Wild wild animals living on the zoo grounds

ZooTripper365 said:
Blackpool zoo seems to have loads of rabbits! Especially in the big cat areas!!!!!!
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Taronga Western Plains Zoo also has a lot of wild rabbits. When I was there earlier this month, I heard some small children saying "Oh, look at the bunnies!", to which the adult who was with them muttered "They probably breed them up and then feed them to the tiger."
 
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Wildlife living on zoo grounds is something I always carefully look for and record - getting more animals in a zoo visit feels like getting 'bang for the buck'. Below are some of the highlights I have come across. Most of these zoos are attached to some sort of greenspace (even some national parks). For example, Wildlife HQ on the Sunshine Coast has the advantage of being among small patches of subtropical rainforest so it attracts some unique species. Australia Zoo is a magnet for wildlife especially around the exotic animal enclosure and its sheer size. Ipswich Nature Centre is usually home to huge numbers of flying-foxes and possums. Some of the species have only been seen once at each zoo, some are seasonal and some are abundant.

Australia Zoo: Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo (nomadic but generally regular sightings), Azure Kingfisher, Forest Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Topknot Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Peaceful Dove, Bush Stone-Curlew, Pacific Baza (nested near elephants), Grey Goshawk, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Varied Triller, Rufous Fantail, Little Wattlebird, Lewin's Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, White-cheeked Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater, Spectacled Monarch, Eastern Yellow Robin (very common), Olive-backed Oriole, Green Catbird, Eastern Whipbird, Rufous Shrike-thrush, Golden Whistler, Leaden Flycatcher, Brown Thornbill, Lace Monitor, Carpet Python, Eastern Water Skink

Wildlife HQ: Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Green Catbird, Rufous Fantail, Eastern Yellow Robin, Large-billed Scrubwren, Russet-tailed Thrush, Spectacled Monarch, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Richmond Birdwing (threatened butterfly species)

Darling Downs Zoo: Plumed Whistling-Duck, Red-rumped Parrot (the best location I have come across for them), White-throated Gerygone, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Nankeen Kestrel, Black-shouldered Kite, Double-barred Finch, Eastern Bearded Dragon

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary: Pied Cormorant, Pied Stilt (once), Australian King-Parrot, Wandering and Plumed Whistling-Duck

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary: White-headed Pigeon, Lewin's Honeyeater, Australian King-Parrot, Bush Stone-Curlew

Ipswich Nature Centre: Black Flying-Fox, Grey-headed Flying-Fox, Little Red Flying-Fox, Common Brushtail Possum, Little Friarbird, Bush Stone-Curlew

Dreamworld: Magpie Goose, Plumed Whistling-Duck, Carpet Python

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Little Red Flying-Foxes and Common Brushtail Possum - Ipswich Nature Centre

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Lace Monitor - Australia Zoo

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Coastal Carpet Python - Dreamworld
 
ZooTripper365 said:
Blackpool zoo seems to have loads of rabbits! Especially in the big cat areas!!!!!!
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I recall at Marwell there are quite a few rabbits in the Valley in particular - and there is also what seems to be a sizable population of Canadian Geese - so much so they even appear on official zoo signage material with their own 'avatar' in the Marwell style.
 
I was at Disney’s Animal Kingdom recently, and being Florida, there were wildlife EVERYWHERE. The most abundant were white ibises and grackles, in the pathways, in exhibits and pretty much everywhere else. We ate outdoors under a covered pavilion and the roof was covered by a flock of these hungry birds! Black vultures were also common in some areas, the hippo exhibit on Kilimanjaro Safaris had more vultures than hippos in it! There were also plenty of gray squirrels, brown anoles, house sparrows, etc.
 
AndyJ08 said:
I was at Disney’s Animal Kingdom recently, and being Florida, there were wildlife EVERYWHERE. The most abundant were white ibises and grackles, in the pathways, in exhibits and pretty much everywhere else. We ate outdoors under a covered pavilion and the roof was covered by a flock of these hungry birds! Black vultures were also common in some areas, the hippo exhibit on Kilimanjaro Safaris had more vultures than hippos in it! There were also plenty of gray squirrels, brown anoles, house sparrows, etc.
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DAK has a pair of Short-tailed Hawks nesting on the grounds.

It also has introduced populations of Knight and Bark Anoles that hitchhiked in on plants.
 
- Edinburgh Zoo - there's usually a few grey squirrels running around.
- Chester Zoo - mallards are very common on their grounds. One tried to attack me to get at a hot dog I was eating, but it didn't manage to get any.
- Safari Zoo Cumbria - a lot of moorhens live on the site, often seen near bodies of water. I've also seen a few rabbits living in the African savannah section where the giraffes, zebras and rhinos can be seen.
 
The North Carolina Zoo, thanks to its location, features, and layout, is a hot spot for wildlife activity. Several years back, I saw a pair of Green Herons nesting in a tree right above one of the alligator exhibits (the one next to the pavilion with the glass viewing). On my most recent visit back in June, I saw a Grey Fox running across the Watani Grasslands exhibit during a Zoofari tour.

I have also seen Eastern Ratsnakes, Common Watersnakes, Rough Green Snakes, Green Anoles, and various turtles throughout the grounds. The Marsh boardwalk in the NA region can be used to observe native fish and turtles. Painted Turtles are also common in the Cypress Swamp area.

Also, the large pond between the Africa parking lot and entrance used to be FULL of turtles. On some trips, I have seen 10+ or even upwards of 20 turtles at once. However, the pond's water level has fallen in recent years, and I don't see many turtles anymore.

During my January 2022 Florida Trip, wild birds were very common in the zoos, and thankfully they were ones that aren't native to North Carolina, so my iNaturalist account got some good content. I got my first wild observations of Anhinga, American White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Common Gallinule, Wood Stork, Boat-tailed Grackle, and Black-crowned Night Heron. I also saw some Florida Softshell Turtles in a canal just outside the Florida Aquarium.
 
Detroit Zoo has a colony of some sort of Heron (can't remember the species) near the Africa area. There are also groundhogs everywhere. The most unique wild animal I've seen in a zoo was a weasel in the Hogle Zoo.
 
Wild Turkey is another species that generally is very common in zoos, at least in North America. I'm guessing most people tend to assume the turkeys are actually zoo-owned, but I find there are many more zoos with wild Wild Turkeys than captive ones.
 
birdsandbats said:
Wild Turkey is another species that generally is very common in zoos, at least in North America. I'm guessing most people tend to assume the turkeys are actually zoo-owned, but I find there are many more zoos with wild Wild Turkeys than captive ones.
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I agree, I've seen wild Turkeys at a few facilities. One had a nuisance tom turkey for awhile that was attacking and chasing staff who weren't tall or intimidating for awhile.
 
Great Argus said:
I agree, I've seen wild Turkeys at a few facilities. One had a nuisance tom turkey for awhile that was attacking and chasing staff who weren't tall or intimidating for awhile.
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Certain toms can be awful. There was one individual at a place near me where I go birding often that was well-known for attacking people. He would siege camping families in their tent for entire days at a time, and I did get chased for nearly a mile down a trail by him once. I was happy to hear that a hunter shot him about a week after that incident.
 
Lowcountry Zoo has wild turkeys and sandhill cranes appear so consistently in its alligator exhibit that most people assume they're zoo-owned, and the zoo even has signage explaining that they aren't but presenting information on the species anyway. They've also got a prominent gopher tortoise nest in an empty habitat, and are the only place I've ever seen fox squirrels.

In my recent Florida trip I saw quite a few interesting species. Brown anoles, white ibis, grackles, boat-tailed grackles, and fish crows were everywhere. Disney's Animal Kingdom featured quite a few marsh rabbits. Brevard featured a large number of black vultures outnumbering the flamingos in the exhibit they were squatting in, and I also spotted my first common gallinule here. Just outside the zoo, I saw a limpkin. At Jacksonville I spotted a juvenile alligator on the bank of the African savannah, which slid into the water and started lurking near a tricolor heron, which shortly flew away.

At Brookfield Zoo I saw some sort of ground squirrel in the nyala exhibit that I wish I could've identified. I chalked it up as a groundhog, but I'm not convinced that's right.
 
I dont know if you already talked about htis but In Prague there is a group of european ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) living in the Dja reserve and the african house and savannah. However this group was a part of a reintroduction programme initiated by the zoo itself. As @Jana said: Sousliks got released on zoo grounds in 2006. They are somewhere between zoo animals and reintroduced wild animals. The colony at zoo has been released on hill behind giraffe exhibit. But they colonised west part of the giraffe outside pen and now the new gorilla exhibit. They even sometime spend time inside the gorilla house.
 
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