Where would they go in Asia though? It's not like there's there's obvious exhibit in Asia to put them in, like mixing them with the Tapir if they still had it. I'm sure if an expansion of Mahajarah Jungle Trek ever came to fruition, moving the babirusa to Asia would be strongly considered.
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- Thread starter kiang
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It was turned into the lion-tailed Macaque habitat.
Regarding the fact, that lion-tailed Macaques are a phase-out species in US zoos, DAK should transform the exhibit either into a Sulawesi habitat with Celebes crested macaques and Babirusas (and enlarge it with the entire former space the Malayan tapirs had) or replace it with a "Sumatra enclosure" with Malayan Tapirs and Longtailed Macaques or an "Indochinese Forest" with Malayan Tapirs and François langurs. Another solution would be an Asian Monkey Species with Asian small clawed otters. They already have the later and their current exhibit could be used by South American Giant otters as a new species.
If the zoo was getting rid of lion-tailed macaques due to being a phase out species, why would they be replaced with another species that is either non-existent or phase-out by the AZA? The only Macaque species not being phased out is the Japanese Macaque, which would not be a smart choice for that exhibit. If the zoo wanted to keep Primates in that exhibit, silvered or francois' langur, or moving one of the gibbon species, would be the best choice. I'm not sure moving the ASCOs into that habitat would make sense, but I could see the appeal of something like babirusa, Tapir, warty pigs, lowland anoa, or another small-to-medium Asian ungulate.
Gerenuks don't do well with Florida humidity.
The last time a US zoo mixed a langur with ASCO, the otters drowned a langur...
~Thylo
@Neil chace: I came up with the longtailed macaques because I thought they are still available in the US, not from zoos but from pharma institutions (and zoos could be a retirement place then). But if they aren't available (anymore) even from such institutions, then yes, it won't make sense (specially because their "conservation value" is much lower then the one of Lion-tailed macaques or Sulawesi crested macaques). However, I wish the responsible people would at least one tropical macaque species cancel from their phase-out list.
@Thylo: Ref. Gerenuks: I remember I already heard something like that. I still wonder however, if this is really true or really the only argument. I know that Gerenuks have been kept at Zoo Miami for at least 25 years, and whenever I visited this zoo between 1988 and 2015, they had offspring. Also, afaik, Gerenuks have been held at DAK, Lowry Park Zoo Tampa (and Busch Gardens Tampa?) for years (and also Jacksonville Zoo?) and ARE STILL KEPT at White OAK. Of course: Numerous offspring can still be behind mortality rate.
Ref. drowing accident: This and similar things are a risk you always have when you put different species in one exhibit. The point is to figure out if it was an individual case or not. But I'm (at least) agree, that we should not underestimate the potential danger of Asian small clawed otters so far... So maybe an enclosure with langurs and an ungulate species would be a better solution.
@Thylo: Ref. Gerenuks: I remember I already heard something like that. I still wonder however, if this is really true or really the only argument. I know that Gerenuks have been kept at Zoo Miami for at least 25 years, and whenever I visited this zoo between 1988 and 2015, they had offspring. Also, afaik, Gerenuks have been held at DAK, Lowry Park Zoo Tampa (and Busch Gardens Tampa?) for years (and also Jacksonville Zoo?) and ARE STILL KEPT at White OAK. Of course: Numerous offspring can still be behind mortality rate.
Ref. drowing accident: This and similar things are a risk you always have when you put different species in one exhibit. The point is to figure out if it was an individual case or not. But I'm (at least) agree, that we should not underestimate the potential danger of Asian small clawed otters so far... So maybe an enclosure with langurs and an ungulate species would be a better solution.
I just looked then up, and didn't realize that long-tailed Macaque is the same thing as crab-eating macaques. There are definitely still at least a few US Zoos keeping them. I definitely agree it'd be nice to see a tropical Macaque species maintained by the AZA, but as it stands right now its not exactly realistic, plus I'm not sure how much demand there is more macaques. I'd be perfectly happy seeing the AZA double down on Japanese macaques in Northern zoos, and focus on some of the other primate species in Southern zoos, such as a bigger focus on langurs. But if there was institutional interest, more macaques would not be something I'd complain about.
The zoo announced on Facebook that Grey kangaroos have returned:
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@Neil chace: Thanks for the info. Would be interesting to know if those are Eastern or Western Grey Kangaroos?
They look like the Eastern subspecies from the photos.
They are Western Grey Kangaroos (note the dark brown face) as discussed in the Zoochat Challenge North America thread.
The face looked grey to me at first but after checking once again it does appear your right!
They did used to have Eastern Grey's before. The Red Kangaroos are also no longer there.
Based on my most recent visit, I will confirm that there was at least one red kangaroo on display that I saw at the time of my visit; in addition to the the grey kangaroos that were recently added (the joey included).
I saw at least three red Kangaroos.
You are probably correct on how many red kangaroos that the park has, but from what I saw today. I was only able to see one individual, although I suspected that the other two kangaroos were probably hiding away from guests (given that today was a surprisingly busier day than usual, I could probably see why).
It may have even been four or five that I saw, don't remember completely. But I saw the kangaroos get released into the habitat for the morning and there were certainly at least five total (including both species). And looking back at my photos I have one photo with three red kangaroos in it.
There are three new Western Grey Kangaroos (including the joey), but since it hasn't fully emerged yet and your saying you saw at least five, there would have to be three or more Red Kangaroos remaining.
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