Java Leopard in zoos

K

kiglezi

Active Member
Anyone who knows how many Java Leopards Panthera pardus melas there still is in captivity outside of Indonesia and does anyone knows if some zoo has had any succesful breeding history with this subspecies?


I remember seeing Java leopards in several German zoos in the 1970s and 1980s when they could still be found in a dozen places, though few breed it succesfully to my knowledge. According to ISIS the only place which still has any Java Leopard left is Tierpark Berlin (Ragunan list 1.1), and they only seems to have 1 male left. Anyone which happens to know anything about this last male remaning in Berlin?

Anyone who knows if there is any elsewhere in Europe or North America? given that its less than 500 remaning in the wild a breeding programme would be desirable.
 
Only 2 left in Europe, one male at Tierpark Berlin and one male at Zoo Berlin. The german members will be able to shed some light on them, in the german forum everyone seems to be on first name basis with one of them (Wuppi at Tierpark) :)

The german Zootierliste gives this information:
Current holdings:
- Berlin Zoo (1.0)
- Berlin Tierpark (from 1984, regurlarly bred, now just 1,0 "Wuppi" left)

Past holdings:
- Eberswalde (Zoo)
- Karlsruhe (Zoo) (until 2005, breeding succes)
- Cologne (Zoo) (until 1990)
- Leipzig (Zoo) (until 2003)
- Wuppertal (Zoo) (1977 until ca 2003, until 1994 regurlarly bred)

ZootierlisteHomepage (german only, but search the latin name and you'll work it out)
 
The leopard in Berlin zoo is called "Lombok" and is born in 2002.
 
The Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) is the only one of the nine Leopard (Panthera pardus) subspecies which inhabits the rainforests of the Indonesian island of Java and it is extremely rare to find in zoos outside Indonesia. In the 1980's and 1990's various Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) specimens could be observed at Zoo Wuppertal, Zoo Berlin, Zoo Leipzig, Zoo Karlsruhe and Cologne Zoo.

Nevertheless, the breeding programmes were not managed properly and the last remaining Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) was kept by Zoo Berlin. In 2011, only one male in Zoo Berlin and one male in Tierpark Berlin lived outside Indonesia. In May 2011, after establishing a long-term co-operation with Taman Safari Indonesia Bogor, Tierpark Berlin was enabled to obtain a young couple from the Javan zoological garden. The couple in question was composed of "Shinta", a female born at the Taman Safari Indonesia in 2006 and "Sinto", a male born at the same place in 2009.

In November 2011, "Shinta" was the last female Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) residing at the Tierpark Berlin and the male "Wuppi", born at Zoo Wuppertal in 1994, was paired with her in order to insert his high-quality genes into the future generations, which are fundamental to the conservation breeding and reintroduction programmes. On 16 January 2012, this remarkable pair resulted in the birth of two healthy cubs, one male and one female. On 6 March, the siblings were given their names - "Arjuna" and "Sri Kandi" for the male and the female respectively - by the Indonesian Ambassador to Germany, Dr. Eddy Pratomo. "Arjuna" was transferred to Zoo Praha on 20 May 2013 while "Sri Kandi", his sister, still resides at the Tierpark Berlin.

In January 2013, "Shinta" was mated with "Wuppi" once again and one new Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) cub was born on 16 April 2013. The cub, a male, was named "Timang" by Tierpark Berlin’s keepers.

The most recent addition to the Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) population kept by European zoos is "Pelangi", a male cub who was born at the Tierpark Berlin on 17 June 2014 to the previously mentioned breeding pair.

Regarding the Zoo Berlin, it is home to only one Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) specimen, a male called "Lombok". The individual in question was born at the Tierpark Berlin in 2002 to Tosari (Mother) and Bamboo (Father).

The majority of the Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) population in captivity is kept by the Tierpark Berlin since it is the primary breeding centre for this Critically Endangered subspecies.

To summarise, the Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) is exhibited outside Indonesia only at Zoo Praha and the two Berlin zoos.
 
Passing of Lombok, the male Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas)

lintworm said:
Lombok from Zoo Berlin past away recently...
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May I know who provided you this information and how you managed to obtain it?

I'm particularly interested in this news because, despite being relevant in the field of mammalogy and undoubtedly influential in the maintenance of the Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas) pupulation in captivity, no reference to Lombok's passing has been made both by the Zoo Berlin and on the Internet yet.
 
The info was posted by a very well informed Berlin zoo regular on the German zoofreunde forum. He apparently died at April 12th.
 
@PPM, the info on the passing of the male at Berlin Zoo is correct.

Also, I would love to know more re the numbers of Jawan leopards kept in Indonesian zoos (I suspect mainly on Jawa)!

Do you know a little more on this by any chance?!!? And more importantly how their breeding program is doing)?!


Meself know that the TSI in Bogor has a fair population (alike Sumatran - problem - tigers).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
@PPM, the info on the passing of the male at Berlin Zoo is correct.

Also, I would love to know more re the numbers of Jawan leopards kept in Indonesian zoos (I suspect mainly on Jawa)!

Do you know a little more on this by any chance?!!? And more importantly how their breeding program is doing)?!


Meself know that the TSI in Bogor has a fair population (alike Sumatran - problem - tigers).
Click to expand...

The International Studbook of Javan Leopards (Panthera pardus melas) (ISB since 2014) is conducted by the Tierpark Berlin (CK) in co-operation with the Taman Safari Bogor (Indonesia).

Unluckily, I do not possess it yet and since I do not know the date of birth and the relationships between the Javan Leopards (Panthera pardus melas) kept in Javan zoos with certainty I prefer not to hazard an approximate record of the felines in question.

Nevertheless, one week ago I wrote an e-mail to the Tierpark Berlin and the Taman Safari Bogor in order to enquire these zoological gardens' directors about the possibility of providing me the International Studbook of the subspecies we're treating in this thread.

Regarding my request, I have to specify that it has no negative purpose: it is absolutely not intended to plagiarise or deliberately affect the ongoing establishment of the above mentioned studbook.

My aim is to increase my knowledge and have a clearer elucidation about the population of Javan Leopards (Panthera pardus melas) kept in zoos around the world.
 
Very interesting, but where does this fledgling programme go now, if it is to go forward an ESB or EEP has to be organised and then move on to importing new blood.
 
kiang said:
Very interesting, but where does this fledgling programme go now, if it is to go forward an ESB or EEP has to be organised and then move on to importing new blood.
Click to expand...

I guess this may happen sooner than later. There is sufficient interest in maintaining a small decent population in Europe with attachment to the Indonesian ex situ and field programmes.
 
Sinto, the male Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas)

kiang said:
Very interesting, but where does this fledgling programme go now, if it is to go forward an ESB or EEP has to be organised and then move on to importing new blood.
Click to expand...

Currently, the Tierpark Berlin is home to only one possibly unrelated male Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas).

The male in question is Sinto, who was born at the Taman Safari Indonesia Bogor in 2009 and transferred to the Tierpark Berlin in May 2011 along with Shinta, a female born at the same place in 2006.

Since her transfer to the Tierpark Berlin, Shinta has given birth to 4 cubs, all of them had with her mate Wuppi:

(1) Arjuna, born on 16 January 2012, resides at the Zoo Praha, Prague, Czech Republic

(2) Sri Kandi, born on 16 January 2012, resides at the Tierpark Berlin

(3) Timang, born on 16 April 2013, resides at the Tierpark Berlin

(4) Pelangi, born on 17 June 2014, resides at the Tierpark Berlin

Sadly, Wuppi passed away in April 2014.
 
Pertinax said:
Panthera pardus melas said:
Currently, the Tierpark Berlin is home to only one possibly unrelated male Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas). {QUOTE]


The logical next step is mating Sinto to both the mother and daughter- unless more Leopards can be obtained.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more Pertinax.

Nevertheless, there are several aspects to take into serious consideration before establishing a potentially successful breeding pair of predators because, as it has often happened in this field, the outcome of a misjudgement has revealed to be highly detrimental to the maintenance of a Critically Endangered species or subspecies.

In this specific case, there is absolutely no room for error.
Click to expand...
 
I hope more zoos switch to rare leopard subspecies (Javan, Sri Lankan or Arabian) from jaguars and snow leopards. Basically, these three subspecies of leopard have so little remaining habitat left that they will need captive insurance population forever. Their status is much more precarious than either jaguar or snow leopard.
 
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