Taiping Zoo Taiping Zoo species list, September 2019

[Chlidonias]

I visited the Taiping Zoo in 2017 and posted a review and species list here: Taiping Zoo review, 31 May 2017 [Taiping Zoo]

Go to that page for the review because it is still applicable, but here I will post an updated species list.

My reason for revisiting this zoo in particular is that in February this year, a Marbled Cat was placed upon display. It is a very easy animal to observe (it was hand-raised and hence very comfortable around the visitors) but unfortunately it was very difficult to photograph as the enclosure is glass-fronted and the cat likes to spend 99% of its time lying on the fronting shelf right up at the glass. If you try to take photos by standing back you have to deal with all the reflections on the glass, but you also can't place the camera right up to the glass to eliminate the reflections because then the lens is only a few millimetres from the cat's fur.

Something quite noticeable at the zoo, from having visited before, was how there are signs for animals no longer at the zoo still in place, like the Red Hartebeest sign (last animal died c.2016); and how certain animals which I suspected were not there despite being signed were still just as absent on this visit (e.g. Small Asian Mongoose and Southern Serow).

Below I will post a taxonomically-grouped species list (with some comments regarding the 2017 list).


MAMMALS:

*Asian Elephant


*White Rhinoceros

*Malayan Tapir

*Common Zebra


*Common Hippopotamus

*Giraffe

*Arabian camel (Dromedary) (signed but not seen)

*Nyala

*Red Lechwe

*Nilgai

*Lesser Mouse Deer (not seen in any of three enclosures they were labelled for, but there were food dishes out)

**[Greater Mouse Deer (on my 2017 visit this species was signed and one was seen, but not on this 2019 visit; they are not labelled on the current map)]

*Sambar

*Chital

*Bawean Hog Deer

*Common Muntjac

*Southern Serow (labelled but not seen - the same situation as in 2017, and the enclosure looked just as unlived-in as it did then)

*Gaur

*Asian Wild Pig

*Bearded Pig (in 2017 this enclosure looked like it hadn't been used for a while, although it was still signed for Bearded Pig - on this visit I saw three animals in the enclosure)


*Sunda Slow Loris

*Pigmy Marmoset

*Black-tufted Marmoset Callithrix penicillata (on my 2017 list I put these down as Common Marmoset - I'm not sure if they have changed animals or if [more likely] I made an error while making the list)

*Red-handed Tamarin

*Stump-tailed Macaque

*Orangutan

*Common Chimpanzee

*White-handed Gibbon

**Agile Gibbon (still none on display although I think they may have them off-display)

*Siamang (in 2017 the island signposted for Siamang was instead home to a large breeding colony of wild Night Herons - on this 2019 visit the island was again inhabited by Siamang and the herons had moved their colony)


*Malayan Sun Bear

*Dhole

*African Lion

*Malayan Tiger

*Black Leopard

*Clouded Leopard

*Serval (apparently rotated in the Chimpanzee enclosure, and only visible when the zoo is open at night)

*Asian Golden Cat (signed but not seen)

*Leopard Cat (signed but not seen)

*Marbled Cat (new since my 2017 visit)

*Smooth-coated Otter

*Small-clawed Otter (signed in two enclosures although I think in reality only inhabiting one of those)

*Binturong (signed but not seen in two different enclosures)

*Common Palm Civet

*Masked Palm Civet (new since my 2017 visit - the animal I saw was in a cage behind the Barred Eagle Owl aviary so not actually on display but still easily visible from the visitor pathway)

*Banded Palm Civet (on my 2017 visit the animal they previously had was deceased although the signage was still up [even though the cage the signage belonged to had been removed!] - on this 2019 visit the signage had been moved to a cage on the opposite side of the zoo [to the cage formerly occupied by a Flat-headed Cat]. I didn't see the animal so I don't know if there really is now a Banded Palm Civet to go with the sign)

*Large Indian Civet

*Small Asian Mongoose ("Javan Mongoose" on the sign. There was no sign of the animal itself on either the 2017 or 2019 visits and I suspect it hasn't been in the enclosure for a long time [it is a shared-enclosure with the Large Indian Civet]. The current map, which is new this year, does not label the mongoose as being here at all)


*Large (Malayan) Flying Fox

*Island Flying Fox (in both 2017 and 2019 signed but not seen, and I do not think they are present)

*Lesser Dog-faced Fruit Bat

*Rousettus sp.? (new since my 2017 visit but unlabelled and I suspect they would be missed by most visitors)


*Malayan Crested Porcupine

*Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine


*domestic Rabbit


*Agile Wallaby



BIRDS:

*Ostrich

*Emu

*Common Cassowary (two young birds; on my 2017 visit there was an empty cassowary pen, still with the sign up for Northern Cassowary - even though the bird had died in 2013 - and these two juveniles in 2019 are in that enclosure. The sign is still the old one for Northern Cassowary though)


*Striated (Little / Green) Heron

*Cattle Egret (unlabelled in two different aviaries)

*Black-crowned Night Heron (some in a walk-through aviary; also wild colonies in the zoo grounds)


*African Spoonbill (not seen this time but I probably just missed them because they are loose on the African Savannah area - they are still labelled on the current map)

*Scarlet Ibis


*Mute Swan

**Trumpeter Swan and Whooper Swan are additionally labelled on the map with the Mute Swan but I didn't see them

*Black Swan

**[Magpie Goose (as in 2017, signed but not seen and I doubt they have been at the zoo for years)]

*Paradise Duck (a pair new since my 2017 visit; they are unlabelled at the enclosure but labelled on the current map)

*Lesser Whistling Duck


*Greater Flamingo


*Grey Crowned Crane

*Demoiselle Crane


*Yellow-billed Stork

*Milky Stork


*Griffon Vulture (labelled on the current map where the abandoned Amazon aviary is - I didn't see any sign of the aviary being occupied, so I don't know)


*Red Junglefowl


*Blue and Yellow Macaw

*Green-winged Macaw

*Budgie

*Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot

*Indian Ringneck (labelled on the current map as being in the Milky Stork aviary, but I didn't see them)


*Nicobar Pigeon


*Spotted Wood Owl

*Buffy Fish Owl

*Barred Eagle Owl


*Black-naped Oriole (as in 2017, labelled as being present in a walk-in aviary but not seen)

*Hill Mynah (new since my 2017 visit)

*White-headed Munia

*Baya Weaver (the aviary for these looked unoccupied)



REPTILES:

*Saltwater Crocodile

*False Gharial

*African Dwarf Crocodile (signed but not seen)

*Reticulated Python (signed but not seen)

*Rhinoceros Iguana

*African Spurred Tortoise

*Elongated Tortoise (labelled on the current map, but I did not see them)

*Impressed Tortoise (labelled on the current map, but I did not see them)

*Asian Brown Tortoise (unsigned but present in 2017, but I didn't see them on this visit)

*Red-eared Terrapin (unsigned but present in 2017, but I didn't notice them on this visit - the pool they were in is labelled on the current map as being occupied by Giant Snakehead)

*Amboina Box Turtle (unsigned but present in 2017, but I didn't notice them on this visit - the pool they were in is labelled on the current map as being occupied by Giant Snakehead)

 

[FunkyGibbon]

I didn't know there were any Hartebeest in Asia. That's a pity.

 

[Chlidonias]

I didn't know there were any Hartebeest in Asia. That's a pity.

Yes, I've never seen a hartebeest either so it's a pain when I still see a sign for one on an enclosure!

Still, the Marbled Cat was lovely.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

Banded palm civet is back

 

[Chlidonias]

Banded palm civet is back

I didn't realise your visit would be that soon! Did you like the zoo?

And now you've seen Marbled Cat presumably. I wonder if @TeaLovingDave has seen one yet? (Strokes beard in contemplation).

 

[TeaLovingDave]

And now you've seen Marbled Cat presumably. I wonder if @TeaLovingDave has seen one yet? (Strokes beard in contemplation).

More like "strokes beard like a vaudeville villain"

 

[FunkyGibbon]

I didn't realise your visit would be that soon! Did you like the zoo?

And now you've seen Marbled Cat presumably. I wonder if @TeaLovingDave has seen one yet? (Strokes beard in contemplation).

Thoughts on Taiping Zoo:

It's really good. Like maybe top five in Asia good. But there are some concerns as well. For starters, it's very strong in mammals, better than some places for birds, but has almost zero reptiles. Also, although it's very good on mammals overall, it's curiously weak on primates.

Most of the enclosures are great. The small carnivore exhibits are better than most in Europe, but apes also do well, there's a nice savannah and a huge leopard cage. The only real eyesore is the small elephant exhibit, but this was more than made up for by seeing a full herd with lots of young. Very atypical for Asia.

Once you know they have marbled cat the rest of the species line-up is almost irrelevant, but it's no slouch. Other highlights are large Indian civet, banded palm civet, bearded pig (unseen), bawean deer, Asiatic golden cat, gaur, smooth-coated otter, blue-cowned hanging parrot and lesser mousedeer.

At 16 ringgit for day entry it's excellent value as well. I only have two negative comments:

Firstly, there are a few too many empty exhibits and generally a lot of metalwork is rusty. The zoo just feels a bit unkempt, despite the fact that essential maintenance seems to be being done. Even though it's nothing like Melaka, it can feel a little like Melaka.

The second is that I found the Night Safari to be underwhelming. You have to leave the zoo at 6pm and wait two hours for it to reopen at 8. Then you pay 20 ringgit for a new ticket.

On my visit it was pouring with rain. I wouldn't have bothered but for the fact I thought I'd get better views of the civets (as opposed to curled-up balls). I was told to get onto the safari tram, but I interpreted what I suspected was an instruction as an invitation and disappeared off onto the walking path. The first section was completely unlit, despite containing many of the nocturnal animals, and I was very lucky I had brought my torch. After this section the path was lit, with lamps about 30cm high that were far too bright and destroyed my night vision.

There will always be something special about wandering a zoo at night, but other places do it far better than Taiping. Also, didn't get better views of the civets.

Overall a great visit, and the marbled cat certainly makes it worth the trip up from KL.

 

[Chlidonias]

although it's very good on mammals overall, it's curiously weak on primates.

Not really though. It has three or four gibbon islands, Chimps and Orangutans, three species of callitrichids, Slow Loris, and although there is only one species of Old World monkey on display (Stump-tailed Macaque) there are three species wild in the zoo grounds (Crab-eating and Pig-tailed Macaques and Dusky Langurs).

Firstly, there are a few too many empty exhibits and generally a lot of metalwork is rusty. The zoo just feels a bit unkempt, despite the fact that essential maintenance seems to be being done. Even though it's nothing like Melaka, it can feel a little like Melaka.

The empty enclosures issue is noticeable. In my original review I made a similar comparison to Melaka as well, but noting that the feeling of the two zoos was quite different. It's actually a lot more noticeable when having made two visits a couple of years apart - the same enclosures are empty, the same signage is up for non-existent inhabitants, etc. There was an aviary crushed by a fallen tree on my first visit which was in exactly the same state on my second; it's only a small aviary as well and I really wonder how difficult it would be to just take it out.

The second is that I found the Night Safari to be underwhelming. You have to leave the zoo at 6pm and wait two hours for it to reopen at 8. Then you pay 20 ringgit for a new ticket.

I've never done the night safari - it didn't seem worth paying again to see the same animals.

Did you see the Serow at all (day or night)? That enclosure looked very uninhabited on both my visits.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

Not really though. It has three or four gibbon islands, Chimps and Orangutans, three species of callitrichids, Slow Loris, and although there is only one species of Old World monkey on display (Stump-tailed Macaque) there are three species wild in the zoo grounds (Crab-eating and Pig-tailed Macaques and Dusky Langurs).

Hmmm. On the one hand I'm sure if Taiping had nine 'monkey' species and no apes I wouldn't have said it was weak in primates. On the other I think being low on monkeys does feel like something is missing in a way that it doesn't when zoos lack apes and prosimians. The wild langurs are certainly very cool.

Did you see the Serow at all (day or night)? That enclosure looked very uninhabited on both my visits.

Not a sausage.

 

[DannySG]

May I ask one question, anyone could advise whether Marbled Cat is still on display. I was told it is not there anymore, thanks.

 

[DannySG]

May I ask one question, anyone could advise whether Marbled Cat is still on display. I was told it is not there anymore, thanks.

I could answer by myself. Visit Zoo today, confirmed with staff, died already, sad