Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo The Last Of The Blue Monkeys

snowleopard

snowleopard

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A baby blue monkey was born at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, and it is too bad that the species is being phased out of North American zoos. There are only 14 of the beautiful and rare primates left, and 8 are in Omaha.

Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Metro/Region
 
Aren't there blue monkeys in the Kansas City Zoo's new tropics building?
 
ISIS lists Kansas City as having 1.1, Baton Rouge Zoo as having 1.1, Knoxville Zoo as having 1.1...and then the other 8 are all at the Henry Doorly Zoo. I remember from my visit to Omaha that some of the blue monkeys are in the huge Lied Jungle building, while the others have a small and outdated cage near the children's zoo.
 
I saw Knoxville's blue monkeys in August of 2008.
 
Why phase them out of North America. Where will they go?

What is the point of still breeding them at Omaha if they are going to be phased out in North America?
Wouldn't it be better to consolidate all the remaining odd pairs at Omaha and keep them going?
 
I totally agree with you Pertinax, and I'd love to see all of the blue monkeys deposited at the Henry Doorly Zoo. However, I'm not sure how genetically viable it is with the low numbers that are left, the desire of a breeding program getting kickstarted, or whether having so few can save the species. I was pleasantly suprised to see blue monkeys at both Omaha and Knoxville last summer, as they are a very intriguing and active primate. It is truly a shame that there are not many left, but there are many other species that are in the same category. In all of North America there are only about ten Asiatic black bears, and that is another animal that will eventually be gone from all zoos on the continent.
 
Are there any of these in Europe?
 
ISIS is a good place to start in order to find out about where certain species are located, and Artis Zoo in the Netherlands, Usti nad Labem in the Czech Republic and a zoo in Debrecen, Hungary, have a total of 5 blue monkeys. The Cairo Zoo in Egypt has another 5, and so according to ISIS there are 24 in captivity and 8 of those are in Omaha. Extremely scarce numbers, but hopefully there are a few more kicking around that are not registered with the ISIS website.

Here is a full-body shot that I located on Google:

Google Image Result for http://www.thirteenmonths.com/images/tanzania/tzA/manyara/tz_many_bluemonkey1.jpg
 
Thanks, I am aware of ISIS, just feeling lazy during a heat wave and a day at Bristol zoo in the heat :p
Awesome looking monkeys though.
 
ashley-h said:
Thanks, I am aware of ISIS, just feeling lazy during a heat wave and a day at Bristol zoo in the heat :p
Awesome looking monkeys though.
Click to expand...

Sorry to go off topic here, ash will we be getting a review of your visit to Bristol?
 
I guess longterm they will go the way of Hamlyn's Monkeys and Drills in the USA. They were/are being sent to Europe. But in this case Omaha has the best/most successful group and there are still more in the US than elsewhere. I reckon they could keep them going with some sympathetic management, at least at Omaha.
 
Well amigos, the Knoxville trip was a bit of a disappointment. I saw the blue monkeys. I also saw the converted corn silo that serves as their cage. It had boards on top to cover holes,I suppose. They looked healthy enough. I guess I just expected more pomp and circumstance for an animal so rare, and soon to be gone in captive collections. Getting a big mesh cage with a short descriptive sign was a bit of a buzzkill. Oh well. At least a put another notch in the belt. Zoo #40 for me.
 
snowleopard said:
ISIS lists Kansas City as having 1.1, Baton Rouge Zoo as having 1.1, Knoxville Zoo as having 1.1...and then the other 8 are all at the Henry Doorly Zoo. I remember from my visit to Omaha that some of the blue monkeys are in the huge Lied Jungle building, while the others have a small and outdated cage near the children's zoo.
Click to expand...

There were no blue monkeys by the children's zoo when I was there. I assume you're talking about those outdated cages near the Budgie Encounter? This time they had owls and raccoons. I was disappointed to see raccoons there and not in the Kingdoms of the Night exhibit where I thought they were a wonderful addition.
 
I hate to see the raccoons there. The enclosure at Kingdoms of the Night was much more spacious.
 
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