A second white rhino a female has been born at the park this year.
New baby white rhino born at Disney's Animal Kingdom | Theme Parks - WESH Home
New baby white rhino born at Disney's Animal Kingdom | Theme Parks - WESH Home
Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park News from Disney's Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter kiang
- Start date
It seems the AZA has indeed resumed lion-tailed macaque breeding:
Wildlife Wednesday: Rare Lion-Tailed Macaques Join Disney’s Animal Kingdom
The male came from Detroit, there are 1.3 in total.
Wildlife Wednesday: Rare Lion-Tailed Macaques Join Disney’s Animal Kingdom
The male came from Detroit, there are 1.3 in total.
Where on the Jungle Trek are the macaques located? Was the former tapir exhibit revamped for them?
A welcome development.
I believe it is near, if not in, the former tapir exhibit. The best description I've heard from those who've seen it is that it is early in the trail before you reach the bats - which is pretty much where the tapir was.
So glad that it seems another AZA institution is working on breeding the species after the lack of interest/fear of disease that seems to the precipitous decline in lion-tailed macaques in North American collections.
A keeper's comment on a Facebook page that the above link was posted on. The comment was something along the lines of "Yep, that's our boy and his German girls" (in response to someone else) so it seems that the females were imported from Germany. I don't know how recently, though.
A blog post from a Disney blog I read says that the 3 females are from Cologne and the male is from a zoo in Colorado. No attribution given, but the website is usually very accurate with Disney news. Also, pictures in that article do make it look like the macaque exhibit is located on the site of the former tapir exhibit.
PHOTOS: New Monkey Exhibit Opens at Animal Kingdom - WDW News Today
@Kifaru Bwana and @jibster : Yes, it is a very welcome development indeed. The Old World Monkey TAG is hoping to re-establish the population by importing breeding-age animals from Europe and DAK has so far been the first one to do so. The male from the US is old, but not quite senescent yet so this is probably their attempt to salvage any unique genes from the old US population as they can. They are hoping that as the old non-reproductive macaques die, they will be able to fill their spaces with young imported animals. It's a good plan, but I fear that even by doing that they will lose a considerable amount of space as zoos fill them with more easily acquired animals and develop master plans that don't include the lion-tails.
There is also talk about cooperating with Indian zoos, which would bring very beneficial gene diversity to the European/North American population and hopefully lead to a worldwide collaborative program.
There is also talk about cooperating with Indian zoos, which would bring very beneficial gene diversity to the European/North American population and hopefully lead to a worldwide collaborative program.
This is all great news. I'm not sure how many programs that once had lion-tails have phased them out already. I believe Toronto may have, and I think Cincinnati's plan is to phase out once the few individuals left have died off (or at least it was the plan if I'm remembering correctly). I would imagine San Diego will keep the species if it can source reproductive-age individuals (it fits perfectly geographically with the sun bears - of course, given the problems with the U.S. sun bear population, who knows what will happen to that whole area in the years to come). Beyond that, I'm not sure. Anyone know anything else specific about the current status of the species in U.S. collections?
The photos posted in the blog link above confirm that this new monkey exhibit has been built in the space of the former Malayan tapir and former crane (I forget which species) exhibit. It has been enclosed in a steel-pole and draped mesh arrangement, with 2 themed viewing shelters with glass windows replacing the former open viewing areas across moats. It looks like a renovation worthy of the excellent theming and design of this exhibit complex.
I kind of figured - thank you.
And yes, it's great that the species is seemingly now here to stay in the AZA. They're such a unique primate.
Cincinnati has already disposed of their last remaining macaques, and their exhibit is now home to their last three Gray's crowned guenons. I am unsure as to whether or not they'd ever be interested in going back into the species or not.
The current state of lion-tailed macaques in the United States is as follows:
Maryland Zoo: 1.1
Baton Rouge Zoo: 1.0
Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens: 1.0
Disney's Animal Kingdom: 1.3
El Paso Zoo: 0.3
Hattiesburg Zoo: 1.2
Jackson Zoo: 1.0
Kansas City Zoo: 1.2
Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo: 1.1
Prospect Park Zoo: 2.0
San Diego Zoo: 2.6
Woodland Park Zoo: 1.2
Reid Park Zoo: 1.1
I echo the opinion of those posts before mine, and I, too, am very glad to see continued interest in this endangered, charismatic, and unique species that is a perfect representative of an equally unique environment.
A deplorable state, one might observe, the lion-tailed macaque population is in in AZA zoos!
How did it ever come to that one wonders (…. the mind boggles …).
I remember the time when the species was more numerous, whereas some of your Canadian cousins had large breeding groups of these (Toronto and Winnipeg f.i.).
How did it ever come to that one wonders (…. the mind boggles …).
I remember the time when the species was more numerous, whereas some of your Canadian cousins had large breeding groups of these (Toronto and Winnipeg f.i.).
Thanks for the info, Kudu. That shows how dire the species' condition in the U.S. was. Are any of the females (other than Animal Kingdom's three new ones) still of reproductive age? And anyone know what the Old World monkey TAG RCP has to say about the species? I thought I had found the most recent RCP online, but I can't seem to find anything now. I'd like to think that the TAG (and at least some of the institutions still holding the species) hasn't written off lion-tails yet.
@Kifaru Bwana : Many zoos started phasing out macaques in the 1980's and 1990's, partially because of fears about herpes B virus and partially just lack of interest (they require more and different space than other monkeys, and are not as popular or charismatic as mandrills, baboons, or apes).
@jibster : I have access to the most recent RCP which was written in 2013. For lion-tailed macaques, it basically outlines what I stated before: the population is almost entirely post-reproductive (with the youngest males near senescence, and no reproductive-aged females) and many zoos are phasing them out when they die. The TAG has not given up on them, they hope to fill macaque spaces with European imports as the post-reproductive group pass on. DAK is only the first institution to do so (although it's actually a new species for them), hopefully more will follow suit in the next 5-10 years as the geriatric population dies out.
Unfortunately, it remains to be seen if there will even be space for one tropical macaque species, and so the Sulawesi crested macaque is being phased out permanently despite being endangered as well.
@jibster : I have access to the most recent RCP which was written in 2013. For lion-tailed macaques, it basically outlines what I stated before: the population is almost entirely post-reproductive (with the youngest males near senescence, and no reproductive-aged females) and many zoos are phasing them out when they die. The TAG has not given up on them, they hope to fill macaque spaces with European imports as the post-reproductive group pass on. DAK is only the first institution to do so (although it's actually a new species for them), hopefully more will follow suit in the next 5-10 years as the geriatric population dies out.
Unfortunately, it remains to be seen if there will even be space for one tropical macaque species, and so the Sulawesi crested macaque is being phased out permanently despite being endangered as well.
Thanks for the update, Coelacanth. That's what I thought I had heard/read about lion-tails. Good to know that there is a plan to bring in younger individuals once the older individuals pass on - I just hope not too many institutions follow the example of Cincinnati and eliminate the species altogether as their populations dwindle.
While it would be nice to see another tropical macaque species, the Sulawesi macaque is in good position in European zoos, so I'd almost rather see a different tropical macaque species added to American collections (not that I can think of any suitable at the moment). But it seems that there is no institutional interest in maintaining any more than the one species, so I think we'll just see Japanese and lion-tails maintained in American collections.
I checked AZA and only recently was even a new studbook keeper assigned (Kansas City Zoo). There is no studbook nor an SSP document as yet.
@Kifaru Bwana: Only people with AZA memberships can access those documents. There is a studbook and an SSP document and they are both up to date as of this year.
Last edited:
Fine.