The One and Only

When I was a kid, the only zoo in the US to exhibit giant pandas was the National Zoo in DC.  San Diego had the only koalas.  Cincinnati Zoo had the only Sumatran rhinos.  Philadelphia had the only giant otters.  The Pittsburgh Zoo had the only Amazon River dolphin.

For a long time, it was one of the greatest signs of prestige to have “the one and only”, being the only zoo or aquarium to exhibit a given species.  During the early 1900s, as Africa and Asia were still being explored and new animals uncovered, zoo directors paid outrageous sums so that they could claim the honor of being the first (either in their country or the world) to display an okapi, a pygmy hippo, or a mountain gorilla.  Rarity in an animal was seen as an attribute, almost as if it was something that the animal (and the zoo) should be proud of.  Having a one-of-a-kind specimen was like having a Mona Lisa on display. 

The difference between having a Mona Lisa and having a giant panda, of course, is that eventually the giant panda is going to die.  A living collection is only sustainable if there are enough animals to form a breeding population.  That requires dozens (depending on the species, hundreds) of individuals, more than any single institution is likely to house.  With the emphasis of zoos moving from “stamp collection” displays to managed breeding programs, having a single specimen, or at best a pair, was no longer such a positive attribute.

There are still some zoos that can boast of being the only institution to house a particular animal.  The Bronx Zoo (WCS) has the only maleos, megapods from Sulawesi, as well as the only geladas, the only ring-tailed mongooses.  Dallas Zoo has the only perentie monitors in the US.  When I visited the Dallas World Aquarium, it seemed that half the species on display were the only representatives of their kind in captivity.

As time passes, however, I think we will see most species follow one of two trends.  Some will expand their captive population and become more abundant in zoos around the world; when I was growing up Komodo dragons were found in three zoos in the US; now they are almost commonplace.  The species that follow this pathway will become managed program species, with the end goal of having a stable, self-sufficient population.  Others will decline, specimen by specimen, until they become extinct in zoo collections.  In the US, the brown hyena is an example of a species that followed this pathway.

Today, four US zoos – National, San Diego, Atlanta, and Memphis – house giant pandas.  A dozen or so display koalas.  Sumatran rhinos are as rare now as they were when I was a child (despite some breeding success at Cincinnati).  As for the Amazon river dolphins… well, I expect that if I’m going to see one, it will have to be in South America.  The PPG Aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo now bares a plaque and a painting across from its Amazon River tank.  That is all that is left of the one and only Amazon River dolphin in the United States.