"Savanna" exhibits for Asian ungulates

Jarne said:
Mostly US states and Australia I believe.
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Neil chace said:
Also, I mis-worded what I said a little. A lot of US states, but not all, have an all-inclusive ban on transporting cervids over state lines (that AZA zoos are not exempt from). Exemptions can be made for something like a Pudu or Muntjac, but not for larger species which makes conservation programs very difficult. Someone else might be able to talk more in depth on this, and I think there might be another thread talking about this as well.
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Do you know which states because San Diego Safari park has some Asian Deer species and held Saiga for a long time and Bronx has Pere Davids deer
 
Westcoastperson said:
Do you know which states because San Diego Safari park has some Asian Deer species and held Saiga for a long time and Bronx has Pere Davids deer
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I don't have a full list, and I also don't know how many states. I do know my home state of Massachusetts is one if the states with a ban on the transport of Deer though.
 
Where do the Deer & Antelope Play?: A Look at America's Ungulate Populations
This thread discusses some of the rules on cervids.
Coelacanth18 said:
Biosecurity protocols related to ungulates and livestock in the US have led to very restrictive import laws. For deer, the presence of chronic wasting disease in our wild populations has led to a complete ban on import of deer from virtually every other country as well as severe restrictions on moving them across state borders. Frankly, the fact that a few exotic deer programs are still hanging on is already remarkable.
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ThylacineAlive said:
It's quite sad how badly captive deer populations have suffered due to CWD restrictions, though I agree it is remarkable how many programs are still surviving. The fact that the Barasingha, Pere David's Deer, Southern Pudu, and even muntjac programs have grown is excellent news overall. I know muntjac in particular are often one of the species singled out by CWD legislation which is probably a bit surprising given how common they are both in zoos and even in the private trade.

Incidentally, CWD restrictions are something I was just looking into yesterday as well. Simply put, there are only 2 US states that have no written laws specifically referring to CWD. These are Nevada and Washington*, who, in general, banned the keeping of captive deer for seemingly unrelated reasons before CWD restrictions started being implemented in 2002. Additionally, there are 32 states that have some form of regulation that restricts the importation, transfer, and/or keeping of captive cervids to varying degrees of severity. The most common regulation I found was states requiring a 5 year quarantine period of all animals planned to be moved across state lines as well as for all other animals kept in the herd. The remaining 16 states in the US have implemented a ban on the importation (and sometimes even the keeping) of captive cervids to some degree. Some states only ban certain species (native species and all Cervus and Muntiacus species tend to be the most universally banned, though sometimes muntjacs are permitted), though most states ban all cervids from moving into their state lines. Many states also require testing and permitting to even move deer within the state.

As you can imagine, all of these restrictions make it extremely difficult to manage deer programs, especially when these restrictions also pertains to simply transporting deer through states which inhibits zoos' abilities to transport animals between them for breeding. For example, I know the newest legislation passed in Louisiana has meant that the Audubon can no longer ship their Barasingha out of state, meaning the portion of the population kept between the zoo and breeding center are trapped there until further notice.

It's no surprise really that most zoos have simply given up on keeping exotic deer as a result of all this, as sad as that is. I know California and New York have particularly lax (and in my opinion very sound) regulations, both allowing animals planned for import to be tested immediately prior to transport as well as upon arrival in a quarantined setting, so this is why one will find the two major hubs of Asian deer in America to be the Bronx Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. These two zoos almost single-handedly manage multiple Asian hoofstock populations between them, including the non-AZA North Indian Muntjac program. I know Bronx alone has roughly half the Barasingha in the United States.
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Not to be a burden but anyone have an updated list of Asian hoof stock and birds that may be viable for an American Asian Savannah exhibit? And which species may be able to fit into an acre, maybe even an acre and a half of space? I was thinking maybe one large species like Indian Rhino or banteng along smaller species like Pere David's deer, blackbuck, Sarus cranes, and bar headed geese, or maybe limiting it to two large species like Indian rhinos and banteng. I know Omaha has Indian Rhinos with Père David’s deer, but I don’t know how large their exhibit is.
 
BenFoxster said:
Not to be a burden but anyone have an updated list of Asian hoof stock and birds that may be viable for an American Asian Savannah exhibit? And which species may be able to fit into an acre, maybe even an acre and a half of space? I was thinking maybe one large species like Indian Rhino or banteng along smaller species like Pere David's deer, blackbuck, Sarus cranes, and bar headed geese, or maybe limiting it to two large species like Indian rhinos and banteng. I know Omaha has Indian Rhinos with Père David’s deer, but I don’t know how large their exhibit is.
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Quote '' The new Indian rhino area includes a state-of-the-art 3,800 square-foot barn featuring four-foot deep mulch flooring, a scale, diet prep area and four stalls, one of which is an area to be used by animal care staff to perform veterinary procedures. The barn also has skylights, two overhead doors for fresh air, infrared heating, hydraulic doors, two points of entry to the outdoor areas and overhead showers that will help keep the rhinos’ skin moist during dry Nebraska winters. Attached to the barn is an outdoor off-exhibit patio area.

Two outdoor yards, one 3,200 square feet and another 21,500 square feet, will allow for both rhinos to be outside, but kept separate when needed. The rhinos rotate between the two yards, giving each the opportunity to enjoy both areas. Follow the edge of the grasslands habitat, with multiple viewing and artifact discovery opportunities along the way, ultimately completing the Asian Highlands journey and transect through central and northern Asia. ''/Quote
From the henry doorly zoos website
 
Tapirus Lar said:
Quote '' The new Indian rhino area includes a state-of-the-art 3,800 square-foot barn featuring four-foot deep mulch flooring, a scale, diet prep area and four stalls, one of which is an area to be used by animal care staff to perform veterinary procedures. The barn also has skylights, two overhead doors for fresh air, infrared heating, hydraulic doors, two points of entry to the outdoor areas and overhead showers that will help keep the rhinos’ skin moist during dry Nebraska winters. Attached to the barn is an outdoor off-exhibit patio area.

Two outdoor yards, one 3,200 square feet and another 21,500 square feet, will allow for both rhinos to be outside, but kept separate when needed. The rhinos rotate between the two yards, giving each the opportunity to enjoy both areas. Follow the edge of the grasslands habitat, with multiple viewing and artifact discovery opportunities along the way, ultimately completing the Asian Highlands journey and transect through central and northern Asia. ''/Quote
From the henry doorly zoos website
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Thanks Tapirus, this is a huge help!
 
Disney's Animal kingdom has a smallish savannah that currently houses water buffalo, black buck, sarus crane, as well as swan and bar headed geese. used to also house, eld's deer, bantang, and Green peafowl. The buffalo also has two connected habitats for Indian rhinos and axis deer, but used to have gaur and Indian peafowl
 
I believe that in the Chester zoo zonal plan there will be a foothills section for that type of habitat.
Chester already have a lot of grassland dwelling asian ungulates, i line could possibly look like this:
Indian Rhino, Burmese Brow-Antlered Deer, Bactrian Camel, Persian Onager, Prewalski's Horse, Indian Gaur, Indian Muntjac, Nilgai, Blackbuck, Hog Deer, Sambar Deer, Barasingah
 
Solo Safari in Indonesia have a a decently-large exhibit that have a mix of Javan rusa deer, chital, Bawean deer, blackbuck, and nilgai. Several electric wires separated them from the Javan banteng and Malayan tapir, but these wires are not noticable enough to create an illusion that they are all kept together.

An single southern cassowary used to be present in the mix for short period of time.
 
Austin the Sengi said:
When the cassowary was a part of the mix, do you recall as to how the bird got along with the ungulates?
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I seem to recall the enclosure having two cassowaries actually, though one is usually far away at the back and is pretty much invisible due to the terrain.

Both the cassowaries and ungulates would stay out of each other's way for the most part. The deer usually stay close to the fences as the zoo provides a limited supply of tubers and leaves to feed the deer. The one other cassowary would usually be by itself, sometimes staying very close to the fences in another part of the enclosure, to the point where a child could touch the casque if brave enough (something I discouraged one from doing).

Some additional information, the electric fence waa positioned in such a way that the various deer and nilgai could enter the Banteng's area and share food, but not vice versa.

Large areas of the deer area are also often closed off to allow the grass to regrow with such a high population of deer there.
 
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