Overrepresented Species

RatioTile

RatioTile

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I'd like to get a sense of which animal species tend to be overrepresented in zoos around the world. These would be the common animals that many institutions have and sometimes you won't even want to bother photographing them because you've seen them a gazillion times. Not everything on this list I would skip over in a zoo visit, though, and sometimes I get more interested in the exhibit setup than the animal itself.

-Mammals
Transvaal lion ( or unlabeled African lion, many might be hybrids, though)
Reticulated giraffe
Common eland (most commonly kept antelope in my experience)
Meerkat
Small-clawed otter (at the expense of other otters)
Lar gibbon (sometimes you get other gibbon species instead, which is cooler)
Ring-tailed lemur
Black-and-white ruffed lemur
California sea lion (zoos and aquariums)
Harbor seal (aquariums)
Bottlenose Dolphin (aquariums)
Cape rock hyrax (other hyraxes are really rare)
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog (other prairie dogs are really rare)
Hybrid American Bison

-Birds
South African Ostrich (or ostrich with unlabeled subspecies)
Emu
Indian Peafowl
Mallard
Grey Crowned Crane
Greater Flamingo (American and Chilean are also pretty common)
Scarlet Macaw
Blue and Gold Macaw
Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo
Toco Toucan
Golden Pheasant
Silver Pheasant

-Reptiles
Red-Eared Slider
Aldabra Tortoise
Sulcata Tortoise
Red-Footed Tortoise
Green Sea Turtle (aquariums)
Green Iguana
Veiled Chameleon
Central Bearded Dragon
Leopard Gecko
Madagascar Day Gecko
Eastern Blue-Tongued Skink
Corn Snake
California King Snake
Ball Python
Burmese Python
Reticulated Python
Red-Tailed Boa
American Alligator

-Amphibians
Axolotl
American Bullfrog
African Clawed Frog
Dwarf Clawed Frog
Oriental Fire-Bellied Toad
African Pixie Frog
Ornate Horned Frog

-Fish
Koi
Goldfish
Tilapia
Asian Arowana
Alligator Gar
Large Plecos
Red-Tailed Catfish
Tambaqui
Red-Bellied Piranha
Neon Tetra
Discus
Freshwater Angelfish
Tinfoil Barb
Assorted Lake Malawi Mbunas
Ocellaris Clownfish
Tomato Clownfish
Emperor Angelfish
Moorish Idol
Yellow Tang
Regal Tang
Assorted Surgeonfish
Longnose Butterflyfish
Assorted Butterflyfish
Longnose Hawkfish
Red Volitans Lionfish
Cleaner Wrasse
Humphead Wrasse
Giant Grouper
Sand Tiger Shark
Blacktip Reef Shark
Bluespotted Ribbon Ray

-Invertebrates
Pink-Winged Stick Insect
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
Rose-Haired Tarantula
Mexican Redknee Tarantula
Emperor Scorpion
Giant African Millipede
Moon Jellyfish
 
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Missing a few species which are also to be found in huge numbers ( just what pop-up in my head ) :
- Tiger ( none-subspecified )
- Patagonian mara !!!!
- Capybara
- Cotton-top tamarin
- Black swan
- Mute swan
- Red-whiskered bulbul

Have to think about other but there will undoubtly be a lot more !
 
Southern white rhino, Burchell's zebra, Red deer, Fallow deer, Red fox, Wild boar, European brown bear, red panda
Some of those are probably specific to Europe but very common nonetheless.
 
Reticulated Giraffe, Amur Leopard, Asian Small Clawed Otter, Western Lowland Gorilla, Allen's Swamp Monkey, American Flamingo, Roseate Spoonbill to name a few....
 
Pity that other prairie dogs are almost unknown in zoos. Any North American member can know why they cannot be obtained or kept? Utah and Mexican forms are pretty rare in the wild.
 
Sarus Crane said:
Reticulated Giraffe, Amur Leopard, Asian Small Clawed Otter, Western Lowland Gorilla, Allen's Swamp Monkey, American Flamingo, Roseate Spoonbill to name a few....
Click to expand...

Amur leopard and allen's swamp monkey aren't common in Europe :(

Fortunately we here on the other side of the pond have more leopard variety - Sri Lankan, Indian, African, Arabian (kind of), Caucasus, Central African, Javan, North Chinese and North Persian. Rather sadly in the US there are only Amur leopards - or maybe that is a good thing? I don't know.
 
amur leopard said:
Amur leopard and allen's swamp monkey aren't common in Europe :(
Click to expand...

Amur Leopard are pretty common - in point of fact more collections in Europe keep them than any other leopard subspecies!

Non-subspecific: c.56 collections
Amur: c.54 collections
Persian: 38 collections
North Chinese: 29 collections
Sri Lanka: 25 collections
African: c.5 collections
Javan: 4 collections
Indian: 1 collection

amur leopard said:
Sri Lankan, Indian, African, Arabian (kind of), Caucasus, Central African, Javan, North Chinese and North Persian.
Click to expand...

There are no Arabian or Caucasian Leopards in European collections.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Amur Leopard are pretty common - in point of fact more collections in Europe keep them than any other leopard subspecies!

Non-subspecific: c.56 collections
Amur: c.54 collections
Persian: 38 collections
North Chinese: 29 collections
Sri Lanka: 25 collections
African: c.5 collections
Javan: 4 collections
Indian: 1 collection



There are no Arabian or Caucasian Leopards in European collections.
Click to expand...

ZTL lists them but they are in Novosibirsk and various zoos in the UAE so not really European I admit.
 
amur leopard said:
Amur leopard and allen's swamp monkey aren't common in Europe :(

Fortunately we here on the other side of the pond have more leopard variety - Sri Lankan, Indian, African, Arabian (kind of), Caucasus, Central African, Javan, North Chinese and North Persian. Rather sadly in the US there are only Amur leopards - or maybe that is a good thing? I don't know.
Click to expand...
ALWAYS have wanted to see the huge Persian and Sri Lankan Leopards. I've read that they get to be nearly lioness sized!
 
Worth noting several of the mammals listed so far are endangered in the wild, so it could be considered a benefit to the species to be common in captivity. Meerkat on the other hand... :p
 
birdsandbats said:
There are too many Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. By far the most common zoo animal I see.
Click to expand...

This is true. In Wisconsin I see Prairie Dogs on exhibit at places that aren't even intended to be zoos. People around here really love them, so zoos keep breeding them to keep the public happy.
 
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