Suggest species for an African Forest complex

[Strathmorezoo]

Right here goes
Croud Pleaser. Wolf's Mona Monkeys
Colourful Beauty. Violet Touracos
Conservation Priority. Okapi
Wishful Thinking. Grey necked Picathartes
Wishing that this was my zoo

 

[ShonenJake13]

Crowd pleaser: Pygmy hippo (build on the already impressive hoofstock selection at the zoo)

Colourful beauty: Great blue turaco (a species that needs more focus in captivity, and with Chester's outstanding turaco history it makes sense!)

Conservation priority: Okapi (already got the species, regularly bred them, continue to build on their success)

Wishful thinking: Goliath frog (especially given Citizen Conservation hope to start a captive breeding programme for the species soon)

 

[Tigeanderson]

Croud pleaser: African leopard
Colorful beauty: Congo peafowl
Conservation priority: Drill monkey
Whishful thinking: Royal Antelope.

 

[gentle lemur]

Many excellent suggestions here and I'd like to see any or all of them (even the 4 exhibits for otter shrews ). Chester has had a large group of mandrills for years and has just acquired a family of Roloway monkeys, so they may move across from Monkey House or they may not. I particularly like the idea of talapoins, which did quite well in the old Monkey House many years ago.
I have had plenty of time to think of my own suggestions. 2 are already mentioned but 2 are different.

Crowd pleaser: pygmy hippo
Colorful beauty: Congo tetra (Phenacogrammus interruptus)
Conservation priority: white-bellied tree pangolin (Manis tricuspis)
Wishful thinking: African manatee​

The Congo tetra is moderately sized, so I would like to see a large shoal of them in a large tank, plus a few larger fishes too. The females are silvery, but the males are rainbow coloured with elegant white extensions on their fins.
Brookfield Zoo, Chicago has done a lot of work with the pangolin.

 

[WalkingAgnatha]

Wishful thinking: Goliath frog (especially given Citizen Conservation hope to start a captive breeding programme for the species soon)

Husbandry of these seems quite difficult, as the common? issue was that theyd jump around in the walls of their tanks and wear down their faces until they died/it got infected and lead to death, even KawaZoo with their 'frog aviary' and padded walls still seemed to have this species die out on them.

 

[ShonenJake13]

Husbandry of these seems quite difficult, as the common? issue was that theyd jump around in the walls of their tanks and wear down their faces until they died/it got infected and lead to death, even KawaZoo with their 'frog aviary' and padded walls still seemed to have this species die out on them.

I guess we’ll have to see - Citizen Conservation have said they have tentative plans to import some animals if possible so they must have some sort of ideas in mind for husbandry.

 

[Fallax]

Interestingly, Chester did have a goliath frog listed on the inventory a few years back. It didn't last long and I believe it was from a customs seizure?

 

[Haliaeetus]

1. Crowd pleaser: Pygmy hippopotamus
2. Colourful beauty: The cockroach Eustegasta buprestoides; as an invertebrate enjoyer, this Cameroonian species of brightly-coloured cockroach that is now available in the UK private trade would be a dream inclusion
3. Conservation priority: The killifish Aphyosemion dargei, specifically the Mbam locality; a small conservation unit for the many colourful yet threatened species of Central African killifish would be a lovely inclusion
4. Wishful thinking: Demidoff's bushbaby

I'm glad you think the cockroaches are beautiful.

 

[JVM]

Brookfield Zoo, Chicago has done a lot of work with the pangolin.

I was going to suggest this playfully but thought it might sound too wishful -- Brookfield still breeds pangolin behind the scenes and unless travel were inherently problematic I'm sure they would be happy to share a few with a world-class facility like Chester.

Husbandry of these seems quite difficult, as the common? issue was that theyd jump around in the walls of their tanks and wear down their faces until they died/it got infected and lead to death, even KawaZoo with their 'frog aviary' and padded walls still seemed to have this species die out on them.

I'd heard Goliath frogs had problems in captivity but not why! That's horrifying to imagine.

 

[MOG2012]

Crowd Pleaser: Pygmy Hippopotamus
Colorful Beauty: Congo Peacock
Conservation Priority: Tree Pangolin
Wishful Thinking: African Forest Elephant