Lemurs in Major American Zoos

snowleopard

snowleopard

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The book that I cowrote, titled America’s Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums, contains reviews and photos of 80 zoos and 20 aquariums. There are 69 out of the 80 zoos that currently display lemurs and this might well be my final list. I'm not sure that I need to know how many zoos have meerkats or tarantulas. :p

The 15 animal lists that I've completed in 2021:

71 out of the 80 zoos have bears
71 out of the 80 zoos have giraffes
69 out of the 80 zoos have lemurs
69 out of the 80 zoos have lions
69 out of the 80 zoos have tigers
68 out of the 80 zoos have otters (plus 15 out of 20 aquariums)
66 out of the 80 zoos have zebras
61 out of the 80 zoos have rhinos
54 out of the 80 zoos have elephants
48 out of the 80 zoos have penguins (plus 16 out of 20 aquariums)
47 out of the 80 zoos have orangutans
45 out of the 80 zoos have gorillas
35 out of the 80 zoos have pinnipeds (plus 12 out of 20 aquariums)
25 out of the 80 zoos have chimpanzees (plus 7 zoos have bonobos)
22 out of the 80 zoos have common hippos (plus 12 have pygmy hippos)

The 11 zoos (in the book) that do not have lemurs:

ABQ BioPark
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
El Paso
Knoxville
Living Desert
Oklahoma City (although lemurs are part of the future Expedition Africa complex)
Roger Williams Park
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Santa Barbara
Utah’s Hogle
Virginia

My 10 favourite lemur exhibits in American zoos (alphabetical ranking):

Caldwell
Cameron Park
Dallas
Jacksonville
Nashville
North Carolina
Saint Louis
San Francisco
Sedgwick County
Woodland Park
 
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pachyderm pro said:
The walkthrough lemur exhibit at the safari park is no more. They were replaced by red-cheeked gibbons earlier this year.
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Wow, the lemurs are gone? Thanks for the update. It's interesting to know that gibbons are back in that same exhibit. Are there lemurs elsewhere in the park?
 
birdsandbats said:
I'd love to see a breakdown of species here.
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I don't have a breakdown, but based on preliminary data I've collected for a future primate thread: Ring-tailed Lemur are the most common, followed by both species of Ruffed Lemur, then a handful of rarer species held by 10-15 zoos each (with Mongoose Lemur being slightly more common than the rest).
 
birdsandbats said:
I would be interested in Meerkats, I don't think they're anywhere near as common as people say they are. :p
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Yes and no. From the thread I made using the same list of zoos: Evaluation of Popular Taxa in Major US Zoos & Aquaria

"One number I was surprised by was how many major zoos lack meerkats - 23 out of 80 zoos on the list don't have them (though they might have a similar species of mongoose like banded or dwarf)."

Some of these were unsurprising (Central Park, ASDM, Minnesota) but also included a few of the heavier hitters like Detroit, Denver (which has Banded Mongoose), Bronx, Oregon, Columbus, and North Carolina. Plenty of smaller zoos have them as well, though. I'd say they are incredibly widespread and ubiquitous, but not universal (no species is, really).
 
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