Signature Species?

B

Barry Myers

New Member
Hi! i'm new here, and i couldn't find anywhere else on the internet to put this. What would be a Zoos signature species? ex. something iconic to the zoo, something associated with the zoos history, something they breed well, etc. To start, i can only think of one, which is Giant Pandas at San Diego. Any and all answers are welcome, thanks!
 
Barry Myers said:
Hi! i'm new here, and i couldn't find anywhere else on the internet to put this. What would be a Zoos signature species? ex. something iconic to the zoo, something associated with the zoos history, something they breed well, etc. To start, i can only think of one, which is Giant Pandas at San Diego. Any and all answers are welcome, thanks!
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Welcome to ZooChat @Barry Myers

Chester Zoo - Asian elephant
Jersey Zoo - Western lowland gorilla
Singapore Zoo - Bornean and Sumatran orangutan
Taronga Zoo - Common chimpanzee
Detroit Zoo - Polar bear
 
Barry Myers said:
Hi! i'm new here, and i couldn't find anywhere else on the internet to put this. What would be a Zoos signature species? ex. something iconic to the zoo, something associated with the zoos history, something they breed well, etc. To start, i can only think of one, which is Giant Pandas at San Diego. Any and all answers are welcome, thanks!
Click to expand...

Do you have any particular zoo in mind? There's thousands of zoos out there...

The answer for each is going to vary a lot, as well, by who you're asking. What's well known and popular with the general public, especially for locals, is often going to be different from what people here would say, since we generally know what the really rare species are. It can also change a lot for a zoo's history.

As an example, right now the general public would probably say hippos for Cincinnati, thanks to Fiona. For many of us, it would be something more like aardwolf, since they are the only zoo in the USA with them and have been the only zoo for years now. Fiona's also only been around a few years.

On here, San Diego is much more well known for their ungulates and their platypus.
 
TinoPup said:
Do you have any particular zoo in mind? There's thousands of zoos out there...

The answer for each is going to vary a lot, as well, by who you're asking. What's well known and popular with the general public, especially for locals, is often going to be different from what people here would say, since we generally know what the really rare species are. It can also change a lot for a zoo's history.

As an example, right now the general public would probably say hippos for Cincinnati, thanks to Fiona. For many of us, it would be something more like aardwolf, since they are the only zoo in the USA with them and have been the only zoo for years now. Fiona's also only been around a few years.

On here, San Diego is much more well known for their ungulates and their platypus.
Click to expand...

I think he’s looking for a generalistic answer rather than a subjective one. Don’t overthink it. It’s sometimes easier to answer on zoos you don’t know well as your personal associations and preferences otherwise cloud your judgement on what makes the zoo the zoo. For this reason, I haven’t answered on any of my local zoos.

In his post, he outlined a loose criteria of historical breeding success which can be combined with a famous event/events to identify a signature species. For example, Chester Zoo has bred many elephant calves. They bred the first successful Asian elephant calf in the UK in 1977 (Jubilee); the only proven hybrid in 1978 (Motty); and today continue to breed many calves - which are often headline news due to their battles with EEHV. The survival of Indali was a recent triumph.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I think he’s looking for a generalistic answer rather than a subjective one. Don’t overthink it. It’s sometimes easier to answer on zoos you don’t know well as your personal associations and preferences otherwise cloud your judgement on what makes the zoo the zoo. For this reason, I haven’t answered on any of my local zoos.

In his post, he outlined a loose criteria of historical breeding success which can be combined with a famous event/events to identify a signature species. For example, Chester Zoo has bred many elephant calves. They bred the first successful Asian elephant calf in the UK in 1977 (Jubilee); the only proven hybrid in 1978 (Motty); and today continue to breed many calves - which are often headline news due to their battles with EEHV. The survival of Indali was a recent triumph.
Click to expand...

We interpreted the post differently. Both of our answers fit.
 
Zoo Antwerpen: okapi and eastern lowland gorilla
Planckendael: bonobo
Rotterdam Zoo: western lowland gorilla and Asian elephants
 
Zoofan15 said:
Welcome to ZooChat @Barry Myers

Chester Zoo - Asian elephant
Jersey Zoo - Western lowland gorilla
Singapore Zoo - Bornean and Sumatran orangutan
Taronga Zoo - Common chimpanzee
Detroit Zoo - Polar bear
Click to expand...

All of these choices are animals found in several zoos. When I visited Taronga, one of the main animals I was looking for was the platypus. Similarly, when I visited Chester for the first time, I thought its iconic animal was the tuatara.

DaLilFishie said:
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium/Osaka Aquarium/Georgia Aquarium - Whale Shark
Tokyo Sealife Park - Pacific Bluefin Tuna
Cairns Aquarium - Freshwater Sawfish
Seahorse World - Big-Bellied Seahorse
Click to expand...
I think these animals are more iconic than great apes and polar bears.
 
Dassie rat said:
All of these choices are animals found in several zoos. When I visited Taronga, one of the main animals I was looking for was the platypus. Similarly, when I visited Chester for the first time, I thought its iconic animal was the tuatara.
Click to expand...

In the 21st century, I think you’d be hard pushed to find species that aren’t kept in more than one zoo. That doesn’t mean the zoo in question can’t have a long standing association with them. The majority of people will think of elephants when they think of Chester; gorillas when they think of Jersey.

That said, you’re not wrong about Platypus being iconic to Taronga (it’s their logo after all). Their sister zoo in Dubbo is building a huge conservation centre dedicated to their preservation (due to open in 2022) and they’ve recently named it as one of their legacy species.
 
Bristol Zoo - Asiatic Lion
Port Lympne - Eastern Black Rhinoceros (Western Lowland Gorilla for the Aspinall Foundation as a whole)
Yorkshire Wildlife Park - Polar Bear
Edinburgh Zoo - King Penguin
 
Sometimes you will find zoos have multiple
Tampa - Manatee, African Elephant
Georgia Aquarium - Manta, Whale Shark, Tiger Shark (slowly)
San Diego - Orangutan, Lion, Panda
San Diego Zoo Safari Park - Platypus, Cheetah, African Elephant
SeaWorld San Diego - Emperor Penguin, Orca, Dolphin, California Sea Lion
Bronx - California Sea Lion, Asian Elephant
Central Park - California Sea Lion, Snow Leopard, Japanese Macaque
 
I feel like my local zoo, Scovill Zoo’s signature animals are their cheetahs. Also, not trying to derail the thread, but I would like to point out that a lot of zoos are also well known for an exhibit(s), or having history behind them. :)
 
Queens Zoo - spectacled bear
Prospect Park Zoo - hamadryas baboon, dingo
Central Park Zoo - snow leopard, brown bear
Staten Island Zoo - amur leopard
Buffalo Zoo - Indian rhino, polar bear, gorilla, lion, giraffe, tiger
 
Duisburg: Bottlenose Dolphin & Koala
Münster : African Penguin and African Cheetah
Zoo Berlin: Giant Panda and Polar Bear
Tierpark Berlin: Plains Bison and Great White Pelican
Cologne : Asian Elephant and Bactrian Camel
Rheine: Babary Macaque and Withe Stork
Hamburg: Asian Elephant and Polar Bear
Dortmund Giant Otter and Lowland Tapir
Nordhorn: Wood Bison and Amur (fromer Persian) Leopard
Osnabrück: Naked Mole Rat and "Hybridbears" (Polar Bear X Brown Bear)
Walsrode: Toco Tucan and multible Birds of Paradise sepcies
Wuppertal: King Penguin and Babirusa
Hamm: Fossa
Avifauna (Alphen aan den Rijn) : Steller's Sea Eagle
Apeldoorn: Lowland Gorilla and Bonobo
Arnhem: Withe Rhino and Rotschild's Giraffe
Hannover: Polarbear and Hippopotamus
Gelsenkirchen: Californian Sealion and Brown Bear
Nürnberg: Bottlenose Dolphin and West Indian Manatee
Leipzig: Chimpanze and Lowland Gorilla
Rostock: Polar Bear
 
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