Sheathbills in captivity

L

lamna

Well-Known Member
I've always found these strange birds fascinating, and I've wondered if anyone has tried to keep them in zoos.

Zootierliste says that London, both Berlins, Duisburg and Köln had some once but there doesn't seem to be much information about them.

Does anyone still keep them? What were they feed?
 
I have an old slide of the sheathbill at Regents Park, taken just over 40 years ago. It was kept in a fairly small aviary in the old Birds of Prey range, more or less where the macaws are now. I think it was kept on its own and I have never seen another one.

Alan
 
Old issue of International Zoo Yearbook claims that San Diego zoo reared (and likely exhibited in their climate-controlled penguin exhibit): White Sheathbill, Antarctic Tern, Giant Petrel and Subantarctic Skua - quite a collection of unusual seabirds!

About feeding, sheathbills should be easy, as they eat almost any animal matter in the wild.
 
gentle lemur said:
I have an old slide of the sheathbill at Regents Park, taken just over 40 years ago. It was kept in a fairly small aviary in the old Birds of Prey range, more or less where the macaws are now. I think it was kept on its own and I have never seen another one.

Alan
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I have a dim memory of that animal. Funny how you take so many species for granted as a child. There were Brown Skuas nearby.
 
IanRRobinson said:
I have a dim memory of that animal. Funny how you take so many species for granted as a child. There were Brown Skuas nearby.
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I'd quite forgotten the skuas; they were the Antarctic skuas (very similar to our native bonxie) and I think they may shared the aviary with the sheathbill. I guess they might have come from a whaler working on or near South Georgia.

Alan
 
Jurek7 said:
Old issue of International Zoo Yearbook claims that San Diego zoo reared (and likely exhibited in their climate-controlled penguin exhibit): White Sheathbill, Antarctic Tern, Giant Petrel and Subantarctic Skua - quite a collection of unusual seabirds!

About feeding, sheathbills should be easy, as they eat almost any animal matter in the wild.
Click to expand...

volume 26 page 105, it was San Diego Sea World.
 
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