The most unconventional zoo animals

CrashMegaraptor said:
I dunno if this counts, but when I went to Burger's Zoo, Netherlands, a few years back, they had flashlight fish. And by that I mean the enclosure was pitch black in a darkened room and literally all you could see were these little bright dots swimming around.

From what I can tell, they're not that common in zoos/aquaria in Europe at the very least.
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Several species also occasionally turn up in the aquarium trade.
 
TinoPup said:
That's not what a Freudian Slip is. That's meaning to say one thing but accidentally saying something else that reveals a subconscious thought (not necessarily sexual, either). Atretochoana eiselti is literally nicknamed the "penis snake".
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Yes, I know there is a species with that name and that the comment was rather a statement with some truth to it and not exactly a Freudian slip but I was joking around.
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
That’s why the phylum are known as Penis Worms; a couple of dozen living species, and a fossil record back to the Cambrian. And I’ve seen a live one!
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Looks like you've opened a can of Priapulid worms :p

No, but seriously, very interesting organisms as living fossils.

Have you read Richard Fortey's "Survivors: The Animals and Plants that Time Has Left Behind" ?
 
Great writer and much missed, but some of his ideas have undergone some major technical criticism, leading to Richard Dawkins referring to Punctuated Equilibrium as “the theory of evolution by jerks”. Ouch!
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
Great writer and much missed, but some of his ideas have undergone some major technical criticism, leading to Richard Dawkins referring to Punctuated Equilibrium as “the theory of evolution by jerks”. Ouch!
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Yes, there certainly was no love lost between Gould and Dawkins, I remember them having quite a few heated debates.

Both brilliant scientists and naturalists in my opinion but though I admire Dawkin's work to promote critical thinking and secularism I think Gould was definitely the better writer.
 
Yes, although probably the best one on one teaching I got was from Illka Hanski, then a postgrad who went on to become an expert on metapopulation dynamics; he sadly died far too soon a year or two ago, but wrote a very readable book on some of his island experiences; well worth trying to find.
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
Yes, although probably the best one on one teaching I got was from Illka Hanski, then a postgrad who went on to become an expert on metapopulation dynamics; he sadly died far too soon a year or two ago, but wrote a very readable book on some of his island experiences; well worth trying to find.
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What is the name of this book ?

Just googled him and he seemed to have a very singular approach to the human-biodiversity interface in conservation, I'm curious to learn more.
 
Messages from Islands, a global biodiversity tour. Correction, Ilkka Hanski; despite three trips to Finland, I still don’t speak a word of the language (but I have seen Snowy Owl, Ural Owl, Pygmy Owl, Tengmalm’s Owl, Hawk Owl, Great Grey Owl, Saimaa Seal, oh yes and Wolverine in the wild!)
 
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