity in endangered species at some point, though with the rabbit I think the issue is more that the two populations have been separated for so long that there's some debate about whether or not they should even be regarded as a single species! This is even mentioned on the IUCN page so surely these populations are worth maintaining as pure as possible even if it does turn out that they're not *quite* separate species yet (similar vein to Northern vs Southern White Rhinos).

~Thylo
 
Also, darn. I've been trying to find a european rabbit pelt (or a granada hare) for a presentation I do, but I guess that'll be even harder to find now.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
I think that Durrell ended up releasing the red colobus before he left the country because he couldn't get them to feed.
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That was correct.
 
Re: red colobus. According to zootierliste, the last ones were seen in Europe in 1978. It is possible that after 40 years of developing animal husbandry, they could be happily raised in zoos (like langurs, howlers, sifakas, bamboo lemurs and other leaf-eating primates). But no zoo wants to touch them with a stick.
 
Jurek7 said:
Re: red colobus. According to zootierliste, the last ones were seen in Europe in 1978. It is possible that after 40 years of developing animal husbandry, they could be happily raised in zoos (like langurs, howlers, sifakas, bamboo lemurs and other leaf-eating primates). But no zoo wants to touch them with a stick.
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I'd imagine this is probably true, yeah, but remember that there would be a great risk/cost in attempting to capture and import a viable number of red colobus which would likely require multiple zoos to join the effort and could easily lead to a PR disaster should it all go wrong. I'm sure there's someone somewhere that would love to try, but I'm not sure how feasible it all is.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I'd imagine this is probably true, yeah, but remember that there would be a great risk/cost in attempting to capture and import a viable number of red colobus which would likely require multiple zoos to join the effort and could easily lead to a PR disaster should it all go wrong. I'm sure there's someone somewhere that would love to try, but I'm not sure how feasible it all is.

~Thylo
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I'm slightly surprised the guy who owns DWA hasn't tried it.
 
TinoPup said:
I'm slightly surprised the guy who owns DWA hasn't tried it.
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Why would he? He's mainly focused on Latin American species and the aquarium does not have nearly enough room to attempt importing a population of red colobus. Maybe if the African area represented more than just a tiny hallway he'd try it?

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I'd imagine this is probably true, yeah, but remember that there would be a great risk/cost in attempting to capture and import a viable number of red colobus which would likely require multiple zoos to join the effort and could easily lead to a PR disaster should it all go wrong. I'm sure there's someone somewhere that would love to try, but I'm not sure how feasible it all is.

~Thylo
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I agree and In-situ intervention is always preferable but arguably the conservation status of some of the red colobus species appears to be precarious enough to warrant the taking of risks such as those you mentioned.
 
Jurek7 said:
Re: red colobus. According to zootierliste, the last ones were seen in Europe in 1978. It is possible that after 40 years of developing animal husbandry, they could be happily raised in zoos (like langurs, howlers, sifakas, bamboo lemurs and other leaf-eating primates). But no zoo wants to touch them with a stick.
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Just a thought but do you think this might be down to the considerable health and safety risks of transmission / spill over of zoonosis from some of these primates?

I just read some information that suggests that a number of red colobus species have been observed to be at least secondary reservoirs / hosts for the ebola virus during outbreaks in West Africa.

Ebola Cote d'Ivoire Outbreaks
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Just a thought but do you think this might be down to the considerable health and safety risks of transmission / spill over of zoonosis from some of these primates?

I just read some information that suggests that a number of red colobus species have been observed to be at least secondary reservoirs / hosts for the ebola virus during outbreaks in West Africa.

Ebola Cote d'Ivoire Outbreaks
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This is currently a huge issue for all primates living in West Africa and I'd imagine we won't be seeing any primate imports from this region anytime soon. However, species like the Zanzibar Red Colobus could theoretically be targeted that won't pose the same risks.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
This is currently a huge issue for all primates living in West Africa and I'd imagine we won't be seeing any primate imports from this region anytime soon. However, species like the Zanzibar Red Colobus could theoretically be targeted that won't pose the same risks.

~Thylo
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Given the situation facing the Zanzibar species it appears strange to me that ex-situ conservation hasn't been more widely considered.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Given the situation facing the Zanzibar species it appears strange to me that ex-situ conservation hasn't been more widely considered.
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I doubt Tanzania has the resources for any kind of serious ex situ breeding program for primates, especially a genus with a poor track record of captive care. Fortunately, censuses conducted by the WCS have shown that the Zanzibar red colobus population is triple the size it was recently estimated at and 70% of them live in protected areas. They are still endangered, but their situation doesn't seem any more dire than other endangered primates - and considering their high profile status (they are a main draw for tourists to the island), I find it unlikely that the Tanzanian government won't take measures against their extinction.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
I doubt Tanzania has the resources for any kind of serious ex situ breeding program for primates, especially a genus with a poor track record of captive care. Fortunately, censuses conducted by the WCS have shown that the Zanzibar red colobus population is triple the size it was recently estimated at and 70% of them live in protected areas. They are still endangered, but their situation doesn't seem any more dire than other endangered primates - and considering their high profile status (they are a main draw for tourists to the island), I find it unlikely that the Tanzanian government won't take measures against their extinction.
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I'm glad to hear that things are looking a bit more positive for this species and hopefully you are right in your belief that the Tanzanian government would launch a conservation intervention to conserve the red colobus.

Personally I dont know the situation facing the species in depth so I can't comment with authority or indeed anything other than conjecture but judging from what I have read the situation does appear to have some superficial similarities to similar situations that face Brazilian primates in terms of the nature of the threats they face and insular biogeography. In Brazil ex situ conservation is at least one of the ways that endangered primates are being conserved.

I think it seems especially alike considering that the protected areas you mention may before long have reached carrying capacity and surrounding these tracts of forest are huge anthropogenic pressures from land expansion with a growing population in need of agricultural and arable lands.

This seems (at least to me as someone looking at this without knowing much about the situation in Zanzibar) to be even more complicated (and clearly totally different from much of the Brazilian situation) by the fact that these primates don't just occur on landlocked islands of habitat surrounded by anthropogenic environments but that these are also located on actual islands of the archipelago.
 
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ThylacineAlive said:
I'd imagine this is probably true, yeah, but remember that there would be a great risk/cost in attempting to capture and import a viable number of red colobus which would likely require multiple zoos to join the effort and could easily lead to a PR disaster should it all go wrong. I'm sure there's someone somewhere that would love to try, but I'm not sure how feasible it all is.

~Thylo
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Alternatively one zoo could simply import a small group, maybe even a bachelor group to see how they do. See Apenheul and proboscis monkeys or Chleby and doucs.
 
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