Truth or lack of knowledge?

Fossa dude

Fossa dude

Well-Known Member
First off I would like to say that I have been doing much research for this specific problem I have been facing. It is not so much a problem but a study that has been cut off by gaps and maybe even lies. I have quite a lot to say so let's just start off with this.


What ZOOS ( NOT Farm, Sanctuaries, independent breeders, or any other wild life officials ) have just saved animals from extinction or have an amazing breeding program that know one else has.


Thank you

Fossa dude:)
 
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Fossa dude said:



What ZOOS ( NOT Farm, Sanctuaries, independent breeders, or any other wild life officials ) have just saved animals from extinction or are have a amazing breeding program that know one else has.


Your one sentence is asking two questions. How about reconstructing it?

Off the top of my head, as I am just rushing past the computer, my first answer to your second question would be:

Perth Zoo Western Swamp Tortoise
Click to expand...
 
Thank you Steve Robinson, KCZoo Fan, and Kiang for your comments. What I'm trying to say has there been any other organization that has bred Western Swamp Turtle, and Nene.

I already know that the Arabian Gov. bred Arabian Oryx and tons of other independent farmers saved the American Bison.
 
Many times it has been collaboration between different zoos that helped saved species.
Durrell bred the volcano rabbit for the first time, but was unable to maintain a breeding group, then later Chapultepec zoo and the universidad autonoma nacional de mexico worked together to establsh a successfull breeding group. Collaboration is more important than the efforts of 1 institution.
By the way, there is a thread somewhere on the number of species gerald Durrell saved with the jersey zoo. Why not give yourself a treat and read Durrell directly. The books are delightfull.
The story of the arabian oryx is well known and also on another thread somewhere. The phoenix zoo did recieve a few animals from private collections in the mideast and european zoos to establish a herd, but was mostly responsabible for establishing the first sucessfull breeding group. The arabian government itself did nothing for the species, since enviromental protection was not a priority for the saudi monarchy back then.. Give the people at phoenix their credit.
Also on this subject, which is sadly becoming endless, the panama golden frog has recently vanished from its native country, because of the frog fungus and habitat destruction. Now the largest breeding groups are at baltimore, both at the national aquarium and the maryland zoo.
 
Allthough perhaps not (yet) species-saving, the remarkable succes the Cincinnatti Zoo has had with their sumatran rhino's might deserve a mention here...

London's Partula snail program also springs to mind.
 
Fossa dude said:
What I'm trying to say has there been any other organization that has bred Western Swamp Turtle,
Click to expand...

No other zoos were permitted to be part of the program - it was a single institution project at the behest of the government department responsible for it.
 
Truth or lack of knowledge

Following on from the mention of Nene above, here's a tale of developing attitudes to rare animals. Firstly, the DODO was imported to the UK and exhibited in public. It does not appear to have occurred to anyone to breed them. Remember, in those pre-Darwinian days, it was inconceivable that God would let any of his creatues become extinct. Secondly, the PASSENGER PIGEON was bred by the Earl of Derby at Knowsley in the first half of the 19th century. He bred so many he was letting them out, and quite a lot were sold off with the rest of the collection after his death. I have no record of London Zoo breeding them, but suspect that they did. Anyway, within a century of the Knowsley sale, the Passenger Pigeon was extinct. What a missed opportunity to save a species through captive propagation! Lord Derby also bred the NENE [HAWAIIAN GOOSE], founding a captive stock of which the last survivor died in France during the Second World War. Fortunately, Herbert Shipman in Hawaii had a small flock [not exactly captive, as I believe he had them free-winged at liberty]. I addition to these, there still existed a handfull of wild birds. Three of Shipman's birds went to Slimbridge, where [with a reinforcement of wild stock later on] became the ancestors of a large captive population,. Peter Scott was far-sighted enough in the early 1970s to allow the sale of [I believe] six pairs into private ownership. As a direct result, NENE are freely available now, one of the commoner 'ornamental' geese, and attempts continue to re-establish a self-maintaining wild population.
 
Truth or lack of knowledge

While private breeders were specifically excluded atr the start of this thread, I'm going to stick my neck out with a bit more conservation/aviculture history. The North American Wood Duck [Carolina Wood Duck to the rest of us] was at a very low ebb as a wild bird in the early 20th century. It was confiding and easy to shoot, and you could make a lot of trout flies out of one drake. A private aviculturist [I think his name was Alain White] started his own breed and release programme, which I understand kick-started the wild population to recovery; certainly it is never regarded as endangered nowadays. He had to buy his foundation stock in Europe, whewre quite a lot were being bred. The lesson here is that a self-sustaining captive population held by private 'hobby' breeders, can provide 'insurance' against disasters in the wild population, and free up zoos to concentrate on species that are less easy to manage in a domestic environment. This of course pre-supposes that colour mutations are not allowed to swamp the original animal.
 
The Duke of Bedford with Pere David's deer at Woburn and perhaps Carl Jones efforts for the Mauritius govt and JerseyWPT/Durrell for the Mauritius kestrel and the echo parakeet with the team at Black River spring to mind: but of course both of these became collaborative projects eventually - it's too risky to keep all the eggs in one basket.

Alan
 
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While we're on Dukes of Bedford, they did a pretty good job with European Bison and for some years with Przwalski's Horse as well.
 
Thank you FBBird for informing me with your large amount of knowledge about birds. :D

And thank you to everyone else how commented. I'm very sorry but I have a very busy day so I will clear up some stuff.

Thank you again

Fossa dude
 
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Jane Goodall's most recent book "Hope for animals and their world" is a book about conservation success and has quite a few success stories that are due to programs in zoo's. I recommend you read it.
 
carlos77 said:
The story of the arabian oryx is well known and also on another thread somewhere. The phoenix zoo did recieve a few animals from private collections in the mideast and european zoos to establish a herd, but was mostly responsabible for establishing the first sucessfull breeding group. The arabian government itself did nothing for the species, since enviromental protection was not a priority for the saudi monarchy back then.. Give the people at phoenix their credit.
Click to expand...

There were dozens of captive Arabian Oryx successfully breeding in private collections located in Saudi Arabia before the world herd was established in Phoenix.
 
Toronto Zoo has a superb Black-footed Ferret breeding program, and one o the few zoos that breeds the Vancouver Island Marmot, and I believe what they have done has been highly successful.
 
I'm trying to prove that a lot of zoos are running out of room if they haven't already. I learned when I went to San Diego Wild Animal Park that hove stock breed very well with a large amount of space. Tons of zoos are lacking this. I really don't even recall seeing an Addax, Pere David's, or scimitar horned oryx in a main stream zoo. I have also put up a post about onager in zoos and have noticed more private owners or hunting farms breed and keep more than zoos. Zoos have bred these animals but not as much as hunting farms and private owners. So what do they have that zoos don't? To me it looks like space. Not artificial rock, fake termite mounds, or replicas trying to look like there natural habitat. Just a lot of space for the animals to do what they want and whenever they want. I was wondering if this could apply to smaller animals also. If zoos try to replicate this, then they will have to cut out a lot of other exhibits. Let's take Denver Zoo for instance. They built a very expensive predator ridge for Lions, Spotted Hyenas, and Wild Dogs. Well, I know that it is important to have education in zoos, but why not make the whole exhibit for the endangered dogs that have only bred once and don't breed usually in zoos. I still like seeing the lions and Hyenas, but I think there should be a balance that I can't put my finger on. Does someone else have any comments or input?

Thank you,

Fossa dude
 
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