Why don't zoos...?

MyNameHere

Arachnobaron
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I'm sure most zoos don't employ arachnologists. I went to the houston zoo last weekend and the only spider in the WHOLE ZOO was a brown mystery T in the children's zoo labeled only as a "Desert Tarantula". It was probably an Aponophelma sp. It was about their size.

Anyway, that got me wondering...with the # of tarantulas on the CITES list why aren't zoos making more of a (visible) effort to captive breed and bolster wild populations? They do this with other endangered animals, granted they're almost exclusively warm-blooded vertebrates.

But doesn't that seem like it would be something zoos would be interested in doing to help educate people about disappearing habitats, etc?
 

Randomosity

Arachnosquire
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Zoo Atlanta has a good number of T's.

As does the Berlin Zoo (In Germany).
 

MilkmanWes

Arachnobaron
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The Dallas World Aquarium has a T. Blondi flanked by an A. Avic and some other NW T I cannot remember right now.

Over in Ft Worth at the zoo they have a huge herpetarium that I have been going to for over 20 years. Very attractive with a huge variety of reptiles and amphibians and an insect room. Have been there a few times when an expert of unknown caliber had several varieties of bug and local Ts out on a table for up close examination.

Houston sucks all the way around. Sorry if you live there, but except for being born I can't really name any good experiences or impressions I've had there.

What about the San Antonio zoo, since we are both in Texas. Been there lately? Years ago it used to be pretty nice, but I haven't been since the early 80s and things change.
 

The Red Queen

Mrs. TarCan
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The Cincinnati Zoo has a very nice Invert exhibit (called The Insect House, but it also has spiders, scorpions, and other inverts). I remember they have at least 3 or 4 tarantulas on exhibit (a rosie, B. smithi, and P. regalis if I remember correctly). Spydra might have more info on this though... she works at the Cincinnati Zoo.
 

Tarangela

Arachnobaron
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The Asheboro Zoo in Asheboro, NC didn't have any either :( They had a scorpion, and some other desert species in a large Sonora Desert thing, but I never seen any T's. I can't understand why. And I never seen or heard a thing about arachnology while we were there. I wanted to ask the guy at the information desk as we were leaving, but I didn't know what that conversation would lead to.

I guess people are more interested in seeing mammals?
 

Bark

Arachnoknight
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The National Zoo in DC had 2 tarantulas and a really cool banana spider in the invertebrate house. I think the T's were a T Blondi and a Rose hair.

The banana spider wasn't in an enclosure and there was nothing between you and its web. It was funny to watch people walk around the display hugging the walls. {D
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
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I would say the reason most zoos don't have much of an arachnid exibit is because many Ts stay in their hides,burrows or whatever that certain species uses. However there are some very nice Ts that do make good display animals. Like everyone here, I would also like to see more Ts, scorps and exotic insects in zoos.
 

Mattyb

Arachnoking
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I'm not trying to start an argument but i do not believe there is a such thing as a arachnologist, i believe they would just be classified as an Entomologist. please correct me if i am wrong but i never heard the term arachnologist.



thanks,
Mattyb
 

Mattyb

Arachnoking
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i do believe that the australia zoo has a nice arachnid exibit. not quite sure though.
 

David Burns

Arachnoprince
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Mattyb said:
I'm not trying to start an argument but i do not believe there is a such thing as a arachnologist, i believe they would just be classified as an Entomologist. please correct me if i am wrong but i never heard the term arachnologist.



thanks,
Mattyb
I believe an arachnologist would be a entomologist that specializes in the Class Arachnidae.
 

Jeri

Arachnoknight
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Mattyb said:
I'm not trying to start an argument but i do not believe there is a such thing as a arachnologist, i believe they would just be classified as an Entomologist. please correct me if i am wrong but i never heard the term arachnologist.
The professor who wrote the Spider Myths page linked to from the ATS is credited as an arachnologist, and states that since entomologists deal mainly with insects, most of them know very little about arachnids.

Jeri
 

MyNameHere

Arachnobaron
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Yeah, at the Houston zoo they had a vinegaroon and a scorpion...and for some reason I want to say they had a millipede or centipede or something... I was just more interested in the T's b/c that's what I keep.

at the Houston Museum of Natural Science there's a large, conical greenhouse where they raise butterflies. When you exit the greenhouse there's a room w/live insects (mostly beetles and butterflies) from around the world. They have at least one arachnid, a black widow. I'll have to go check again, I wonder if they have any of the arboreal rainforest-type T's since the butterflies are all kept in a rainforest-tyep environment.
 

siucfi

Arachnobaron
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grammostola1953 said:
Where is it? I was there a few mos. ago, must have missed it.
It was one of the first things you saw when you walked into the Australia exibit.
 

Spydra

Arachnobaron
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The Red Queen said:
The Cincinnati Zoo has a very nice Invert exhibit (called The Insect House, but it also has spiders, scorpions, and other inverts). I remember they have at least 3 or 4 tarantulas on exhibit (a rosie, B. smithi, and P. regalis if I remember correctly). Spydra might have more info on this though... she works at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Yes Red, the Cincinnati Zoo has the rosie, smithi & regalis. IMO most Zoo's are more focused on the large endangered mammals (Sumatran Rhino, Manatee etc). I think they do have somewhat of a focus on the invertabrates at least the ones that work in the insect house, but you just dont really hear about it. I mean, for the majority of the people that donate to the Zoo's they want to save the big species. Most people could care less about invertabrates as the majority of them see invertabrates as being just "bugs" and the less we have the better. I dont think people really understand the importance of inverts and PLUS if your trying to get money from a donor, what is going to catch their eye..of course its going to be a big furry cat or Sumatran Rhino, which there are only around 300 left, not the "bugs"...if you catch my drift.

Renee
 

MizM

Arachnoprincess
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Maybe no one has suggested it to them! I would certainly put a "bug in the ear" of the director of any zoo that doesn't have them. If more people asked, maybe they would include them in their exhibits!
 

Sheri

Arachnoking
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Yes, there are arachnologists, I know one from Winnipeg as a matter of fact, and he lurks on these boards.

As for employing an arachnologist, often times they do not even employ biologists, or zoologists, just people who have a love for animals. Our zoo has two T's, a B. smithi, and a T. blondi. the smithi was labelled correctly, but the blondi was labelled as "Birdeating spider". Neither had latin names attached to them. In fact, the first time I saw the blondi I couldn't identify it, freshly molted, and it was hiding and dark. So, I called the head honcho, and no one really knew what it was or where it was from. So for our zoo, employing an arachnologist has no chance whatsoever.
 
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