Yeah, but the population of these breeding farms rarely reach our zoos and vice versa...
Species formerly kept in Brazil
I just remembered to mention here about the river dolphins. Have we already talked about hem here? Do you guys know if there's any zoo in the country that still keeps them?
The only information I have about this species being held in the country is from BH zoo, that kept an unknown number of specimens in the 60's/70's...
The only information I have about this species being held in the country is from BH zoo, that kept an unknown number of specimens in the 60's/70's...
Really? I didn't know that. I hope some Brazilian zoos start with an ex-situ breeding program, so they can be saved.
Yes, I've read it about it a few years ago. The zoo used to have an area for penguins and river dolphins. If I remember well, they lived in the present hippo exhibits, but I'm not completely sure about this fact.
Edit: I found the news I read
Zoológico de BH completa 55 anos com mais de 3,7 mil animais
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I have some good news. Apparently, back in the 2000's, Julia (the lar gibbon) wasn't all by herself. I found a picture from 2008 proving me right. Take a look:
zoo_sao_paulo_macacos
It would be really needed and there are always some orphans being found. But AFAIK, it's not allowed to keep cetaceans for permanent in captivity in Brazil, I wasn't able to find the law, but that's what I've found in some interviews.
Correction: the picture was apparently taken in 2012. Therefore, that means the zoo kept at least two lar gibbons probably until that same year. I don't remember ever seeing that second gibbon, not even during my first visit to the zoo, in 2011.
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Nice to know. Brasilia seems to have held the largest ungulate collection in the country; once they kept at the same time addax, gemsbok, waterbuck, red deer, fallow deer, white-tailed deer, gray-brocket deer, marsh deer, wisent, grant's zebra, south-african giraffe, bactrian camels, llama, peccary, south-american tapir, white rhino, common hippo and probably much more. Anyway, I'm not sure about wich institution would hold this title nowadays. Maybe BH...what would you say?
It's most definitely São Paulo.
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São Paulo doesn't keep gemsbok, marsh deer, red deer, fallow deer (I'm not considering the safari park). But I'm not completely sure at all. I'll search deeper in the species list of more institutions. There's also the possibility of Brasilia still being the one.
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They indeed kept a considerable number of ungulates... But I'm more surprised to see the big amount of animals they used to keep in the same exhibit at these times. A large group of emus, aoudads, giraffes, bactrian camels... Good in most cases, as many of these are gregarious animals. In many zoos in the country nowadays, we find single individuals... Sometimes a couple... Many times from species that should be in numerous groups. I hope we can improve this aspect in the future.
With both the growing concern regarding animal ethics and a possible new golden age for Brazilian zoos coming in the 2020's (even though we're in a difficult scenario), I'd say many problems are going to get solved, including the loneliness of certain sociable animals.
I really hope so. I'm confident with the future of our zoos too. Let's hope we can finish this decade with a much better situation in our institutions...
We can see Rio becoming a completely new refference, BH with the stable gorilla group and constant improvement of many exhibits, São Paulo wich has some of the best successes of native species breeding (and this coming privatization, that I hope to go well as it seems to be going in Rio...) and many other examples... All this makes me excited about the future of our institutions at all.
That's what I'm talking about. You took the words out of my mouth.
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Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
By a "golden age" for Brazilian zoos you are referring to privatisation ?
Well privatisation may lead to zoos becoming increasingly more commercial and these bringing in loads of African and Asiatic megafauna to keep the middle class masses happy (which are the only ones who will be able to afford visiting and having that luxury)
However it may also mean the plugs being pulled on ex-situ programmes for threatened native species because of the costs involved and that isn't a "golden age" but a dark age.
If you like playing Zoo tycoon and seeing herds of exotic animals of no conservation value browsing in a field that have no apparent reason to be there then it's a celebration and woohoo! happy days for you !
If you care about the ex-situ programmes in zoos for native species whose wild population stand on the brink of extinction and which are potentially threatened by privatisation then this is a nightmare and potentially a tragedy.
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No, we're talking about new conservation programes which took and are taking place in the country with both native and exotic species. Along with partnerships with other instituions around the world, we can bring a better future for both Brazilian zoos and native species. While I believe privatizations could help in other areas, instead of privatizing all zoos at once, we should wait to see what happens with the zoos that have already been given to the private sector. Therefore, we need to wait to see the results in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Also, I believe even though zoos may get a tad more commercial, they still will have to both be ethical with their treatment of wild animals and help ex-situ conservation programes for species native to Brazil, as there is a growing anti-zoo movement in Latin America and they can become a headache for everyone.