The narrow striped mongoose / boky boky

Onychorhynchus coronatus

Onychorhynchus coronatus

Well-Known Member
I've been sort of intrigued by this beautiful little species since I saw one for the first time in 2019 at ZSL London.
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Has anyone here worked with this species in captivity (or indeed in-situ) and if so what are these animals like to work with (in terms of temperament, care, challenges etc) ?

For those of you who have seen these in zoos what do you find interesting (or not interesting as the case may be) about the narrow striped mongoose ?

Is it another "little brown job" that bores you or is it charismatic enough that you would like to see more of these little carnivores kept by zoos ?

Look forward to your replies !

Photo credit to @amur leopard.
 
Oh it's one of my favourite small carnivores, and I'm so glad it's becoming more popular in zoos. I've seen boky-bokys three times now. First time was at the now closed Rare Species Conservation Centre, and was utterly enthralled. Glad to see them again in Berlin, and again at London Zoo.

Being diurnal and mildly sociable, they'd make a good alternative to meerkats (especially considering their conservation status) - they're even cuter in my opinion, with their fluffy tails and goofy big ears.

Now just need to get broad-striped and brown-tailed vontsiras into captivity! Wouldn't mind seeing a falanouc either, but I guess that's not exactly going to be easy. :)
 
Mo Hassan said:
Oh it's one of my favourite small carnivores, and I'm so glad it's becoming more popular in zoos. I've seen boky-bokys three times now. First time was at the now closed Rare Species Conservation Centre, and was utterly enthralled. Glad to see them again in Berlin, and again at London Zoo.

Being diurnal and mildly sociable, they'd make a good alternative to meerkats (especially considering their conservation status) - they're even cuter in my opinion, with their fluffy tails and goofy big ears.

Now just need to get broad-striped and brown-tailed vontsiras into captivity! Wouldn't mind seeing a falanouc either, but I guess that's not exactly going to be easy. :)
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Thank you for your comment @Mo Hassan !

Great to hear that you are so fond of this little carnivore :) I think they are a very charismatic animal too.

Since seeing them I have often wondered if they would make for a better replacement for meerkats at zoos.

On the one hand I think they would in terms of ex-situ conservation but on the other hand they do seem to be a very sensitive and highly strung species. I wonder whether zoos would take such risks to phase out the resilient and crowd favourite meerkat in favour of something considerably more tricky to manage ?

Wow, you have seen them at quite a few zoos it seems, is there any particular memory of seeing them that sticks in your mind from these visits to zoos ?

Personally, I only saw one of these animals at London Zoo in the Autumn of 2019, it was in that long enclosure along the side of the Clore Pavilion's upper floor and I think that at that point it was just the one individual that was due to be transferred to another zoo.

I spent quite sometime watching it exploring its enclosure and moving very nimbly around with those agile little feet and that huge feather duster type tail.I got the impression of quite a sensitive animal but not particularly cryptic and very charismatic.
 
I don't have any particular memories, although I recall, I think in Berlin, they had a little football to play with. Seeing them for the first time though, at the same time as my first ring-tailed vontsira and fanaloka, was outstanding.
 
Mo Hassan said:
I don't have any particular memories, although I recall, I think in Berlin, they had a little football to play with. Seeing them for the first time though, at the same time as my first ring-tailed vontsira and fanaloka, was outstanding.
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That is incredible, you have seen four of the Euplerids, that is awesome!

I've only seen the narrow striped mongoose and the Fossa so far and both intrigue me.

I would like to see the ring tailed vontsira too one day as I think they are such a beautiful looking animal.
 
Like @Mo Hassan I saw Boki-boki for the first time at RSCC back in 2015 (two days before closing), along with Ring-tailed Vontsira (since also seen at Cologne), Fanaloka and Fossa. The London pair seem to breed very well, they usually seem to have a youngster on my visits since they got them in (I think) 2017 or 2018. They are one of my favourite species at ZSL London. They also seem to be quite popular with the public, as they are very active and quite cute (although their bushy tails do seem to cause confusion as to what they are, with most people going for some kind of squirrel)
 
Crowthorne said:
Like @Mo Hassan I saw Boki-boki for the first time at RSCC back in 2015 (two days before closing), along with Ring-tailed Vontsira (since also seen at Cologne), Fanaloka and Fossa. The London pair seem to breed very well, they usually seem to have a youngster on my visits since they got them in (I think) 2017 or 2018. They are one of my favourite species at ZSL London. They also seem to be quite popular with the public, as they are very active and quite cute (although their bushy tails do seem to cause confusion as to what they are, with most people going for some kind of squirrel)
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That is incredible that you have also seen four of the Euplerids, I have to say I'm a little jealous.

I think I must have seen one of the London pair of Boki-boki but I may have read that this species is no longer being kept at ZSL since the beginning of this year (a great shame if this is the case IMO).

I would say that along with the Malagasy giant jumping rats and the potto they are also one of my favourites at London.

When I was there I didn't see the public paying much attention to this species but then again there was a sloth and several tamarins nearby so their attention seemed to be focused on those.

Yes, the tail is very squirrel like indeed and I imagine that many visitors do tend to think they are a type of squirrel but in some ways this could work in the favour of raising awareness of the species and making it charismatic in a way similar to the ring tailed lemur.
 
Mattaki said:
Sadly, I haven't seen these yet despite my home zoo having them. I really hope one day they will go on show but I have no idea how likely that is.

On another note, they have a fun name (boky boky).
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Thats a shame, hope you get to see them soon, what zoo is this ?

I agree, they do have quite a funny name, many of the Malagasy names for the fauna are quite colourful and again I think the use of these names could also raise awareness.
 
littleRedPanda said:
I asked one of the keepers at Chester a couple of years ago and was told they were difficult to breed in a public environment and unlikely to go on show.
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That doesn't suprise me in some ways as I've also read that there are difficulties breeding them and getting these animals to successfully rear their young in captivity.

I know that Jersey zoo have previously had difficulties with their breeding female which often rejected her offspring which then had to be handreared by keepers.

This highly stressed nature could be one of the more notable obstacles to this species becoming a replacement for meerkats in zoos (but could the ring tailed mongoose prove a better replacement?).
 
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I also find euplerids fascinating animals and have been very interested in Malagasy carnivores since I saw my first fossa at Duisburg Zoo, back in 1980, when they were very rare in European zoos.

Like both "Crowthorn" and "Mo Hassan" I saw ring-tailed mongoose, narrow-striped mongoose, fossa and fanaloka at the RSCC; I'm sure that many UK ZooChatters will have seen the same four species of Malagasy carnivores at the RSCC.

I have been fortunate enough to see all four species elsewhere too; of these, fanaloka are definitely my favourite, probably because they are the ones I've seen least often.

I hope very much that I'll eventually get to see the Grandidier’s mongoose at Chester Zoo.
 
Tim May said:
I also find euplerids fascinating animals and have been very interested in Malagasy carnivores since I saw my first fossa at Duisburg Zoo, back in 1980, when they were very rare in European zoos.

Like both "Crowthorn" and "Mo Hassan" I saw ring-tailed mongoose, narrow-striped mongoose, fossa and fanaloka at the RSCC; I'm sure that many UK ZooChatters will have seen the same four species of Malagasy carnivores at the RSCC.

I have been fortunate enough to see all four species elsewhere too; of these, fanaloka are definitely my favourite, probably because they are the ones I've seen least often.

I hope very much that I'll eventually get to see the Grandidier’s mongoose at Chester Zoo.
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Thank you for your comment @Tim May !

So you have also seen four species of Euplerid, that is awesome !

Hopefully you will get lucky with seeing the Grandidier's and this will push it up to five.

Yes, they are most definitely a fascinating group and I do think they could benefit from having a higher profile in zoos.
 
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