And the rest of Spain:
Santillana del Mar
A really curious collection, with a fair few local rarities but also some nice exotic bird species to accompany it's nice European collection. Highlights include the African golden-breasted bunting and a handful of rare finch species. It is also the only place in Europe where one can see two different whydah species.
Mammals: Iberian badger, South-East Spanish ibex, Western Spanish ibex.
Birds: African golden-breasted bunting, Black and white munia, Chestnut munia (NS), Chinese grosbeak, Eastern paradise whydah, Hildebrandt's francolin, Pin-tailed whydah, Red-billed starling, Red-headed finch, Ruddy ground dove, Spanish raven.
Zoo Koki: Audouin's gull, Barbary partridge, Black-winged kite, Philby's partridge, Sri Lankan junglefowl.
Sevilla: Andulasian barbel, Blue-barred parrotfish, Devil firefish, Eastern Atlantic red gurnard, Leerfish, Mummichog, Purplemouth moray, Senegalese sole, White grunt, White-spotted spinefoot.
Tabernas (Oasys Mini Hollywood)
If anyone has visited this place, I would love to hear your thoughts on the exhibits and the zoo as a whole. One thing is for sure - this place has some really interesting species. The only Rueppell's foxes and Blanford's foxes in Europe (the latter coming from the Arabian Wildlife Centre iirc), along with Swift foxes and Nancy Ma's night monkeys. Add to that a nice herp collection and it makes for a truly unique series of species.
Mammals: Blanford's fox, Nancy Ma's night monkey, Rueppell's sand fox, Swift fox, Syrian brown bear.
Birds: Costa Rica mealy amazon, Western plantain eater.
Reptiles: Cape dwarf gecko, Eastern sand boa, Frog-eyed sand gecko, Iraqi spiny tailed lizard, Mount Kenya three-horned chameleon, Pacific giant gecko, Steppe agama, Tree runner.
Amphibians: Betsileo Madagascar frog.
In summary, 16 rarities, of which 3 are bolded and a further 2 are underlined.
Valencia Bioparc: Black-backed jackal, Ethiopian klipspringer, Spotted-necked otter, Thomson's gazelle, Stoen partridge, Madagascar rain frog, Deep water hap.
L'Oceanografic
Widely considered one of, if not the best of, Europe's aquariums, L'Oceanografic is an architectural delight as well as a natural one. The collection almost seems like a side-show when placed next to the amazing buildings in which they are housed. I should also mention the Beluga whales, which, while they didn't make it on the rarity list due to the large number of collections holding them in Russia, are unique in Western Europe.
Birds: Collared pratincole, Common murre, Kentish plover, Northern little ringed plover, Red-knobbed coot, Tufted puffin.
Amphibians: Perez's frog.
Fish: African striped grunt, Angular roughshark, Arabian picassofish, Banded butterflyfish, Bay of Bengal hogfish, Black perch, Blacksmith chromis, Black surgeonfish, Blue runner, Blue stingray, Bluebanded goby, Bonefish, Brown-marbled grouper, Bull ray, C-O sole, Checkered puffer, Common silver-biddy, Dotted moray, Double whiptail, European barracuda, Exquisite wrasse, Fivestripe wrasse, Freshwater sawfish, Giant sunfish, Grass puffer, Gray snapper, Green sunfish, Halfmoon, Iberian spined loach, Largescale blackfish, Lined butterflyfish, Long-barbel goatfish, Longfin yellowtail, Lusitanian cownose ray, Marbled stingray, Puddingwife wrasse, Rainbow seaperch, Rock wrasse, Round fantail stingray, Saddled brown rockfish, Senorita wrasse, Sixbar wrasse, Spanish grunt, Spanish toothcarp, Spotband butterflyfish, Swellshark, Tasselled wobbegong, Threespot damselfish, Tiger moray, Valencia toothcarp, Western scorpionfish, White grunt, White mullet, White-barred boxfish, Yellowtail demoiselle.
In summary, 62 rarities, of which 20 are bolded and a further 15 are underlined.
Vigo: Bibron's thick-toed gecko, Cook's tree boa, Gran Canaria giant lizard, Malagasy blonde hognose snake.
Zaragoza Aquarium
Another fairly large fish collection, highlighting the proximity of the Iberian peninsula to the ocean and seas and contrasting heavily with for example Czechia or Austria, whose landlocked position reflects in the species variety in their collections and even in Germany, a country with some yet limited exposure to the seas given the short coastline.
Fish: Apollo sharkminnow, Bayad, Black bullhead, Black wolffish, Blacktail catfish, Brilliant rasbora, Chinese phoenix barb, Ebro barbel, Ebro nase, Grandider's Malagasy cichlid, Humpback pufferfish, Indochinese needlefish, Mayan cichlid, Oriental weatherloach, Red-striped rainbowfish, Silver distichodus, Slobbering catfish, Trahira, Zig-zag eel.
In total, 19 rarities, of which 7 are bolded and a further 5 are underlined.
Barcelona Aquarium
Another big aquarium, which I enjoyed visiting a few years back, though didn't find it to be anything special, certainly not compared to Valencia's. Still, good collection.
Fish: African striped grunt, Angular roughshark, Barred thicklip, Bucktooth tetra, Giant goby, Lantern toby, Mediterranean starry ray, Mottled grouper, Pearl toby, Pilotfish, Red drum, Red-striped cardinalfish, Red-tailed freshwater barracuda, Redspotted hawkfish, Ringneck blenny, Spotted seabass, Threespot damselfish, Yellow-headed goby.
In summary, 18 rarities, of which 5 are bolded and a further 4 are underlined.
Barcelona Zoo
A fairly large ABC collection, but nevertheless some nice rarities to go with it, including some unique forms of aforementioned ABC species (Amazon jaguar, Masai ostrich, Black-faced impala) and some more diminutive rarities: Lesser grey shrikes, Spanish asps and Montseny brook salamanders.
Mammals: Amazon jaguar, Black-faced impala, Libyan barbary sheep.
Birds: Blue-breasted kingfisher, Blue-streaked lory, Collared kingfisher, Lesser grey shrike, Masai ostrich, Mexican white-fronted amazon, Western plaintain eater.
Reptiles: Asian yellow pond turtle, East Indian box turtle, Incised wood turtle, Malayan box turtle, Spanish asp viper, Western Montpellier snake.
Amphibians: Mediterranean tree frog, Montseny brook salamander, Perez's frog.
Fish: Spanish toothcarp.
In summary, 20 rarities, of which 4 are bolded and a further 4 are underlined.
Barcelona Cosmocaixa: Cook's tree boa, Snow pleco.
Cangas de Onis: Iberian badger, Band-bellied owl.
Empuriabrava: Painted bunting, Western black lory, Yellow-mantled widowbird.
Moja: Painted firetail.
Mollo: Pyrenean chamois, South-east Spanish ibex.
Galdar: Amazon Basin emerald tree boa, Central American bushmaster.
Las Palmas Aquarium
Another large aquarium - unsurprising given its location on the Balearic Islands, an area of the world which previously relied on fishing for its economy.
Amphibians: Fringed leaf frog.
Fish: Barred hogfish, Bermuda sea chub, Black piranha, Bluefish, Brown moray, Bull ray, Dotted moray, Fusca drum, Giant freshwater stingray, Green neon, Highfin glass perchlet, Humpback unicornfish, Island grouper, Longfin yellowtail, Madeira rockfish, Masked puffer, Pink dentex, Putitor mahseer, Roughtail stingray, Round fantail stingray, Spiny butterfly ray, Starck's demoiselle, Sunset butterflyfish, Tiger moray, White trevally, Whitespotted boxfish, Yellowmouth barracuda.
In summary, 28 rarities, of which 5 are bolded and a further 6 are underlined.
Maspalomas: Southern talapoin, Eastern grey-cheeked hornbill, Gang-gang cockatoo, Massena's lorikeet, Northern festive amazon, Pesquet's parrot, Red-fan parrot, Red-spectacled amazon, Red-winged parrot, White-eared parakeet.
Brena Alta: Lowe's monkey, Canary Islands raven, Red-breasted lory.
Puerto del Carmen: White-tailed hawk.
Palma Aquarium
Yet another aquarium on a Spanish archipelago. Don't really know what to write on this one but if you're reading all this, well done, impressive commitment.
Fish: Bandtooth conger, Bicoloured dottyback, Bull ray, Carpet-red blenny, Dark-striped squirrelfish, European barracuda, Florida pompano, Geometric moray, Maldive anemonefish, Scalloped hammerhead shark, Southern maori wrasse, Spiny butterfly ray, Whip-fin wrasse, White-barred boxfish, Yellowfin angelfish.
In summary, 15 rarities, of which 6 are bolded and a further 4 are underlined.
Santa Eugenia: Barred cuckoo dove, Red-knobbed imperial pigeon, South African yellow-billed duck.
Los Cristianos Las Aguilas: Gray gibbon, Ambon red lory, Blue-streaked lory, Chimango caracara, Red-fan parrot.
Los Cristianos Monkey Park: Allen's swamp monkey, Lowe's monkey, Red-mantled saddle-back tamarin, Sykes' monkey, Indian silverbill, Red pileated finch, Banded spiny-tailed lizard, Eyed dabb lizard.
And that is it for Spain! For Loro Parque, just go to page 9. On the home strait now, only got one more installment - the last part of the UK - to go.