Nocturnal Houses?
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Onychorhynchus coronatus
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I believe that there is a nocturnal house at the Temaiken Biopark in Argentina. There are pictures of it in the Zoochat gallery here and it seems to be used to house a lot of their endemic small mammals like armadillos, tuco tucos and vizcacha.
It can't really be included as a nocturnal house but there is a nocturnal enclosure at Zoologico de los Coyotes in Mexico used to house a colony of Long-nosed bats / "tequila bats".
I think ( I'm not 100 % sure though) that the enclosures for the Hispaniolan solenodons and hutias at ZOODOM in the Dominican Republic are kept as a nocturnal area with a reverse light cycle.
Those are three that come to mind apart from the Zoo MAT nocturnal house in Mexico but there could well be more out there.
For some reason I dont think that the concept of the nocturnal house ever really caught on in zoos in the region as much as it did in the USA and Europe.
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Stupid of me, because I was thinking of real houses, but I visited a nocturnal "house" myself in Latin America!
Ecozoo San Martín in Ecuador has a little darkened building - actually more a corridor with a roof on top, a wall at one side and a few enclosures on the other side - with kinkajous, black agoutis and a couple of owl species (most notable Roraima screech owl).
Ecozoo San Martín in Ecuador has a little darkened building - actually more a corridor with a roof on top, a wall at one side and a few enclosures on the other side - with kinkajous, black agoutis and a couple of owl species (most notable Roraima screech owl).
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
There you go, that would be another one (and one that I never knew existed).
There are probably a few others out there with nocturnal areas too but as far as I'm aware none (apart from Temaiken) with large nocturnal house facilities like those in German or American zoos or Bristol or ZSL in the UK.
This is a nice one, dedicated to burrowing species, the Argentinian equivalent of the "Unterirdischer Zoo" of Zoo Osnabrück.
An article I just found names "comadreja, la vizcacha, la mulita y el tuco tuco" as inhabitants. I don't know of it actually means a species of weasel is kept, or that "comadreja" is used for skunk in Argentina. "Mulita" seems to be the Argentinian name for armadillo.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
"Comadreja" literally translates as "weasel" in Spanish but I believe that this word is also used to refer to the opossum in Argentina. I have no idea why this animal is called a "weasel" but I suppose this may have something to do with European immigrants from Spain and Italy settling in rural areas of Argentina. I suppose they could have assigned this word to the oppossum due to perceived similarities with the weasels and polecats of the old countries in this animals character / bad smell / tendency to raid chicken runs etc.
Skunk would as far as I know be translated as "zorillo" or "mofeta" in Spanish.
The "mulita" is indeed the Argentinian expression for the nine banded armadillo but there are other names used for specific species like the "pichi" which is used for the dwarf armadillo or the "pichiciego" (the blind pichi) for the pink fairy armadillo.
As you can see, the common names of a species change drastically from country to country and things get very confusing with these words.
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I experienced that last year. Of several species I and my guide knew the Costa Rican name, but in neighbouring Panama these species had quite different names, so that lead to confusions. Examples are guatuza (CR) and neque (P) for agouti and zopilote (CR) and gallinazo (P) for vulture.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Yes the word Zopilote is a perfect example. It is a word of Mexican origin from the language Náhuatl which was spoken by the Aztec / Mexica civilization of Ancient Meso-America. This word has arrived in the region of Central America through the influence (either modern day or more historic) of Mexico.
However, in South America this bird is known commonly by other names. For example in Brazil the turkey vulture is known as the "urubu" and this word originally comes from one of the indigenous Tupi-Guarani languages spoken by the hunter-gatherer tribes that met the Portuguese colonizers / settlers.
Los Coyotes zoo Still has the cave for tequila bats.
Africam Safari. Puebla has a bat cave for Egyptian flying foxes.
Leon zoo also has an exhibit for flying foxes but i have never se en it open.
Zoomat had bats in the nocturnal house.
Bats are rather neglected in Mexican zoos, sadly.
Africam Safari. Puebla has a bat cave for Egyptian flying foxes.
Leon zoo also has an exhibit for flying foxes but i have never se en it open.
Zoomat had bats in the nocturnal house.
Bats are rather neglected in Mexican zoos, sadly.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
You do now
Yes, I agree, but I think microchiroptera are neglected by zoos (though not the megabats) in general everywhere probably due to the steep challenges of keeping them alive in captivity.
The Bat Jungle in Costa Rica would count as a nocturnal house I presume.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I think so, yes, and a very good one from what I've seen in the gallery.