Sandgrouse in captivity

Z

Zoovolunteer

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Recently I was fortunate enough to see both Black-bellied and Pintailed Sandgrouse in the wild in Spain. On Zootierliste the only sandgrouse in Europe in a zoo are in Spain, with Pintailed Sandgrouse listed at el Escorial. I have found a reference to captive breeding of Black-Bellied Sandgrouse, and given their seed based diet they do not sound a species that would be impossible to maintain, so I was wondering the reason they appear so rare in captivity. Are there any in the US or Asia?
 
Zoo Miami has them in a smallish aviary in the Africa section, but I'm not sure which species. That aviary is divided into two halves. The half the sandgrouse is in also includes a magpie shrike, a bustard, and an African hornbill (don't recall the species for either), and I think a fifth species of bird I'm forgetting (I was too excited by the sandgrouse and magpie shrike.)

The other half includes Livingstone's turacos, blue-naped mousebirds, and some sort of fowl that I don't remember because I was too excited about the turacos (not all that uncommon but beautiful) and the mousebird (blue napes are very uncommon in zoos).

I think that tiny aviary might be the single most underrated exhibit in the Miami Zoo.
 
Not quite the case, there's quite a bit more species kept in Europe. None of them are well-established, though. From ZTL, using their most recent figures:

Pterocles alchata: 1,1 in Dresden, 3,4 in Akatovo, x,x in St.Primus
Pterocles alchata alchata: x,x in El Escorial
Pterocles exustus: 2,2 in Heidelberg, 2,2 in Dvur Kralove
Pterocles exustus erlangeri: 2,1 in Antwerp, 1,2 in Prague
Pterocles quadricinctus: 2,0 in Prague
 
Va
Vision said:
Not quite the case, there's quite a bit more species kept in Europe. None of them are well-established, though. From ZTL, using their most recent figures:

Pterocles alchata: 1,1 in Dresden, 3,4 in Akatovo, x,x in St.Primus
Pterocles alchata alchata: x,x in El Escorial
Pterocles exustus: 2,2 in Heidelberg, 2,2 in Dvur Kralove
Pterocles exustus erlangeri: 2,1 in Antwerp, 1,2 in Prague
Pterocles quadricinctus: 2,0 in Prague[/QUOTE

Various Sandgrouse species have been bred in zoos and private collections over the years, and do not seem to be particularly difficult. It may be that the fact that none has been firmly established in aviculture, reflects a lack of sustained effort.
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