Tama Zoo Tama Zoo News

Jana said:
It looks like I dont keep up with news about creation of new EEPs.

EDIT: I found a news report about departure of the wolf Kajolan to Japan. And it has following text:
" Wolf from Thale Zoo moves to Japan
It was once considered a deity by the Japanese, but the wolf has been extinct there since the beginning of the last century. Now it is to be resettled. For this purpose, an animal from Thale is being brought to Japan."

Is Japan seriously thinking about reintroducing (European) wolf into its nature? Or is it a misunderstanding and Japan only wants to start a captive zoo population.
Click to expand...
When I was studying zoology in a university in Tokyo back in around 2010, and there were a group of biologists who were trying to reintroduce wolves from China or Europe to Japan.

I think it's nonsense, but those guys seem to not have given up their ideas.
 
Toki said:
When I was studying zoology in a university in Tokyo back in around 2010, and there were a group of biologists who were trying to reintroduce wolves from China or Europe to Japan.

I think it's nonsense, but those guys seem to not have given up their ideas.
Click to expand...
Aren’t there similar attempts to replace Japanese otters with Eurasian otters?
 
Toki said:
I think there are similar projects in Europe, but not in Japan. There might be a small number of people saying that, but not in a formal group like wolves.
Click to expand...
Both species are extinct in Japan ... (the wolf was represented by the Honshu wolf Canis lupus hodophylax and the Hokkaido wolf Canis lupus hattai), yet both the wolf and otter had their separate ecological niches that are presently lacking within the habitats and ecosystems they once occupied, helped forge and prosper. But then, I do consider myself a restoration ecologist and a reintroduction specialist.

Anyhow, I must say I am at least intrigued about this story of a captive-raised wolf from Thale Zoo in Germany being sent to Japan as part of a project (???)! What zoo is this actually about in Japan .... Do you know?


As for otters, what have been the aspirations of the Japanese zoos to focus on European Eurasian otters in the first place (as a few Japanese zoos now do hold them)? Another question bothers me though, why several subspecies in one zoo (and not focus perhaps on one nearest to the extinct (officially declared so in 2012) Japanese otter Lutra lutra whiteleyi or Lutra nippon ...

IUCN Red List:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

QUOTE:
" In India, it is also found in the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh located in Central India, where it was historically not reported (Joshi et al. 2016). In southern Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, as the subspecies L. l. nair occurs. Despite the otters recently rediscovered in Tsushima Island, which have possibly migrated from South Korea, have been identified as L. l. lutra (Nakanishi and Izawa 2019), the native population belonging to L. l. whiteleyi is believed to be extinct (Ando et al. 2007)."
UNQOUTE

Further read:
Evaluating the Phylogenetic Status of the Extinct Japanese Otter on the Basis of Mitochondrial Genome Analysis


Sources:
1) Japan declares its river otter extinct
2) We Remember the Japanese River Otter — Ernest journal
3) Extinct Japanese river otter may still survive
4) Japanese River Otter - | Paper Crafts(Origami) - Entertainment Land | Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.
 
Jana said:
Iberian wolves are managed under EEP not other European wolf variants/subspecies. It doesn´t mean that "plain" European wolves are rarely kept in local zoos, but there was a marked decrease in production of cubs in recent decade. It was a reaction to a glut of available young animals that became hard to impossible to find new homes. Getting a young male should be doable. Tama might have its reasons to import 8-years old animal we are not avare of - like for example it couldn´t find other place that would be willing to undergo paper war to prepaire an animal for export to Japan? (pure speculation)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the insight.
Tama requested European wolves from the EEP and planned to import a male from a zoo in Germany and a female from Tierpark Bern in Switzerland last year. However, the male that was supposed to come from the German zoo had its transfer to Japan canceled due to the EEP's decision and was instead moved to another zoo within Germany. As a result, only the female from Tierpark Bern arrived last year. Given this, I assumed that Tama might have been negotiating again with the EEP to import a male.

Jana said:
Is Japan seriously thinking about reintroducing (European) wolf into its nature? Or is it a misunderstanding and Japan only wants to start a captive zoo population.
Click to expand...
As for the reintroduction of wolves, that's actually a misunderstanding. Japan is not seriously considering reintroducing wolves into the wild, as such a reintroduction is widely regarded as unrealistic in present-day Japan, with the majority of public opinion opposing it. So, this is simply a matter of replenishing wolves for Tama Zoo to continue its exhibition.
 
A 15-year-old female golden takin named Hoi has passed away. She was born at the Shaanxi Wild Animal Rescue Center (SWARC) and arrived at Tama Zoological Park in 2013 through Adventure World.
 
Veno said:
A 15-year-old female golden takin named Hoi has passed away. She was born at the Shaanxi Wild Animal Rescue Center (SWARC) and arrived at Tama Zoological Park in 2013 through Adventure World.
Click to expand...
What is current status of golden takins in Tama (or whole Japan)?
 
Jana said:
What is current status of golden takins in Tama (or whole Japan)?
Click to expand...
Tama Zoological Park: 4.3
Zoorasia: 3.2
Adventure World: 4.4

The current situation isn’t terrible, but it’s not ideal either. All three zoos used to have active breeding programs, but due to space constraints, breeding has been on hold for the past six years. While many European zoos are interested in exhibiting golden takins, there is no demand for them in Japan, leaving no viable options for relocating surplus individuals.

According to zoo reports, there were plans to send some takins overseas in 2021, but the pandemic put everything on hold. Since then, there has been no progress. (CITES records also suggest an attempt to transfer takins to Germany in 2017, but it seems to have fallen through.)

If surplus takins could be relocated and Tama could resume breeding, it would be a great step forward.
 
They will receive a female western chimpanzee named Nana from Hiroshima City Asa Zoological Park. Born on July 24, 1998, she is the first chimpanzee in the world to have been born through artificial insemination using frozen sperm collected after the male had died. According to GAIN, her deceased father was born at Longleat Safari Park in the UK, but he is not listed in the EEP studbook.
 
Last edited:
The zoo lost 0.1 Pere David’s deer Aoba. With Aoba’s passing Tama zoo no longer keeps this species. This leaves Japan with two holders of Père David’s deer (Asa and Kumamoto). As discussed in the Asa zoo thread, the import of Pere David’s deer is particularly difficult due to this species’ invasive status in addition to laws that make the import of hoof stock difficult.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top