Old elephant exhibit, am I missing something here?
Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2020
- Thread starter Jambo
- Start date
Old elephant exhibit, am I missing something here?
Zoos Victoria are following this plan, where species must meet one of four criteria to remain (or be accepted into) the collection:
When Melbourne Zoo's maned wolf died a couple of years ago, he was not replaced. The zoo now has four strict categories for its animal collection, and the maned wolf didn't fit into any of them. The categories are ''recovery'' (endangered species being bred then released in the wild); ''ark'' (endangered species being bred and held until there is a safe wilderness to release them into); ''ambassador'' (animals that are the public face of a conservation campaign, such as gorillas and mobile phone recycling); and ''enabling'' (popular animals that help attract visitors to the zoo, such as meerkats).
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/habitat-or-humbug-20130716-2q253.html
Looking at the species list of other major zoos in the region, it appears most are at least loosely following this plan.
This is very bad news for the future, regarding Melbourne zoos animal collection, if this policy is upheld in a decade places such as the Great Flight Avairy and Reptile house would have almost no use for existing, zoos Victoria are getting more wack, why does a single genetically identical population of Brush Tailed Rock Wallabies matter more than so many species, why does Melbourne Zoo keep filling its space with playgrounds and repeated exhibits?. Why does Werribee zoo have such a barren species list and convoluted layout?
The last two categories are only for charismastic animals, the second one only applies in desperate situations and the first one only applies to endangered natives which should be at Healesville not Melbourne, charismatic megafauna and Phillipine Crocodiles, other than that Zoos Victoria doesn’t care about other species conservation.
This mentality completely matches with a shocking revelation I found out at the VHS reptile expo, that the Victorian Government are phasing out ALMOST ALL exotic reptiles from the state in the major institutions, I talked to some officials about the issue of low exotic reptilian and amphibian diversity in Zoos Victoria and they bluntly stated that they are phasing out exotics.
The quality of native reptiles at Melbourne zoo is also poor, if I can go to a reptile expo and see every native reptile species on display at the zoo except for, Coastal Taipan and Striped Legless Lizard then something is amiss.
Even worse is both with reptiles and mammals, Melbourne zoo keeps their most interesting species such as emperor tamarins, rainbow boa, Kenyan sand boa, king snake, crucifix toad, Golden Lion Tamarins.
Always off display. Its almost they want people to believe that if you aren’t charismatic, a Coati or a phillipine crocodile or your not native and endangered that you don’t exist.
Thank you so much @Zoofan15 for sharing this piece of information and allowing me to connect the dots of all the information I’ve been obtaining.
This then explains a lot what a very poor outlook for our major zoos they will end up looking like a poor mans collection a laughing stock for overseas zoos, this could explain why its taking so long to complete the IRAs for wanted species which is taking years.
You do realise that the link and quote is from a newspaper article from 2013? It isn't a direct statement from the zoo, it is what the author of the article has decided to put in the article out of the information they have been given or interpreted. But even if this was directly from the zoo, any species can fit into those categories. It is just conservation public-speak.
With the exception of
No I didn’t realise it wasn’t a direct statement, my bad.
However, not any species will fit into those categories I still agree with what I placed up there, as with the exception of the Mexican Cantil, all species they have acquired or phased out have matched with what I have interpreted as well as what I experienced at the reptile expo.
No I didn’t realise it wasn’t a direct statement, my bad.
However, not any species will fit into those categories I still agree with what I placed up there, as with the exception of the Mexican Cantil, all species they have acquired or phased out have matched with what I have interpreted as well as what I experienced at the reptile expo.
Of course they can. If it is an endangered species (or even just "rare") it can fit into "recovery" or "ark". Literally any other species can be fitted into "ambassador" or "enabler" if the zoo wanted to display them.
They won’t at least on the reptile front, because they are phasing out exotic reptiles from what the authorities at the Vic department of forests and reserves, told me at the VHS reptile expo.
Temminck’s golden cat and Leopard cat are just two examples of species phased out from Melbourne Zoo that didn’t fit into the four categories. Neither cat is endangered, which precludes it from the first two categories; neither have I seen them associated with a specific conservation campaign; and I’ve never met anyone outside of ZooChat/the zoo industry that would consider ‘the cat you never see’ enabling.
Almost anything regarded as a filler species e.g. Fallow deer don’t fit into the four categories either.
Almost anything regarded as a filler species e.g. Fallow deer don’t fit into the four categories either.
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I am sure there were also other species of cats that were phased out as well like the Clouded Leopards!
More recent species that have been phased out or died with no replacement
Eastern Bongo, Emerald Tree Boa, Baskilisk species, Rock Rattlesnake, Mandrill (they were enablers), Cussarow sp, Binturong, Australian Brush Turkey, Blue peafowl, Brazilian Tapir, Veiled Chameleon, Green Iguana, Forest Cobra and many more.
EDIT: Rothschild Giraffe, Brown Capuchin and Syrian Brown Bear
From the exotic mammals in Australian zoos thread:
*Ebony (Javan) Langur (Trachypithecus auratus)
Melbourne Zoo had a pair in the early-2000s, the male of which died in 2008 and the female in 2010.
That’s why I didn’t know, I was too young to remember
I believe they had a group at one stage!
toothlessjaws
Well-Known Member
All descended from the one breeding pair if I recall correct.
It was a while ago now but I thought it was more!
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A nice bit of footage from the Melbourne Zoo webcams:
Zoos Victoria on Instagram: “Hang on, we thought this was meant to be #AnimalsAtHome? Catch our #KeepersAtHome live stream, starring Keeper Adam by searching …”
10 daily on Twitter
Zoos Victoria on Instagram: “Hang on, we thought this was meant to be #AnimalsAtHome? Catch our #KeepersAtHome live stream, starring Keeper Adam by searching …”
10 daily on Twitter
Three were imported from Singapore Zoo in 2000; I can't see any others.