Marsupials in UK zoos

PrimateKid

PrimateKid

Well-Known Member
Hey this is my first thread so here goes!

Wondering if there has ever been/ still are Marsupials like tasmanian devils, wombats and numbats in any UK zoos - Just a matter of interest!:D Also are there any zoos in the Surrey area appart from Birdworld??

James
 
Pretty certain there are no wombats or taz devils.
 
I think the last Tasmanian devils were kept in the midnight world nocturnal area of the Clore pavillion at London zoo about 20 years ago, and i think the last common wombat or any kind of wombat was held at Marwell again about 20 years ago.
 
The only zoo in europe, who is keeping tasmanian devils at this time, is copenhagen. Wombats can be seen at Duisburg,Hannover and Planckendael, and Numbats only in australian zoos.
 
Aye, Marwell's last wombat, who was called Willie or something similar, died in 1985.
 
I think numbats would be too hard to keep in Europe because they eat termites.
 
@Pat. And what are Anteaters and Aadvarks are eating ? Both species are being kept in British zoos ! And I'm sure, the australian zoos dosn't feed termites to their numbats.
 
PrimateKid said:
Hey this is my first thread so here goes!

Wondering if there has ever been/ still are Marsupials like tasmanian devils, wombats and numbats in any UK zoos - Just a matter of interest!:D Also are there any zoos in the Surrey area appart from Birdworld??

James
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Hello and welcome, im from hampshire

As for surrey, there is always chessington near by! and then i guess the other nearest ones are in london...

PS: we have been told not to use out first names, just to let you know.
 
Zebraduiker said:
@Pat. And what are Anteaters and Aadvarks are eating ? Both species are being kept in British zoos ! And I'm sure, the australian zoos dosn't feed termites to their numbats.
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Anteaters in captivity eat a 'porridge' of fruit, milk, honey, dog food, eggs, water & peat, whilst Aardvarks can go on a diet of minced meat, dog pellets and certain vegetables quite happily; when it comes to Numbats, they won't accept any supplements, being true termite eaters.
 
London still had a Wombat as late as 1985. It was in what is now a small outdoor callitricidd cage at the back of the clore on the top level, with an indoor exhibit adjacent.

I'm pretty sure there were either devils and/or wombats at twycross/blackpool in maybe the 1970s, when both were known for fairly impressive collections of marsupials.

There is quite a diverse range of oppossums and gliders in the UK now, but they are rarely shown in zoos. What happened to London's leadbeater's oppossums? Did any move into private hands, or did they just die out?
 
@ Marwell Dalek. Its absoultly impossible to feed numbats in captivity completly with ants or termites, so they get also a spare food, which theyy accept and they doing very well with it. Sydney and Perth have bred numbats several times. The australian zoos feed them like echidnas and with food similar to an anteater receipe.
 
There is apparently only one Leadbeater's possum in captivity - an individual in a US zoo. The international program was gradually wound down and there are none currently in captivity in Australia. There has been some talk about starting it up again (in Aust) however.

Numbats actually do fine on a substitute diet, like most myremecivorous (I think that would be the word) animals. The diet is mostly a 'custard-based' mix with sand. However Perth Zoo (who took over from the WA's Conservation and Land Management program) found that to actually breed numbats that you need to add a healthy proportion (sorry, cannot remember the %) of native termites to the mix. The termites are harvested from local areas and managed captively, but need to be replaced. Numbats have only been kept successfully at Perth and Alice Springs, although I know Taronga kept some in the 70s. They are not the easiest species to breed and Perth's breeding program is strictly for release so there is zero chance of seeing them outside Australia. Likewise there are few echidnas (abeit monotremes, not marsupials) in captivity because of the difficulty of breeding on a captive diet.

There have been a wider variety of marsupial species kept in European and US zoos in the past, but largely due to Australia's strict export/import and quarantine laws there has been little restocking as the numbers decreased. Oddly enough koalas are one of the few species that have increased, largely to determined breeding in the US and Japan.
 
The most suitable diet for anteaters, now widely used, is a blend of one part feline pellets to two parts leaf-eater primate pellets (both Mazuri) with water to produce a consistency of thick milkshake.
 
Paradoxurus said:
The most suitable diet for anteaters, now widely used, is a blend of one part feline pellets to two parts leaf-eater primate pellets (both Mazuri) with water to produce a consistency of thick milkshake.
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Actually that was something I missed in my initial message. The previously mentioned diet - featuring raw eggs and minced meat is very high in protein and I believe caused problems in managing anteaters in the past.
 
Thanks guys!! All very interesting!! :) Shame theres no other zoos in surrey tho... AnyWays thanks again!!:D
 
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