Mongoose madness: mongoose species and exhibits in zoos

Great Argus said:
Problem is getting permission to import them. Then too the three main species we have are social, thus making them more attractive than many others that live alone.

And let's be honest, the public messes up IDs all the time. I once heard a bobcat kitten called a tiger, lion, jaguar, and lynx within the space of about 15 minutes. Nobody thought of the cat that was actually local to the area, or the fact the kitten looked nothing like some of the suggestions. Hawks are eagles, wallabies are kangaroos, and every snake is venomous. :p
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And spoonbills are platypuses
 
Great Argus said:
Problem is getting permission to import them. Then too the three main species we have are social, thus making them more attractive than many others that live alone.

And let's be honest, the public messes up IDs all the time. I once heard a bobcat kitten called a tiger, lion, jaguar, and lynx within the space of about 15 minutes. Nobody thought of the cat that was actually local to the area, or the fact the kitten looked nothing like some of the suggestions. Hawks are eagles, wallabies are kangaroos, and every snake is venomous. :p
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No. Every snake is POISONOUS. Ugh.
 
Westcoastperson said:
or spoonbills are ducks, all colorful birds are parrots.
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I've heard someone call an emu a "big duck" once. Worst one though is when someone called an African spurthigh tortoise a "kitty". At least that second one was a relatively young child, but still...
 
I think the most common one I have ever heard is that all Lions are from Africa, I mean the lack of Asiatic Lions in zoos doesn't but it's still disapointing.
 
Westcoastperson said:
I think the most common one I have ever heard is that all Lions are from Africa, I mean the lack of Asiatic Lions in zoos doesn't but it's still disapointing.
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I can bring up something sadder which I might’ve already said on another thread before.

in Turkey I saw a visitor read the sign for the vulturine guineafowl half way and then call them vultures.

Anyways we are getting off topic here
 
Coelacanth18 said:
I'd be interested to hear about why you think this @Westcoastperson :) in your opinion, what necessitates our zoos needing or getting benefit from more mongoose representation?
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Just in general I enjoy species diversity in zoos to create a wider understanding of species in the wild. Somewhat like what I said with the Asiatic Lions and African Lions, more Asiatic lions would help create a better understanding that there are lions outside of Africa. A good example of this is the Asian and African Elephants which have a good balance in zoos. This lets people know that Elephants are just constricted to Africa. So while mongoose and meerkats aren't as large as lions and elephants the same idea applies, more diversity better understanding. Also I think kids would love to watch dwarf or Javan mongooses run around.
 
Westcoastperson said:
Somewhat like what I said with the Asiatic Lions and African Lions, more Asiatic lions would help create a better understanding that there are lions outside of Africa. A good example of this is the Asian and African Elephants which have a good balance in zoos. This lets people know that Elephants are just constricted to Africa.
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I see your point about widening the educational perspective, but is there specific benefit to having visitors know that lions or elephants come from multiple continents or that there are more than 3 species of mongoose? I agree generally that taxonomic representation is good (1 mongoose > 0 mongooses), but my thought would be that keeping more species of every animal wouldn't necessarily do more to make meaningful connections between people and their appreciation or understanding of the natural world. This would be in addition to it being more difficult to sustain each population because of space limitations.

Additionally, most zoos would only keep 1-2 species of mongoose anyway, just as most only keep one species of elephant. Given that most zoo visitors probably only visit their local zoo 99% of the time, that doesn't seem to expose them to more diversity in the way you're suggesting.

Westcoastperson said:
Also I think kids would love to watch dwarf or Javan mongooses run around.
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Fortunately Dwarf is the second-most common species in the US after Meerkat, and I suspect you are right on this.
 
Great Argus said:
I believe you mean "aren't just constricted to Africa"?
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Sorry that's what I meant
Coelacanth18 said:
I see your point about widening the educational perspective, but is there specific benefit to having visitors know that lions or elephants come from multiple continents or that there are more than 3 species of mongoose? I agree generally that taxonomic representation is good (1 mongoose > 0 mongooses), but my thought would be that keeping more species of every animal wouldn't necessarily do more to make meaningful connections between people and their appreciation or understanding of the natural world. This would be in addition to it being more difficult to sustain each population because of space limitations.

Additionally, most zoos would only keep 1-2 species of mongoose anyway, just as most only keep one species of elephant. Given that most zoo visitors probably only visit their local zoo 99% of the time, that doesn't seem to expose them to more diversity in the way you're suggesting.
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I think what I was trying to say was that more diversity in different zoos can be a good thing. Like one zoo having Asiatic and another having African, same can be said with elephants. When people travel to different cities to vacation or see families they will see different species from their home zoos and discover different species, which would be ideal. This idea could have variations of ABC animals from different species of giraffes all the way to an entirely different selection of African Savvanah ungulates. So variating ABC animals in large zoos that get visitors from out of town, like San Diego Zoo, could be really helpful to expand the publics' idea of animals in the wild. And even if they don't travel to other zoos their local zoos can still mix it up, maybe by keeping regular ostriches, zebras, and giraffes in their African section then throwing a curveball with having Asiatic Lions.
 
@Westcoastperson I understand that having more species can teach people about diversity and potentially expand their knowledge. I still don't understand your reasoning behind the why, though. How does making people aware of more individual species make them care more about wildlife, or teach them the value of it, or influence them to behave in ways that help conserve it? And what do you think about the potential issues around keeping more species in smaller numbers, and why this education bit is worth that risk?
 
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