Animals You've Seen That Few Zoochatters Have Seen
- Thread starter Hipporex
- Start date
Arg I feel your pain about Bryde's Whale out of Auckland! When I visited, both of the days I had hoped to go out got canceled due to weather. I had to wait 12 more years to finally see them of the coast of South Africa.
Not Baleen Whales but have you also seen Sperm Whales and Hector's or Dusky Dolphins out of New Zealand? Any other unique cetaceans out there?
Oh and forgot to mention where I saw mine, including the toothed Sperm Whale:
1. Blue Whale (Long Beach, CA)
2. Fin Whale (Portland, ME + New Brunswick, Canada)
3. North Atlantic Right Whale (Provincetown, ME)
4. Southern Right Whale (Hermanus, South Africa)
5. Humpback Whale (Boston, MA + Hyannis, MA + San Fransisco, CA + Monterey, CA + Drake Bay, Costa Rica + New Brunswick, Canada + Oahu/Kauai, HI + Provincetown, ME)
6. Sei Whale (Provincetown, ME)
7. Gray Whale (captive only- San Diego Sea World)
8. Bryde's Whale (False Bay, South Africa)
9. Minke Whale (Hyannis, MA + Boothbay Harbor, ME)
10. Sperm Whale (Kaikoura, New Zealand)
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Yes I've seen Sperm Whales a few times, dozens of Hector's Dolphins, and thousands of Dusky Dolphins.
My full wild cetacean list is:
Pigmy Blue Whale
Southern Right Whale
Humpback Whale
Sperm Whale
Ganges Dolphin
Irrawaddy Dolphin
Australian Humpback Dolphin
Common Dolphin
Indopacific Bottlenose Dolphin
Dusky Dolphin
Hector's Dolphin
Both eagles are very easy in their native range.
The Mountain Tapirs at La. & Cheyenne Mountain have been seen by many Zoochatters.
I’m assuming you mean Tiger Quoll, In that case than many zoochatters in the UK & Australia have seen the species.
The lobster you mention might qualify for this thread (any holders other than Port? I know Shedd used to have one on display), the toad doesn't as there are several high profile well-visited collections that keep them.
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
I've got another species which I'm pretty sure no one else has (though I doubt anyone has it on there "must see" list... or if many people have heard of it) is a butterfly called the frosted elfin. Back in 2018 (I think), the Salisbury Zoo and Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources launched a research project to study pupation on this species, which is state-endangered in Maryland, and several elfins were brought to the zoo for research. They were housed in a series of small, mesh-enclosed planters inside a larger, mesh-enclosed structure outside of the zoo's Education Building. The display only lasted for a few months, the course of the research project, but to the best of my knowledge (as well as that of the biologist who was leading the research), it was the first time the species had been publicly exhibited, anywhere, and I doubt it has since.
Frosted elfins are very tiny (about the size of your thumbnail) and very drab in color, so they aren't a species that's going to be featured in butterfly houses and insectariums anytime soon - still, it was a really cool partnership between a small zoo and a gov't agency to obtain scientific knowledge about an endangered species with practical conservation benefit. A paper was published out of this collaboration.
Frosted elfins are very tiny (about the size of your thumbnail) and very drab in color, so they aren't a species that's going to be featured in butterfly houses and insectariums anytime soon - still, it was a really cool partnership between a small zoo and a gov't agency to obtain scientific knowledge about an endangered species with practical conservation benefit. A paper was published out of this collaboration.
Great list!! Most jealous of Ganges Dolphin- a mammal family I'm missing!
Here's my full cetacean list: 39 total, 26 Wild and 13 Captive only.
(Most of which apply to the thread- apologies for the few that don't.)
Wild:
1.) (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) northern minke whale
2.) (Balaenoptera brydei) Bryde’s whale
3.) (Balaenoptera borealis) Sei whale
4.) (Balaenoptera musculus) blue whale
5.) (Balaenoptera physalus) fin whale
6.) (Megaptera novaeangliae) humpback whale
7.) (Eubalaena australis) Southern right whale
8.) (Eubalaena glacialis) North Atlantic right whale
9.) (Physeter macrocephalus) sperm whale
10.) (Phocoena phocoena) harbour porpoise (also captive)
11.) (Globicephala macrorhynchus) short-finned pilot whale (also captive)
12.) (Globicephala melas) long-finned pilot whale
13.) (Cephalorhynchus heavisidii) Heaviside’s dolphin
14.) (Cephalorhynchus hectori) Hector's dolphin
15.) (Delphinus capensis) long-beaked common dolphin (also captive)
16.) (Delphinus delphis) short-beaked common dolphin (also captive)
17.) (Lagenorhynchus acutus) Atlantic white-sided dolphin
18.) (Lagenorhynchus australis) Peale’s dolphin
19.) (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) Pacific white-sided dolphin (also captive)
20.) (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) dusky dolphin
21.) (Sotalia guianensis) Guiana Dolphin (also captive)
22.) (Sousa plumbea) Indian Ocean humpback dolphin
23.) (Stenella attenuata) Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (also captive)
24.) (Stenella longirostris) Spinner Dolphin (also captive)
25.) (Tursiops aduncus) Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (also captive)
26.) (Tursiops truncatus) Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin (also captive)
Captive:
1.) (Eschrichtius robustus) gray whale
2.) (Neophocaena phocaenoides) finless porpoise
3.) (Inia geoffrensis) Amazon river dolphin
4.) (Delphinapterus leucas) beluga whale
5.) (Orcinus orca) killer whale
6.) (Pseudorca crassidens) False Killer Whale
7.) (Fersea attenuate) Pygmy Killer whale
8.) (Orcaella brevirostris) Irrawaddy dolphin
9.) (Grampus griseus) Risso’s Dolphin
10.) (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) Commerson's Dolphin
11.) (Sousa sahulensis) Australian humpback dolphin
12.) (Stenella frontalis) Atlantic Spotted Dolphin
13.) (Steno bredanensis) Rough-toothed Dolphin
I don't separate these two as they are genetically identical. See, for example, Molecular and Morphological Differentiation of Common Dolphins (Delphinus sp.) in the Southwestern Atlantic: Testing the Two Species Hypothesis in Sympatry
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
Yep, that was built specifically for the elfin project. It’s used for monarchs now, I believeIs that what this was??
Were there elfins in it at the time? June 2018.
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
Yes, the were collected and brought to the zoo in early June 2018. The only chance someone would have had of seeing them would have been if the SU student who was tending them happened to be in the enclosure at the time. The elfins were at the zoo in the caterpillar stage, at which point they resembled tiny green slugs about the size of grains of rice. They were released when the turned into butterflies.
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Those are tiny! I thought the structure was for butterflies, but couldn't see anything in them to tell what was going on. In similar set ups at other zoos, I've always been able to see some caterpillars, at least. But it was obviously an active thing that was being cared for, so it's been one of those things I've casually wondered about since then. Glad to have an answer now
How rare are Mexican Hairy Dwarf Porcupines? I’ve seen them at Lake Superior Zoo a couple of times. I know Philadelphia had them on exhibit, but I’m not sure for how long.
Used to be fairly common. I believe they're pretty rare now however. Far as people seeing them, I have along with at least two other Zoochatters off the top of my head.
Edit: a quick search shows at least an additional 6 Zoochatters have seen them, besides myself and the two I was thinking of.
Would the Persian Carpet Flatworm (Pseudobiceros bedfordi) count? Seen in the wild.
I have also seen Hector's Dolphin.
I have also seen Hector's Dolphin.