Animals You've Seen That Few Zoochatters Have Seen

New to the forum, figured I'd make my first post here after visiting my local zoo today.

San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, TX
La Palma pupfish (Cyprinodon longidorsalis)
Habu (Protobothrops flavoviridis)
Cagle's map turtle (Graptemys caglei)

Meadows Center Aquarium, San Marcos, TX
Texas blind salamander (Eurycea rathbuni)
San Marcos salamander (Eurycea nana)
Fountain darter (Etheostoma fonticola)
 
Latest update after a visit to PA Bat Rescue, Panama and Chile:

1. Seminole Bat
2. Hoary Bat
3. Northern Long-eared Bat
4. Eastern Red Bat
5. Eastern Small-footed Bat
6. Armored Rat
7. Spectral bat
8. Western Lowland Olingo
9. Panamanian Night Monkey
10. Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo
11. Rothschild's Porcupine
12. Forest Rabbit
13. Lesser Capybara
14. Bunny Rat
15. Monito del Monte
16. Kodkod
17. Chilean Dolphin
18. Mountain Viscacha
19. Bolivian Big-eared Mouse
20. Highland Tuco-tuco
21. Burmeister's Porpoise
22. Heller's Broad-nosed Bat
23. Great Stripe-faced Bat
24. Olive Grass Mouse
25. Chilean Climbing Mouse
 
I've seen the Drill and Giant Panda at Atlanta Zoo around 5 years ago. Also the Raccoon Dogs which to my knowledge are not at any other US zoo.
Zoo Miami has a Koup's Caecilian and also I'm not sure how rare they are but there's a wild Banteng and Lowland Anoa as well.
LA Zoo had a Bald Uakari that's sort of off exhibit but can be seen clearly and there's also a few Mountain Tapir. Naples Zoo in Florida also had a few rare gems like the White fronted Lemur and Striped Hyena. All the rare animals at SD and Bronx I'd imagine also count. I'd have to go through all my pictures of past vacations to see if I've seen any others but those are off the top of my head.
 
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I think that you misintrepreted the purpose of this whole thread. You just mention a bunch of very common animals presents in many hundreds of widely visited zoos and seen by millions of zoochatters, so just the contrary to what this thread is about. The only exception would be the Koup's caecilian in the case you really saw them - these critters usually remains buried (by the way, what is a Koup's caecilian? I can't find nothing under this common name, but I assume it will be one of the terrestrial species)
 
Kakapo said:
I think that you misintrepreted the purpose of this whole thread. You just mention a bunch of very common animals presents in many hundreds of widely visited zoos and seen by millions of zoochatters, so just the contrary to what this thread is about. The only exception would be the Koup's caecilian in the case you really saw them - these critters usually remains buried (by the way, what is a Koup's caecilian? I can't find nothing under this common name, but I assume it will be one of the terrestrial species)
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I don't think he "misinterpreted the purpose of the thread"- every species he named is rare (to varying degrees) in US Zoos, @SusScrofa likely just doesn't realize what species are common in European/other zoos. Frankly, when I first joined zoochat (and to a lesser extent even now), aren't very familiar with the zoos of Europe/Australia and I'm willing to bet a lot of members are in the same boat.
 
Neil chace said:
I don't think he "misinterpreted the purpose of the thread"- every species he named is rare (to varying degrees) in US Zoos, @SusScrofa likely just doesn't realize what species are common in European/other zoos. Frankly, when I first joined zoochat (and to a lesser extent even now), aren't very familiar with the zoos of Europe/Australia and I'm willing to bet a lot of members are in the same boat.
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I think it is slightly misinterpreted - the thread is animals you've seen that few zoochatters have seen, not rare animals that you've seen. Drill, Giant Panda, Lowland Anoa, Bantang, and Striped Hyena I'm pretty sure don't qualify. The Mountain Tapir and Bald Uakari have been seen by quite a few people on here, due to their high profile status.
In terms of overall numbers Kakapo is exaggerating a bit, not foremost because there hasn't even been one million zoochatters, let alone millions. Bald Uakari, Mountain Tapir, and Kaup's Caecilian are not present in Europe for example and are very limited here; Drill, Bantang, and Lowland Anoa aren't the most common on either side of the pond. It is true Giant Panda is somewhat of a rarity, however its prevalence at high-profile zoos means it has been seen by a great many zoochat members
 
Ah thanks, I was unfamiliar with this caecilian species but I see now that is an aquatic one, like the only ones widely kept (Typhlonectes). Terrestrial caecilians are much rarer in captivity mainly because they are no-shows for sure!
 
For me, one that sticks out is Clear creek gambusia (Gambusia heterochir) a member of the Poeciliidae family. The whole extent of their distribution range is one the private land of one person in Menard County, Texas. I saw a large captive group of them at Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery in Burnet, Burnet County, Texas. I also saw multiple locally endemic freshwater mussel taxa whose species I forget at this moment...

At San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center in San Marcos, Hays County, Texas, I saw my share of locally endemic aquatic amphibians and invertebrates that few other zoochatters have seen. If you are interested topping up your life lists for new species, I strongly suggest visiting National Fish Hatcheries. So far I have visited all three in Texas (San Marcos, Inks Dam, and Uvalde) and one of the Arizona-Nevada state line, Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery not far from Hoover Dam.
 
David Peden said:
New to the forum, figured I'd make my first post here after visiting my local zoo today.

San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, TX
La Palma pupfish (Cyprinodon longidorsalis)
Habu (Protobothrops flavoviridis)
Cagle's map turtle (Graptemys caglei)

Meadows Center Aquarium, San Marcos, TX
Texas blind salamander (Eurycea rathbuni)
San Marcos salamander (Eurycea nana)
Fountain darter (Etheostoma fonticola)
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I have seen the Texas blind salamander and Fountain darter at San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center. I regret not visiting
Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, but now I know to go next time I am in the area.
 
A few reptile species that might have gone unseen by other zoochatters:

wild:
Nutaphand's red-eyed gecko, Gekko nutaphandi
Orange-tailed ground gecko, Dixonius hangseesom
Tiger bent-toed gecko, Cyrtodactylus tigroides
Phetchaburi bent-toed gecko, Cyrtodactylus phetchaburiensis
Jasper cat snake, Boiga jaspidea

captive:
Italian Wall Lizard, Podarcis muralis nigriventris (Not to be confused with the other Italian wall lizard, P. siculus)
Anzamala Madagascar Swift, Oplurus fierinensis
Bermuda Skink, Plestiodon longirostris
 
Forgot to add these two critters.

Galapagos shark from a visit to shark reef at mandalay bay as a child

And from a field trip to mba Opisthoteuthis "adorabilis " ;)
 
I’ve seen the single grey brocket at faunia twice (I’m not sure how common they are in America though), and possibly the Sunda Pangolin at Night Safari Singapore.
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
I’ve seen Bharal wild in Qinghai, and an impressive sight they are. I imagine Tibetan Wolf hasn’t been seen by many Zoochatters; what about Black-necked Cranes?
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I've seen all of those - photos of all three in the gallery too!


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I've seen Black-Necked Crane many times (though they are rare in zoos) and Bharal a few times. Never seen Tibetan Wolf as much as I'd love to.

Of course, none of my sightings were made in the wild like @Chlidonias!

~Thylo
 
I had the opportunity to photograph a few Lebanon vipers - Montivipera bornmuelleri in a private collection. I am aware of only 3 private holders of this species outside of its range so I’m curious if anyone else has ever seen one wether in captivity or in the wild.

Very rare species I’ve seen this month was a female Cuora zhoui.
 
Neil chace said:
I've seen black-necked cranes at the Stone Zoo.
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Yep, one of the places I've seen the species, too. Does Stone still keep the species? The only other holders now should be Bronx and International Crane Foundation as I don't think Prospect Park has one anymore.

~Thylo
 
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