porcupines move to wellington... » Wellington Zoo

porcupines move to wellington...
18-05-2006

wellington zoo has aquired 3, i believe all male, crested porcupines from marwell zoo in the UK. they say they are looking at getting a female to breed. although not yet listed under ISIS, the zoos website claims that the unspecified 'crested porcupines' are native to africa, south of the sahara. this is interesting since the only other zoo in NZ to have crested porcupines, orana park, keeps the northern africa, southern european species. marwell zoo is listed of having just a pair of the same species - not the african crested porcupine" which inhabits the southern half of the african continent. melbourne zoo holds a pair of indian crested porcupines and taronga has an elderly female.

so whats going on? are NZ zoos planning on holding a different species of porcupine to australia? are the wellington zoo porcupines even the same species as the ones at orana?

nigel, your our memeber for wellington.....

19-05-2006

well there should be more porcupines, they are very nice, when i first moved to adelaide adelaide Porcupine was no where to be seen, a month later teh sign was gone, now there are otters in the enclosure (as with every enclosure that is empty, either otters or Mandarin Ducks).

Does anyone know what s.species that one(?) was?

19-05-2006

the species that was at adelaide was the indian crested porcupine. the adelaide animals moved to melbourne and melbourne sent one eldery female to taronga. melbourne now have a pair, hopefully to breed. the different species (not subspecies) of crested porcupine all look vey similar.

20-05-2006

ok, thanks for that pat

Porcupines -- excerpt from Wellington Zoo website
22-05-2006

Current | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

Crested porcupines now at Wellington Zoo

15 May 2006
Three newly arrived crested porcupines are now on display at Wellington Zoo.

Three crested porcupines have been released into their purpose-built enclosure at Wellington Zoo following a long plane trip from Marwell Zoo in England.

Part of an Australasian Species Management Programme (ASMP), the Zoo hopes to breed the porcupines, if a suitable female mate can be found.

"Although crested porcupines aren't endangered at the moment, we know we will need an insurance population should they become endangered in the future," says Simon.

An enclosure has been specially built to house the porcupines with much planning having gone into the enclosure to stop the creatures digging or chewing their way out.

"Porcupines are renowned for digging and chewing, so we've put a concrete base in their houses and steel reinforcing mesh throughout the rest of the enclosure to stop them finding themselves on the other side of the fence," says Wellington Zoo Manager, Infrastructure, Shane Whittaker.

Native to countries in the lower half of Africa, porcupines have about 30,000 quills on their bodies. The quills are thought to be hairs evolved over time to become thick, solid spikes, used to defend themselves if a predator comes into contact with them.

"There's a myth out there that porcupines shoot out their quills. Rest assured, this isn't true and Zoo visitors will be very safe on their side of the railing," says Simon.



I will try to establish whats going on . In the meantime , this is the official
word from the zoo .
I have sent an email to both Orana Park and Wellington Zoos , asking them to elaborate further . Neither of their websites tell anyone which type of Crested porcupines their respective zoos hold .
I have seen the ones at Orana . They are large magnificent animals
far bigger than hedgehogs or echidnas . I have stroked an echidna before , but I wouldnt want to stroke Oranas porcupines !

response from Wellington Zoo
24-05-2006

Dear Nigel,

They are Hystrix africaeaustralis.


so which sub species of porcupines are these ?

damn, another species!!!
24-05-2006

not subspecies. actually the various types of crested porcipines are actually different species.

well that makes things confusing. now we have....

indian crested porcupines Hystix indicus in australia
north african crested porcupines Hystrix cristata at orana
south african crested porcupines Hystrix africaeaustralis. at wellington.

whats going on with that!!!!! why on earth would they decide import yet another species into the region. dumb decision if you ask me. it's the langur thing all over again!!

duh!

anyhow nigel,
H. indicus is from india through to the middle east
H. cristata from southern europe to north africa
H. africaeaustralis is from the southern part of africa as far north as kenya and the congo.

Copy of email that I sent to Wellington Zoo
25-05-2006

How come Wellington Zoo decided to import Southern African Crested porcupine ( 3 males ) and Orana Park has some Hystrix cristata , which are a totally different species of Crested porcupine ? Are the NZ zoos hoping to breed more than one species of crested porcupines ?
Do the zoos in NZ not coordinate with each other , or does each zoo just grabs whatever species of animals they can and hope for the best ?
If the zoos in the region could breed one species of animal , surtely that would increase the possibility of an enlarged gene pool ?

Can you , or the zoo directors , please explain the logic in obtaining porcupines for breeding , that are not Hystrix cristata -- which already exist in Christchurch ?

I am pleased that the zoo is obtaining new animals , but I feel that there could be more liason with Austraslia and NZ zoos to cooperate in breeding programmes .
I believe that the only porcupines at Australian zoos are Hystix indicus , which are a different species yet again ?

I look forward to your ( the zoos )explanation .

Cheers ,
Nigel

Many thanks for your explanation , Patrick . Now I understand more fully why you think it is a strange decision on Wellington Zoos part .
I agree with you on this issue .

response from Wellington Zoo re porcupines
25-05-2006

Dear Nigel,

Hystrix africaeaustralis is the priority species
for ARAZPA (quote from
the Census 2006, 16th Edition of the Australasian
Species Management
Program of ARAZPA, p. 372). It is also the only
species of Hystrix we
are able to import at this stage because that is
the species that we
have an import health standard for. Every import
is associated with a
large amount of planning and always in
communication with the ARAZPA.

Hope this helps to clarify the confusion,
Kind regards,
Katja

25-05-2006

id'e send melbourne an email asking if they plan on breeding their porcupines but the never respond to emails (at least not from me!). i often disagree with the choice of species that are phased in/out but i guess it comes down in the end, not so much about species status in the wild, but about personal asthetics. i mean lets face it - virtually everything is endangered these days. i wouldn't have chosen dholes for import (don't get me wrong i like them - i like pretty much all animals!) but i can't really give a valid reason for it other than that they look pretty much like regular dogs and that we already have tigers, sunbears and others filling the carnivore niche in asian exhibits and maned wolves, dingoes and african wild dogs filling the "wild dog" niche as well. i would have brought in more clouded leopards - but then you could argue that we already have lots of big cats and asian big cats at that!!!

i guess its just personal choice.

response from Orana Park
26-05-2006

Hi Nigel
Attached is taxonomic list for Porcupines I have
copied from the
international data base for your information.
Orana is importing a female African Crested
Porcupine ( Hystrix
africaeaustralis ) for the male we have had for
five years. This species
has been nominated for breeding through out the
regional management program.
Regards
Graeme Petrie
Head Keeper
Orana Wildlife Trust


I have not attached the taxonomic list in this response , but if it is of interest I might put it in this thread at a later time . I was keen to put in the response from Orana Park .
Note the species that Orana Park has got .

26-05-2006

weird, orana ISIS records have never shown that they had a H. africaeaustralis in their collection.

i was hoping the zoos would breed the indian species as i had this idea of a indian terai open-range exhibit with all the asian hoofstock and a walking trail with rhesus macaque, bengal tigers, asiatic wild dogs, fishing cats, short-clawed otters AND indian crested porcupines......

26-05-2006

Clouded leopards aren't easy to acquire, one reason being that they breed poorly in captivity so there aren't too many surplus animals to go around. Dholes breed better and are easier to manage, though i agree that they are less attractive than clouded leopards.

Sometimes it just boils down to what zoos CAN get as oppose to what they WANT to get. There are 'window periods' to acquire animals, basically when logistics, red tape, flight schedules, sponsorship, etc all fall into place. If this window period is missed, then it might be years later before the next window opens, so some zoos would rather acquire the animals first, then think of what to do with them.

27-05-2006

yeah, i think you are right zooish.

but geez i love clouded leopards!!!

27-05-2006

I also feel that we should be keeping Clouded Leopards WHY cant we have them, they are stunning to look at, would fit in well with an Asain rainforest exhibit and need captive breeding, so why cant we exhibit them??. There is nothing else like them.