Can't say I do - the only other places to have held the species in the past decade I know of are Bristol, Manor House and Folly Farm; and I believe the latter two collections held the same individual now at Curraghs.
UK hyenas and viverrids
- Thread starter lamna
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Can't say I do - the only other places to have held the species in the past decade I know of are Bristol, Manor House and Folly Farm; and I believe the latter two collections held the same individual now at Curraghs.
Hardly any in Europe(an zoos). I've only ever seen one - at Heidelberg - and that's the only one listed at Zootierliste.
EDIT: Even in the former holdings the most recent UK entry for Herpestes edwardsii is 1980 for Chester.
One or two on the continent - at Sharjah in the UAE and Heidelberg in Germany - but none in the UK.
Stretching the definition of 'on the continent' there, given that by traditional definitions Sharjah is on a completely different continent to Heidelberg!
Yes, there were several in collections and even more on the BIAZA surplus list at the time. I have a feeling they were imported through Ravensden possibly ? They were also regularly advertised in Cage & Aviary Birds.
I am sure Colchester had them too.
They did indeed.
Thanks Maguari, thought I was imagining it all for a minute there!
In that case it makes the fact the European population is down to a single elderly individual even more of a loss 
Is there any particular reason marsh mongoose fared so badly compared to other species like yellow, dwarf and meerkat? Or was it purely not enough interest in them?
Well as a species I don`t think they are particularly pleasing to the eye for the majority of zoo visitors, they are not in the same "cute-ness league" as say the Dwarf Mongoose and the Meerkats obviously and they are not pretty like the Yellows so perhaps that is why. I am not sure if any bred at all in the UK at the time, I can`t remember, but I do know several , presumeably adult animals were available at the time. I think Basildon Zoo may have had them too ? (The more I think about it the more my memory kicks in!!)
Neither particularly common nor uncommon in my experience - CWP, Chester and SLWAP all have decent sized groups, and I believe both Battersea Park and Beale Animal Park also hold the species.
I think they are pretty cool and I think that mongoose diversity needs to go up in this country and Europe as a whole! Also, I don't think they are any less "cute" than kusimanse which are quite popular in places. A bloody shame there aren't more in my opinion.
Yes, though the Cusimanses are a small social species like the Dwarf which always seem to be more appealing to the public. Whereas the Marsh are not so small and not that sociable, the ones I have seen were either kept singly or in pairs.
The bit in bold applies to red pandas as well but the public love them... I do see your point though and I suppose like all solitary small carnivores they can have their inactive periods.
I have to agree, Colchester's old 'pit' is now a waterfall & empty pool! Don't know what happened to theirs?
Interested to know from those that have seen them - what physical differences are there between the subspecies of Striped hyaena, aardwolf, binturong and ratel.
Certainly from my understanding of ratel taxonomy there is little difference across the entire range.
Certainly from my understanding of ratel taxonomy there is little difference across the entire range.