Under served taxa

Zoovolunteer said:
One group that is underrepresented in zoos are small passerines. Even though many of the estrildine finches of Africa/Asia are often fairly well represented in private hands, they are very rare in collections. For a lot of these a walk-through set up similar to a butterfly house might make a good exhibit I think. The only thing rarer are the small passerines of South America - I have never seen any of these in a European collection at least.
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San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park do reasonable there in my opinion. I remember seeing a lot of estrildids, tanagers, emberizids, weavers, and leafbirds. I also saw chickadees, thrushes, laughing-thrushes, bulbuls, robin-chats, leiothrixes, and whydahs. I missed Bearded Reedling, Cedar Waxwing, a smaller cotinga or two, and some other unusual species. They now have at least one species of sunbird on display as well.
The smaller section of Hidden Jungle at the Safari Park is similar to what you suggest, and had a good number of estrildid species as well as a few other birds. Overall I rather enjoyed watching all the little finches.
 
Zoovolunteer said:
Thanks for the reminder. Bristol keeps and breeds Scarlet Tanager but otherwise from Zootierliste other species are very thin on the ground in Europe, and the seed-eating birds from South America are totally absent as exhibit birds in the UK at least
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I have heard that American zoos have a larger presence of South American birds than European zoos. Probably has to do with having more/closer links with facilities in Latin America and/or different import restrictions.
 
ThomasNotTom said:
It's a shame about tarsiers... But I believe that have a tendency to "kill themselves" by jumping into walls and such in captivity... Hence so few collections having success with them.

If anyone knows any more about Tarsiers I'd love to hear what they have to say!
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Interesting, where did you hear about this ?

Coelacanth18 said:
I'm not a huge rodent fan myself, but one species that I'm extremely frustrated about is the Malagasy giant rat. The fact that it is endangered, distinctive, representative of a highly touted geographical region, and available from European zoos yet has been left to wither away from American collections is ridiculously aggravating from a conservation and education perspective.
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Didn't know that they were so rare in the USA but I do understand your frustration as they are an incredibly interesting species, require ex-situ programs and have a lot of educational potential I agree.

Moreover, I've seen these in a couple of European zoos and they apparently make for quite an active exhibit and do seem to intrigue visitors though this is often comments in the vein of "WTF is that ? a massive rat?!" and "yuck!".
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Didn't know that they were so rare in the USA but I do understand your frustration as they are an incredibly interesting species, require ex-situ programs and have a lot of educational potential I agree.
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Here in the US we are left with a couple animals at Omaha, a few animals at Philadelphia, and possibly only one or two animals left at Bronx...

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Here in the US we are left with a couple animals at Omaha, a few animals at Philadelphia, and possibly only one or two animals left at Bronx...

~Thylo
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Thats a shame, I guess there just might not be the interest in maintaining them.

Fingers crossed that more are obtained in the future and this species can persist in US zoos. Given their conservation status in the wild and the pressures stacked against them they could certainly do with more ex-situ populations in zoos.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Thats a shame, I guess there just might not be the interest in maintaining them.

Fingers crossed that more are obtained in the future and this species can persist in US zoos. Given their conservation status in the wild and the pressures stacked against them they could certainly do with more ex-situ populations in zoos.
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While I would love to see them in American zoos again, I would first like to see the European population grow first. There are approximately a dozen holders atm in Europe, and while the population is still breeding and stable, my understanding is that the population is still relatively small. Therefore, I'd like to see this population grow to the point of having surplus animals to begin sending to the US.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
While I would love to see them in American zoos again, I would first like to see the European population grow first. There are approximately a dozen holders atm in Europe, and while the population is still breeding and stable, my understanding is that the population is still relatively small. Therefore, I'd like to see this population grow to the point of having surplus animals to begin sending to the US.

~Thylo
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I didn't know that the population was so small in Europe, lets hope it continues to grow.

I think that the scenario that you describe would be the ideal situation going forward I agree.
 
Amphisbaenians are rarely kept; I don’t know anyone who currently has any of their species.

Also shrews, although the places that keep them seem to do a good job.
 
Solenodons strike me as abyssmally underserved considering that they could potentially (with a lot of research put into it ) become well established in captivity.

As far as I'm aware there is currently only one zoo that keeps them and only within the species range in the Dominican republic / Hispaniola.
 
birdsandbats said:
Yes, ZOODOM in the Dominican Republic is the only holder.
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Yes, I might shoot them an email to find out more.

One of the aims / long term goals according to the species action plan was to establish ex-situ assurance populations of Solendon paradoxus in zoos outside of the species range.

As I understand it the ZSL field research study of the species concluded that the species wasn't quite as endangered as was first thought and was even being found in some highly anthropized landscapes in both the DR and Haiti.

I wonder if this was ultimately what shifted the idea of maintaining them in captivity outside of the DR to becoming less of an immediate priority ?
 
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Very few worms are kept in zoos, apart from a few annelids.

I saw some Gordian worms at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane

I remember seeing some flatworms in the freshwater tank in BUGS at London Zoo. I don't think they were meant to be there
 
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