Animals You've Seen That Few Zoochatters Have Seen

Neil chace said:
When did the New York Aquarium have a narwhal?! That's a really cool species to have had the chance to see.

1969 . More by accident than design.
A calf was captured by indigenous hunters in Canada after the killed its mother
It was shipped to NY aquarium which had experience with Belugas.
They had hoped it might survive and lead to the exhibition of that species
It did not live long and the plan - also considered by the Vancouver aquarium
At one time -was abandoned
Their short lived exhibition of the Baskubg shark and Leatherback turtle - both strandings- were similarly fleeting

I'm definitely jealous of this one- tarsiers are so weird and some of my favorite animals out there- unfortunately I'm unlikely to ever get the chance to see one in real life.
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Okay, I did not see a time limit on this as in"last 5 years", so:
Amazon river dolphin-Shedd Aquarium (1981)
Whalphin (a cross between a false killer whale and bottlenose dolphin- Sea Life Park 1985.
Rizzo and bottlenose dolphin hybrid-Endoshima Oceanarium, Japan (1983)
South America Sea Lion-San Diego Zoo (1981)
 
Ivan said:
Okay, I did not see a time limit on this as in"last 5 years", so:
Amazon river dolphin-Shedd Aquarium (1981)
Whalphin (a cross between a false killer whale and bottlenose dolphin- Sea Life Park 1985.
Rizzo and bottlenose dolphin hybrid-Endoshima Oceanarium, Japan (1983)
South America Sea Lion-San Diego Zoo (1981)
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Damn an Amazon River Dolphin?! That's it, you win.
 
birdsandbats said:
If split, however, it certainly does qualify for this thread, assuming the animal in question was truly and Amazon River Dolphin and not an Orinoco.
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At this point it would be difficult to say whether Amazon or Orinoco river dolphin. Back in 1981 there was no distinction, the new species designation is fairly recent, I think. From past experience, going back without substantial photos (I unfortunately have none) makes ID very difficult. However, neither dolphins are commonly displayed, so falls into most ZooChatters haven't seen, right?
 
Being older, my memory is sometimes slow. I should add a couple of other marine mammals I've seen in captivity.
A rehabilitating pygmy or dwarf sperm whale, at Marineland of Florida, 1981
A rehabilitating beaked whale (species unknown, probably a Blainesville beaked whale), Marineland of Florida, 1981
Spinner dolphin-Sealife Park 1983
 
pretty interesting the ways in which this thread meandered. For instance I have side blotched lizards that live in my back yard that have babies every year. Common western US lizard, but I doubt its ever really shown at any zoo and thus "few" zoochatters may have seen one.
I did think of another one I have seen that no one else has mentioned and that is an I'iwi shown at the Honolulu zoo in 1992
 
Daktari JG said:
pretty interesting the ways in which this thread meandered. For instance I have side blotched lizards that live in my back yard that have babies every year. Common western US lizard, but I doubt its ever really shown at any zoo and thus "few" zoochatters may have seen one.
I did think of another one I have seen that no one else has mentioned and that is an I'iwi shown at the Honolulu zoo in 1992
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According to zootierliste, there are apparently only 3 zoos that currently house side-blotched lizards. Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem and Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna have U. stansburiana, while the Bolsa Chica Conservancy in Huntington Beach has U. stansburiana elegans.
 
side blotched lizards are pretty cool in that they have 3 male morphs and 2 female morphs.
They have a rock paper scissors reproduction strategy where one morph loses to another but beats the other.
 
Daktari JG said:
side blotched lizards are pretty cool in that they have 3 male morphs and 2 female morphs.
They have a rock paper scissors reproduction strategy where one morph loses to another but beats the other.
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I actually was able to see a couple of them recently at Organ Pipe, Joshua Tree, and Canyonlands. On a slightly related note, there are a handful of other lizards native to the western and southwestern US that aren't held in that many zoos currently, at least according to zootierliste. Some examples include:
  • Long-nosed leopard lizard (1 zoo in Switzerland, 1 in the US, and 2 in Russia)
  • Sagebrush lizard (0 zoos currently)
  • Tiger whiptail (0 zoos currently)
  • Western fence lizard (2 zoos in the US and 1 in the UK)
  • Zebra-tailed lizard (1 zoo in Spain and 3 in Czechia)
 
Il gattopardo said:
Hirola (Beatragus hunteri) Dvur Kralove, Brownsville (0 zoos currently)
Jentink`s duiker (Cephalophus jentinki) Brownsville (0 zoos currently)
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I was at Gladys Porter Zoo last week and the entire time I was thinking how badly I wish I could have made it there just a decade or two sooner. It was incredible getting to see bushbuck and gaur, but knowing that they had even more super compelling ungulates in the not too distant past definitely left me feeling some sort of way.
 
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Ivan said:
Being older, my memory is sometimes slow. I should add a couple of other marine mammals I've seen in captivity.
A rehabilitating pygmy or dwarf sperm whale, at Marineland of Florida, 1981
A rehabilitating beaked whale (species unknown, probably a Blainesville beaked whale), Marineland of Florida, 1981
Spinner dolphin-Sealife Park 1983
Click to expand...

Woahh did you take photos of either of those rehabilitating species!? Each represent mammal families I've never seen before!
 
CarnotaurusSastrei said:
I actually was able to see a couple of them recently at Organ Pipe, Joshua Tree, and Canyonlands. On a slightly related note, there are a handful of other lizards native to the western and southwestern US that aren't held in that many zoos currently, at least according to zootierliste. Some examples include:
  • Long-nosed leopard lizard (1 zoo in Switzerland, 1 in the US, and 2 in Russia)
  • Sagebrush lizard (0 zoos currently)
  • Tiger whiptail (0 zoos currently)
  • Western fence lizard (2 zoos in the US and 1 in the UK)
  • Zebra-tailed lizard (1 zoo in Spain and 3 in Czechia)
Click to expand...

Seen all but the leopard lizard wild.
 
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