Nocturnal Exhibits in the United Kingdom
- Thread starter Kalaw
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Prochilodus246
Well-Known Member
How strange they have it as being listed as Common on the website even though a member of staff was referring to the individual as a Cape and the signage too also had it listed as this.
Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
Sadly, Mittens the Brush Tailed Possum left the collection in June and is now at Merris Wood College.
Only Pygmy Loris and Armadillo are in Nocturnal house, but this is being closed.
Bettong they have two, One shares with a Kookaburra and a Tawny Frogmouth and the other is mixed with a Bali Starling. These are aviaries and not in Nocturnal settings.
The Genet also is not in Nocturnal setting.
Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
I recall in Berlin [a bit off topic I am aware], they had two aviaries for Frogmouth in their bird-house. One was a diurnal type exhibit in the Australia section, and frogmouths were also in the kiwi-booth which obviously was nocturnal. [And also for some reason in the Africa room]
I saw a kiwi there last year, but sadly didn't get any photos. But assured it is more visible than the one at Paignton !!
How long has there been frogmouth with the kiwi at Berlin? Certainly didn't see any in 2018.
I don't know. I only visited Berlin last year...
cerperal
Well-Known Member
Annoyingly when I visited last year I didn't see the kiwi, but the frogmouths were very obvious and active. They've been in there for a good few years now iirc. But there is definitely a difference between the kiwi being shy and exhibit being effectively designed to make viewing impossible, a la Paignton
I still think Stuttgart had the right idea by having CCTV so that visitors could see the kiwi inside its enclosure. This could be used for other shy animals.
Paignton has a CCTV link to the kiwi in its nest box.
Dudley holds the following in the nocturnal display in Castle Creatures:
Egyptian Fruit Bat
Seba's Short-tailed Bat
ZooAtHome
Well-Known Member
Nocturnal exhibits are among my favourite styles of exhibit in a zoological garden, encouraging elusive animals that look nothing like the diurnal species we are familiar with to be active in their usual, dark setting.
The purpose of this thread is to create as comprehensive as possible of a list of every nocturnal exhibit in the United Kingdom (apologies if such a thread already exists, although I could not find any). What follows is a list of every such exhibit that I have personally seen and a species list, as well as others which I am yet to see, but am aware of. This will, of course, be nowhere near every such exhibit in the country, so I would be very curious and grateful if other members who are better-informed than myself could add any nocturnal exhibits that I have not listed.
On that note, here is the list:
Cannon Hall Farm - Small Mammal House (24 species):
European Harvest Mouse
Sugar Glider
Large Hairy Armadillo
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
Long-eared hedgehog
Persian Jird
Brandt’s Vole
Acacia Rat
Black Rat
Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat
Northern Treeshrew
Common Yellow-toothed Cavy
Brazilian Cavy
African Woodland Dormouse
African Pygmy Mouse
Cactus Mouse
House Mouse
Turkish Spiny Mouse
Guinea Pig
Hermanns Tortoise
Cichlid sp
Barbary Striped Grass Mouse
Long-nosed Potoroo
(Species list credit to @pangolin12 and @Alwaysevergreen )
Wingham Wildlife Park - Nocturnal House (16 species):
Asian Palm Civet
Senegal Galago
Egyptian Fruit Bat
Indochinese Clouded Leopard
Northern Luzon giant cloud rat
Gila Monster
Beaded Lizard
New Caledonia Giant Gecko
African Fat-tailed Gecko
Savu Island Python
Three-banded Armadillo
Racoon Dog
Tawny Frogmouth
Spix's Night Monkey
Sugar Glider
Naked Mole Rat
(Species list credit to @DesertRhino150 and @pipaluk )
ZSL London Zoo - Night Life (7 species):
Grey Slender Loris
Malagasy Giant Jumping Rat
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
Senegal Galago
Naked Mole Rat
Pygmy Slow Loris
Potto
Aye-Aye are located within the same building, and also within a nocturnal exhibit, but it is part of In With The Lemurs.
Tropiquaria Zoo - Nocturnal House (6 species):
African Dormouse
Common Genet
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
Long-nosed Potoroo
Kinkajou
Northern Flying Squirrel
Shaldon Zoo - Nocturnal House (6 species):
Bengal Slow Loris
Pygmy Slow Loris
Grey Slender Loris
Three-banded Armadillo
Stick Insect sp
Scorpion sp
The zoo also has a nocturnal exhibit for Grey Mouse Lemur and Brush-tailed Bettong elsewhere in the zoo, but the focus of the building is not fully nocturnal, with the indoors for the zoo's squirrel monkey also present.
Cotswold Wildlife Park - Bat House (5 species):
Egyptian Fruit Bat
Seba's Short-tailed Bat
Mongolian Jird
Turkish Spiny Mouse
Spinifex Hopping Mouse
Cotswold has other buildings with multiple nocturnal exhibits, such as Little Africa (Naked Mole Rat and Senegal Galago) and the Siamang House (Grey Mouse Lemur and Straw-coloured Fruit Bat), but as they both have other species in daylight exhibits, it felt somewhat unfair to include them.
Chester Zoo - Fruit Bat Forest (4 species):
Seba's Short-tailed Bat
Rodrigues' Flying Fox
Omani Blind Cave Fish
Turkish Spiny Mouse
This exhibit was closed during my visit, so I could be very much mistaken. I also believe that the Boky-Boky and Grandidier's Vontsira are held in this building, in nocturnal setups, but are behind the scenes.
Hemsley Conservation Centre - Nocturnal House (2 species):
Pygmy Slow Loris
New Guinea Ground Cuscus
Paignton Zoo - Nocturnal House (2 species):
Short-beaked Echidna
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
I believe the House is temporarily closed for renovations, and the species selection may have changed quite a bit since my visit. I remember seeing a sloth in there once, but they now seem to be held elsewhere in the zoo. Perhaps a member more familiar with Paignton can inform me here?
I am glad Cannon Hall got a mention here as I was very impressed with their small mammal house (and some of their animals came from our private collection). More zoos need houses like this, with good species diversity and less seen animals.
Jambi
Well-Known Member
Having re-visited Exotic Zoo today, I thought I would update this post. The current nocturnal area consists of:
- Common Genet
- Mohol Bushbaby
- Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
- Egyptian Spiny Mouse
- Blind Cave Tetra
- Axolotl
- Striped Skunk
- Barn Owl
- Red Fox
Reptile House
Well-Known Member
Did London Zoo used to have more exhibits years ago? It looks like the enclosures have been made bigger, therefore limiting the amount of species.
Yes, the Clore Pavilion quite infamously used to be absolutely full of tiny exhibits until I believe the mid-90s.
I suspect @Reptile House is referring to the fact that the number of exhibits has reduced even within the last decade or so
the "tiny exhibit" era was a bit earlier than you indicate, and a lot of the original footprint of the nocturnal area no longer contains exhibits at all (or has been occupied by the "ground floor" of the walkthrough tropical exhibit upstairs).
Shepreth's Nocturnal house no longer houses Arabian Spiny Mouse. They have Naked Mole Rat in that exhibit now.