Early first pregnancy is the key to successful reproduction of cheetahs in zoos

JULY 9, 2019

by Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Cheetah experts in many zoos around the world are at a loss. Despite all their efforts, cheetahs often do not reproduce in the desired manner. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), together with colleagues from the Allwetterzoo Münster, have now found a key to the issue: The age of the mothers at the first pregnancy is the decisive factor. In contrast to animals in the wild, felines kept in zoos are often bred only years after they have reached sexual maturity. From the study results, the researchers derive recommendations for keeping cheetahs in zoological gardens. The study was published in the journal Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research.

The concentration of cheetah stress hormones, as measured over several weeks as metabolites in the feces, was as high in mothers as in females who had no offspring. Instead, the age of the mothers is the decisive factor. "We saw from the stud books that the reproduction failed when the females were six years or older at their first introduction to a male," says Bettina Wachter from Leibniz-IZW, head of the study.

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Exclusive: footage shows young elephants being captured in Zimbabwe for Chinese zoos

Rare footage of the capture of wild young elephants in Zimbabwe shows rough treatment of the calves as they are sedated and taken away

Adam Cruise and Christina Russo

Tuesday 3 October 2017 11.00 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 3 October 2017 11.49 BST

The Guardian has been given exclusive footage which shows the capture of young, wild elephants in Zimbabwe in preparation, it is believed, for their legal sale to Chinese zoos.

In the early morning of 8 August, five elephants were caught in Hwange national park by officials at Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority(Zimparks).

These captures are usually kept as secret as possible. The Guardian understands that in this case the usual procedure was followed. First, a viable herd is identified. Then operatives in a helicopter pick off the younger elephants with a sedative fired from a rifle. As the elephant collapses, the pilot dive-bombs the immediate vicinity so the rest of the herd, attempting to come to the aid of the fallen animal, are kept at bay. When things quieten down, a ground-team approaches the sedated elephants on foot, bundles them up, and drags them on to trailers.

The footage, a series of isolated clips and photographs provided to the Guardian by an anonymous source associated with the operation, documents the moment that operatives are running into the bush, then shows them tying up one young elephant. The elephants are then seen herded together in a holding pen near the main tourist camp in Hwange.

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Welfare of zoo animals set to improve

Date:  September 18, 2017

Source:  University of Surrey

The wellbeing of zoological animals is set to improve following the successful trial of a new welfare assessment grid, a new study in the journal Veterinary Record reports.

Researchers from Marwell Zoo, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey, trialled a series of monitoring strategies on primates and birds to help zookeepers ensure the health and safety of animals in their care. The introduction of the practice over a period of 13 weeks at two zoological collections in the South of England, clearly demonstrated the level of physical and psychological wellbeing of the animals, and the effect of certain interventions.

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Scientists, zoos team up on landmark elephant welfare project

Date:July 14, 2016

Source:University of California - Davis

Given that elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet, one might expect that when it comes to enclosures for zoo elephants, size matters.

However, a newly released study in which the University of California, Davis, played a key role reveals that social interactions and having an array of opportunities to engage with their surroundings may be more important for elephants than space.

The research effort is the largest multi-institutional zoo-elephant welfare project conducted to date and includes nine studies that analyzed the lives of 255 African and Asian elephants in 68 accredited North American zoos. The results will be released July 14 as a special collection in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, published by the Public Library of Science.

The goals and comprehensive findings of these studies will be presented in a companion overview.

"This is the first coordinated set of studies aimed at evaluating a number of behavioral and physical aspects of welfare for the North American zoo elephant population and, importantly, identifying the most important aspects of elephant management, housing and care," said Cheryl Meehan, a UC Davis staff research associate in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine. Meehan provided consulting services to the project through her organization, AWARE Institute, and is the lead author for the overview.

Time alone is risk factor for zoo elephants

The full research collection contains studies on elephant welfare factors including behavior, body condition, foot-and-joint health, female reproductive function and walking distance.

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Sanctuaries or showbiz: what's the future of zoos?

 While most zoos in the US and Europe have moved away from cramped cages the tension between displaying captive animals and a scientific purpose persists

Oliver Milman

Wednesday 23 March 2016 17.14 GMT

Last modified on Wednesday 23 March 201620.57 GMT

It hasn’t been a great month for zoos and aquariums. Seaworld finally bowed to pressure to end its captive orca breeding program, three US zoos were criticized for secretly flying 18 elephants out of Africa and zoo keepers in Calgary accidentally killed an otter with a pair of pants, adding to a list of mistakes that includes giving a knife to a gorilla.

These unrelated events have provoked questions about the modern role of zoos and what, if any, future they should have. While most zoos in the US and Europe have done away with cramped, empty, concrete dungeons and embraced a message of conservation, the difference between the vast natural ranges of elephants, whales and polar bears and their zoo environments remains stark.

“Animals collected from the wild are doomed to a rather dull life – a sort of life they don’t deserve,” said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals. The not-for-profit group launched a legal action to stop three US zoos from importing 18 elephants from Swaziland, only, as Feral puts it, for the trunked beasts to be “whisked away at midnight” before the court hearing. The zoos maintain this was for the elephants’ welfare.

“Dallas zoo will take several elephants and put them in an 11-acre area. Omaha will put them in four acres. How on Earth will they divide that space? It’s rather pitiful. A zoo isn’t an ecosystem. If zoos could breed elephants and whales properly, they wouldn’t have to steal them from nature. It’s nefarious to do that and then confine them in a tourist trap.”

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Zoos filling up with geriatric animals as medical advances extend life expectancy

Vets are debating whether caged animals should be kept alive longer than in the wild – or be allowed to die

Tom Bawden Environment Editor 

Friday 11 March 2016

He is one of Blackpool Zoo’s best-loved residents, famed for his sexual appetite as much as his gentle demeanour. And at 94 years of age, Darwin is proving there’s plenty of life left in the old tortoise yet.

But the creature’s longevity is not welcome news for everyone. Darwin is one of a growing breed of geriatric zoo and aquarium animals that are beginning to fill up UK attractions after significant advances in medicine, diagnosis and care have extended their life expectancy.

Illnesses such as cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis and kidney failure, long associated with ageing human beings but rarely detected in animals, are cropping up in zoos with increasing frequency. This is because animals have typically not lived long enough before for these symptoms to afflict them.

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Australian zoos condemn animal abuses but won't quit global organisation

‘We need to be in the tent rather than out of it,’ Perth zoo boss says when asked why tougher action has not been taken against rogue zoos

Oliver Milman

@olliemilman

Thursday 26 March 2015 06.04 GMTLast modified on Thursday 26 March 201506.06 GMT

Australian zoos have spoken out against the animal abuses in zoos around the world that were exposed this week but have ruled out quitting the world’s top zoos body, which has failed to act upon the ill treatment.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums is being taken to court by an Australian conservation group for its alleged complicity in the infamous dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan, Guardian Australia revealed this week.

Waza is accused of sanctioning a deal under which its Japanese member would get first pick of dolphins for captivity in the month of September, despite publicly opposing the practice of dolphin hunts for meat or capture.

Dozens of examples of harrowing cruelty towards animals in Waza-member zoos have been revealed, contrary to its code of ethics, which demands the “highest standard of animal welfare”.

The videoed abuse includes elephants being beaten in an Indian zoo and dolphins forced to jump through flaming hoops at a touring Indonesian show. At one Waza-member zoo in South Korea, a terrified baby bear was put into a tiger enclosure for the amusement of TV viewers.

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Chinese zoos plundering Zimbabwe’s wildlife

Adam Cruise / 1 hour ago

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), a non-profit wildlife organization , has issued a disturbing report claiming that wildlife in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park is being abducted and shipped to Chinese zoos. 

ZCTF first highlighted this issue in April earlier this year when they were tipped that an Australian national in collaboration with a Zimbabwean were looking for elephants in Hwange to earmark for Chinese zoos. Now eye-witness reports from tourists visiting the park are coming in about blatant live captures of baby elephants. The elephants are then taken to Mtshibi Capture Unit about 7 kilometres from Hwange’s Main Camp.

So far 34 baby elephants between the ages of 2 ½ and 5 years old, 7 lions and about 10 sable antelope have been rounded up for shipping but investigators were not allowed to get close enough to the compound to photograph as security there has become extremely tight. It is expected that the animals will be shipped by container trucks to Maputo in Mozambique where they will be transferred to a livestock freighter and sent on an arduous sea passage to China.

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Zoos stave off extinction for many reptiles and amphibians

A frog that doesn’t croak, the largest living lizard, and a tortoise that can live up to 100 years are just some of the species staving off extinction thanks to the help of zoos, according to a new report.

The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), which promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums, has compiled a list of the top 10 reptiles and amphibians benefitting from the aid of its members in the UK and Ireland.

Dr Andrew Marshall from BIAZA’s Field Programmes Committee co-ordinated the compilation of the list with input from conservation experts based at BIAZA collections.

He said: “Zoos are part of a global conservation community. Last year, BIAZA published a report on the top 10 mammals most reliant on zoos, which highlighted the work being done to help safeguard their future. This year, we have focused on 10 prevailing examples of reptiles and amphibians.

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Does this trunk make me look fat? Overweight zoo elephants no laughing matter

Date:

July 13, 2014

Source:

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Summary:

The birthrate for African elephants in zoos is declining, and researchers look for a link between inflammation and obesity that may be connected to the increase in infertility. "Obesity affects about 40 percent of African elephants in captivity," said one researcher. "Much as we see in humans, excess fat in elephants contributes to the development of heart disease, arthritis, a shorter lifespan and infertility."

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Zoo-Raised Gorillas Prefer Forest Sounds Over Chopin

Jyoti Madhusoodanan, ISNS Contributor | May 12, 2014 04:32pm ET

(ISNS) -- The sounds of a gently babbling stream or leaves rustling in the wind can calm city-dwellers far from woodsy retreats. These natural sounds may also influence the behavior of gorillas raised in zoos that have never seen a rainforest.

Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) exhibited fewer stress-related behaviors when a recording of rainforest sounds was played in their enclosure. They responded more strongly to these sounds than to classical or rock music, or no music at all. The results, accepted for publication in the journal Zoo Biology, suggest that the forest melodies were more effective at reducing stress-induced habits such as hair-plucking or regurgitating food in the three gorillas studied.

Previous research on how music affects zoo-housed gorillas produced mixed results. One study found adult gorillas were more agitated and aroused by rainforest sounds. Another paper found that the animals appeared more relaxed in response to music – whether classical or forest tunes – than when no music was played to them.

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Do Zoos Really Teach Visitors Anything? (Op-Ed)

Marc Bekoff | March 11, 2014 12:10am ET

Marc Bekoff, emeritus professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is one of the world's pioneering cognitive ethologists, a Guggenheim Fellow, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Bekoff's latest book is Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed (New World Library, 2013). This Op-Ed is adapted from one that appeared in Bekoff's column Animal Emotions in Psychology Today. He contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Zoos (including aquariums) exist worldwide and are visited by millions of people annually. Whether or not they provide any significant educational experience has long been debated, despite claims by zoo supporters, workers and administrators that they do. The recent killing of a young and healthy giraffe named Marius at the Copenhagen Zoo, who was viewed by the zoo as a disposable object because he couldn't be used as a breeding machine, has brought a good deal of attention to these businesses. I call this "The Marius" Effect," and many people who never were actively or critically vocal about the goings-on at zoos have gotten involved because of their revulsion at the unnecessary and heartless killing of this youngster.

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Zoos in Europe ‘kill 5,000 healthy animals a year’

Revelation comes in wake of controversy over healthy giraffe put down in Copenhagen

IAN JOHNSTON

Thursday 27 February 2014

Up to 5,000 healthy zoo animals – including hundreds of larger ones such as giraffes, lions and bears – are killed by zoos in Europe every year, it is claimed today.

The revelation comes in the wake of the international furore over the killing of Marius, a healthy 18-month-old giraffe, by Copenhagen Zoo. It has since been established that five of the animals have been put down by zoos in Denmark since 2012.

Across Europe, 22 healthy zebras, four hippos and two Arabian Oryx were also put down. The Oryx were killed at Edinburgh and London zoos in 2000 and 2001.

Several German zookeepers were prosecuted in 2010 for killing three tiger cubs at Magdeburg Zoo. However, some zoos, such as Twycross in Warwickshire, have a policy of not putting down healthy animals.

Dr Lesley Dickie, executive director of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (Eaza), told BBC Radio 4’s The Report that between 3,000 and 5,000 healthy animals are put down every year across Europe. “That’s our estimate for all animals management euthanised in the zoo, be it tadpoles up until a giraffe,” she said.

She added that “less than a few hundred” larger animals such as giraffes, zebras, lions and bears were included in the total. She said the true number was not known as studbooks sometimes do not record why an animal is killed. Like Marius, some animals are put down as part of a breeding programme designed to encourage genetic diversity in the captive population.

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Scientists Warn: Conservation Work in Zoos Is Too Random

Jan. 15, 2014 — The world's zoos work hard and spend enormous resources on the conservation of endangered species, but the resources are not always optimally spent. One big problem is international legislation and the need of more zoos to work in regional or global networks. Zoo resources can be spent much more effectively, say scientists from University of Southern Denmark after analyzing animal collections across the world's zoos.

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Zookeepers mistakenly attempt to mate two male sloths, unsurprisingly don’t get results

Saturday 7 Dec 2013 10:52 am

It’s normally sloths that are slow but experts at a Sussex zoo took a while to realise they were trying to breed two males.

Staff at Drusillas Park were perplexed as to why their treasured animals Sofia and Tupee had been unable to produce offspring since 2011.

Eventually they decided to get some help and that’s when they found out they had been trying to breed two males.

‘We are going to have to find a more suitable name for Sofia,’ said head zoo keeper Mark Kenward.

He blamed medical records that had categorised Sofia as a female and said it was difficult to tell what sex sloths were.

‘We had never looked after sloths before and were relying on the information provided,’ he added.

Mr Kenward said it was unlikely the two males would be kept together at the Alfriston zoo – although we’re not sure they would still want to.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/07/zookeepers-mistakenly-attempt-to-mate-two-male-sloths-unsurprisingly-dont-get-results-4221475/

The end of the show for India's elephants

November 2013: The sight of elephants languishing in circuses and zoos in India are to be a thing of the past according to the country’s Central Zoo Authority (CZA). The CZA has issued a notice to zoo authorities stating that their elephants should be sent to national parks, sanctuaries or reserves with immediate effect and that these measures would also apply to circus animals.

It is estimated that there are about 140 elephants in zoos and circuses in India. The directive is reported to state that zoos and circuses are "not the best places for large animals" which "require a large area to move about freely".

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Are Zoos Really a Setting for Ecotourism?

Sep. 23, 2013 — According to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, over 700 million people visit zoos each year (WAZA, 2012) and with the growing popularity amongst tourist the debate continues whether it is moral for animals to be kept in zoos, although the primary objective of entertainment has changed to include research, education and conservation.

An area to be looked into is whether zoos are defensible as an ecotourism setting. Latest research by David A. Fennell, Contesting the zoo as a setting for ecotourism, and the design of a first principle published in Journal of Ecotourism, investigates this topic and uses research on three main concerns: conservation -- education; welfare; and captivity.

Although we could argue that the animal welfare is successful with factors such as freedom from hunger, thirst, pain etc, with the failure in animal breading and captivity programmes are zoos achieving ecotourism objectives?

David's research concludes that if we put the welfare of animals over humans' in ecotourism then this will make the step towards a more ethical ecotourism industry.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130923092746.htm

Enhancing Zoo Elephant Welfare

Sep. 10, 2013 — A ground-breaking study announced today revealed that analyzing the daily lives of zoo elephants -- ranging from when and how they are fed to how they spend their time both at night and during the day -- provides new, scientifically based information that zoos can use to improve the welfare of their elephants. "Using Science to Understanding Zoo Elephant Welfare" is the largest and most comprehensive, multi-institution study ever conducted to collect and assess data on the welfare of any species in North American zoos.

Representatives of the 27-member study team, which includes independent consultants, zoo professionals and faculty from three universities, presented results from the three-year, independent study today at the national Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) annual meeting attended by zoo professionals from throughout North America. The study is funded by an $800,000 leadership grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded to the Honolulu Zoo Society and administered by Kathy Carlstead, Ph.D. Study team members and dozens of research assistants from widely varied disciplines developed quantitative measures to assess elephant welfare indicators. A sample of the volumes of data collected included: 110,000 pages of medical records, 2,700 hours of video, 6,135 serum samples, 7.8 million GPS data points and 6,571 fecal samples collected from 40,000 pounds of elephant dung.

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Dogs cross species barrier, help cheetahs survive

By Sue Manning

Los Angeles — It may sound like a West Side Story-style love story, but some dogs love big cats.

Cheetahs are the fastest mammals in the world, but they also are the world's biggest scaredy-cats — so much so that they don't breed easily and are in danger of going extinct.

Some zoos are introducing dogs to calm the skittish cats and bring attention to their plight. They're pairing "companion dogs" with some cheetahs to serve as playmates and to provide the cats with guidance.

"It's a love story of one species helping another species survive," said Jack Grisham, vice president of animal collections at the St. Louis Zoo and species survival plan coordinator for cheetahs in North America.

Shiley, a 3-year-old male cheetah, and Yeti, a female
 Anatolian shepherd who serves
 as Shiley's partner, take a break during a walk through
 Safari Park, in Escondido, Calif. (Lenny Ignelzi / Associated Press)

Or, to quote Stephen Stills, it's a matter of loving the one you're with, he said.

"It is all about comforting and reassuring the cheetah," said Janet Rose-Hinostroza, animal training supervisor at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park — the top U.S. breeder of cheetahs in captivity. In the past 40 years, 135 cheetahs have been born at the park's breeding facility.

The cheetahs most often found at zoos and wildlife parks are not considered good breeding candidates, they don't relate well to other cheetahs, or they are abandoned by their mothers, Rose-Hinostroza said. But they seem to take easily to companion dogs and look to the dogs for play and example.

Of the 19 cheetahs at Safari Park, four have dogs. Four of the zoo's cheetahs also have dogs.

From The Detroit News: 

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130212/SCIENCE/302120377#ixzz2Kh7Lnogz

4 juvenile elephants taken from Zimbabwe to sub-zero China - 1 dead already

14 more elephants awaiting a similar fate
January 2013. In November 2012, 4 elephants were exported from Zimbabwe to China, and it reported that one of the elephants has already died. The juvenile elephants, having been removed from their mothers, were transported long distances by road and plane, and taken to parts of China where the temperature at this time of year rarely rises above -10.

The elephants were taken from the Hwange area and transported by road to Harare, a trip that took 12 hours, where they were loaded onto an Air Emirates flight to Dubai. This flight to Dubai took 10 hours, and from there it is believed that they flew to Beijing.

Young elephants
The total weight of the four elephants was 3.9 tons, which implies they were very young animals. If these elephants are juveniles as indicated, they must have been taken away from their mothers and therefore family units are being destroyed. It is further reported that another 14 elephants are being held in a boma in Hwange, also awaiting exportation in January 2013. It is said that the final destinations of the elephants are 2 zoos in China.

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/china-elephants013.html