Trends in European zoo collections in the 21st century

Agree. I saw a lot of Eurasian harvest mouse, fat dormouse and hazel dormouse on my latest trip.

Dormice are generally still very much localized, e.g. they are often kept in a few specific countries (in the case of hazel & garden dormouse often linked to local re-introduction efforts)

Are European hamsters and sousliks also getting an increase?

I think a thread exists where you can read all about that:

Species gaining popularity

European souslik - Spermophilus citellus
While black-tailed prairie dogs are still by far the most commonly kept squirrel in captivity, their European lookalike has been making some small inroads this century. As a small, active and endangered European rodent it has gained some attention from zoos. It is most commonly kept in Central European zoos, which often take part in local reintroduction projects. The species can be kept as semi-wild colonies on zoo grounds as Tiergarten Nuremberg and Zoo Prague show. But they also make good display animals when kept in large groups, the downside is that they hibernate, so the enclosure is empty for half of the year.

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@robreintjes A free ranging European ground squirrel in Zoo Prague

On the other hand the European hamster (Cricetus cricetus) is getting some renewed attention in recent years because of its critically endangered status. Multiple zoos have long been involved in captive breeding for reintroduction projects, but this remains a scarce species.

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@lintworm Now listed as CR, this species is getting attention from zoos, though the wild Vienna populations are the craze of the day


I would also add Besançon and Mulhouse in France, curiously in the North-Eastern corner of the country, for the conservation of native rodents and especially murids lato sensu.

Besancon does have a good native rodent collection, though it used to be better and works with European hamsters harvest mice for re-introduction, Mulhouse isn't currently keeping any native rodents as far as I am aware.
 
Number of zoos kept (current and former during the holding period):
A 1 zoo
B 2-5 zoos
C 6-10 zoos
D >10 zoos

Time period kept:
1 < 1 year
2 1-5 years
3 6-10 years
4 11-20 years
5 > 20 years

* Species successfully bred
♱ Dead end (in case of species gained)
↑ Species gaining popularity (in case of species gained)


Cloud rats - Phloeomyini
# Species kept 1-1-2000: 0
# Species kept currently: 3 (+3)
# Species gained: 3
# Species lost: 0


We finish the Muridae with a tribe that is endemic to the Philippines and which had been almost completely absent from Europe in the 19th and 20th century. That changed in the 21st century and currently 3 of these big arboreal rats are kept in Europe.

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@robmv Panay cloud rats could with some luck have been a conservation success story, but are now set to disappear

Species gained

Panay cloud rat - Crateromys heaneyi B5*♰
The first cloud rat to be seen in Europe in the 21st century, was imported to the London Zoo in 2002. A European first breeding was achieved in 2004. Things looked bright when Zoo Plzen imported 9 animals from a Philippine breeding station and breeding started too. But then it went quickly downhill and currently the European population is down to a single geriatric individual that is the last of their kind in captivity after the population in a breeding station in the Philippines collapsed.

Southern Luzon giant cloud rat - Phloeomys cumingi B4*
This species was imported by Zoo Leipzig in 2008, with one animal continuing to Zoo Plzen. It was bred multiple times, but the population has declined again and this is now a Czech speciality, with only 3 holders remaining. 2 zoos are still breeding this species regularly, so this species need not disappear.

Northern Luzon giant cloud rat - Phloeomys pallidus D4*↑
Whereas the other 2 cloud rat species in Europe are real rarities, this one is not. There is not a single species whose number of holders has grown at such a high rate as this one. The first animals were imported simultaneously as their southern relatives, with the first animals appearing in Zoo Prague in 2008. 15 years later there are 47 holders in Europe. They are big colourful rodents that can be kept in a nocturnal or a diurnal setting. But exactly why this species has become so popular is something of a mystery to me. It appears that vaguely resembling a giant panda is enough.

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@Malayan Tapir Northern Luzon giant cloud rats are the unlikely rising star of all the newcomers this century

Progress
16/22 orders completed
68/106 families completed
348-356 species present in 2000
353-355 species present in 2023
156-164 species gained this century
156-159 species lost this century
 
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Northern Luzon giant cloud rat - Phloeomys pallidus D4*↑
Whereas the other 2 cloud rat species in Europe are real rarities, this one is not. There is not a single species whose number of holders has grown at such a high rate as this one. The first animals were imported simultaneously as their southern relatives, with the first animals appearing in Zoo Prague in 2008. 15 years later there are 47 holders in Europe. They are big colourful rodents that can be kept in a nocturnal or a diurnal setting. But exactly why this species has become so popular is something of a mystery to me. It appears that vaguely resembling a giant panda is enough.

I don´t know how many imports there were around 2008 in total. But a nice group was imported in that year from Philippines to Czech republic by a private animal trader. Those animals spent their compulsory quaratine time at zoo Jihlava on arrival (and the zoo retained some animals in lieu of payment for that service). Trader then offered them for sale for pretty affordable price - I was salivating over them but had no space at that time. All import animals I saw were of the light color morph - just like you said they resemble a panda - a panda on budget. The morph like on the pic with black "blanket" I had seen only later - with first animals imported from Bronx.
 
Dormice are generally still very much localized, e.g. they are often kept in a few specific countries (in the case of hazel & garden dormouse often linked to local re-introduction efforts)



I think a thread exists where you can read all about that:








Besancon does have a good native rodent collection, though it used to be better and works with European hamsters harvest mice for re-introduction, Mulhouse isn't currently keeping any native rodents as far as I am aware.
According to Zootierliste, there are European Hamsters in Mulhouse.
 
The cloud rat thing really made me think a lot. The entire post is just weird. Does anybody have an explanation why the northern one is doing so great?

Furthermore the EAZA and above all but not only the small mammal tag should discus this post seriously as it shows a problem that should be fixed. How is it possible that a least concern species without anything really attractive is on the way to an ABC animal while nearly nobody cared about their highly endangered cousins? Zoos do theme self no favor with actions like this.
 
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How is it possible that a least concern species without anything really attractive is on the way to an ABC animal while nearly nobody cared about their highly endangered cousins? Zoos do theme self no favor with actions like this.

Well, firstly I'd take issue with the assertion there isn't anything particularly interesting or attractive about the species :p

Secondly, I'd note that the IUCN assessment of "least concern" is almost eight years out of date and things can change fast in that timespan - bear in mind that the Panay Cloudrunner was assessed as Endangered at the time, but given the fact it seems to have all-but vanished from the wild and suffered a massive population collapse in captivity since then almost certainly warrants CE status. As such, having a large and healthy population of Northern Luzon Cloudrat is a good thing!

Finally, although the massive decline in the Panay Cloudrunner captive population can be partially ascribed to a lack of interest (although external events played a very heavy role too) I believe the fact that Southern Luzon Cloudrat has never "caught on" in European collections to the same extent as the Northern counterpart isn't actually an issue of interest or lack thereof; rather, from what I've been informed by keepers and other professionals, it seems to be a much more sensitive and delicate species than its sister species, with more specialised husbandry requirements, and a significantly lower breeding rate.
 
It also doesn't help that when it comes to EEPs small animals are extremely poorly represented, whereas bears or rhinos have their own TAGs all small mammals (except marsupials) are lumped in one TAG. Which also means that there are far less EEPs, which zoos often take as indication of what to focus on.

Oh please, just no more rodent EEPs, there are very few species where EEP actually is manageable somehow sensibly and I am so glad that Small Mammal TAG is still resisting and tries to keep the number of EEPs as low as possible.


species without anything really attractive
They are nicknamed "panda rat" and you wonder why are they popular...like...really?

is on the way to an ABC animal while nearly nobody cared about their highly endangered cousins?
Had a longer thing written up but thanks to @TeaLovingDave I don't have to :D so just in short:

It's not really a rocket science... Out of all three species, North Luzon Cloud Rat is easily the most "outgoing" and showy species. That alone should tell you a lot. Both Southern Luzon and Panay behave very differently, also the thing that wild sightings of Panay cloudrunner in the past dozen of years would you be able to count on one hand, lack of almost any real research about these species in general...

Furthermore the EAZA and above all but not only the small mammal tag should discus this post seriously as it shows a problem that should be fixed.

Oh yeah I am sure EAZA officers scan ZooChat very thoroughly
 
Well, firstly I'd take issue with the assertion there isn't anything particularly interesting or attractive about the species :p

You're right! I was missing a sort of "compared to similar species"

(although external events played a very heavy role too)

This line is probably important to the whole thread. (Bad) Luck plays an important role, if a species can establish or decline.

They are nicknamed "panda rat" and you wonder why are they popular...like...really?
I've never heard of that nickname, nor did i ever hear a visitor comparing them to pandas. And also Google has it problems with finding panda rat. Furthermore there are several animals nicknamed after pandas that aren't the most popular one. Or do you have ever wondered why Panda garra is only kept in 9 collections in Europe?

Oh yeah I am sure EAZA officers scan ZooChat very thoroughly

I'm well aware, that they won't red hear. That doesn't change, that this is a serious topic, which should be talked about. Asking why Zoos are that important you hear conservation here, conservation there, whilst the majority of species kept have zero conservation value.
 
This line is probably important to the whole thread. (Bad) Luck plays an important role, if a species can establish or decline.

In this particular case, the pivotal event was a disease hitting the Mar-it Conservation Park breeding centre on Panay hard; they lost a lot of animals as a result, not just the taxon in question, but among the casualties were literal dozens of the cloudrunners. I believe only one or two survived, and they didn't live long afterwards.

You're right! I was missing a sort of "compared to similar species"

Even then, I think the comparison between "active in day, black-and-white patterns and not particularly shy" vs "inactive, brown, reclusive" vs "highly nocturnal, black, highly reclusive" is a fairly obvious choice :p

I think the best means of comparison would be to think of the two rarer cloudrats as giant murine edible dormice!
 
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How is it possible that a least concern species without anything really attractive is on the way to an ABC animal while nearly nobody cared about their highly endangered cousins? Zoos do theme self no favor with actions like this.

Sole reason why Prague/Jihlava/Ostrava acquired the Northern cloud rat species in 2007/2008 and started a studbook was to learn captive husbandry of endangered cloud rats while only "burning through" least concern animals during initial phase of learning curve. Their purpose was to master husbandry first and then replace Northerns with their endangered cousins like Panays.

The first phase of their plan went better than expected and healthy captive population of Northerns got quickly established. The second part however failed - endangered species have proved to be more difficult and success with pallidus cound not be sustanably replicated with them.

Northern cloud rats on a way to ABC status is simply an unintended byproduct. Big enough to be interesting for public, small enough to live in typical cramped nocturnal exhibits, black-white contrasting color pattern, not prone to stereotypical pacing, slow reproduction (1 cub per litter) etc. All that helped them. However, small mammals are prone to boom-bust cycles in zoos. Who knows maybe in 10 years they will be close to dying out again.
 
Oh please, just no more rodent EEPs, there are very few species where EEP actually is manageable somehow sensibly and I am so glad that Small Mammal TAG is still resisting and tries to keep the number of EEPs as low as possible.

Why doesn't it work, because of the high turnover rates? I still find it quite bizarre that we have just as many great ape EEPs as rodent studbooks, but if that is an active policy, that might be understandable.

I do however think it is worthwhile for zoos with an interest (in specific) rodents to be more serious about what they have. In many cases it is just 1 zoo that is driving most of the breeding and can be seen as the main reason why it could spread, such as gundi and Dusseldorf and Kerzers with its lowland paca and prehensile-tailed porcupines. And some zoos don't seem to particularly care as long as they have a lot of species.

I am a big fan of diversity in zoos, but not of the high turnover that is prevalent with rodents (but also with passerines). It would make more sense if zoos try to coordinate stuff at some level, that can be with private groups like the BAG Kleinsauger in Germany, to at least ensure the stability of populations. Far too often there are still boom and bust cycles that come across as just opportunistic.
 
Nesomyids - Nesomyidae
# Species kept 1-1-2000: 3
# Species kept currently: 3
# Species gained: 6
# Species lost: 6



This is a sizable family of mice and ratlike rodents from Africa and Madagascar. Most species are rarely kept and only 2 have been present continually: the Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus), which is the family’s most famous member, and the votsotsa (Hypogeomys antimena).

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@HOMIN96 Their ability to sniff out explosives as given Gambian pouched rats a claim to fame

Species gained

White-tailed antsangy - Brachytarsomys albicauda C2*↑
This species was initially imported by Todd Dalton and first kept in a zoo in Chester Zoo in 2018. Chester first bred them in 2019, but sent their stock to Zoo Wroclaw in 2020. This species is breeding quite well in Europe and is now kept at 6 different zoos and that will likely continue to grow in the future.

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@lintworm White-tailed antsangy have the possibility to become a new fashion species

Species gained but lost

Hinde’s long-tailed pouched rat - Beamys hindei B3*
Imported in 2009 from Tanzania to Zoo Plzen and kept there until 2016. The species bred at least once in Plzen and an offspring pair was kept in Zoo Prague 2011-2014.

Forest giant pouched rat - Cricetomys emini C5*
The East African variety of giant pouched rat was kept at least from 2003 onwards in Europe, but maybe already at the start of the century. It was kept in over 10 different zoos and bred as well, but the final individuals passed away in Zoo Plzen in 2022.

Chestnut African climbing mouse - Dendromus mysticalis B2
Kept in Zoo Berlin 2005-2006, Zoo Plzen 2007-2009 and Schulzoo Herford until around 2008.

Grandidier’s tuft-tailed rat - Eliurus grandidieri A4*
Kept and bred in Zoo Plzen from 2008-2019.

Northwestern fat mouse - Steatomys caurinus A2
Kept in Zoo Prague 2010-2011.

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@Giant Eland Tuft-tailed rats were a Malagasy species that didn't establish

Species lost

Southern African pouched mouse - Saccostomus campestris C4*
Kept and bred in multiple zoos in the 1990s and early 2000s, the final animals were kept until 2004 in Marwell Zoo, UK.

Species gaining popularity

Votsotsa - Hypogeomys antimena
The votsotsa, or Malagasy giant jumping rat, is a critically endangered Malagasy endemic somewhat resembling a bettong X bilby cross which has been kept in Europe since Durrell imported them from Madagascar in 1990. While first bred in 1991 the species only really started to spread in the 21st century, but is still a rather uncommon appearance.

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@ro6ca66 Votsotsa are one of the very few EEP managed rodents

This means that the rodents are now completed, insectivores & bats are next.

Progress
17/22 orders completed
69/106 families completed
351-359 species present in 2000
356-358 species present in 2023
162-170 species gained this century
162-165 species lost this century
 
This species was initially imported by Todd Dalton and first kept in a zoo in Chester Zoo in 2018. Chester first bred them in 2019, but sent their stock to Zoo Wroclaw in 2020. This species is breeding quite well in Europe and is now kept at 6 different zoos and that will likely continue to grow in the future.

From what I gather, the population in private hands is also breeding pretty steadily - so we can only hope this situation will persist.

Votsotsa - Hypogeomys antimena
The votsotsa, or Malagasy giant jumping rat, is a critically endangered Malagasy endemic somewhat resembling a bettong X bilby cross which has been kept in Europe since Durrell imported them from Madagascar in 1990. While first bred in 1991 the species only really started to spread in the 21st century, but is still a rather uncommon appearance.

We came worryingly close to this species becoming another "dead taxon walking" at one point (and things are still nowhere near as secure as one would hope) as a result of the same old story - zoological collections were largely uninterested in keeping the species, and as a result many of the collections which had been breeding the species ceased to do so lest they end up with a backlog of surplus animals.... only for much of the captive population to have become too old to breed by the time interest *did* start to increase around a decade ago. I suspect that were it not for the sterling efforts of collections such as Marwell, Shaldon and Bristol, things could have easily crossed beyond the point of no return.
 
Why doesn't it work, because of the high turnover rates? I still find it quite bizarre that we have just as many great ape EEPs as rodent studbooks, but if that is an active policy, that might be understandable.
Yes, it is an active policy, high turnover with that connected need to manage a massive amount of individuals (and to manage them very often given their rapid breeding cycles), limitations of EEP itself, and also a general relationship between EAZA and chairs of Small mammals TAG all that among other factors plays part.

I do however think it is worthwhile for zoos with an interest (in specific) rodents to be more serious about what they have.

to at least ensure the stability of populations
About this, I'd like to think that there is a shift happening (though slowly) and at least here in Czechia there is a bunch of up-and-coming young people within our zoos that have been "small mammal-pilled" and are actually interested in keeping and breeding these species, and doing it with much clearer and stable approach, so fingers crossed...

t would make more sense if zoos try to coordinate stuff at some level, that can be with private groups like the BAG Kleinsauger
Well, one of the last BAG Kleinsauger meetings happened in Jihlava Zoo, so I'd like to think that there is a certain overlap resulting in some amount of coordination.

Far too often there are still boom and bust cycles that come across as just opportunistic.

IMHO, unless we completely stop all of the animal imports, opportunism will be a natural part of zoos' collection planning in some way. You already demonstrated quite a few times that sometimes it takes very little for species to establish in Europe. Also, the way I see it, the opportunistic acquisition of animals also presents a knowledge-gaining element.
 
I'm well aware, that they won't red hear. That doesn't change, that this is a serious topic, which should be talked about. Asking why Zoos are that important you hear conservation here, conservation there, whilst the majority of species kept have zero conservation value.
The role of zoos is not only conservation. They also play an important role in showcasing the world's biodiversity and the complexity of ecosystems as well as teaching the general public about ecology and similar topics. I think this needs to be repeated countless times because many people see it as if the IUCN Red List was the only thing that matters:
1. A least concern species can be regionally endangered. You see this very often with European species where globally they are listed as LC but they are expatriated or in decline in certain parts of their range. Zoos collaborate with local authorities to protect these species in their own country. Many countries have their national red lists and each species may have a completely different status from that on the IUCN. There are many examples of this such as the Eurasian lynx introductions in central Europe, the supplementation of the Ibex populations in certain areas of the Alps, the red squirrel in Britain, the bearded vulture, the wild cat in Scotland, etc. Most of these examples/projects are zoo-endorsed.
2. A least concern species can be an ambassador for an endangered closely related species not kept in zoos. Just count how many bird EEP species part of the EAZA campaign "silent forest" were actually least concern. Whatever their status they were good examples for the campaign goals.
3. A least concern species can be a good example of particular social/feeding/breeding behaviour or be a species with a relevant ecological role. This can be very instructive to the general public.
4. A least concern species today can be an endangered species tomorrow. I cannot think of an example right now, but with the quickly changing world where we live, keeping as many species as managed populations in zoos is a guarantee for the future. Rapid population declines can happen.
5. The least concern species are also part of the biodiversity of an ecosystem. Seeing more and more zoos taking an ecosystem/biotope/region approach to how to display their collections the whole picture would be incomplete without the countless non-endangered species that also live there. I believe the future of zoo display and zoo conservation should and will shift from a species-based mindset to an ecosystem-based mindset. Because true conservation of wildlife can only be achieved when you make the public understand that ecosystems have to be preserved as a whole. not only species A or B.
 
The bushy-tailed opossum (Glironia venusta) was discovered in 1912 but is known from fewer than 25 specimens. I fail to understand why it is considered 'Least Concern'. It should at least be classified as 'Data Deficient', as should other species only known from few specimens.
 
About this, I'd like to think that there is a shift happening (though slowly) and at least here in Czechia there is a bunch of up-and-coming young people within our zoos that have been "small mammal-pilled" and are actually interested in keeping and breeding these species, and doing it with much clearer and stable approach, so fingers crossed...

That sounds like a good step, hopefully it works out, good luck to you and your colleagues ;)

IMHO, unless we completely stop all of the animal imports, opportunism will be a natural part of zoos' collection planning in some way. You already demonstrated quite a few times that sometimes it takes very little for species to establish in Europe. Also, the way I see it, the opportunistic acquisition of animals also presents a knowledge-gaining element.

I don't think we need to stop all animal imports, though it shouldn't be done too lightly. It is true that there are enough examples of where it took only 2-3 animals to establish a population, but that is the minority. In invasion biology Propagule Pressure is considered an important mechanism to understand why some species establish and some don't, it basically comes down to having a larger starting population makes the chance of establishment bigger. I dare to say that the same is true for zoo animals. I can think of a large number of imports that were basically doomed from the beginning. It is true that this can be a knowledge-gaining experiment, but that seems a side-effect and when working with living animals that is not good enough imo.

4. A least concern species today can be an endangered species tomorrow. I cannot think of an example right now, but with the quickly changing world where we live, keeping as many species as managed populations in zoos is a guarantee for the future. Rapid population declines can happen.

Recent examples would include many African vultures, European hamsters, spectacled langurs and golden-bellied mangabeys.

I agree with you that many zoos focus too much on the IUCN status, which is something that does lead to homogenization.

5. The least concern species are also part of the biodiversity of an ecosystem. Seeing more and more zoos taking an ecosystem/biotope/region approach to how to display their collections the whole picture would be incomplete without the countless non-endangered species that also live there. I believe the future of zoo display and zoo conservation should and will shift from a species-based mindset to an ecosystem-based mindset. Because true conservation of wildlife can only be achieved when you make the public understand that ecosystems have to be preserved as a whole. not only species A or B.

This is an endless discussion, but using (endangered) poster species can also be an effective way to save whole ecosystems. Ecosystems and biodiversity are complex topics that are often hard to sell because people have less of an idea what it means, which means there is less emotional attachment. "Save the tiger" is something that is much easier to sell as it is a super simple concept, though for which saving a whole ecosystem is necessary, but you don't need to bore policy makers/general public with the "boring" details. I see this in communicating my own work, even to colleagues. I don't think the general public needs to understand a lot about ecosystems to want to save them. People also don't need to understand how a car or smartphone works in order to use or appreciate one. That doesn't mean zoos shouldn't try to educate their visitors, I think that is still very helpful

In a way this discussion is just 2 sides of the same coin, to get the species-focused or the ecosystem-focused approach to work, you have to work with the other coinside too.

The ecosystem services concept does make a good effort at communicating why ecosystems are worth saving. But they are a somewhat neoliberalistic concept that translates everything into value (preferably monetary), which ignores all the non-monetary reasons to save biodiversity and has other limitations too.
 
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