Snowleopard's Mammals: A Lifetime List of Species Mammalian and Non-Mammalian

[pachyderm pro]

Black rhinos are another species that have always felt way more common to me than they actually are. Around the midwest they are somewhat prevalent in major collections, at least more so than other parts of the country: Saint Louis, Wichita, Brookfield, Lincoln Park, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Kansas City all have them as their preferred rhino of choice. You also have smaller places like Great Plains and Blank Park, as well as Milwaukee which will reacquire the species next year.

By the way, you mention Ree Park Safari as the only place where you saw rhinos in a mixed-species savanna. Did you not see any rhinos at The Living Desert last year?

 

[EagleScout610]

@snowleopard Correct. Monkey Island was demolished to make room for the Rhino expansion.

While it's not the prettiest or most naturalistic the Rhinos definetly seem more active now that they can rotate yards. Before they would be rotated between the front yard and the even smaller back yard.

 

[Panda_Fan]

Black rhinos are another species that have always felt way more common to me than they actually are. Around the midwest they are somewhat prevalent in major collections, at least more so than other parts of the country: Saint Louis, Wichita, Brookfield, Lincoln Park, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Kansas City all have them as their preferred rhino of choice. You also have smaller places like Great Plains and Blank Park, as well as Milwaukee which will reacquire the species next year.

By the way, you mention Ree Park Safari as the only place where you saw rhinos in a mixed-species savanna. Did you not see any rhinos at The Living Desert last year?

Maybe he meant that it was his firs time seeing the species on a typical "savanna" exhibit (giraffes, zebras, ostriches, etc)?
For me rhinos feel like the pachyderms of the XXI as it's been quite a trend to put rhinos on historic pachyderms houses or in habitats that elephants used to occupy and I don't mind that zoos are passsing to rhinos/giraffes if the can't care properly elephants.
While I don't dislike white rhinos (I don't know why I tend to think about them as huge "puppies"), I do prefer black rhinos. Indian are my favourite tho, but I'll have to wait until the next post . I would also love to see more NA zoos try to mix rhinos with other species. While I get that black ehinos are a bit tricky, from my understanding white rhinos are quite social and will react positively to interspecies enritchment, so it may work idk.

 

[snowleopard]

Thank you @pachyderm pro for mentioning the Black Rhinos I saw at the Living Desert Zoo (USA) in 2023. I've edited my initial post to include this zoo. It's always great when zoo nerds can point out an edit or two, as it makes my statistics 100% accurate in the end.

Here are some of my images from the stunning Black Rhino complex that is just about the first thing visitors see at Living Desert Zoo (USA). There are two massive yards, and when I was there in 2023 there was signage for Black Rhinos, Waterbuck, Springbok, Pink-backed Pelicans, Great White Pelicans, Cattle Egrets and vultures all sharing the same space.

There's a Black Rhino (on the left) in this last image:

 

[vogelcommando]

This next species is a true success story, as it was once declared extinct in the wild and due to the help of zoos Przewalski's Horses have gradually emerged from the shadow of extinction and they can now be a positive emblem of the power and prestige of zoos.

Wild-caught herds of these horses never did very well in captivity in the early 20th century and there became more urgency in the late 1960s when the only Przewalski's Horses on the planet were the small number in zoos. By 1977, there was the announcement of the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse (in the Netherlands), and renewed conservation efforts since then has seen both the captive population and the wild population skyrocket. There's been many reintroduction programs in a wide variety of countries and even a cloned Przewalski's Horse in 2020. There's certainly some parallels between the story of these horses and Arabian Oryx.

I've seen Przewalski's Horses at 28 zoos:

1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – Przewalski’s Horse – 1975
2- Langenberg Wildlife Park (Switzerland) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2003
3- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2006
4- Denver Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2006
5- Monarto Zoo (Australia) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2007
6- Minnesota Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2008
7- Detroit Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2008
8- Toronto Zoo (Canada) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2008
9- Bronx Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2008
10- Smithsonian’s National Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2008
11- Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2010
12- Binder Park Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2010
13- Gladys Porter Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2010
14- Dakota Zoo (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2014
15- Arbuckle Wilderness Park (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2015
16- Fossil Rim Wildlife Center (USA) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2015
17- Assiniboine Park Zoo (Canada) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2018
18- Natuurpark Lelystad (Netherlands) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2019
19- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2019
20- GaiaZOO (Netherlands) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2019
21- Zoo Neuwied (Germany) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2019
22- Cologne Zoo (Germany) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2019
23- Berlin Zoo (Germany) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2019
24- Allwetterzoo Munster (Germany) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2019
25- Scandinavian Wildlife Park (Denmark) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2022
26- Givskud Zoo (Denmark) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2022
27- Nordens Ark (Sweden) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2022
28- B.C. Wildlife Park (Canada) – Przewalski’s Horse – 2022

Przewalski's Horses look magnificent when galloping, with their stiff manes and black legs quite eye-catching.

@Therabu

Denver Zoo (USA) is a facility that I've not talked about a great deal on this thread when it's come to ungulates (they were perhaps mentioned a lot for their 20+ primate species collection), but it's easy to forget that Denver Zoo has always had a fantastic hoofstock collection. When I visited the zoo for the first time in 2006 there was a total of 22 ungulate paddocks, but on my second and last visit (2012) 6 of them had been renovated and turned into Toyota Elephant Passage. That still means the current setup could well have 16 paddocks and that includes one for Przewalski's Horses. It would be a shame if Denver ever overhauled this old yet solid part of the zoo as a lot of species diversity would be lost.

Monarto Zoo (Australia) had at least a dozen or more Przewalski's Horses when I toured that facility in 2007. Apparently, these days the horses are mixed with American Bison in a typically huge, Monarto-sized paddock.

@Simon Hampel

At Minnesota Zoo (USA), Przewalski's Horses have been mixed with Bactrian Camels on the Northern Trail loop in what was formerly a Muskox enclosure.

@Dhole dude

I'm not sure if Detroit Zoo (USA) still has Przewalski's Horses on-show these days, but I saw them mixed with Fallow Deer and White-lipped Deer in 2008 and later on Bactrian Camels were with the horses.

Toronto Zoo (USA) had a herd of Przewalski's Horses when I toured that zoo in 2008 and here's a crisp shot of a pair of the animals from a much later year.

@StellarChaser

Przewalski's Horses have been a notable animal at Smithsonian's National Zoo (USA) for many years, in a simple yet attractive enclosure. There's no German 'gingerbread house' type accommodation here.

@Sarus Crane

My photo from 2010 at Mesker Park Zoo (USA) shows 3 species (Przewalski's Horse, Axis Deer, Reeves's Muntjac) all together in a grassy exhibit. The enclosure is quite spacious and the smaller areas are for the muntjacs to duck under the wire and get some peace from their bigger neighbours.

Dakota Zoo (USA) has a whole series of perhaps a dozen hoofstock paddocks along its southern edge, with one of those enclosures containing Przewalski's Horses.

My photo of the Przewalski's Horse exhibit at Assiniboine Park Zoo (Canada) reveals a fairly small, nondescript enclosure that isn't that exciting.

But this photo, taken at the same zoo, has some excitement to it!

@ZooFuss

Natuurpark Lelystad (Netherlands) has a Wisent/Przewalski's Horse exhibit that is a walk-through, as I did just that in 2019. I probably showcased this photo when I discussed Wisent earlier in the thread, but it's worth repeating here. I literally walked across that steel structure in the ground, which prevents hooved animals from leaving, and strode through a nicely shaded area that then cuts past a grassy paddock. I waved at Wisent and Przewalski's Horses and I obviously wasn't gored or trampled to death as that wild experience was 5 years ago now. Maybe one day this zoo will let visitors actually ride around on one of those species.

@vogelcommando

It was with great pleasure that I toured Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) in 2019, as it's a wonderful establishment. Perhaps a little overshadowed by the grandiose Pairi Daiza (which overshadows everything in its wake!) and the historic Antwerp in the same nation, but I loved Planckendael and it's a superb zoo. Belgium might be a little light on zoos after those three, but they are each one of Europe's truly GREAT zoological establishments and Planckendael was the only one with Przewalski's Horses in 2019.

You can just about see 8 or more Przewalski's Horses at the top of this photo, taken at GaiaZOO (Netherlands) in the Taiga section of the zoo. Gaia is a bit like Planckendael as both zoos are full of modern, naturalistic looking exhibits.

@Mr Gharial

The only single photo of Przewalski's Horses at Zoo Neuwied (Germany) in the gallery is this one, taken by me in 2019.

For such a legendary establishment, it's also a bit surprising that there's only 5 images of Przewalski's Horses at Berlin Zoo (Germany).

@Maguari

This is a facility that gives 6 acres to Polar Bears and 6 acres to Brown Bears, so it should not be a shock to see another mammoth enclosure at Scandinavian Wildlife Park (Denmark), this time for Przewalski's Horses.

As I've said before, Scandinavian zoos don't mess around with their exhibits as quite frequently there are some massive ones there. You can see a half-dozen Przewalski's Horses feeding at their trough at the top of my photo at Givskud Zoo (Denmark). This is the same zoo that has a whole corner of the park, and three enormous habitats, just for a single species: Andean Bear.

In an exhibit that held Moose for many years, the addition of two Przewalski's Horses at B.C. Wildlife Park (Canada) was a recent surprise as this zoo usually focuses on rescued native animals.

Perissodactyla: 4 total species so far

Plains Zebra - 153 zoos
Grevy's Zebra - 49 zoos
Przewalski's Horse - 28 zoos
Hartmann's Mountain Zebra - 11 zoos

Little correction : You've seen Przewalski's horses at 29 zoos. I know that because I was standing next to you when we both saw the species on Aug.3th. 2019 at Safaripark Beekse Bergen in the Netherlands .

 

[snowleopard]

It's time to finish off rhinos, and I'm edging very close to finishing off this entire mammoth thread, by looking at TWO species today.

All the Mammals of the World (2023) has been my template in terms of modern taxonomy and it's interesting that Indian Rhinos are called Greater One-horned Rhinos in that book. (On a side note, Javan Rhinos are labeled as Lesser One-horned Rhinos) I'm going with the term Indian Rhinos, as that's been by far and away the name on the signs at almost all the zoos on my list. These are extraordinary creatures, relatively placid and easygoing even though with their thick folds of skin they arguably look the most tank-like of all rhinos. Most of my Indian Rhino sightings have been in North American zoos, and I have only seen the species 7 times at 200 zoos throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

I've seen Sumatran Rhinos twice, both in 2008 and it was special gazing and even touching such extraordinary animals. Of all my amazing experiences visiting zoos over the years, seeing Sumatran Rhinos in two locations is right up there near the top.

I've seen Indian Rhinos at 32 zoos:

1- San Francisco Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
2- San Diego Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
3- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
4- Toronto Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
5- Bronx Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
6- Cincinnati Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
7- Fort Worth Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
8- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
9- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
10- Mountain View Conservation Centre (Canada) – Indian Rhino – 2008
11- White Oak Conservation Center (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
12- Zoo Miami (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
13- Mesker Park Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
14- Buffalo Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
15- Philadelphia Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
16- Montgomery Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
17- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
18- ZooTampa at Lowry Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
19- Rolling Hills Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
20- Denver Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
21- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2014
22- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – Indian Rhino – 2016
23- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2018
24- Toledo Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2018
25- Diergaarde Blijdorp (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
26- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Indian Rhino – 2019
27- Dierenrijk: Animal Kingdom (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
28- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – Indian Rhino – 2019
29- Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
30- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2023
31- Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) – Indian Rhino – 2024
32- Night Safari (Singapore) – Indian Rhino – 2024

AND...

I've seen Sumatran Rhinos at 2 zoos:

1- Cincinnati Zoo (USA) – Sumatran Rhino – 2008
2- White Oak Conservation Center (USA) – Sumatran Rhino – 2008

Toronto Zoo (Canada) was home to both White and Indian Rhinos when I toured that zoo in 2008.

@StellarChaser

There was a big indoor pool for both the Indian Rhinos and Malayan Tapirs, as well as a number of free-flying birds inside the barn.

Here's an Indian Rhino lumbering across its paddock at Cincinnati Zoo (USA) in 2008. This was a very special zoo for rhinos back then and just looking at my photos brings waves of nostalgia.

On both my visits to Fort Worth Zoo (USA), in 2008 and 2015, there was an Indian Rhino chilling in its waterfall pool on both occasions. That's one way to beat the Texas heat!

When I toured Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) in 2008, the facility had multiple rhino species including Indian Rhinos in this big paddock. This was before the zoo began building its Sanctuary Asia complex.

Buffalo Zoo (USA) no longer has Asian Elephants, but they do have some megafauna in the shape of Gorillas in their 'Batcave' and Giraffes in a hideously tiny barn, and also Indian Rhinos. Those rhinos have a decently sized paddock and they have been mixed with Axis Deer at various times.

@Mr Wrinkly

A saw a single Indian Rhino in this old-fashioned, walled enclosure at Philadelphia Zoo (USA) in 2010. It's all gone now.

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (USA) used to have a series of elephant, and then eventually rhino, paddocks at the very peak of the zoo, where the top of the African Grasslands complex ends these days. Later on, the zoo built another enormous addition in the shape of Asian Highlands and seeing a small herd of Pere David's Deer mixed with Indian Rhinos, with the massive Scripps Aviary as a backdrop, is quite the sight!

Toyota Elephant Passage, which cost a whopping $50 million more than a decade ago, is one of the real highlights of any visit to Denver Zoo (USA). With inflation, that project would easily cost $100 million or more these days. It's a multi-acre chunk of the zoo with Asian Elephants, Indian Rhinos, Malayan Tapirs and an assortment of other Asian fauna, some in rotational exhibits.

My photo shows one of the gibbon islands and an Indian Rhino in the background. If the gibbons want to take a cruise, then they can paddle around their home in that wooden boat.

Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) has had feeding sessions (for a price) with the zoo's Indian Rhinos in the past, which allows members of the public to get very close to these magnificent mammals.

When Woodland Park Zoo (USA) phased out its elephants, the obvious decision was to plunk a couple of young male Indian Rhinos into the acre-sized exhibit. Now that there's just a single rhino in residence, it does seem a bit sparse in that whole general area. There was talk of having a mixed-species deer/gibbon/rhino habitat such as has become more common in Europe, but nothing ever came of it.

The nicely landscaped Indian Rhino exhibit at Blijdorp Zoo (Netherlands) contains a long water moat and soft substrate throughout the enclosure.

@Tiger

Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) has had Indian Rhinos living with Visayan Warty Pigs in the past, making for an intriguing combination of species.

@vogelcommando

A fantastic exhibit, that had just opened before my arrival in 2019, is the Indian Rhino/Nilgai/Hog Deer/Visayan Warty Pig habitat at Dierenrijk: Animal Kingdom (Netherlands), now called Eindhoven Zoo. The indoor area is accessible to the public and contains thick natural substrate on the floor.

The gargantuan Pachyderm House at Berlin Tierpark (Germany) is currently undergoing an enormously expensive overhaul, but when I was there 5 years ago I saw an Indian Rhino in a basic outdoor paddock. Again, as is the norm in much of Europe, the indoor barn was accessible to visitors and the flooring for the rhinos was all thick natural substrate.

Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) has a long, narrow Indian Rhino exhibit with flooring made up of wood chips, which has been a trend at many zoos worldwide.

@vogelcommando

A nicely shaded exhibit for Indian Rhinos at Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) was one of only two occasions when I saw this species on my summer trek to almost 60 Asian zoos. I was definitely expecting more sightings in that part of the world.

As for Sumatran Rhinos, I saw the species for the first time at Cincinnati Zoo (USA) in the summer of 2008. I have this memorable photo of two rhinos in a mud wallow and there's loads of other pictures showing the exhibit in the ZooChat gallery. At the time, my wife and I walked straight to this exhibit as our first stop in the zoo and we chatted with a keeper for a while. Amazingly, many visitors strolled by and were completely oblivious to just how rare Sumatran Rhinos were, as the keeper was asking the crowd lots of questions and most folks just shrugged the animals off as "yet more rhinos" at the zoo.

A few months later, after telling my wife that we'd never see another Sumatran Rhino ever again, we had a free, private tour at White Oak Conservation Center (USA) in Florida. While there, we saw Black and Indian Rhinos and we petted and fed both White and Sumatran Rhinos. Incredible. There used to be a whole bunch of photos of my wife and I petting 'Harapan' the Sumatran Rhino in the ZooChat gallery, but then a few years ago all the photos featuring members of this site were deleted and I'm assuming for privacy reasons.

Perissodactyla: 15 total species

Plains Zebra - 153 zoos
White Rhino - 78 zoos
Grevy's Zebra - 49 zoos
Malayan Tapir - 49 zoos
Black Rhino - 39 zoos
South American Tapir - 35 zoos
Indian Rhino - 32 zoos
Przewalski's Horse - 29 zoos
Baird's Tapir - 22 zoos
Onager - 15 zoos
Hartmann's Mountain Zebra - 11 zoos
Somali Wild Ass - 7 zoos
Kiang - 3 zoos
Mountain Tapir - 2 zoos
Sumatran Rhino - 2 zoos

 

[pachyderm pro]

A few months later, after telling my wife that we'd never see another Sumatran Rhino ever again, we had a free, private tour at White Oak Conservation Center (USA) in Florida. While there, we saw Black and Indian Rhinos and we petted and fed both White and Sumatran Rhinos. Incredible. There used to be a whole bunch of photos of my wife and I petting 'Harapan' the Sumatran Rhino in the ZooChat gallery, but then a few years ago all the photos featuring members of this site were deleted and I'm assuming for privacy reasons.

Out of all your zoo experiences over the last two decades, is this the biggest feather in your cap? How exhilarating that must've been. I'll always lament the fact I was never able to see a Sumatran rhino before Harapan left and probably never will.

With Perissodactyla done and dusted, how much longer do we have to go on this thread? Besides some marsupials and rodents, I struggle to think of what hasn't been covered yet.

 

[Aardwolf]

I had a chance to meet and touch Harapan as well, and it ended up being one of the luckiest breaks I had.

I had an epipheny back in 2014 that I didn't need to wait for family trips or work to take me to other zoos - I could actually plan trips on my own for the express purpose of going to see zoos. I began planning annual zoo trips, usually aimed at seeing 2-3 new facilities per 2 day trip, and usually focused around seeing a specific species that was on my bucket list. Cincinnati, with it's Sumatran rhino, was my first stop.

I was able to make contact with one the Sumatran rhino keepers at Cincy to ask about seeing him (the trip was planned for October, and I was worried that it would be too cold for him to be out), and she instead made arrangements for me to go back into the barn and meet him when I arrived. I'm very lucky that I did, because not only did I get to pet him, but it turned out that he never actually went outside that day - I saw every other animal in Cincinnati on that trip, adding several new species to my life list, but if I hadn't made arrangements with that keeper, I never would have seen a Sumatran rhino.

What I remember most about seeing him was being surprised at how big he was. I was expecting something closer to a Shetland pony (though the keeper did tell me that he was unusually large for a Sumatran). While I was back in the barn, she told me that the zoo was about to announce that Harapan was going to be going to Indonesia, and she expected that once that was common knowledge, there would be a mass pilgrimage of keepers coming to see him before he left. That made me all the more glad that things worked out as well as they did. She also told me two other things that stayed with me. One was that she felt that Cincinnati had cracked the code for Sumatran rhino breeding sufficiently that if other rhinos were exported to the US, they felt that they could breed the species and maybe even make a sustainable population. The second was that she now felt that the species would go extinct in our lifetime.

A colleague of mine just returned from Indonesia and saw Harapan and the other Sumatran rhinos there, so it is still possible to see them. Just a bit harder.

 

[carlos55]

Rhinos are rare in Mexican zoos. Only about seven zoos have white rhinos, only Africam Safari Puebla has black rhinos and only Guadalajara zoo has Indian rhinoceros.

 

[Panda_Fan]

It's time to finish off rhinos, and I'm edging very close to finishing off this entire mammoth thread, by looking at TWO species today.

All the Mammals of the World (2023) has been my template in terms of modern taxonomy and it's interesting that Indian Rhinos are called Greater One-horned Rhinos in that book. (On a side note, Javan Rhinos are labeled as Lesser One-horned Rhinos) I'm going with the term Indian Rhinos, as that's been by far and away the name on the signs at almost all the zoos on my list. These are extraordinary creatures, relatively placid and easygoing even though with their thick folds of skin they arguably look the most tank-like of all rhinos. Most of my Indian Rhino sightings have been in North American zoos, and I have only seen the species 7 times at 200 zoos throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

I've seen Sumatran Rhinos twice, both in 2008 and it was special gazing and even touching such extraordinary animals. Of all my amazing experiences visiting zoos over the years, seeing Sumatran Rhinos in two locations is right up there near the top.

I've seen Indian Rhinos at 32 zoos:

1- San Francisco Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
2- San Diego Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
3- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
4- Toronto Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
5- Bronx Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
6- Cincinnati Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
7- Fort Worth Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
8- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
9- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
10- Mountain View Conservation Centre (Canada) – Indian Rhino – 2008
11- White Oak Conservation Center (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
12- Zoo Miami (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
13- Mesker Park Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
14- Buffalo Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
15- Philadelphia Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
16- Montgomery Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
17- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
18- ZooTampa at Lowry Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
19- Rolling Hills Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
20- Denver Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
21- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2014
22- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – Indian Rhino – 2016
23- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2018
24- Toledo Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2018
25- Diergaarde Blijdorp (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
26- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Indian Rhino – 2019
27- Dierenrijk: Animal Kingdom (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
28- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – Indian Rhino – 2019
29- Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
30- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2023
31- Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) – Indian Rhino – 2024
32- Night Safari (Singapore) – Indian Rhino – 2024

AND...

I've seen Sumatran Rhinos at 2 zoos:

1- Cincinnati Zoo (USA) – Sumatran Rhino – 2008
2- White Oak Conservation Center (USA) – Sumatran Rhino – 2008

Toronto Zoo (Canada) was home to both White and Indian Rhinos when I toured that zoo in 2008.

@StellarChaser

There was a big indoor pool for both the Indian Rhinos and Malayan Tapirs, as well as a number of free-flying birds inside the barn.

Here's an Indian Rhino lumbering across its paddock at Cincinnati Zoo (USA) in 2008. This was a very special zoo for rhinos back then and just looking at my photos brings waves of nostalgia.

On both my visits to Fort Worth Zoo (USA), in 2008 and 2015, there was an Indian Rhino chilling in its waterfall pool on both occasions. That's one way to beat the Texas heat!

When I toured Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) in 2008, the facility had multiple rhino species including Indian Rhinos in this big paddock. This was before the zoo began building its Sanctuary Asia complex.

Buffalo Zoo (USA) no longer has Asian Elephants, but they do have some megafauna in the shape of Gorillas in their 'Batcave' and Giraffes in a hideously tiny barn, and also Indian Rhinos. Those rhinos have a decently sized paddock and they have been mixed with Axis Deer at various times.

@Mr Wrinkly

A saw a single Indian Rhino in this old-fashioned, walled enclosure at Philadelphia Zoo (USA) in 2010. It's all gone now.

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (USA) used to have a series of elephant, and then eventually rhino, paddocks at the very peak of the zoo, where the top of the African Grasslands complex ends these days. Later on, the zoo built another enormous addition in the shape of Asian Highlands and seeing a small herd of Pere David's Deer mixed with Indian Rhinos, with the massive Scripps Aviary as a backdrop, is quite the sight!

Toyota Elephant Passage, which cost a whopping $50 million more than a decade ago, is one of the real highlights of any visit to Denver Zoo (USA). With inflation, that project would easily cost $100 million or more these days. It's a multi-acre chunk of the zoo with Asian Elephants, Indian Rhinos, Malayan Tapirs and an assortment of other Asian fauna, some in rotational exhibits.

My photo shows one of the gibbon islands and an Indian Rhino in the background. If the gibbons want to take a cruise, then they can paddle around their home in that wooden boat.

Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) has had feeding sessions (for a price) with the zoo's Indian Rhinos in the past, which allows members of the public to get very close to these magnificent mammals.

When Woodland Park Zoo (USA) phased out its elephants, the obvious decision was to plunk a couple of young male Indian Rhinos into the acre-sized exhibit. Now that there's just a single rhino in residence, it does seem a bit sparse in that whole general area. There was talk of having a mixed-species deer/gibbon/rhino habitat such as has become more common in Europe, but nothing ever came of it.

The nicely landscaped Indian Rhino exhibit at Blijdorp Zoo (Netherlands) contains a long water moat and soft substrate throughout the enclosure.

@Tiger

Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) has had Indian Rhinos living with Visayan Warty Pigs in the past, making for an intriguing combination of species.

@vogelcommando

A fantastic exhibit, that had just opened before my arrival in 2019, is the Indian Rhino/Nilgai/Hog Deer/Visayan Warty Pig habitat at Dierenrijk: Animal Kingdom (Netherlands), now called Eindhoven Zoo. The indoor area is accessible to the public and contains thick natural substrate on the floor.

The gargantuan Pachyderm House at Berlin Tierpark (Germany) is currently undergoing an enormously expensive overhaul, but when I was there 5 years ago I saw an Indian Rhino in a basic outdoor paddock. Again, as is the norm in much of Europe, the indoor barn was accessible to visitors and the flooring for the rhinos was all thick natural substrate.

Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) has a long, narrow Indian Rhino exhibit with flooring made up of wood chips, which has been a trend at many zoos worldwide.

@vogelcommando

A nicely shaded exhibit for Indian Rhinos at Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) was one of only two occasions when I saw this species on my summer trek to almost 60 Asian zoos. I was definitely expecting more sightings in that part of the world.

As for Sumatran Rhinos, I saw the species for the first time at Cincinnati Zoo (USA) in the summer of 2008. I have this memorable photo of two rhinos in a mud wallow and there's loads of other pictures showing the exhibit in the ZooChat gallery. At the time, my wife and I walked straight to this exhibit as our first stop in the zoo and we chatted with a keeper for a while. Amazingly, many visitors strolled by and were completely oblivious to just how rare Sumatran Rhinos were, as the keeper was asking the crowd lots of questions and most folks just shrugged the animals off as "yet more rhinos" at the zoo.

A few months later, after telling my wife that we'd never see another Sumatran Rhino ever again, we had a free, private tour at White Oak Conservation Center (USA) in Florida. While there, we saw Black and Indian Rhinos and we petted and fed both White and Sumatran Rhinos. Incredible. There used to be a whole bunch of photos of my wife and I petting 'Harapan' the Sumatran Rhino in the ZooChat gallery, but then a few years ago all the photos featuring members of this site were deleted and I'm assuming for privacy reasons.

Perissodactyla: 15 total species

Plains Zebra - 153 zoos
White Rhino - 78 zoos
Grevy's Zebra - 49 zoos
Malayan Tapir - 49 zoos
Black Rhino - 39 zoos
South American Tapir - 35 zoos
Indian Rhino - 32 zoos
Przewalski's Horse - 29 zoos
Baird's Tapir - 22 zoos
Onager - 15 zoos
Hartmann's Mountain Zebra - 11 zoos
Somali Wild Ass - 7 zoos
Kiang - 3 zoos
Mountain Tapir - 2 zoos
Sumatran Rhino - 2 zoos

You always have another incredible interaction of wildlife that blows everything to dust, don't you?. For me indian rhinos haven't been that rare, even when I lived at spain. Every time I see one of this guys ther playing with a ball or chilling in mud/water wich I find very adorable and I have done quite the activities with this animals, from feeding them at SDZ to attending a veterinary activity at Madrid zoo which they show us how they cared for the skin of the animal, which was quite interesting. As for sumatran rhinos, I've only seen Harapan at Cincinnati and I feel very lucky to have seen this specie and wish that they return to zoos. I think that way back there was speculation that leipzig zoo was a candidate for the species.
And sorry for mi ignorance, but the "all the photos featuring members of this site were deleted" refers to the Great Purge?

Out of all your zoo experiences over the last two decades, is this the biggest feather in your cap? How exhilarating that must've been. I'll always lament the fact I was never able to see a Sumatran rhino before Harapan left and probably never will.

With Perissodactyla done and dusted, how much longer do we have to go on this thread? Besides some marsupials and rodents, I struggle to think of what hasn't been covered yet.

From what he has mentioned he has some rodents on the way and possibly will add some new species+updates on some animals, but not sure on the latter.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Indian Rhinos are called Greater One-horned Rhinos in that book. (On a side note, Javan Rhinos are labeled as Lesser One-horned Rhinos)

When you consider the fact that until the 20th century the range of the Javan Rhinoceros extended throughout much of SE Asia - including northeastern India - the alternative name makes a lot more sense than the more commonplace one!

 

[Enzo]

I had a chance to meet and touch Harapan as well, and it ended up being one of the luckiest breaks I had.

I had an epipheny back in 2014 that I didn't need to wait for family trips or work to take me to other zoos - I could actually plan trips on my own for the express purpose of going to see zoos. I began planning annual zoo trips, usually aimed at seeing 2-3 new facilities per 2 day trip, and usually focused around seeing a specific species that was on my bucket list. Cincinnati, with it's Sumatran rhino, was my first stop.

I was able to make contact with one the Sumatran rhino keepers at Cincy to ask about seeing him (the trip was planned for October, and I was worried that it would be too cold for him to be out), and she instead made arrangements for me to go back into the barn and meet him when I arrived. I'm very lucky that I did, because not only did I get to pet him, but it turned out that he never actually went outside that day - I saw every other animal in Cincinnati on that trip, adding several new species to my life list, but if I hadn't made arrangements with that keeper, I never would have seen a Sumatran rhino.

What I remember most about seeing him was being surprised at how big he was. I was expecting something closer to a Shetland pony (though the keeper did tell me that he was unusually large for a Sumatran). While I was back in the barn, she told me that the zoo was about to announce that Harapan was going to be going to Indonesia, and she expected that once that was common knowledge, there would be a mass pilgrimage of keepers coming to see him before he left. That made me all the more glad that things worked out as well as they did. She also told me two other things that stayed with me. One was that she felt that Cincinnati had cracked the code for Sumatran rhino breeding sufficiently that if other rhinos were exported to the US, they felt that they could breed the species and maybe even make a sustainable population. The second was that she now felt that the species would go extinct in our lifetime.

A colleague of mine just returned from Indonesia and saw Harapan and the other Sumatran rhinos there, so it is still possible to see them. Just a bit harder.

I have seen Indian rhinos twice.

My first time seeing one was at the Lisbon zoo, back in 2018. If I am not mistaken, I saw three there, including one that was resting in the water near the visitor barrier.

I saw Indian rhinos for the second time this year, at Animália Park. The species had been absent from Brazil for twenty-five years, when two males from France arrived in Cotia, in 2022.




Pictures of Bys and Kiran (I am not sure who is who) I took when I visited Animália Park on February.

The only other Indian rhino in Brazil was Nabob, from Gelsenkirchen. He arrived in São Paulo in 1977 and died twenty years later.

 

[Osedax]

Rhinos, like equids, are surprisingly relatively well represented in Australian zoos. Southern White Rhinos are doing alright, and there are currently around 50 individuals across 10 holders. A large import of around 35 individuals from South Africa has been planned since 2013, but it has been so long that who knows if the import will actually go ahead.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo, which specialises in rhinos and has breeding groups of all three zoo-kept species, therefore has the only Australasian breeding group of South-Central Black Rhinoceros. The only other holder is Monarto Safari Park, which has one male. Taronga used to hold them, on the site of the current "Backyard to Bush" which was built in 2002. As such, I don't think @snowleopard saw Black Rhinos at Taronga in 2007.

As for Indian Rhinos, there has been an attempt by Taronga to establish a breeding population, with the most recent Indian Rhino at Taronga Zoo Sydney, a young female named Kula, tragically passing in 2007. TWPZ currently holds a breeding pair and their one male offspring. This male, Hari, will be moving to Taronga Zoo Sydney by mid-2025 as elephants are phased out. He will be mixed with Asiatic Water Buffalo.

An interesting piece of history is the Javan Rhino who lived at Adelaide Zoo from 1886 to 1907, misidentified as an Indian Rhino. After his death, he was taxidermied and it was found that he was in fact a Javan Rhino. The taxidermy is currently at the Melbourne Museum.

 

[Nile Hippo Expert]

It's time to finish off rhinos, and I'm edging very close to finishing off this entire mammoth thread, by looking at TWO species today.

All the Mammals of the World (2023) has been my template in terms of modern taxonomy and it's interesting that Indian Rhinos are called Greater One-horned Rhinos in that book. (On a side note, Javan Rhinos are labeled as Lesser One-horned Rhinos) I'm going with the term Indian Rhinos, as that's been by far and away the name on the signs at almost all the zoos on my list. These are extraordinary creatures, relatively placid and easygoing even though with their thick folds of skin they arguably look the most tank-like of all rhinos. Most of my Indian Rhino sightings have been in North American zoos, and I have only seen the species 7 times at 200 zoos throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

I've seen Sumatran Rhinos twice, both in 2008 and it was special gazing and even touching such extraordinary animals. Of all my amazing experiences visiting zoos over the years, seeing Sumatran Rhinos in two locations is right up there near the top.

I've seen Indian Rhinos at 32 zoos:

1- San Francisco Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
2- San Diego Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
3- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2006
4- Toronto Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
5- Bronx Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
6- Cincinnati Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
7- Fort Worth Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
8- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
9- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
10- Mountain View Conservation Centre (Canada) – Indian Rhino – 2008
11- White Oak Conservation Center (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
12- Zoo Miami (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2008
13- Mesker Park Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
14- Buffalo Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
15- Philadelphia Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
16- Montgomery Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2010
17- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
18- ZooTampa at Lowry Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
19- Rolling Hills Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
20- Denver Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2012
21- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2014
22- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – Indian Rhino – 2016
23- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2018
24- Toledo Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2018
25- Diergaarde Blijdorp (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
26- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Indian Rhino – 2019
27- Dierenrijk: Animal Kingdom (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
28- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – Indian Rhino – 2019
29- Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) – Indian Rhino – 2019
30- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – Indian Rhino – 2023
31- Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) – Indian Rhino – 2024
32- Night Safari (Singapore) – Indian Rhino – 2024

AND...

I've seen Sumatran Rhinos at 2 zoos:

1- Cincinnati Zoo (USA) – Sumatran Rhino – 2008
2- White Oak Conservation Center (USA) – Sumatran Rhino – 2008

Toronto Zoo (Canada) was home to both White and Indian Rhinos when I toured that zoo in 2008.

@StellarChaser

There was a big indoor pool for both the Indian Rhinos and Malayan Tapirs, as well as a number of free-flying birds inside the barn.

Here's an Indian Rhino lumbering across its paddock at Cincinnati Zoo (USA) in 2008. This was a very special zoo for rhinos back then and just looking at my photos brings waves of nostalgia.

On both my visits to Fort Worth Zoo (USA), in 2008 and 2015, there was an Indian Rhino chilling in its waterfall pool on both occasions. That's one way to beat the Texas heat!

When I toured Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) in 2008, the facility had multiple rhino species including Indian Rhinos in this big paddock. This was before the zoo began building its Sanctuary Asia complex.

Buffalo Zoo (USA) no longer has Asian Elephants, but they do have some megafauna in the shape of Gorillas in their 'Batcave' and Giraffes in a hideously tiny barn, and also Indian Rhinos. Those rhinos have a decently sized paddock and they have been mixed with Axis Deer at various times.

@Mr Wrinkly

A saw a single Indian Rhino in this old-fashioned, walled enclosure at Philadelphia Zoo (USA) in 2010. It's all gone now.

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (USA) used to have a series of elephant, and then eventually rhino, paddocks at the very peak of the zoo, where the top of the African Grasslands complex ends these days. Later on, the zoo built another enormous addition in the shape of Asian Highlands and seeing a small herd of Pere David's Deer mixed with Indian Rhinos, with the massive Scripps Aviary as a backdrop, is quite the sight!

Toyota Elephant Passage, which cost a whopping $50 million more than a decade ago, is one of the real highlights of any visit to Denver Zoo (USA). With inflation, that project would easily cost $100 million or more these days. It's a multi-acre chunk of the zoo with Asian Elephants, Indian Rhinos, Malayan Tapirs and an assortment of other Asian fauna, some in rotational exhibits.

My photo shows one of the gibbon islands and an Indian Rhino in the background. If the gibbons want to take a cruise, then they can paddle around their home in that wooden boat.

Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) has had feeding sessions (for a price) with the zoo's Indian Rhinos in the past, which allows members of the public to get very close to these magnificent mammals.

When Woodland Park Zoo (USA) phased out its elephants, the obvious decision was to plunk a couple of young male Indian Rhinos into the acre-sized exhibit. Now that there's just a single rhino in residence, it does seem a bit sparse in that whole general area. There was talk of having a mixed-species deer/gibbon/rhino habitat such as has become more common in Europe, but nothing ever came of it.

The nicely landscaped Indian Rhino exhibit at Blijdorp Zoo (Netherlands) contains a long water moat and soft substrate throughout the enclosure.

@Tiger

Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) has had Indian Rhinos living with Visayan Warty Pigs in the past, making for an intriguing combination of species.

@vogelcommando

A fantastic exhibit, that had just opened before my arrival in 2019, is the Indian Rhino/Nilgai/Hog Deer/Visayan Warty Pig habitat at Dierenrijk: Animal Kingdom (Netherlands), now called Eindhoven Zoo. The indoor area is accessible to the public and contains thick natural substrate on the floor.

The gargantuan Pachyderm House at Berlin Tierpark (Germany) is currently undergoing an enormously expensive overhaul, but when I was there 5 years ago I saw an Indian Rhino in a basic outdoor paddock. Again, as is the norm in much of Europe, the indoor barn was accessible to visitors and the flooring for the rhinos was all thick natural substrate.

Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) has a long, narrow Indian Rhino exhibit with flooring made up of wood chips, which has been a trend at many zoos worldwide.

@vogelcommando

A nicely shaded exhibit for Indian Rhinos at Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) was one of only two occasions when I saw this species on my summer trek to almost 60 Asian zoos. I was definitely expecting more sightings in that part of the world.

As for Sumatran Rhinos, I saw the species for the first time at Cincinnati Zoo (USA) in the summer of 2008. I have this memorable photo of two rhinos in a mud wallow and there's loads of other pictures showing the exhibit in the ZooChat gallery. At the time, my wife and I walked straight to this exhibit as our first stop in the zoo and we chatted with a keeper for a while. Amazingly, many visitors strolled by and were completely oblivious to just how rare Sumatran Rhinos were, as the keeper was asking the crowd lots of questions and most folks just shrugged the animals off as "yet more rhinos" at the zoo.

A few months later, after telling my wife that we'd never see another Sumatran Rhino ever again, we had a free, private tour at White Oak Conservation Center (USA) in Florida. While there, we saw Black and Indian Rhinos and we petted and fed both White and Sumatran Rhinos. Incredible. There used to be a whole bunch of photos of my wife and I petting 'Harapan' the Sumatran Rhino in the ZooChat gallery, but then a few years ago all the photos featuring members of this site were deleted and I'm assuming for privacy reasons.

Perissodactyla: 15 total species

Plains Zebra - 153 zoos
White Rhino - 78 zoos
Grevy's Zebra - 49 zoos
Malayan Tapir - 49 zoos
Black Rhino - 39 zoos
South American Tapir - 35 zoos
Indian Rhino - 32 zoos
Przewalski's Horse - 29 zoos
Baird's Tapir - 22 zoos
Onager - 15 zoos
Hartmann's Mountain Zebra - 11 zoos
Somali Wild Ass - 7 zoos
Kiang - 3 zoos
Mountain Tapir - 2 zoos
Sumatran Rhino - 2 zoos

Something interesting to note is that while Indian Rhinos are currently in 29 facilities in the US at the moment, 10 of them are in Florida alone! Miami, Lowry Park, White Oak, Gulf Breeze, Central Florida, Rum Creek, Valdosta, Micanopy, Safari Wild Florida, and Giraffe Ranch, all keep Indian Rhinoceros, and an eleventh Florida holder, Carson Springs had one until early 2023.

 

[cerperal]

The gargantuan Pachyderm House at Berlin Tierpark (Germany) is currently undergoing an enormously expensive overhaul, but when I was there 5 years ago I saw an Indian Rhino in a basic outdoor paddock. Again, as is the norm in much of Europe, the indoor barn was accessible to visitors and the flooring for the rhinos was all thick natural substrate.

I've previously criticised the new Pagoda at Berlin Zoo due to its somewhat cramped interior for the rhinos, but having never seen their former home I must say their new one is spectacular for them in comparison. Moreover, the new exhibit offers underwater viewing (noticeably disability-friendly too, which is a nice thing to note) and I had superb views of the subadult bathing this summer. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned cramped nature it's incredibly difficult to photograph!

My favourite greater one-horned rhino (is this name perhaps more prevalent in the UK than elsewhere? I've grown up knowing both common names but this is the one generally used in zoos here) exhibit is at ZSL Whipsnade, consisting of indoor viewing for the cows and vast paddocks for all the rhinos, along with an elevated walkway allowing you to cross over the entrance to the bull paddock. The zoo's train also passes the bull paddock, and my favourite encounter with a GOH rhino was when Hugo, the truly immense bull, passed directly beneath me before hanging around the path to scratch on the wooden posts. When your inevitable investigation of UK zoos happens I'll be interested to see what you think.

One was that she felt that Cincinnati had cracked the code for Sumatran rhino breeding sufficiently that if other rhinos were exported to the US, they felt that they could breed the species and maybe even make a sustainable population. The second was that she now felt that the species would go extinct in our lifetime.

A fantastic story followed by a total gut punch of reality. We can dream about the species leaving Indonesia, but I think that's obviously never going to happen again. The utterly mangled handling of the conservation of both the Sumatran and Javan rhinos will haunt us sooner rather than later

 

[snowleopard]

Out of all your zoo experiences over the last two decades, is this the biggest feather in your cap? How exhilarating that must've been. I'll always lament the fact I was never able to see a Sumatran rhino before Harapan left and probably never will.

I suppose that, in my mind, I've always held onto the idea that petting Harapan the Sumatran Rhino was the pinnacle of my lifetime of seeing rarities in zoos even though that was a long time ago. However, the whole idea of seeing a rare specimen is muddled for me now, as someone messaged me this week pointing out that when I was on my big Asia trip in August I saw a whole bunch of mammal species that very few zoo nerds have come across on their travels. Cincinnati Zoo is a major facility, visited by loads of nerds, and so my Sumatran Rhino viewing there is really not as remarkable as one would initially think. There are some zoo nerds who have seen a Sumatran Rhino in Cincinnati, or White Oak, or Los Angeles, or Port Lympne, or Bronx.

In contrast, when I toured 60 zoos in Southeast Asia a few months ago, here's a list of 50 mammal species I'd previously NEVER seen before and I saw them ALL in the space of 3 weeks. It has only really sunk in now just how many new mammals I added to my lifetime list on a single trip, including 18 new primates.

Marbled Cat, Flat-headed Cat, Sunda Clouded Leopard, Sunda Leopard Cat, Smooth-coated Otter, Large Indian Civet, Small Indian Civet, Small-toothed Palm Civet, Three-striped Palm Civet, Javan Mongoose, Indonesian Mountain Weasel, Sumatran Hog Badger, Javan Ferret Badger, Greater Hog Badger, Brown Hyena, Gursky's Spectral Tarsier, Proboscis Monkey, Black-shanked Douc Langur, Laotian Langur, Indochinese Silvered Langur, Javan Surili, Mitered Surili, Natuna Island Surili, White-thighed Surili, Guianan Red Howler Monkey, Assam Macaque, Moor Macaque, Heck's Macaque, Northern Pig-tailed Macaque, Siberut Macaque, Gorontalo Macaque, Bornean White-bearded Gibbon, Kloss's Gibbon, Sunda Pangolin, Sumatran Striped Rabbit, East Javan Red Giant Flying Squirrel, Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel, Black Giant Squirrel, Indo-malayan Bamboo Rat, Malayan Porcupine, Sunda Porcupine, Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Javan Warty Pig, Bawean Warty Pig, Javan Rusa Deer, Northern Red Muntjac, Burmese Goral, Mainland Serow, West African Manatee and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin.

Perhaps some of those mammals are arguably more exciting and more difficult to see than a Sumatran Rhino! There's even an additional 3 mammal species on top of those 50 that I saw for the first time ever and eventually I'll hopefully mention at least a couple of them on my future Asian road trip thread. I'm saving those suckers and since they were in off-show areas I'm not allowed to immediately disclose that information until a significant period of time has elapsed. I sincerely hope to do so on my future Asian road trip thread as the 3 "bonus species" are as amazing and special as anything on my list above. Maybe even more so!

And sorry for my ignorance, but the "all the photos featuring members of this site were deleted" refers to the Great Purge?

There was something called The Great Purge many years ago, when thousands of photos were deleted from the site. But, in a different situation, quite a few photos were deleted that were images of members here. Thus, my images of Harapan at White Oak remain, but the images of my wife and I petting the rhino and feeding him are long gone. There were also a few photos of myself inside the Cheetah exhibit at White Oak and petting one of the big cats there. I kind of miss those photos on ZooChat, as it was possible to see what other zoo nerds looked like and therefore it was kind of handy whenever I would meet up with someone. But, I think it had something to do with privacy laws on the site and that makes sense.

Taronga used to hold them, on the site of the current "Backyard to Bush" which was built in 2002. As such, I don't think @snowleopard saw Black Rhinos at Taronga in 2007.

That's interesting information. I do notice that on the zoo's map (photo in gallery) from my visit to Taronga Zoo in 2007, there's a rhino icon next to the African Savanna. There's also a photo of a Black Rhino in the gallery at Taronga Zoo in February 2006, so me seeing that species in May 2007 seems reasonable. Either way, it's a shame that Black Rhinos are not found at Taronga these days.

This thread is literally down to its final week, with just a few posts left. Sad but true! I realize that I'm packing it in while there's still a high degree of interest, but there's no way I'm going to even dream of attempting to track all the many Sulawesi Slender Root Rats or variety of fruit bats I've seen. As I said from the start, rats and bats are a step too far.

Order Pholidota, Family Manidae, must mean it's time for Pangolins! Here's a species I'd never seen before Asia, but it became one of at least 50 brand-new mammal species for me and I ended up seeing these guys in 3 different nations in a short period of time.

I've seen Sunda Pangolins at 7 zoos:

1- Lost World of Tambun (Malaysia) – Pangolin – 2024
2- Night Safari (Singapore) – Pangolin – 2024
3- Bali Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
4- Taman Safari III Bali (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
5- Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
6- Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia) - Pangolin – 2024
7- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) - Pangolin – 2024 (didn’t see)
8- Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024

I was with both @twilighter and @Toki when I saw my very first Pangolin and at the Lost World of Tambun (Malaysia) there's a setup involving three on-show exhibits. While there, we had a guided tour via some zoo staff and we were told that one of the Pangolins was pregnant although that was around 100 days ago now. Interestingly enough, the substrate in all three enclosures is a layer of sand.

Singapore Night Safari (Singapore) has a Pangolin Trail with some cool statues.

@LeMandaiEnthusiast‧

This exhibit holds Sunda Pangolin, Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel, Lesser Mousedeer and Sunda Slow Loris. A zoo nerd paradise!

@Nadchew_

I then saw two Pangolins inside a very tiny holding area at Bali Zoo (Indonesia)...

...which is connected to an outdoor area that held an Ocelot, but with signs for both Ocelots and Pangolins. A rotational day/night exhibit maybe?

The best experience of all, seeing Pangolins in Southeast Asia, was at Taman Safari III Bali (Indonesia) as a really active individual was walking around its exhibit and even taking a dip in its water. There's at least two Pangolin exhibits at this zoo, set inside a cave-like area that also has nearby viewing of Komodo Dragons.

A curled up Sunda Pangolin, with hedgehogs and Papuan Sugar Gliders, was at Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia) inside the Nocturnal House.

Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark is an off-show area at Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia) and during a guided tour I saw this highly active Sunda Pangolin. I had both a daytime tour and a nighttime tour at PCBA and it was in the evening that the Pangolin was up and about.

Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) has a Pangolin exhibit, but either the animal was off-show or the zoo no longer has the species, as I saw none in the zoo's Nocturnal House. There's a minimal barrier there, with just a small glass wall and if there had been a Pangolin then I would have been able to be extremely close to it.

The last place where I saw a Sunda Pangolin was at Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia), in the green-painted Small Mammal House where visitors are outside the entire time.

 

[USZOOfan42]

How is it possible I have seen a species (tree pangolin) @snowleopard hasn’t But then again, the hundreds of species I haven’t seen doesn’t compare.

 

[oflory]

I suppose that, in my mind, I've always held onto the idea that petting Harapan the Sumatran Rhino was the pinnacle of my lifetime of seeing rarities in zoos even though that was a long time ago. However, the whole idea of seeing a rare specimen is muddled for me now, as someone messaged me this week pointing out that when I was on my big Asia trip in August I saw a whole bunch of mammal species that very few zoo nerds have come across on their travels. Cincinnati Zoo is a major facility, visited by loads of nerds, and so my Sumatran Rhino viewing there is really not as remarkable as one would initially think. There are some zoo nerds who have seen a Sumatran Rhino in Cincinnati, or White Oak, or Los Angeles, or Port Lympne, or Bronx.

In contrast, when I toured 60 zoos in Southeast Asia a few months ago, here's a list of 50 mammal species I'd previously NEVER seen before and I saw them ALL in the space of 3 weeks. It has only really sunk in now just how many new mammals I added to my lifetime list on a single trip, including 18 new primates.

Marbled Cat, Flat-headed Cat, Sunda Clouded Leopard, Sunda Leopard Cat, Smooth-coated Otter, Large Indian Civet, Small Indian Civet, Small-toothed Palm Civet, Three-striped Palm Civet, Javan Mongoose, Indonesian Mountain Weasel, Sumatran Hog Badger, Javan Ferret Badger, Greater Hog Badger, Brown Hyena, Gursky's Spectral Tarsier, Proboscis Monkey, Black-shanked Douc Langur, Laotian Langur, Indochinese Silvered Langur, Javan Surili, Mitered Surili, Natuna Island Surili, White-thighed Surili, Guianan Red Howler Monkey, Assam Macaque, Moor Macaque, Heck's Macaque, Northern Pig-tailed Macaque, Siberut Macaque, Gorontalo Macaque, Bornean White-bearded Gibbon, Kloss's Gibbon, Sunda Pangolin, Sumatran Striped Rabbit, East Javan Red Giant Flying Squirrel, Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel, Black Giant Squirrel, Indo-malayan Bamboo Rat, Malayan Porcupine, Sunda Porcupine, Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Javan Warty Pig, Bawean Warty Pig, Javan Rusa Deer, Northern Red Muntjac, Burmese Goral, Mainland Serow, West African Manatee and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin.

Perhaps some of those mammals are arguably more exciting and more difficult to see than a Sumatran Rhino! There's even an additional 3 mammal species on top of those 50 that I saw for the first time ever and eventually I'll hopefully mention at least a couple of them on my future Asian road trip thread. I'm saving those suckers and since they were in off-show areas I'm not allowed to immediately disclose that information until a significant period of time has elapsed. I sincerely hope to do so on my future Asian road trip thread as the 3 "bonus species" are as amazing and special as anything on my list above. Maybe even more so!



There was something called The Great Purge many years ago, when thousands of photos were deleted from the site. But, in a different situation, quite a few photos were deleted that were images of members here. Thus, my images of Harapan at White Oak remain, but the images of my wife and I petting the rhino and feeding him are long gone. There were also a few photos of myself inside the Cheetah exhibit at White Oak and petting one of the big cats there. I kind of miss those photos on ZooChat, as it was possible to see what other zoo nerds looked like and therefore it was kind of handy whenever I would meet up with someone. But, I think it had something to do with privacy laws on the site and that makes sense.



That's interesting information. I do notice that on the zoo's map (photo in gallery) from my visit to Taronga Zoo in 2007, there's a rhino icon next to the African Savanna. There's also a photo of a Black Rhino in the gallery at Taronga Zoo in February 2006, so me seeing that species in May 2007 seems reasonable. Either way, it's a shame that Black Rhinos are not found at Taronga these days.

This thread is literally down to its final week, with just a few posts left. Sad but true! I realize that I'm packing it in while there's still a high degree of interest, but there's no way I'm going to even dream of attempting to track all the many Sulawesi Slender Root Rats or variety of fruit bats I've seen. As I said from the start, rats and bats are a step too far.

Order Pholidota, Family Manidae, must mean it's time for Pangolins! Here's a species I'd never seen before Asia, but it became one of at least 50 brand-new mammal species for me and I ended up seeing these guys in 3 different nations in a short period of time.

I've seen Sunda Pangolins at 7 zoos:

1- Lost World of Tambun (Malaysia) – Pangolin – 2024
2- Night Safari (Singapore) – Pangolin – 2024
3- Bali Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
4- Taman Safari III Bali (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
5- Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
6- Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia) - Pangolin – 2024
7- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) - Pangolin – 2024 (didn’t see)
8- Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024

I was with both @twilighter and @Toki when I saw my very first Pangolin and at the Lost World of Tambun (Malaysia) there's a setup involving three on-show exhibits. While there, we had a guided tour via some zoo staff and we were told that one of the Pangolins was pregnant although that was around 100 days ago now. Interestingly enough, the substrate in all three enclosures is a layer of sand.

Singapore Night Safari (Singapore) has a Pangolin Trail with some cool statues.

@LeMandaiEnthusiast‧

This exhibit holds Sunda Pangolin, Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel, Lesser Mousedeer and Sunda Slow Loris. A zoo nerd paradise!

@Nadchew_

I then saw two Pangolins inside a very tiny holding area at Bali Zoo (Indonesia)...

...which is connected to an outdoor area that held an Ocelot, but with signs for both Ocelots and Pangolins. A rotational day/night exhibit maybe?

The best experience of all, seeing Pangolins in Southeast Asia, was at Taman Safari III Bali (Indonesia) as a really active individual was walking around its exhibit and even taking a dip in its water. There's at least two Pangolin exhibits at this zoo, set inside a cave-like area that also has nearby viewing of Komodo Dragons.

A curled up Sunda Pangolin, with hedgehogs and Papuan Sugar Gliders, was at Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia) inside the Nocturnal House.

Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark is an off-show area at Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia) and during a guided tour I saw this highly active Sunda Pangolin. I had both a daytime tour and a nighttime tour at PCBA and it was in the evening that the Pangolin was up and about.

Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) has a Pangolin exhibit, but either the animal was off-show or the zoo no longer has the species, as I saw none in the zoo's Nocturnal House. There's a minimal barrier there, with just a small glass wall and if there had been a Pangolin then I would have been able to be extremely close to it.

The last place where I saw a Sunda Pangolin was at Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia), in the green-painted Small Mammal House where visitors are outside the entire time.

Reading this post in the pub and my fiancee looked over, saw my face, and said, 'has that guy from Zoochat made you jealous again?'...

 

[Enzo]

How is it possible I have seen a species (tree pangolin) @snowleopard hasn’t But then again, the hundreds of species I haven’t seen doesn’t compare.

Being from South America has a few advantages on that matter.

Taking into account both mine (started 2021) and his life list:

1. (Alouatta belzebul) – Red-handed howler
2. (Alouatta guariba (clamitans)) – (Southern) brown howler
3. (Ateles chamek) – Peruvian spider monkey
4. (Ateles marginatus) – White-whiskered spider monkey
5. (Aotus infulatus) – Feline night monkey
6. (Blastocerus dichomotus) – Marsh deer
7. (Brachyteles arachnoides) – Southern woolly spider monkey
8. (Callithrix aurita) – Buffy-tufted marmoset
9. (Callicebus nigrifrons) – Black-fronted titi
10. (Cerdocyon thous) – Crab-eating fox
11. (Chiropotes utahicki) – Uta Hick's bearded saki
12. (Cyclopes didactylus) – Eastern silky anteater
13. (Didelphis aurita) – Big-eared opossum
14. (Galictis cuja) - Lesser grison
15. (Leopardus braccatus) – Pantanal cat
16. (Leopardus tigrinus) – Oncilla
17. (Lycalopex vetulus) – Hoary fox
18. (Mazama bororo) – Small red brocket
19. (Pithecia irrorata) – Gray's bald-faced saki
20. (Plecturocebus vieirai) – Vieira's titi
21. (Sapajus flavius) – Blonde capuchin
22. (Sapajus nigritus) – Horned capuchin
23. (Sciurus ingrami) – Ingram's squirrel
24. (Sphiggurus villosus) - Paraguayan hairy dwarf porcupine
25. (Subulo gouazoubira) – Gray brocket deer
26. (Trichechus inunguis) – Amazonian manatee

Plus a few I have seen before:

27. (Aepyceros melampus petersi) - Black-faced impala: seen in 2018 at the Lisbon zoo.
28. (Mico melanurus) - Black-tailed marmoset: from a picture taken in 2016 by my mother at PZMQB.
29. (Mico rondoni) - Rondon's marmoset: from a picture taken in 2016 by my mother at PZMQB.

Lastly, a few I MIGHT have seen.

30. (Callicebus brunneus) - Brown titi: possibly in Rio
31. (Callicebus discolor) - White-tailed titi: possibly in Rio
32. (Cebus kaapori) - Kaapori capuchin: possibly both in Rio and in São Paulo
33. (Chiropotes albinasus) - White-nosed bearded saki: possibly in Rio
34. (Conepatus semistriatus) - Striped hog-nosed skunk: possibly in Rio
35. (Dasyprocta fuliginosa) - Black agouti: possibly in Rio
36. (Mico humeralifer) - Santarém marmoset: possibly in Rio
37. (Pithecia mittermeieri) - Mittermeier's bald-faced saki: possibly in Rio
38. (Pithecia rylandsi) - Ryland's bald-faced saki: possibly in Rio
39. (Tolypeutes tricinctus) - Brazilian three-banded armadillo: possibly in Rio

*Bold means I have seen the species both in the wild and at zoos
*Underlined means I have only seen the species in the wild.

@snowleopard have you ever seen Dasyprocta prymonolopha?

 

[Panda_Fan]

I suppose that, in my mind, I've always held onto the idea that petting Harapan the Sumatran Rhino was the pinnacle of my lifetime of seeing rarities in zoos even though that was a long time ago. However, the whole idea of seeing a rare specimen is muddled for me now, as someone messaged me this week pointing out that when I was on my big Asia trip in August I saw a whole bunch of mammal species that very few zoo nerds have come across on their travels. Cincinnati Zoo is a major facility, visited by loads of nerds, and so my Sumatran Rhino viewing there is really not as remarkable as one would initially think. There are some zoo nerds who have seen a Sumatran Rhino in Cincinnati, or White Oak, or Los Angeles, or Port Lympne, or Bronx.

In contrast, when I toured 60 zoos in Southeast Asia a few months ago, here's a list of 50 mammal species I'd previously NEVER seen before and I saw them ALL in the space of 3 weeks. It has only really sunk in now just how many new mammals I added to my lifetime list on a single trip, including 18 new primates.

Marbled Cat, Flat-headed Cat, Sunda Clouded Leopard, Sunda Leopard Cat, Smooth-coated Otter, Large Indian Civet, Small Indian Civet, Small-toothed Palm Civet, Three-striped Palm Civet, Javan Mongoose, Indonesian Mountain Weasel, Sumatran Hog Badger, Javan Ferret Badger, Greater Hog Badger, Brown Hyena, Gursky's Spectral Tarsier, Proboscis Monkey, Black-shanked Douc Langur, Laotian Langur, Indochinese Silvered Langur, Javan Surili, Mitered Surili, Natuna Island Surili, White-thighed Surili, Guianan Red Howler Monkey, Assam Macaque, Moor Macaque, Heck's Macaque, Northern Pig-tailed Macaque, Siberut Macaque, Gorontalo Macaque, Bornean White-bearded Gibbon, Kloss's Gibbon, Sunda Pangolin, Sumatran Striped Rabbit, East Javan Red Giant Flying Squirrel, Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel, Black Giant Squirrel, Indo-malayan Bamboo Rat, Malayan Porcupine, Sunda Porcupine, Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Javan Warty Pig, Bawean Warty Pig, Javan Rusa Deer, Northern Red Muntjac, Burmese Goral, Mainland Serow, West African Manatee and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin.

Perhaps some of those mammals are arguably more exciting and more difficult to see than a Sumatran Rhino! There's even an additional 3 mammal species on top of those 50 that I saw for the first time ever and eventually I'll hopefully mention at least a couple of them on my future Asian road trip thread. I'm saving those suckers and since they were in off-show areas I'm not allowed to immediately disclose that information until a significant period of time has elapsed. I sincerely hope to do so on my future Asian road trip thread as the 3 "bonus species" are as amazing and special as anything on my list above. Maybe even more so!



There was something called The Great Purge many years ago, when thousands of photos were deleted from the site. But, in a different situation, quite a few photos were deleted that were images of members here. Thus, my images of Harapan at White Oak remain, but the images of my wife and I petting the rhino and feeding him are long gone. There were also a few photos of myself inside the Cheetah exhibit at White Oak and petting one of the big cats there. I kind of miss those photos on ZooChat, as it was possible to see what other zoo nerds looked like and therefore it was kind of handy whenever I would meet up with someone. But, I think it had something to do with privacy laws on the site and that makes sense.



That's interesting information. I do notice that on the zoo's map (photo in gallery) from my visit to Taronga Zoo in 2007, there's a rhino icon next to the African Savanna. There's also a photo of a Black Rhino in the gallery at Taronga Zoo in February 2006, so me seeing that species in May 2007 seems reasonable. Either way, it's a shame that Black Rhinos are not found at Taronga these days.

This thread is literally down to its final week, with just a few posts left. Sad but true! I realize that I'm packing it in while there's still a high degree of interest, but there's no way I'm going to even dream of attempting to track all the many Sulawesi Slender Root Rats or variety of fruit bats I've seen. As I said from the start, rats and bats are a step too far.

Order Pholidota, Family Manidae, must mean it's time for Pangolins! Here's a species I'd never seen before Asia, but it became one of at least 50 brand-new mammal species for me and I ended up seeing these guys in 3 different nations in a short period of time.

I've seen Sunda Pangolins at 7 zoos:

1- Lost World of Tambun (Malaysia) – Pangolin – 2024
2- Night Safari (Singapore) – Pangolin – 2024
3- Bali Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
4- Taman Safari III Bali (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
5- Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024
6- Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia) - Pangolin – 2024
7- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) - Pangolin – 2024 (didn’t see)
8- Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia) – Pangolin – 2024

I was with both @twilighter and @Toki when I saw my very first Pangolin and at the Lost World of Tambun (Malaysia) there's a setup involving three on-show exhibits. While there, we had a guided tour via some zoo staff and we were told that one of the Pangolins was pregnant although that was around 100 days ago now. Interestingly enough, the substrate in all three enclosures is a layer of sand.

Singapore Night Safari (Singapore) has a Pangolin Trail with some cool statues.

@LeMandaiEnthusiast‧

This exhibit holds Sunda Pangolin, Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel, Lesser Mousedeer and Sunda Slow Loris. A zoo nerd paradise!

@Nadchew_

I then saw two Pangolins inside a very tiny holding area at Bali Zoo (Indonesia)...

...which is connected to an outdoor area that held an Ocelot, but with signs for both Ocelots and Pangolins. A rotational day/night exhibit maybe?

The best experience of all, seeing Pangolins in Southeast Asia, was at Taman Safari III Bali (Indonesia) as a really active individual was walking around its exhibit and even taking a dip in its water. There's at least two Pangolin exhibits at this zoo, set inside a cave-like area that also has nearby viewing of Komodo Dragons.

A curled up Sunda Pangolin, with hedgehogs and Papuan Sugar Gliders, was at Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia) inside the Nocturnal House.

Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark is an off-show area at Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia) and during a guided tour I saw this highly active Sunda Pangolin. I had both a daytime tour and a nighttime tour at PCBA and it was in the evening that the Pangolin was up and about.

Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) has a Pangolin exhibit, but either the animal was off-show or the zoo no longer has the species, as I saw none in the zoo's Nocturnal House. There's a minimal barrier there, with just a small glass wall and if there had been a Pangolin then I would have been able to be extremely close to it.

The last place where I saw a Sunda Pangolin was at Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia), in the green-painted Small Mammal House where visitors are outside the entire time.

Wow! I did expect the trip to bring a lot of new species, but 50 is a number I nerver expected. I'm quite excited to see what the other 3 secret species are, I can only imagine what rarietes they must be! Another reason to get more excited for your road trip thread, I just can wait for it, and it also helps to reduce the bad feeling that this incredible thread is going to an end. As for pangolins, I've only seen them at Brookfield zoo, and I feel very lucky to see them. I have to hope to europe to see more of this incredible animal!