Does any continent-themed area at your zoo display an animal not native to said continent?

Alex Roman

Alex Roman

Well-Known Member
I love zoos and animals, so I would research random zoos on Wikipedia. Some zoos display species in continental-centered areas that aren't native to the continent on which it is supposedly centered.

When I visited Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens, I noticed the helmeted guineafowl (Africa) in the Australia area and Amur leopard (Asia) in the African area [leopards are an African animal, but not the Amur subspecies].

Apparently, based on what I found on Wikipedia, Sunset Zoo in Manhattan, Kansas, houses Canada geese (North America) and Indian peafowl (Asia) in their Trails of South America exhibit. Dublin Zoo in Ireland has an indecently-named Fringes of the Arctic exhibit with California sea lions (North America), grey wolf (North America & Eurasia, predominantly), Siberian tiger (Asia), and Humboldt penguin (South America). Only the wolves could be considered "Arctic", depending on the subspecies.
 
The San Diego Zoo also uses Amur Leopards as a stand-in for African Leopards. Similarly, they use Leopard Sharks with African Penguins in place of a shark species that occurs naturally with the penguins.
 
Alex Roman said:
Dublin Zoo in Ireland has an indecently-named Fringes of the Arctic exhibit with California sea lions (North America), grey wolf (North America & Eurasia, predominantly), Siberian tiger (Asia), and Humboldt penguin (South America). Only the wolves could be considered "Arctic", depending on the subspecies.
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I'm pretty sure the whole "Fringes of the Arctic" exhibit was named back when they used to have polar bears in that section.

Anyway, there's several continent themed zoos in my general area of the UK, but they've frequently displayed animals not native to that continent. Amazona Zoo (South America) has Canadian Otters (North America), Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens (Asia) has Meerkats (Africa) and American Alligators (North America) and until recently Africa Alive! (Africa, obvs) had Asian Small-Clawed Otters (Asia, also obvs).
 
Osaka Aquarium keeps Asian Small-Clawed Otter in their Japan Forest exhibit, but at least the signage does say that the species is not found in Japan.
 
Not a continent but
Clouded leopard and Asiatic black bear in the Formosan (Taiwanese) area in Taipei Zoo, the front one replace the extinct Taiwanese clouded leopard and the latter replace Taiwanese black bear which now all sent to the Endemic Species Research Institute for breeding.
Also, the Malayan tapir replaces the lowland tapir (mixed with capybara and tamandua ) in our south American part of the rainforest area since they are now the coordinator of this species in SEAZA.
 
itsallfaction said:
Not a continent but
Clouded leopard and Asiatic black bear in the Formosan (Taiwanese) area in Taipei Zoo, the front one replace the extinct Taiwanese clouded leopard and the latter replace Taiwanese black bear which now all sent to the Endemic Species Research Institute for breeding.
Also, the Malayan tapir replaces the lowland tapir (mixed with capybara and tamandua ) in our south American part of the rainforest area since they are now the coordinator of this species in SEAZA.
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When are the Formosan black bear gone?
 
aardvark250 said:
But they still list Formosan on their website?
https://www.zoo.gov.tw/baike/detail.aspx?id=888
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Yes, do you notice that they stop called black sugar the black bear as Formosan subspecies in their article and move it to the temperate area?
It was because black sugar listed as a suspect origin during that survey.
But they never talk about this neither update the information on the website despite change the looking.
 
itsallfaction said:
Yes, do you notice that they stop called black sugar the black bear as Formosan subspecies in their article and move it to the temperate area?
It was because black sugar listed as a suspect origin during that survey.
But they never talk about this neither update the information on the website despite change the looking.
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My life is a lie:(
 
Alex Roman said:
When I visited Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens, I noticed the helmeted guineafowl (Africa) in the Australia area and Amur leopard (Asia) in the African area [leopards are an African animal, but not the Amur subspecies].
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The Amur leopards are now gone from the zoo’s collection. With the last one, a male named “Nicolai” who passed away last year (2020), having now been since replaced by a rather more geographically appropriate Lappet-Faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotos).
 
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Alex Roman said:
When I visited Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens, I noticed the helmeted guineafowl (Africa) in the Australia area
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Helmeted guineafowl have been introduced to Queensland in Australia, so not technically incorrect, and could be used to talk about introduced/invasive species.

Alex Roman said:
Dublin Zoo in Ireland has an indecently-named Fringes of the Arctic exhibit with California sea lions (North America), grey wolf (North America & Eurasia, predominantly), Siberian tiger (Asia), and Humboldt penguin (South America). Only the wolves could be considered "Arctic", depending on the subspecies.
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You do know what fringes means don't you :p? Only the Humboldt penguin is incorrect in this scenario, since it is only found in the Southern Hemisphere - the rest are totally fine - the sea lions range up to Alaska, the tigers are found in Far Eastern Russia, and the wolves can be found very far North as well ;).

I think saying that that is geographically incorrect is nitpicking - there are many much more glaring inaccuracies, particularly in North America, where half the time Amur leopards are in the African area, along with a few other similar situations with animals of various classes.
 
Detroit Zoo:
Chilean flamingo in African Forest

Laughing kookaburra and two-toed sloth in African Plains

Pink-backed pelican, Ruppell’s griffon vulture, lappet-faced vulture, cinereous vulture, and African spurred tortoise in American grasslands

Ring-tailed lemur in Asian forest (if you really want to split hairs, the Bactrian camels also don’t belong in a forest area)

Toledo Zoo:
One could argue that it no longer counts as one, but Tembo Trail used to be an African-savanna themed area. However, the majority of its animals are now from outside of Africa: yak, Bactrian camel, reindeer, Indian rhinoceros, North American river otter, brown bear, and Tasmanian devil.

John Ball Zoo:
The snow leopards are kept in the North American area.
 
amur leopard said:
Helmeted guineafowl have been introduced to Queensland in Australia, so not technically incorrect, and could be used to talk about introduced/invasive species.



You do know what fringes means don't you :p? Only the Humboldt penguin is incorrect in this scenario, since it is only found in the Southern Hemisphere - the rest are totally fine - the sea lions range up to Alaska, the tigers are found in Far Eastern Russia, and the wolves can be found very far North as well ;).

I think saying that that is geographically incorrect is nitpicking - there are many much more glaring inaccuracies, particularly in North America, where half the time Amur leopards are in the African area, along with a few other similar situations with animals of various classes.
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On the behalf of fringes, I guess they could mean animals that even if not found within the Arctic circle, they may at least be found in sub-arctic habitats, hence the fringe part. So the Amur tiger, wolf, and sea lion (as you mentioned, live as far north as southern Alaska), do make sense for the theme. The penguins, however, could have been used to house alcids or other Arctic seabirds, IMO, but the aviary would have to have been modified to prevent them escaping.
 
Zoo Atlanta has giant river otters in the Asian Forest section, although the exhibit used to house Asian small-clawed otters. In that section is also a small building with naked mole rats. Their aviary in the African Forest features lots of New World bird species, and the Outback section is the worst. When the red kangaroos left, the only Australian animals remaining is the laughing kookaburra and the cassowary. Other than that, it's just alpacas and other common petting zoo animals.
 
American Alligators in the Australia Walkabout section at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. They are a stand in for crocodiles with information about the differences and a large crocodile statue next to the exhibit.
 
Davdhole said:
Zoo Atlanta has giant river otters in the Asian Forest section, although the exhibit used to house Asian small-clawed otters. In that section is also a small building with naked mole rats. Their aviary in the African Forest features lots of New World bird species, and the Outback section is the worst. When the red kangaroos left, the only Australian animals remaining is the laughing kookaburra and the cassowary. Other than that, it's just alpacas and other common petting zoo animals.
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Awe. Red kangaroos are some of my favorite animals, and there's a petting zoo 25 minutes away from my mom's house off Interstate 16 at Chevron (the wildlife park is around 80 acres) and they have 2.0 red kangaroos currently. Their names are Boomer and Boy.
 
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