Pinnipeds in Major American Zoos

UngulateNerd92 said:
In the past, the Los Angeles Zoo also kept Grey seals, Cape fur seals, and Northern elephant seal.

San Francisco Zoo and St. Louis Zoo used to keep Baikal seal in the past.

On my last visit to the Brookfield Zoo in 2003, they actually had Northern/Alaska fur seals. Northern/Alaska fur seals have also been kept at the San Diego Zoo, Smithsonian National Zoo, SeaWorld San Diego, New York Aquarium, Seattle Aquarium, and Moody Gardens Aquarium & Rainforest. I don't know if the San Francisco Zoo ever kept them in their current location, but there were captive one(s) kept in Golden Gate Park.

One fascinating species that San Diego Zoo used to keep is the Ribbon seal. There is a photograph of a Ribbon seal at San Diego Zoo in one of my volumes of Walker's Mammals of the World.

Regarding extinct pinniped taxa, the New York Aquarium actually kept Caribbean monk seal. A photograph of this animal is easy to find online.
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Apperently, according to a friend of mine who is an avid zoo historian, San Diego Zoo also kept Baikal seals in the early 1970s, and they were actually kept in the Children's Zoo if you can believe that.

San Diego Zoo also kept South American fur seal, Cape fur seal, Galapagos fur seal, Galapagos sea lion, Steller's sea lion, Northern elephant seal, Guadalupe fur seal, and Ringed seal. When the South American fur seal were imported, it was by accident as they originally intended to import Patagonian sea lions.

In 1935, San Diego Zoo traded a Northern elephant seal with Brookfield Zoo for a Hippopotamus. Brookfield Zoo also kept Steller's sea lions in the past. They traded a Steller's sea lion with Brookfield Zoo for a Sitatunga in the 1940s.
 
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UngulateNerd92 said:
Ah thank you. Did you actually see and photograph the California sea lions in San Antonio and Abilene? If so, would you be willing to post these photos here?
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I don't have photos, only memories from past visits. The Abilene exhibit was very small, and the San Antonio exhibit was where their carousel sits now.
 
pachyderm pro said:
@Neil chace ask and you shall receive. :)

One small correction to @snowleopard's list. While doing this list I remember that Cincinnati no longer has pinnipeds. The lone California Sea Lion they did have died a few years ago and that exhibit has since been demolished.

Zoos:

Audubon - California Sea Lion
Birmingham - California Sea Lion
Bronx - California Sea Lion
Brookfield - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Grey Seal
Central Park - California Sea Lion
Cleveland - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Columbus - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Como Park - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Denver - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Fort Wayne - California Sea Lion
Fresno Chaffee - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Henry Vilas - Harbor Seal
Houston - California Sea Lion
Indianapolis - California Sea Lion, Grey Seal, Pacific Walrus
Kansas City - California Sea Lion
Lincoln Park - Gray Seal, Harbor Seal
Los Angeles - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Louisville - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Grey Seal
Memphis - California Sea Lion
Milwaukee County - California Seal Lion, Harbor Seal
Minnesota - Hawaiian Monk Seal
North Carolina - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Oklahoma City - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Omaha - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Oregon - Steller's Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Pittsburgh - California Sea Lion, Northern Elephant Seal
Point Defiance - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Pacific Walrus
Riverbanks - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Roger Williams Park - Harbor Seal
Saint Louis - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Smithsonian’s National Zoo - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Grey Seal
Toledo - Harbor Seal, Grey Seal
Tulsa - California Sea Lion
Hogle - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Wildlife World - California Sea Lion

Aquariums:
Aquarium of the Pacific - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Georgia Aquarium - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Moody Gardens - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Northern Fur Seal
Mystic Aquarium - Stellers Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Northern Fur Seal, Spotted Seal
New England Aquarium - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Northern Fur Seal
New York Aquarium - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Northern Fur Seal
Oregon Coast Aquarium - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
Seattle Aquarium - Harbor Seal, Northern Fur Seal
SeaWorld Orlando - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Pacific Walrus
SeaWorld San Antonio - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal
SeaWorld San Diego - California Sea Lion, Harbor Seal, Ringed Seal, Guadalupe Fur Seal
Shedd Aquarium - California Sea Lion

Totals:

California Sea Lion Holders: 38
Harbor Seal Holders: 33

HUGE GAP

Grey Seal Holders: 5
Northern Fur Seal Holders: 5
Pacific Walrus Holders: 4
Steller's Sea Lion Holders: 2
Spotted Seal Holders: 1
Guadalupe Fur Seal Holders: 1
Hawaiian Monk Seal Holders: 1
Ringed Seal Holders: 1
Northern Elephant Seal Holders: 1

14 of these facilities keep only one species: Audubon, Birmingham, Bronx, Central Park, Fort Wayne, Henry Vilas, Houston, Kansas City, Memphis, Minnesota, Roger Williams Park, Tulsa, Wildlife World and Shedd Aquarium - the latter being the only aquarium with just one species.

22 of these facilities keep two species: Cleveland, Columbus, Como Park, Denver, Fresno, Lincoln Park, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Riverbanks, Saint Louis, Toledo, Hogle, Aquarium of the Pacific, Georgia Aquarium, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Seattle Aquarium and SeaWorld San Antonio.

9 of these facilities keep three species: Brookfield, Indianapolis, Louisville, Point Defiance, Smithsonian, Moody Gardens, New England Aquarium, New York Aquarium and SeaWorld Orlando.

2 of these facilities keep four species: Mystic Aquarium and SeaWorld San Diego.

Keep in mind all of these numbers only come from the zoos featured in "America's top 100 Zoos and Aquariums." There are of course a ton of other pinnipeds in rescue centers and smaller facilities not featured in the book. The disparity between the numbers of holders between species is vast. California sea lions and harbor seals dominate while the other species have almost no representation in these zoos. In the future I would love to see some more support from the AZA for programs for rarer and endeared pinnipeds in favor of the much better off and more common California sea lion and harbor seal.

EDIT - Posted at the exact same time as @Coelacanth18. I see we have a few minor number differences but only by one or two placements. This seems to help confirm my list as accurate.
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SeaWorld San Diego has Walruses also bringing it to a total of five.
I’ve read in San Diego historical documents one of the workers who collected San Diego’s Guadalupe Fur Seals was the only person at the time who knew which cove the fur seals lived in and refused to give up the location to others.
 
snowleopard said:
However, the lack of diversity is a bit shocking. I've got a master list of between 750 and 800 'zoos' in the United States and to currently only have 3 of those facilities with walruses is really unfortunate. I live an hour away from Vancouver Aquarium and it's common for me to visit and see 4 pinniped species (Steller's sea lion, California sea lion, harbour seal and northern fur seal), but that truly is not the norm. Of the almost 35 pinniped species in the world, American zoos almost exclusively focus on two common types, in the shape of California sea lions and harbour seals. There's only 9 other species in captivity on the continent. In the next couple of decades, perhaps there will only be California sea lions, harbour seals and then not really much else in U.S. zoos and aquariums.
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There's 13 kept in the US currently, not 9.
 
snowleopard said:
In the next couple of decades, perhaps there will only be California sea lions, harbour seals and then not really much else in U.S. zoos and aquariums.
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I'd also expect there to always be some rescues of other species out there, as a lot of facilities like Mystic often keep lots of nonreleasable rescues, such as their spotteds.
 
Always loved seeing the Grey Seal in US collections. Nice to seeing different animal! Seen them at Lincoln Park Zoo (which I'm reading they got them back again), at Toledo Zoo, and also seeing them at Brookfield Zoo.
 
Do other pinniped species besides Harbor Seal and California Sea Lion do very poorly in captivity? I understand the average zoogoer might not care about different species, but its shocking how unrepresented species outside those two are.
 
SusScrofa said:
Do other pinniped species besides Harbor Seal and California Sea Lion do very poorly in captivity? I understand the average zoogoer might not care about different species, but its shocking how unrepresented species outside those two are.
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Gray Seals seem to do ok in facilities as well. The issue for most of the pinniped species that are singletons in facilities, is that they were rescue animals and there really is not a sustainable captive breeding population. I do think that the walrus is an example of a pinniped that did well in captivity, but the breeding plans were historically mismanaged/not well understood and we now have a pretty much unsustainable population. Rescues can improve the gene pool for the walrus, and the latest breeding colony management system should help, but I don't know that we will see a rebound in the overall captive population.
 
It should be noted that Roger Williams Park Zoo does not have harbor seals anymore for the time being, they sent their last one to Woods Hole
 
SusScrofa said:
Do other pinniped species besides Harbor Seal and California Sea Lion do very poorly in captivity? I understand the average zoogoer might not care about different species, but its shocking how unrepresented species outside those two are.
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Depends on the pinniped species. Animals like Stellers Sea Lion and Ringed Seals do perfectly fine in captivity but animals like leopard seals and elephant seals have issues in captivity. The reason California Sea Lions are more prevalent in captivity is because they were part of a captive breeding program where they were endangered.
 
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