Marsupials in UK Collections

[dillotest0]

Similar to my previous thread on ungulates, this thread will cover various marsupials kept in UK collections, as well as some noteworthy ones kept in recent years.
OPOSSUMS - DIDELPHIDAE
As far as the UK goes, opossums are not typically largely diverse - though given the relatively short lifespans of the animals, the populations may fluctuate from time to time.
In any case, for about 5 or so years, there were no Virginia Opossum in the UK, though now there seem to be a fair number of them, in both public and private hands. The first collection to receive them in recent years being Cedars Nature Centre, which only received a single animal which lived from 2017 to 2019. Since then, another 4 public collections to my knowledge now have the species, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were rather common in private hands.
Only one Four-eyed Opossum currently lives in the UK, at Barleylands Farm Park. Possibly also in private hands?
QUOLLS AND ALLIES - DASYURIDAE
For what it is worth, the UK recently experienced a short-lived renaissance of dasyurids in public collections. However, similar to opossums, relatively short lifespans make for fluctuations in captive populations. As such, no dasurids currently exist in UK collections, though a few were held in tantalizingly recent times -
The Eastern Quoll was introduced to Bristol [Clifton] Zoo in 2014, making the zoo the only one in the country with the species. However, the individuals' deaths in 2017 would make for a short period of absence before the zoo regained and even bred the species. Around the same time, Linton received the species, but seeing as it was three males, I am somewhat doubtful as to whether they intended to breed them. Around the time the quolls were held, it's worthy noting that a fair number of zoos in Europe at the time held the species as well - but around the same time the last quolls of Bristol succumbed to short lifespan in 2021, the European population by then had vanished into thin air, leaving only Leipzig and Frankfurt, as they had been the only ones on the continent before.
The Tiger Quoll was introduced even more recently, at Hamerton in 2018. The park certainly had intent to breed the quolls, but from what I have heard the animals were already aging by the time they got to the zoo, and so 3 of the 4 already died off before any breeding could occur. The last of the short-lived population died only this year [2022], leaving the continent without the species once again.
And the Kowari was kept by Marwell until 2007, and would be obtained by Bristol in 2012. The founding population was relatively large, though the animals never bred to my knowledge. Eventually the last of the species, "Frank", would pass on in 2021, and seeing as the site intends to shut down in September 2022, the Twilight World exhibit already depreciated, the chances of a return are infinitely slim.
A bit of a rocky start.. maybe whatever comes next will be somewhat less troublesome?

 

[dillotest0]

THYLACINE - THYLACINIDAE
None have been kept at all in recent history, for obvious reasons..
BANDICOOTS AND BILBY - PERAMELEMORPHIA
None in recent history, though rumours of bilby coming to Lepizig have seemingly fallen rather short.. though apparently it is still in planning.
MAJOR POSSUMS - PHALANGERIDAE
Of the various species of this order, only one is fairly well represented - the Ground Cuscus, found in about 5 or 6 collections [Cotswolds still?] [or maybe 4, if Edinburgh's animals are off-show..] In any case, they are definitely to be found at Hamerton, Blackpool, Kirkley Hall, and Hemsley.
In mere second place is the Brushtail Possum - in 3 public collections in all - Chew Valley Animal Park, Hoo Farm, and Hamerton. The latter being especially prevalent - it has a number of variations of the species.
From 2012 to 2014, the Bear Cuscus was at the now-defunct RSCC. From 2014 to 2015, the Spotted Cuscus was at the same collection. Although absent from UK collections today, the Bear Cuscus is clinging on fairly well on the continent, though the single Spotted Cuscus sent by RSCC to the Netherlands is perhaps an aging animal at this point..
RINGTAIL POSSUM - PSEUDOCHERIDAE
The single species of Ringtail Possum is found at Hamerton, as it has since 2018.
GLIDERS - PETURIDAE
Unsurprisingly, the Sugar Glider seems to have too many examples to list, so focus will be given here to the group's other species.
Of which there are not too many of them - the Squirrel Glider being only held at Hamerton. In years past, Striped Possum were held by Cotswolds until 2009, and famously [or infamously], the last of the Northern Sugar Gliders died amongst the fire that destroyed the nocturnal house at Five Sisters Zoo.
FEATHERTAIL GILDERS - ACROBATIDAE
There are no Feathertail Gliders currently in the UK to speak of, though the species was held at Colchester till 2012. The species seems to be faring well on the continent, however.
PYGMY POSSUMS - BURRAMYIDAE
Only one Mountain Pygmy Possum was held in what could be called recent history - namely at Amazon World Zoo, allegedly as a result of a customs seizure.

 

[MRJ]

Just a couple of notes.

Dasyurids need to be bred young, creating a boom population that quickly fills all available spaces which results in a stop to breeding followed by animals quickly become too old to breed, and finally extinction in captivity. To maintain a population would require a very large number of places, very strict population management and cooperation between all participating zoos and possibly a commitment to management euthanasia.

Is there any idea as to the origin of the sugar gliders population? I imagine it might be from New Guinea, in which case of course there have been recent splits in the species. if the population is a mix of the different "sugar glider" species this might also affect the reproductive potential of the population.

 

[dillotest0]

WOMBATS - VOMBATIDAE
Of the three species of wombat that exist, two are currently represented in UK collections.
The Common Wombat was received by Hamerton in 2018 for the extensive "Down Under on your Doorstep" exhibit. Here, the pair of wombats have even managed to breed recently, hopefully showing a future for the species at Hamerton.
On the opposite end, a pair of Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat were introduced to Longleat around the same time, though the male would die in 2019. From what I hear, the park intends to get another male, but maybe not in the too-near future. The female, however, is still very much alive, if not too visible apparently.
KOALA - PHASCOLARCTIDAE
Most people on the forum will probably know that the one species of Koala has been held for years successfully in Edinburgh Zoo, with breeding occurring as recently as 2021. Longleat has also obtained Koala, albeit Southern Koala as opposed to Edinburgh's Queensland, but in any case, holding there seems to have proven successful, with recent breeding there as well.
RAT-KANGAROOS AND ALLIES - POTOROIDAE
The most common of the potoroos held in the UK is the Long-nosed Potoroo, held in about 16 collections. A fair number of these being smaller zoos, such as Drusillas and Tilgate. Somewhat less common is the Brush-tailed Bettong, held in about 4 collections. The Rufous Bettong, however, is only held publicly at Hamerton, as is Kerr's Long-nosed Potoroo.

 

[CrashMegaraptor]

I would say I'm curious to know what the most common marsupial in a British zoo is, but everyone knows it's the red-necked wallaby.

 

[Dassie rat]

According to ZTL, the following species have been kept in the UK
Didelphidae: Bare-tailed and Derby's woolly, elegant fat-tailed mouse, Brazilian white-eared, brown and grey four-eyed, dusky slender, northern and southern black-eared, Virginia and thick-tailed opossums at London. I saw the grey four-eyed opossum in the Clore a few decades ago.
There were brown-eared woolly opossums at Chester and London, grey short-tailed opossums at London, Cotswold and Paignton and yapoks at Jersey.
Dasyuridae: There were brush-tailed phascogales, northern quolls, yellow-footed antechinuses and fat-tailed dunnarts at London
There were eastern quolls at Bristol, London, Knowsley and Linton ,kowaris at Bristol, Cricket St Thomas, Whipsnade, London, Lakeland, Jersey and Marwell, spotted-tailed quolls at London and Hamerton and Tasmanian devils at Birmingham, Chester, Whipsnade, Glasgow Scottish and London.
Thylacinidae: London kept thylacines.
Thylacomyidae: There were greater bilbies at London.
Peramelidae: There were rufous spiny, southern brown and long-nosed bandicoots at London. There were common bandicoots at Chester.
Phascolarctidae: There were koalas at London.
Vombatidae: There were common wombats at London, Whipsnade, Paignton and Marwell and southern hairy-nosed wombats at London and Whipsnade.
Burramyidae: There were eastern pygmy possums at London and Knowsley and mountain pygmy possums at Newchurch.
Phalangeridae: There were Aru Island ground and northern grey cuscuses and short-tailed possums at London. There were bear cuscuses at R.S.C.C., common brush-tailed possums at Knowsley, Chester, South Lakes, Paignton, London and Marwell, New Guinea ground cuscuses at London, Twycross and R.S.C.C. and short-tailed spotted cuscuses at Blackpool, London, Twycross and R.S.C.C.
Pseudocheiridae: There were eastern and lemuroid ring-tailed possums at London and southern greater gliders at London.
Petauridae: There were Leadbeater's possums and squirrel and yellow-bellied gliders at London. There were common striped possums at Cotswold, London and R.S.C.C. and sugar gliders at Five Sisters, Noah's Ark, London, Jersey, Banham, Birmingham, Bristol, Colchester, Fife, Hamerton, Heckmondwike, Knowsley, Leeds, Long Sutton, Nantwich, Stockton-on-Tees and Chester.
Acrobatidae: There were feather-tail possums at London and narrow-toed feather-tailed gliders at London and Colchester.
Hypsiprymnodontidae: There were musky rat kangaroos at Knowsley.
Potoroidae: There were broad-faced potoroos and burrowing bettongs at London. There were woylies at London, Knowsley and Edinburgh, rufous rat kangaroos at Bristol, Knowsley and London, Gaimard's bettongs at Knowsley and London and long-nosed potoroos at Knowsley, Bristol, Chester, South Lakes, Edinburgh, Tropical Wings, Leeds, London, Shaldon and Shepreth.

 

[Maguari]

The Rufous Bettong, however, is only held publicly at Hamerton, as is Kerr's Long-nosed Potoroo.

Just to note - Hamerton's bettongs have never been on display, so although they are held by a theoretically public collection they are not currently public themselves..!

As I understand it Hamerton also has both 'generic zoo' potoroos and the pure Kerr's in separate groups - but not labelled as such. For those who know the zoo, I believe the group at the 'flamingo' end are the Kerr's (though I could be wrong..!).

 

[TNT]

For those who know the zoo, I believe the group at the 'flamingo' end are the Kerr's (though I could be wrong..!).

I think you're right!

 

[MRJ]

Just to note - Hamerton's bettongs have never been on display, so although they are held by a theoretically public collection they are not currently public themselves..!

As I understand it Hamerton also has both 'generic zoo' potoroos and the pure Kerr's in separate groups - but not labelled as such. For those who know the zoo, I believe the group at the 'flamingo' end are the Kerr's (though I could be wrong..!).

So what is a "pure Kerr'" as against a generic potoroo. There are two subspecies of potoroo, mainland and Tasmanian. Kerr did describe the long-nosed potoroo, so I guess you could use Kerr's potoroo as a common-name synonym for long-nosed potoroo, but otherwise I am at a loss to understand what is being referred to here.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

So what is a "pure Kerr'" as against a generic potoroo. There are two subspecies of potoroo, mainland and Tasmanian. Kerr did describe the long-nosed potoroo, so I guess you could use Kerr's potoroo as a common-name synonym for long-nosed potoroo, but otherwise I am at a loss to understand what is being referred to here.

The name is being used as a term for pure nominate, as opposed to the non-subspecific and/or unknown origin population otherwise present in Europe (barring a single group of Tasmanian at Zoo Opole in Poland).

 

[MRJ]

The name is being used as a term for pure nominate, as opposed to the non-subspecific and/or unknown origin population otherwise present in Europe (barring a single group of Tasmanian at Zoo Opole in Poland).

Given the limited number of animals that must be in must be in European, I wonder about the genetic wisdom of maintaining three separate populations.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Given the limited number of animals that must be in must be in European, I wonder about the genetic wisdom of maintaining three separate populations.

The Kerr's are a recent import, having arrived in 2018, and as noted *are* kept distinct from the non-subspecifics at Hamerton. Conversely, I don't know much about the origin of the animals at Opole other than the fact I think they were imported around a decade ago; as such it is entirely possible that Opole-bred stock has dispersed to other collections keeping non-subspecific animals.

Not counting these, there are several dozen individuals (from a rough mental arithmetic, at least 70 animals) scattered across 23 European public collections (7 continental and 16 in the UK) and a few private collections, several of which are regularly breeding..... so I suspect numbers are rather less limited than you assume

 

[MRJ]

The Kerr's are a recent import, having arrived in 2018, and as noted *are* kept distinct from the non-subspecifics at Hamerton. Conversely, I don't know much about the origin of the animals at Opole other than the fact I think they were imported around a decade ago; as such it is entirely possible that Opole-bred stock has dispersed to other collections keeping non-subspecific animals.

Not counting these, there are several dozen individuals (from a rough mental arithmetic, at least 70 animals) scattered across 23 European public collections (7 continental and 16 in the UK) and a few private collections, several of which are regularly breeding..... so I suspect numbers are rather less limited than you assume

Well, 70 is not a genetically significant number either, and as the "Kerr" population is most likely genetically doomed anyway then adding them to the mix would seem to me to be a sensible action.

It would be interesting to know the history of the "Kerr" population as to where they originated. I'm not aware of anyone specifically managing populations of long-nosed potoroos here. My assumption is that mainland zoo animals are most likely from mainland wild populations and visa versa for Tasmania, although I could be wrong. Is it possible Hamilton have been "spun a line"? I say this because I've never heard them called "Kerr's potoroos" before, so wonder who made this up?

 

[Maguari]

So what is a "pure Kerr'" as against a generic potoroo. There are two subspecies of potoroo, mainland and Tasmanian. Kerr did describe the long-nosed potoroo, so I guess you could use Kerr's potoroo as a common-name synonym for long-nosed potoroo, but otherwise I am at a loss to understand what is being referred to here.

The name is being used as a term for pure nominate, as opposed to the non-subspecific and/or unknown origin population otherwise present in Europe (barring a single group of Tasmanian at Zoo Opole in Poland).

Indeed - I stuck with the name as it was already used in-thread and is the English name used on Zootierliste. It just basically refers to these animals being (theoretically at least) known nominate animals instead of the presumed unknown origins of the main population.

Well, 70 is not a genetically significant number either, and as the "Kerr" population is most likely genetically doomed anyway then adding them to the mix would seem to me to be a sensible action.

It would be interesting to know the history of the "Kerr" population as to where they originated.

The import was 2.3 from Darling Downs as per Zootierliste (though that might not mean they were DD animals originally). As you say, I'd have thought unless there are to be more imports they will need to be folded into the wider population at some point, but for now at least I believe they are separate.

It's also worth noting that Hamerton is no stranger to importing animals for their display/education value in the short-to-mid- term even if populations are small (or tiny - see Common Ring-tailed Possums, Aardwolves, etc) and realistically dependent on hypothetical later imports/exchanges for any kind of long-term project.

 

[Dassie rat]

According to ZTL, the following species of Macropodidae have been kept in the UK:
London kept the following species: antilopine and Woodward's wallaroos; Kangaroo Island western and Tasmanian eastern grey kangaroos; black-striped, pretty-faced, western brush and eastern red-necked wallabies; Rothschild's rock wallaby; bridled, northern and crescent nail-tailed wallabies; rufous, short-eared and banded hare wallabies; red-necked pademelon and Bennett's and Vogelkop tree kangaroos.
The agile wallaby was kept at Blackpool, Chester, South Lakes and London. The parma wallaby was kept at 32 collections. The red-necked wallaby was kept at 40 collections and the Tasmanian red-necked wallaby at 26.
The tammar wallaby was kept at Chester, South Lakes, Edinburgh, Knowsley, London and Belle Vue.
The red kangaroo was kept at 13 collections.
The eastern wallaroo was kept at Belle Vue, Colchester, Linton, London and Marwell and the western Australian wallaroo at Blackpool, Gatwick and London.
The eastern grey kangaroo was kept at Dudley, Knowsley and London.
The black-faced kangaroo was kept at Bristol, Chester, Tilgate, Dudley, Whipsnade, London, Twycross and Marwell.
The brush-tailed rock wallaby was kept at Belfast, Blackpool, South Lakes, London, Twycross and Haigh Hall.
The swamp wallaby was kept at London and South Lakes.
The brown-striped dorcopsis was kept at London and R.S.C.C.
The grizzled tree kangaroo and yellow-footed rock wallabies were kept at Bristol and London.
The Doria's tree kangaroo was kept at Blackpool and Twycross. The Goodfellow's and Matschie's tree kangaroos and grey docropsis were kept at Blackpool and London.
The dusky pademelon was kept at Blackpool, Glasgow, London, Paignton and R.S.C.C. The red-bellied pademelon was kept at Chester and London.
The quokka was kept at Blackpool, Bristol, Chester, Edinburgh, London and Jersey.

 

[Jambi]

While I've seen the koalas at Edinburh Zoo a couple of times, I've never seen a wombat and for a long time I didn't know if any UK zoos kept them, so it's good to hear at least a couple do keep them. That being said, Hamerton Zoo does look quite remote on Google Maps and I don't have a car, so I'm not sure how I would get there. Longleat has been one of my bucket list zoos since I was a kid and watched their BBC docuseries, but again it looks like it's quite hard to get to from where I live.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I've never seen a wombat and for a long time I didn't know if any UK zoos kept them, so it's good to hear at least a couple do keep them

It's quite a recent development - until Hamerton obtained the species in 2018 there had been no wombats in the UK since the last one at London in 1989.

That being said, Hamerton Zoo does look quite remote on Google Maps and I don't have a car, so I'm not sure how I would get there.

Nor do I - but I've managed to get there several times now it's simple enough to reach as long as one is reasonably fit and you have good weather. Train to Peterborough, bus from there to Sawtry, then a 3.5 mile walk (and a very pleasant one too!) along a country lane to the zoo.