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

[cornu aspersum]

Aren’t all mole rats naked though?

Most animals are.

 

[Tim May]

Aren’t all mole rats naked though?

Naked mole rats belong to the family Heterocephalidae. There are other, non-naked, mole rats belonging to the family Bathyergidae

 

[CMP]

In the Africa! section of Peoria Zoo (USA) there's a small building with several terrariums. The species list when I toured this zoo in 2014 consisted of the following: Zambian Giant Mole Rat, Black-and-Rufous Elephant Shrew, Zebra Mouse, Madagascar Tree Boa, Pancake Tortoise, Taveta Golden Weaver, Emperor Scorpion and Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.

Inside the Reptile House at Scovill Zoo (USA) in 2014 was an extremely basic Naked Mole-Rat exhibit.

It's very easy for zoos to have 3 or 4 tiny acrylic tanks for Naked Mole-Rats and the species certainly doesn't require much space. Here's another very basic exhibit that was at Henson Robinson Zoo (USA) in 2014:

Interesting to see you highlight three Central IL zoos in a row here! I'm ashamed to say I've only been to Scovill, I need to check on the Mechow's mole-rats at Peoria ASAP! (What the zoo calls 'Giant Zambian Mole Rat', with the species name Cryptomys mechowii on the website)

 

[15399]

Now that we've hit 100 pages on this thread, in a single year (!!), it's time to look at 'Mole-Rats' and porcupines, maybe a couple of others, and then probably pack it in as I don't have data on loads of other small rodents and I've seen a million Greater Capybaras and Maras and don't even want to bother with those species.

When it comes to showcasing some kind of Mole-Rat in a zoo, quite often the style of exhibit comes down to two options. The first is to have clear, see-through acrylic/glass tunnels and den areas that are completely transparent and offer up fantastic viewing for visitors, but are also quite fake looking and they remind me of what I used to construct for my pet hamsters as a kid.

The second option is to have the clear tunnels and den areas, but to incorporate some sort of mock-rock facade to make it a bit more immersive. This 'naturalistic' appearance is still fake, but offers up a sense of what the underground environment is like for the dirt-dwelling rodents.

I've seen 'Mole-Rats' at 41 zoos and 45 exhibits and 5 species (38 Naked, 4 Damaraland, 1 Ansell’s, 1 Mechow’s, 1 Zambian)

4 zoos = 2 species

1- San Diego Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2006
2- Lincoln Park Zoo - Illinois (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
3- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
4- Toronto Zoo (Canada) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
5- Bronx Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
6- Smithsonian’s National Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
7- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
8- Memphis Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat– 2008
9- Zoo Atlanta (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
10- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2008
11- Point Defiance Zoo (USA) – Damaraland Mole-Rat – 2010
12- Oregon Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2010
13- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2010
14- Louisville Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2010
15- Philadelphia Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat, Damaraland Mole-Rat – 2010
16- Riverbanks Zoo & Garden (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2010
17- Audubon Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat, Damaraland Mole-Rat – 2010
18- Houston Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat, Damaraland Mole-Rat – 2010
19- Dallas Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2010
20- ABQ BioPark Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2010
21- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2011
22- Erie Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2012
23- Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2012
24- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2012
25- Peoria Zoo (USA) – Zambian Giant Mole-Rat – 2014
26- Scovill Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2014
27- Henson Robinson Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2014
28- Lincoln Children’s Zoo - Nebraska (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2014
29- Pueblo Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2014
30- Pacific Science Center (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2014
31- Toledo Zoo (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2018
32- Pairi Daiza (Belgium) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2019
33- Wuppertal Zoo (Germany) – Ansell’s Mole-Rat – 2019
34- Aquazoo Lobbecke Museum (Germany) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2019
35- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2019
36- Osnabruck Zoo (Germany) – Naked Mole-Rat, Mechow’s Mole-Rat – 2019
37- Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen (Netherlands) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2019
38- Randers Regnskov (Denmark) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2022
39- Terrariet Reptile Zoo (Denmark) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2022
40- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2023
41- Singapore Zoo (Singapore) – Naked Mole-Rat – 2024

Ugly or cute? Hmmm...I'll go with ugly as my response.

@Dianamonkey

The first time I ever saw a pile of little Naked Mole-Rats was in the Discovery Outpost Children's Nursey at San Diego Zoo (USA). There was an original exhibit for the species, then I think the one in the photo below was a new one built later on, and of course now there's a really new Naked Mole-Rat exhibit inside the $90 million Wildlife Explorers Basecamp complex. How times have changed:

@geomorph

A mock-rock wall of Naked-Mole Rat 'burrows' at Brookfield Zoo (USA), inside the Fragile Desert building.

@geomorph

When I was at Philadelphia Zoo (USA) in 2010, within the building known as the Rare Animal Conservation Centre, there was an excellent Naked Mole-Rat exhibit. It's fun to go from tiny hole to hole in order to locate the rodents in this kind of setup.

Elsewhere at Philadelphia Zoo (USA), this time inside the Small Mammal House, was an exhibit for Damaraland Mole-Rats and Bushy-tailed Jirds.

Dallas Zoo (USA) had a wood-paneled Naked Mole-Rat exhibit in the Children's Zoo when I visited in 2010 and 2015. It had a mine shaft vibe.

Going with the clear tunnel, non-naturalistic look for Naked Mole-Rats is the exhibit at Erie Zoo (USA).

@fkalltheway

"Naked Mole-Rats...not your ordinary mammal!" is the slogan on the top of the exhibit at Rosamond Gifford Zoo (USA).

In the Africa! section of Peoria Zoo (USA) there's a small building with several terrariums. The species list when I toured this zoo in 2014 consisted of the following: Zambian Giant Mole Rat, Black-and-Rufous Elephant Shrew, Zebra Mouse, Madagascar Tree Boa, Pancake Tortoise, Taveta Golden Weaver, Emperor Scorpion and Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.

Inside the Reptile House at Scovill Zoo (USA) in 2014 was an extremely basic Naked Mole-Rat exhibit.

Singapore Zoo (Singapore) also has a huge Naked Mole-Rat statue emerging from a wall!

Rodents: 11 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

I'm surprised to see your NMR number that low. I've seen them at 11/44 zoos I've been to, so I've been of the assumption they are one of the staple species that most medium and large zoos have. Either a lot of zoos have added the species after your visits, or I've just by chance been to a disproportionate number of zoos with this species.

The biology and behavior of NMRs is truly fascinating- they have a social system including sterile castes (eusociality) that much more closely resembles bees or ants than most other mammals (the only other mammal with sterile castes is Damaraland mole rat). Physiologically, NMRs don't "age" in a typical sense, have cancer-resistant proteins, and have been recorded to live up to forty years- certainly impressive for a small rodent!

That was an interesting discussion about Prairie Dogs (116 zoos) yesterday, which makes me think that there's a small possibility that I perhaps once saw a species other than Black-tailed. But who really knows...

I will analyze TWO species today.

Lowland Pacas have been a very rare species for me, with 8 out of my 11 sightings coming between 2017 and 2019. They seem to pop up in haphazard locations, whether it's a couple of obscure American zoos, or in a brand-new exhibit in a German zoo, or even twice in Southeast Asia. There's no rhyme or reason to their appearances, the AZA in North America pretty much abandoned the species ages ago, and yet there's around 50 zoos in the world with Lowland Pacas so they aren't as rare as I would have guessed.

Almost unheard of in European collections, my Woodchuck sightings have been almost entirely on 3 road trips (2014, 2015 and 2018) when I was mostly focused on cold-weather, northern USA zoos. I saw a whopping ELEVEN zoos with Woodchucks in the space of a couple of weeks in the summer of 2018, because if you visit zoos in Michigan and Wisconsin like I did then you will see Woodchucks at least once or twice a day. People living there must see them occasionally in the wild, by the side of highways or even in a backyard. It's very much a geographical quirk though, because outside of that part of the world this species is very rare in captivity and there's only around 30 zoos with Woodchucks in the world.

I've seen Lowland Pacas at 11 zoos:

1- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Lowland Paca – 2011
2- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – Lowland Paca – 2017
3- Wildlife Learning Center (USA) – Lowland Paca – 2017
4- Toledo Zoo (USA) – Lowland Paca – 2018
5- Washington Park Zoo (USA) – Lowland Paca – 2018
6- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) – Lowland Paca – 2018
7- Zoo Neuwied (Germany) – Lowland Paca – 2019
8- Duisburg Zoo (Germany) – Lowland Paca – 2019
9- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – Lowland Paca – 2019
10- Monsters Aquarium (Thailand) – Lowland Paca – 2024
11- Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) – Lowland Paca – 2024

AND...

I've seen Woodchucks at 18 zoos:

2018 = 11 zoos

1- Toronto Zoo (Canada) – Woodchuck – 2008
2- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – Woodchuck – 2014
3- DeYoung Family Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2014
4- Clay Center Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2014
5- Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2015
6- West Coast Game Park Safari (USA) – Woodchuck – 2015
7- Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
8- GarLyn Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
9- Wilderness Trails Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
10- Howell Nature Center: Wild Wonders Wildlife Park (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
11- Willowbrook Wildlife Center (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
12- Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
13- Bear Den Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
14- Shalom Wildlife Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
15- Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
16- Special Memories Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
17- Zollman Zoo (USA) – Woodchuck – 2018
18- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – Woodchuck – 2023

San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) had Lowland Pacas at least between 2010-2012 and perhaps longer, in two different locations within the park. There was an exhibit for the species in the Condor Ridge area, as well as an exhibit next to the Wings of the World aviary near the zoo's entrance. I don't think there's been Lowland Pacas there for many years now.

@Otter Lord

Black Howler Monkey/Lowland Paca exhibit at Los Angeles Zoo (USA), in the Rainforest of the Americas zone.

@Coelacanth18

I then saw a couple of Lowland Pacas at the Wildlife Learning Center (USA) in California (my photo of the exhibit is in the gallery) and Toledo Zoo (USA) kept the species with Emperor Tamarins in the historic, 1930s-era Aviary building.

@Moebelle

Washington Park Zoo (USA) is a neat little place with a whole bunch of 1930s-era architecture and this small Indiana zoo had Lowland Pacas when I was there in 2018.

Inside the slightly industrial, yet still excellent, South America House at Neuwied Zoo (Germany) can be found a Lowland Paca/Tamandua exhibit and it was wonderful to see those species together when I toured the zoo in 2019.

The species has left Duisburg Zoo (Germany) now, but when I visited in 2019 the Rio Negros house not only had an Amazon River Dolphin but also a Lowland Paca.

@Maguari

I have a photo of a sleeping Lowland Paca at Monsters Aquarium (Thailand) in the gallery, as well as a shot of the all-indoor exhibit.

At Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand), a couple of Lowland Pacas were kept in an old-fashioned cement 'pit' with some potted plants and rocks. You can see a paca in my photo:

Rodents: 6 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos

Lowland paca is a species that really should be more common in nocturnal exhibits. I've only seen the species at Belize Zoo, which has a massive exhibit for one, and it was one of the highlights of the guided night tour (along with hand-feeding a tapir). That paca was one of the most active animals I've ever seen, which really surprised me since I was under the impression the species was a common no-show (I visited Toledo the year prior, and the paca there was a no-show on my multiple trips through the aviary). I think that if more zoos tried to display paca in nocturnal-themed exhibits, they'd have the potential to become one of the more popular small mammals in zoos.

 

[birdsandbats]

I'm surprised to see your NMR number that low. I've seen them at 11/44 zoos I've been to, so I've been of the assumption they are one of the staple species that most medium and large zoos have. Either a lot of zoos have added the species after your visits, or I've just by chance been to a disproportionate number of zoos with this species.

The biology and behavior of NMRs is truly fascinating- they have a social system including sterile castes (eusociality) that much more closely resembles bees or ants than most other mammals (the only other mammal with sterile castes is Damaraland mole rat). Physiologically, NMRs don't "age" in a typical sense, have cancer-resistant proteins, and have been recorded to live up to forty years- certainly impressive for a small rodent!

Lowland paca is a species that really should be more common in nocturnal exhibits. I've only seen the species at Belize Zoo, which has a massive exhibit for one, and it was one of the highlights of the guided night tour (along with hand-feeding a tapir). That paca was one of the most active animals I've ever seen, which really surprised me since I was under the impression the species was a common no-show (I visited Toledo the year prior, and the paca there was a no-show on my multiple trips through the aviary). I think that if more zoos tried to display paca in nocturnal-themed exhibits, they'd have the potential to become one of the more popular small mammals in zoos.

I think you've just seen Naked Mole-Rat are a proportionally high number of zoos. Until a few years ago I actually thought they were fairly rare. It's 7/68 zoos for me.

 

[15399]

I think you've just seen Naked Mole-Rat are a proportionally high number of zoos. Until a few years ago I actually thought they were fairly rare. It's 7/68 zoos for me.

Certainly possible. Interestingly, not a single zoo in New England has them, so other than when I'm at Buffalo Zoo most of my experiences seeing naked mole rats have been while traveling.

 

[snowleopard]

Time to look at TWO species today that are remarkably similar.

African Crested Porcupines are incredibly common in zoos and I've seen bucket-loads of them over the years. There's been occasions when there's been a dozen of them in a single exhibit, and this species has been prevalent in AZA zoos, roadside collections and overseas as well. I'm not sure if I've even nailed down every single zoo I've seen them at, but I gave it my best shot when compiling all this data over the last 18 months. There's also Cape Porcupines, which are almost identical and I'm not even sure how anyone can tell them apart from their slightly smaller African Crested cousins. (There's even Indian Crested Porcupines as well, which also look almost identical, but that's a post for the next day)

I know that most of the African Crested Porcupines on my list were signed as those species, but in fact there's far more Cape Porcupines than what I've provided here. A lot of the African Crested ones were in zoos with very basic signage, even in some cases at AZA collections, and so in reality my list will be a mish-mash of both African Crested and Cape and I would bet big bucks that some of the zoos have no idea which species they actually hold. Looking at Zootierliste, which of course is never totally accurate anyway, the combination of African Crested Porcupines and Cape Porcupines adds up to circa 400 zoos worldwide. Wow!

76 zoos and 2 species (74 African Crested, 3 Cape - as Zoo Negara had both species)

1- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 1996
2- Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2001
3- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
4- Denver Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
5- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
6- Memphis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
7- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
8- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
9- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
10- Zoo Miami (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
11- Oregon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
12- Maryland Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
13- Nashville Zoo at Grassmere (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
14- Dallas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
15- San Antonio Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
16- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
17- Zoo Boise (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
18- Charles Paddock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
19- Santa Ana Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
20- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
21- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
22- Sacramento Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
23- Indianapolis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
24- Potter Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
25- Adventure Aquarium (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
26- Naples Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
27- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
28- Topeka Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
29- Hemker Park & Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
30- Lake Superior Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
31- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
32- Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
33- Peoria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
34- Henson Robinson Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
35- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
36- Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
37- Riverside Discovery Center (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
38- Tiger Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
39- Amarillo Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
40- Frank Buck Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
41- Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
42- Alexandria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
43- Ellen Trout Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
44- Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
45- Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
46- Exotic Resort Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
47- Austin Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
48- Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
49- Abilene Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
50- Alameda Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
51- Out of Africa (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
52- Grand Canyon Deer Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
53- Safari West Wildlife Preserve (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2017
54- Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
55- Roscommon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
56- Wilderness Trails Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
57- Indian Creek Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
58- Creature Conservancy Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
59- Summerfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
60- Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
61- Jo-Don Farms (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
62- Bear Den Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
63- Glacier Ridge Animal Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
64- Animal Haven Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
65- Almere Jungle (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
66- Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
67- Harry Malter Familiepark (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
68- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
69- Pakawi Park (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
70- Berlin Zoo (Germany) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
71- Monterey Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2023
72- Monsters Aquarium (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
73- Safari World Bangkok (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
74- Zoo Negara (Malaysia) – African Crested Porcupine, Cape Porcupine – 2024
75- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
76- Faunaland Ancol (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024

African Crested Porcupines inhabit what was an old bear grotto at Oklahoma City Zoo (USA), which makes for an interesting repurposing of an historic exhibit.

@Coelacanth18

San Antonio Zoo (USA), a facility dug out of an old rock quarry, had an impressive back wall in the African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2010.

Here's a cool overhead view, via the Sky Ride, of the African Crested Porcupine exhibit at Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA). Notice the huge holes in the ground that lead to burrows.

@Rhino0118

Indianapolis Zoo (USA) has mixed African Crested Porcupines and Warthogs over the years.

@Grizzly Hound

When I was at Potter Park Zoo (USA) in 2012, the African Crested Porcupines were in a walled enclosure that dates from the 1920s or 1930s. Maybe it held bears at one point?

The West African River Experience at Adventure Aquarium (USA) held Common Hippos, African Crested Porcupines and a half-dozen birds when I was there in 2012. It was a remarkable exhibit back then, but keeping hippos entirely indoors 24/7 is unheard of these days.

@geomorph

Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) piled up a LOT of rocks to form two African Crested Porcupine exhibits when I was there in 2014.

Inside the Tropics Building at Peoria Zoo (USA) was an African Crested Porcupine exhibit that was entirely indoors in 2014. Windows to the Wild: African Plains was the grandiose title of this rather dull little enclosure.

Loads of roadside menageries in America, such as Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA), have maintained African Crested Porcupines for years. The enclosure in this photo for the porcupines was the one in the foreground, quite dark and with a cement floor.

Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) had a Fanaloka in a box and also this African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2015.

Another little tiny cage for African Crested Porcupines was at Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA):

It's very simple to keep African Crested Porcupines in a limited amount of space, with shoddy barriers, such as this enclosure at Indian Creek Zoo (USA). These porcupines are giving the Woodchucks a run for their money in terms of how poorly showcased they can be in many American zoos.

Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) has this exhibit for African Crested Porcupines...and chickens?

@birdsandbats

In America, no one seems to really care about the quality of a zoo animal's enclosure, as long as it meets the minimal requirements. In a part of the world that gets months of deep snow, here was the African Crested Porcupine 'exhibit' at Animal Haven Zoo (USA) in 2018.

Here was a second cage for an African Crested Porcupine at the now (thankfully!) closed Animal Haven Zoo (USA). Hideous.

I tried to find the smallest and crappiest African Crested Porcupine exhibit I've ever seen in a European zoo, and the example at Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) is still bigger and better than so many naff North American enclosures for the same species. The whole notion of 'roadside menageries' doesn't really exist in progressive, modern Western Europe.

Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) is one facility that has signage for Cape Porcupines, with some 'African' stylized thematic elements to the area.

@KevinB

Zoo Negara (Malaysia) had FIVE species of porcupines in five different exhibits when I was there in August. That's quite the collection! Here's the enclosure for African Crested Porcupines, which is unfortunately mostly cement in a large space.

And here's the Cape Porcupine exhibit:

A nice sandy substrate for Meerkats and African Crested Porcupines is found at Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia):

Rodents: 13 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
African Crested Porcupine - 74 zoos (and some of those will be Cape Porcupines)
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Cape Porcupine - 3 zoos (and likely many more that have been mislabeled in zoos)
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

 

[Enzo]

Time to look at TWO species today that are remarkably similar.

African Crested Porcupines are incredibly common in zoos and I've seen bucket-loads of them over the years. There's been occasions when there's been a dozen of them in a single exhibit, and this species has been prevalent in AZA zoos, roadside collections and overseas as well. I'm not sure if I've even nailed down every single zoo I've seen them at, but I gave it my best shot when compiling all this data over the last 18 months. There's also Cape Porcupines, which are almost identical and I'm not even sure how anyone can tell them apart from their slightly smaller African Crested cousins. (There's even Indian Crested Porcupines as well, which also look almost identical, but that's a post for the next day)

I know that most of the African Crested Porcupines on my list were signed as those species, but in fact there's far more Cape Porcupines than what I've provided here. A lot of the African Crested ones were in zoos with very basic signage, even in some cases at AZA collections, and so in reality my list will be a mish-mash of both African Crested and Cape and I would bet big bucks that some of the zoos have no idea which species they actually hold. Looking at Zootierliste, which of course is never totally accurate anyway, the combination of African Crested Porcupines and Cape Porcupines adds up to circa 400 zoos worldwide. Wow!

76 zoos and 2 species (74 African Crested, 3 Cape - as Zoo Negara had both species)

1- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 1996
2- Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2001
3- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
4- Denver Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
5- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
6- Memphis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
7- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
8- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
9- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
10- Zoo Miami (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
11- Oregon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
12- Maryland Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
13- Nashville Zoo at Grassmere (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
14- Dallas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
15- San Antonio Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
16- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
17- Zoo Boise (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
18- Charles Paddock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
19- Santa Ana Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
20- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
21- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
22- Sacramento Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
23- Indianapolis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
24- Potter Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
25- Adventure Aquarium (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
26- Naples Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
27- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
28- Topeka Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
29- Hemker Park & Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
30- Lake Superior Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
31- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
32- Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
33- Peoria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
34- Henson Robinson Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
35- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
36- Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
37- Riverside Discovery Center (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
38- Tiger Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
39- Amarillo Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
40- Frank Buck Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
41- Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
42- Alexandria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
43- Ellen Trout Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
44- Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
45- Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
46- Exotic Resort Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
47- Austin Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
48- Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
49- Abilene Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
50- Alameda Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
51- Out of Africa (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
52- Grand Canyon Deer Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
53- Safari West Wildlife Preserve (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2017
54- Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
55- Roscommon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
56- Wilderness Trails Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
57- Indian Creek Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
58- Creature Conservancy Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
59- Summerfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
60- Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
61- Jo-Don Farms (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
62- Bear Den Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
63- Glacier Ridge Animal Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
64- Animal Haven Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
65- Almere Jungle (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
66- Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
67- Harry Malter Familiepark (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
68- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
69- Pakawi Park (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
70- Berlin Zoo (Germany) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
71- Monterey Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2023
72- Monsters Aquarium (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
73- Safari World Bangkok (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
74- Zoo Negara (Malaysia) – African Crested Porcupine, Cape Porcupine – 2024
75- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
76- Faunaland Ancol (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024

African Crested Porcupines inhabit what was an old bear grotto at Oklahoma City Zoo (USA), which makes for an interesting repurposing of an historic exhibit.

@Coelacanth18

San Antonio Zoo (USA), a facility dug out of an old rock quarry, had an impressive back wall in the African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2010.

Here's a cool overhead view, via the Sky Ride, of the African Crested Porcupine exhibit at Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA). Notice the huge holes in the ground that lead to burrows.

@Rhino0118

Indianapolis Zoo (USA) has mixed African Crested Porcupines and Warthogs over the years.

@Grizzly Hound

When I was at Potter Park Zoo (USA) in 2012, the African Crested Porcupines were in a walled enclosure that dates from the 1920s or 1930s. Maybe it held bears at one point?

The West African River Experience at Adventure Aquarium (USA) held Common Hippos, African Crested Porcupines and a half-dozen birds when I was there in 2012. It was a remarkable exhibit back then, but keeping hippos entirely indoors 24/7 is unheard of these days.

@geomorph

Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) piled up a LOT of rocks to form two African Crested Porcupine exhibits when I was there in 2014.

Inside the Tropics Building at Peoria Zoo (USA) was an African Crested Porcupine exhibit that was entirely indoors in 2014. Windows to the Wild: African Plains was the grandiose title of this rather dull little enclosure.

Loads of roadside menageries in America, such as Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA), have maintained African Crested Porcupines for years. The enclosure in this photo for the porcupines was the one in the foreground, quite dark and with a cement floor.

Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) had a Fanaloka in a box and also this African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2015.

Another little tiny cage for African Crested Porcupines was at Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA):

It's very simple to keep African Crested Porcupines in a limited amount of space, with shoddy barriers, such as this enclosure at Indian Creek Zoo (USA). These porcupines are giving the Woodchucks a run for their money in terms of how poorly showcased they can be in many American zoos.

Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) has this exhibit for African Crested Porcupines...and chickens?

@birdsandbats

In America, no one seems to really care about the quality of a zoo animal's enclosure, as long as it meets the minimal requirements. In a part of the world that gets months of deep snow, here was the African Crested Porcupine 'exhibit' at Animal Haven Zoo (USA) in 2018.

Here was a second cage for an African Crested Porcupine at the now (thankfully!) closed Animal Haven Zoo (USA). Hideous.

I tried to find the smallest and crappiest African Crested Porcupine exhibit I've ever seen in a European zoo, and the example at Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) is still bigger and better than so many naff North American enclosures for the same species. The whole notion of 'roadside menageries' doesn't really exist in progressive, modern Western Europe.

Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) is one facility that has signage for Cape Porcupines, with some 'African' stylized thematic elements to the area.

@KevinB

Zoo Negara (Malaysia) had FOUR species of porcupines in four different exhibits when I was there in August. That's quite the collection! Here's the enclosure for African Crested Porcupines, which is unfortunately mostly cement in a large space.

And here's the Cape Porcupine exhibit:

A nice sandy substrate for Meerkats and African Crested Porcupines is found at Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia):

Rodents: 13 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
African Crested Porcupine - 74 zoos (and some of those will be Cape Porcupines)
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Cape Porcupine - 3 zoos (and likely many more that have been mislabeled in zoos)
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

I have only seen porcupines once. No, I did not see them either in São Paulo or Lisbon, but at Beto Carrero World's now closed Mundo Animal.

Right when we (my parents and I) entered the park, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world, we headed straight to the zoo. Sadly, I did not know about how little conservation value white lions actually have, so seeing their small pride (three at the time) was my main goal at the time.

Finishing off the zoo, I saw two (now likely deceased) porcupines (no clue of their species) plus my first meerkats in two adjacent exhibits.

I might have seen porcupines before, in Rio back in the late 2000s, although I am not sure. Other past holders in Brazil include São Paulo (lost all of their 40+ porcupines in the 2004 poisoning incident), Sapucaia do Sul and Goiânia.

 

[Smaggledagle]

Time to look at TWO species today that are remarkably similar.

African Crested Porcupines are incredibly common in zoos and I've seen bucket-loads of them over the years. There's been occasions when there's been a dozen of them in a single exhibit, and this species has been prevalent in AZA zoos, roadside collections and overseas as well. I'm not sure if I've even nailed down every single zoo I've seen them at, but I gave it my best shot when compiling all this data over the last 18 months. There's also Cape Porcupines, which are almost identical and I'm not even sure how anyone can tell them apart from their slightly smaller African Crested cousins. (There's even Indian Crested Porcupines as well, which also look almost identical, but that's a post for the next day)

I know that most of the African Crested Porcupines on my list were signed as those species, but in fact there's far more Cape Porcupines than what I've provided here. A lot of the African Crested ones were in zoos with very basic signage, even in some cases at AZA collections, and so in reality my list will be a mish-mash of both African Crested and Cape and I would bet big bucks that some of the zoos have no idea which species they actually hold. Looking at Zootierliste, which of course is never totally accurate anyway, the combination of African Crested Porcupines and Cape Porcupines adds up to circa 400 zoos worldwide. Wow!

When making the rodents list, I usually relied on what the zoo calls it as well as any supplementary material (USDA, Zootierliste Visits, etc). I cannot tell you what the difference between Cape and African Crested is, even reading this thread here still doesn't give me any sense of it.

 

[MOG2012]

The only mole rats I’ve seen in my life are damaraland mole rat and naked mole rats. For Hystricidae, I’ve seen cape, crested, Philippine, and Indian (Capron )

 

[NNM.]

Funnily enough, Franklin Park claimed to have African crested porcupines, but at some point realized they were actually Cape porcupines. This is not a joke, this actually happened.

 

[MOG2012]

Funnily enough, Franklin Park claimed to have African crested porcupines, but at some point realized they were actually Cape porcupines. This is not a joke, this actually happened.

Didn't they change the signage recently because there was signage for cape porcupine in my visit in October but my visit a couple years ago, there was created porcupine signage

 

[carlos55]

African crested porcupine are also common in Mexican zoos. Mostly in adequate enclosures since they adapt well to the climate here.

 

[komodoskar]

Time to look at TWO species today that are remarkably similar.

African Crested Porcupines are incredibly common in zoos and I've seen bucket-loads of them over the years. There's been occasions when there's been a dozen of them in a single exhibit, and this species has been prevalent in AZA zoos, roadside collections and overseas as well. I'm not sure if I've even nailed down every single zoo I've seen them at, but I gave it my best shot when compiling all this data over the last 18 months. There's also Cape Porcupines, which are almost identical and I'm not even sure how anyone can tell them apart from their slightly smaller African Crested cousins. (There's even Indian Crested Porcupines as well, which also look almost identical, but that's a post for the next day)

I know that most of the African Crested Porcupines on my list were signed as those species, but in fact there's far more Cape Porcupines than what I've provided here. A lot of the African Crested ones were in zoos with very basic signage, even in some cases at AZA collections, and so in reality my list will be a mish-mash of both African Crested and Cape and I would bet big bucks that some of the zoos have no idea which species they actually hold. Looking at Zootierliste, which of course is never totally accurate anyway, the combination of African Crested Porcupines and Cape Porcupines adds up to circa 400 zoos worldwide. Wow!

76 zoos and 2 species (74 African Crested, 3 Cape - as Zoo Negara had both species)

1- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 1996
2- Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2001
3- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
4- Denver Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
5- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
6- Memphis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
7- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
8- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
9- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
10- Zoo Miami (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
11- Oregon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
12- Maryland Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
13- Nashville Zoo at Grassmere (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
14- Dallas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
15- San Antonio Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
16- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
17- Zoo Boise (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
18- Charles Paddock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
19- Santa Ana Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
20- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
21- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
22- Sacramento Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
23- Indianapolis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
24- Potter Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
25- Adventure Aquarium (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
26- Naples Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
27- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
28- Topeka Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
29- Hemker Park & Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
30- Lake Superior Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
31- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
32- Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
33- Peoria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
34- Henson Robinson Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
35- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
36- Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
37- Riverside Discovery Center (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
38- Tiger Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
39- Amarillo Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
40- Frank Buck Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
41- Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
42- Alexandria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
43- Ellen Trout Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
44- Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
45- Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
46- Exotic Resort Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
47- Austin Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
48- Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
49- Abilene Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
50- Alameda Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
51- Out of Africa (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
52- Grand Canyon Deer Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
53- Safari West Wildlife Preserve (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2017
54- Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
55- Roscommon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
56- Wilderness Trails Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
57- Indian Creek Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
58- Creature Conservancy Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
59- Summerfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
60- Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
61- Jo-Don Farms (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
62- Bear Den Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
63- Glacier Ridge Animal Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
64- Animal Haven Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
65- Almere Jungle (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
66- Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
67- Harry Malter Familiepark (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
68- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
69- Pakawi Park (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
70- Berlin Zoo (Germany) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
71- Monterey Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2023
72- Monsters Aquarium (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
73- Safari World Bangkok (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
74- Zoo Negara (Malaysia) – African Crested Porcupine, Cape Porcupine – 2024
75- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
76- Faunaland Ancol (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024

African Crested Porcupines inhabit what was an old bear grotto at Oklahoma City Zoo (USA), which makes for an interesting repurposing of an historic exhibit.

@Coelacanth18

San Antonio Zoo (USA), a facility dug out of an old rock quarry, had an impressive back wall in the African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2010.

Here's a cool overhead view, via the Sky Ride, of the African Crested Porcupine exhibit at Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA). Notice the huge holes in the ground that lead to burrows.

@Rhino0118

Indianapolis Zoo (USA) has mixed African Crested Porcupines and Warthogs over the years.

@Grizzly Hound

When I was at Potter Park Zoo (USA) in 2012, the African Crested Porcupines were in a walled enclosure that dates from the 1920s or 1930s. Maybe it held bears at one point?

The West African River Experience at Adventure Aquarium (USA) held Common Hippos, African Crested Porcupines and a half-dozen birds when I was there in 2012. It was a remarkable exhibit back then, but keeping hippos entirely indoors 24/7 is unheard of these days.

@geomorph

Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) piled up a LOT of rocks to form two African Crested Porcupine exhibits when I was there in 2014.

Inside the Tropics Building at Peoria Zoo (USA) was an African Crested Porcupine exhibit that was entirely indoors in 2014. Windows to the Wild: African Plains was the grandiose title of this rather dull little enclosure.

Loads of roadside menageries in America, such as Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA), have maintained African Crested Porcupines for years. The enclosure in this photo for the porcupines was the one in the foreground, quite dark and with a cement floor.

Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) had a Fanaloka in a box and also this African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2015.

Another little tiny cage for African Crested Porcupines was at Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA):

It's very simple to keep African Crested Porcupines in a limited amount of space, with shoddy barriers, such as this enclosure at Indian Creek Zoo (USA). These porcupines are giving the Woodchucks a run for their money in terms of how poorly showcased they can be in many American zoos.

Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) has this exhibit for African Crested Porcupines...and chickens?

@birdsandbats

In America, no one seems to really care about the quality of a zoo animal's enclosure, as long as it meets the minimal requirements. In a part of the world that gets months of deep snow, here was the African Crested Porcupine 'exhibit' at Animal Haven Zoo (USA) in 2018.

Here was a second cage for an African Crested Porcupine at the now (thankfully!) closed Animal Haven Zoo (USA). Hideous.

I tried to find the smallest and crappiest African Crested Porcupine exhibit I've ever seen in a European zoo, and the example at Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) is still bigger and better than so many naff North American enclosures for the same species. The whole notion of 'roadside menageries' doesn't really exist in progressive, modern Western Europe.

Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) is one facility that has signage for Cape Porcupines, with some 'African' stylized thematic elements to the area.

@KevinB

Zoo Negara (Malaysia) had FOUR species of porcupines in four different exhibits when I was there in August. That's quite the collection! Here's the enclosure for African Crested Porcupines, which is unfortunately mostly cement in a large space.

And here's the Cape Porcupine exhibit:

A nice sandy substrate for Meerkats and African Crested Porcupines is found at Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia):

Rodents: 13 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
African Crested Porcupine - 74 zoos (and some of those will be Cape Porcupines)
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Cape Porcupine - 3 zoos (and likely many more that have been mislabeled in zoos)
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

In Europe it seems that more "prestigious" zoos hold Cape porcupines, whilst less notable collections hold African Crested Porcupines. This certainly holds true for the UK where the numbers of holders are very even between the 2 species (according to ZTL), with 32 holders of Cape Porcupines including London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Chester and the Cotswold Wildlife Park, whereas amongst the 31 holders of the African crested porcupine the most notable collections are probably Woburn and Paignton (which also holds the Cape Porcupine). Just look at which of the two species is held by Berlin, Prague, Antwerp, Valencia and Doue la Fontain and many of the other top zoos for each country.

 

[Toki]

Time to look at TWO species today that are remarkably similar.

African Crested Porcupines are incredibly common in zoos and I've seen bucket-loads of them over the years. There's been occasions when there's been a dozen of them in a single exhibit, and this species has been prevalent in AZA zoos, roadside collections and overseas as well. I'm not sure if I've even nailed down every single zoo I've seen them at, but I gave it my best shot when compiling all this data over the last 18 months. There's also Cape Porcupines, which are almost identical and I'm not even sure how anyone can tell them apart from their slightly smaller African Crested cousins. (There's even Indian Crested Porcupines as well, which also look almost identical, but that's a post for the next day)

I know that most of the African Crested Porcupines on my list were signed as those species, but in fact there's far more Cape Porcupines than what I've provided here. A lot of the African Crested ones were in zoos with very basic signage, even in some cases at AZA collections, and so in reality my list will be a mish-mash of both African Crested and Cape and I would bet big bucks that some of the zoos have no idea which species they actually hold. Looking at Zootierliste, which of course is never totally accurate anyway, the combination of African Crested Porcupines and Cape Porcupines adds up to circa 400 zoos worldwide. Wow!

76 zoos and 2 species (74 African Crested, 3 Cape - as Zoo Negara had both species)

1- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 1996
2- Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2001
3- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
4- Denver Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2006
5- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
6- Memphis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
7- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
8- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
9- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
10- Zoo Miami (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2008
11- Oregon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
12- Maryland Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
13- Nashville Zoo at Grassmere (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
14- Dallas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
15- San Antonio Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
16- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
17- Zoo Boise (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2010
18- Charles Paddock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
19- Santa Ana Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
20- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
21- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
22- Sacramento Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2011
23- Indianapolis Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
24- Potter Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
25- Adventure Aquarium (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
26- Naples Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
27- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
28- Topeka Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2012
29- Hemker Park & Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
30- Lake Superior Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
31- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
32- Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
33- Peoria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
34- Henson Robinson Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
35- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
36- Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2014
37- Riverside Discovery Center (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
38- Tiger Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
39- Amarillo Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
40- Frank Buck Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
41- Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
42- Alexandria Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
43- Ellen Trout Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
44- Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
45- Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
46- Exotic Resort Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
47- Austin Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
48- Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
49- Abilene Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
50- Alameda Park Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
51- Out of Africa (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
52- Grand Canyon Deer Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2015
53- Safari West Wildlife Preserve (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2017
54- Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
55- Roscommon Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
56- Wilderness Trails Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
57- Indian Creek Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
58- Creature Conservancy Wildlife Park (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
59- Summerfield Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
60- Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
61- Jo-Don Farms (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
62- Bear Den Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
63- Glacier Ridge Animal Farm (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
64- Animal Haven Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2018
65- Almere Jungle (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
66- Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
67- Harry Malter Familiepark (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
68- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
69- Pakawi Park (Belgium) – African Crested Porcupine – 2019
70- Berlin Zoo (Germany) – Cape Porcupine – 2019
71- Monterey Zoo (USA) – African Crested Porcupine – 2023
72- Monsters Aquarium (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
73- Safari World Bangkok (Thailand) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
74- Zoo Negara (Malaysia) – African Crested Porcupine, Cape Porcupine – 2024
75- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024
76- Faunaland Ancol (Indonesia) – African Crested Porcupine – 2024

African Crested Porcupines inhabit what was an old bear grotto at Oklahoma City Zoo (USA), which makes for an interesting repurposing of an historic exhibit.

@Coelacanth18

San Antonio Zoo (USA), a facility dug out of an old rock quarry, had an impressive back wall in the African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2010.

Here's a cool overhead view, via the Sky Ride, of the African Crested Porcupine exhibit at Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA). Notice the huge holes in the ground that lead to burrows.

@Rhino0118

Indianapolis Zoo (USA) has mixed African Crested Porcupines and Warthogs over the years.

@Grizzly Hound

When I was at Potter Park Zoo (USA) in 2012, the African Crested Porcupines were in a walled enclosure that dates from the 1920s or 1930s. Maybe it held bears at one point?

The West African River Experience at Adventure Aquarium (USA) held Common Hippos, African Crested Porcupines and a half-dozen birds when I was there in 2012. It was a remarkable exhibit back then, but keeping hippos entirely indoors 24/7 is unheard of these days.

@geomorph

Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) piled up a LOT of rocks to form two African Crested Porcupine exhibits when I was there in 2014.

Inside the Tropics Building at Peoria Zoo (USA) was an African Crested Porcupine exhibit that was entirely indoors in 2014. Windows to the Wild: African Plains was the grandiose title of this rather dull little enclosure.

Loads of roadside menageries in America, such as Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA), have maintained African Crested Porcupines for years. The enclosure in this photo for the porcupines was the one in the foreground, quite dark and with a cement floor.

Capital of Texas Zoo (USA) had a Fanaloka in a box and also this African Crested Porcupine exhibit when I was there in 2015.

Another little tiny cage for African Crested Porcupines was at Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA):

It's very simple to keep African Crested Porcupines in a limited amount of space, with shoddy barriers, such as this enclosure at Indian Creek Zoo (USA). These porcupines are giving the Woodchucks a run for their money in terms of how poorly showcased they can be in many American zoos.

Animal Gardens Petting Zoo (USA) has this exhibit for African Crested Porcupines...and chickens?

@birdsandbats

In America, no one seems to really care about the quality of a zoo animal's enclosure, as long as it meets the minimal requirements. In a part of the world that gets months of deep snow, here was the African Crested Porcupine 'exhibit' at Animal Haven Zoo (USA) in 2018.

Here was a second cage for an African Crested Porcupine at the now (thankfully!) closed Animal Haven Zoo (USA). Hideous.

I tried to find the smallest and crappiest African Crested Porcupine exhibit I've ever seen in a European zoo, and the example at Dierentuin Animal Farm (Netherlands) is still bigger and better than so many naff North American enclosures for the same species. The whole notion of 'roadside menageries' doesn't really exist in progressive, modern Western Europe.

Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) is one facility that has signage for Cape Porcupines, with some 'African' stylized thematic elements to the area.

@KevinB

Zoo Negara (Malaysia) had FOUR species of porcupines in four different exhibits when I was there in August. That's quite the collection! Here's the enclosure for African Crested Porcupines, which is unfortunately mostly cement in a large space.

And here's the Cape Porcupine exhibit:

A nice sandy substrate for Meerkats and African Crested Porcupines is found at Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia):

Rodents: 13 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
African Crested Porcupine - 74 zoos (and some of those will be Cape Porcupines)
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Cape Porcupine - 3 zoos (and likely many more that have been mislabeled in zoos)
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

Oh wow, I went to Zoo Negara 4 times this year, and didn't notice they had Cape Porcupine!
I know they have 4 species (African Crested, Indian Crested, Malay and Asian Brush Tailed) but I must have missed the Cape.

 

[Osedax]

South African Crested / Cape Porcupines are a recent addition to Australasian zoos, and are becoming relatively common, with 7 Australian holders currently (Perth Zoo, Adelaide Zoo, ZooDoo Zoo, Darling Downs Zoo, Monarto Safari Park, Sydney Zoo and Wildlife HQ Zoo) and 5 NZ (Orana Wildlife Park, Auckland Zoo, Wellington Zoo, Butterfly Creek and Natureland Wildlife Trust). All the Australian ones originate from a pair imported by Monarto from Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) in 2017, whereas the NZ ones come from semi-regular imports since 2006. They are commonly mixed with Meerkats.

The only North African Crested Porcupines in Australasia are two females at Orana Wildlife Park in NZ, imported from Basel Zoo (Switzerland) in 2013. I believe they were imported as South African Cresteds, and only once they arrived was the mistake realised.

Previously, Indian Crested Porcupines were held at the 4 major Australian city zoos - Taronga, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. These had all died out by 2009.

 

[NNM.]

Didn't they change the signage recently because there was signage for cape porcupine in my visit in October but my visit a couple years ago, there was created porcupine signage

Yes.

 

[snowleopard]

Indian Crested Porcupines have not been even half as common as the African/Cape combination, with more than 50% of my sightings literally in a single month in Western Europe in 2019. While American zoos have focused on African Crested Porcupines and Cape Porcupines, I saw a TON of Indian Crested in Europe. They all look alike to me anyway!

I've seen Indian Crested Porcupines at 34 zoos:

2019 = 20 zoos!!

1- Point Defiance Zoo (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2005
2- San Diego Zoo (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2006
3- Wildlife Safari (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2010
4- Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2010
5- Audubon Zoo (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2010
6- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2012
7- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2012
8- Henry Vilas Zoo (USA) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2014
9- Lille Zoo (France) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
10- Maubeuge Zoo (France) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
11- Pairi Daiza (Belgium) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
12- GaiaZOO (Netherlands) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
13- Aachener Zoo (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
14- Opel Zoo (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
15- Zoo Neuwied (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
16- Tierpark Fauna (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
17- Dortmund Zoo (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
18- ZOOM Erlebniswelt (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
19- Duisburg Zoo (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
20- Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
21- Dierenpark de Oliemeulen (Netherlands) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
22- Tierpark Hagenbeck (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
23- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
24- Erlebnis Zoo Hannover (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
25- Allwetterzoo Munster (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
26- Gronau Zoo (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
27- Nordhorn Zoo (Germany) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
28- Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2019
29- Munkholm Zoo (Denmark) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2022
30- Randers Regnskov (Denmark) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2022
31- Lanna Mini Zoo (Thailand) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2024
32- Chiang Mai Night Safari (Thailand) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2024
33- Zoo Negara (Malaysia) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2024
34- Night Safari (Singapore) – Indian Crested Porcupine – 2024

Here's what the Indian Crested Porcupine exhibit at San Diego Zoo (USA) looked like back in the day. My photo is from 2011:

Wildlife Safari (USA) had Indian Crested Porcupines with Red-billed Hornbills in a relatively small cage in 2010.

My slightly blurry photo of the Indian Crested Porcupine exhibit at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (USA) shows a cool exhibit that used to also house Mouse-deer and a thunderstorm!

The Indian Crested Porcupine exhibit at Little Rock Zoo (USA) had a target mounted on the wall. Perhaps a silly joke about how a porcupine shoots its quills???

Here's the small, grassy outdoor yard for Indian Crested Porcupines at Henry Vilas Zoo (USA) in 2014:

A large, sandy Indian Crested Porcupine exhibit at Lille Zoo (France):

This one is interesting as the rock wall is quite small and the barrier is thus rather minimal. I took this photo at Maubeuge Zoo (France). I could have stepped right into the enclosure!

Here is a more substantial barrier for Indian Crested Porcupines, this time at Pairi Daiza (Belgium).

@KevinB

And some really impressive looking brickwork at Aachener Zoo (Germany), a typically neat and tidy, top-notch German zoo. The Indian Crested Porcupines have quite a bit of space here to roam.

There are two substantial exhibits, for Meerkats and Indian Crested Porcupines, at Zoo Neuwied (Germany).

Indian Crested Porcupines and Meerkats, again separately, but they share a bright red house at Tierpark Fauna (Germany).

Indian Crested Porcupines and Yellow Mongooses are together at Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands).

@Moorhunhe

Berlin Tierpark (Germany) has Indian Crested Porcupines and looking at this specimen here, it could be an Indian, African or a Cape as far as my knowledge goes.

@SivatheriumGuy

In an eerie replica of Zoo Neuwied's (Germany) setup, the Meerkat and Indian Crested Porcupine exhibits at Allwetterzoo Munster (Germany) look the same except for the brilliant use of glass barriers. Can you imagine being the keeper assigned to washing all that glass?

Wanna stick your finger in an exhibit, bruh? Here's some Indian Crested Porcupines at Gronau Zoo (Germany) who would like to nibble some hands.

There's a ruined temple vibe to the Indian Crested Porcupine exhibit at Randers Regnskov (Denmark) inside one of that zoo's huge domes.

@Sipmark

My photo from Chiang Mai Night Safari (Thailand) shows an albino Indian Crested Porcupine moving speedily on the right.

Rodents: 14 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
African Crested Porcupine - 74 zoos (and some of those will be Cape Porcupines)
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Indian Crested Porcupine - 34 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Cape Porcupine - 3 zoos (and likely many more that have been mislabeled in zoos)
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

 

[snowleopard]

My house's backyard borders a forest and about twice a year an American Black Bear wanders through the area. Of course, bears are highly active in my community in southern British Columbia, Canada, with signs of them everywhere, but actually seeing a bear is twice a year. We also get Coyotes quite frequently, a once a year glance at an Opossum, loads of Raccoons and White-tailed Deer and even a Bobcat every year or two. But in all my lifetime of viewing animals in the Canadian wild, including going hiking a lot in my youth, I've never once seen a North American Porcupine outside of a zoo other than some dead ones on the side of the highway.

This species rests in trees and is partly arboreal, thus I always feel that so many zoo exhibits for North American Porcupines are terrible as there's very little climbing opportunities and a limited amount of space. Most porcupines are rescue animals, so it's great that zoos provide a space for them, but finding a truly great exhibit for the species is a lost cause. Zoos in North America seem to have no minimal requirements other than keeping an animal alive with food and water, so this post today will showcase some dreadful accommodation. I had to fly to Europe (!!) to see some excellent exhibits for this species because the zoos over there are generally of a higher quality.

I've seen North American Porcupines at 76 zoos (6 of the zoos are outside North America):

2014 = 12 zoos
2015 = 14 zoos
2018 = 12 zoos

1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 1975
2- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 1996
3- Greater Vancouver Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 1998
4- Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2001
5- Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2005
6- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2006
7- B.C. Wildlife Park (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2006
8- Minnesota Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2008
9- Montreal Biodome (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2008
10- Fort Worth Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2008
11- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2008
12- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
13- Sedgwick County Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
14- Houston Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
15- Zoo Boise (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
16- CuriOdyssey (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
17- San Diego Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
18- Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
19- CALM (California Living Museum) (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
20- Great Plains Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
21- John Ball Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
22- Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
23- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
24- Pocatello Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
25- Dakota Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
26- Red River Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
27- Lake Superior Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
28- Irvine Park & Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
29- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
30- DeYoung Family Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
31- Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
32- Niabi Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
33- Miller Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
34- Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
35- Hutchinson Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
36- Willow Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
37- Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
38- G W Exotic Animal Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
39- San Angelo Nature Center (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
40- Austin Nature & Science Center (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
41- Abilene Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
42- Hillcrest Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
43- Spring River Park & Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
44- Living Desert Zoo – New Mexico (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
45- Wildlife West Nature Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
46- Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
47- Bearizona (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
48- Turtle Bay Exploration Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
49- Sequoia Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
50- High Desert Museum (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
51- Discovery Wildlife Park (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2016
52- Lindsay Wildlife Experience (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
53- Orange County Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
54- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
55- Wildlife Learning Center (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
56- America’s Teaching Zoo: Moorpark College (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
57- Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2018
58- Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
59- GarLyn Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
60- Howell Nature Center: Wild Wonders Wildlife Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
61- Washington Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
62- Columbian Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
63- Summerfield Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
64- Jo-Don Farms (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
65- Bear Den Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
66- Animal Haven Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
67- Special Memories Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
68- Zollman Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
69- Artis Royal Zoo (Netherlands) – North American Porcupine – 2019
70- ZOOM Erlebniswelt (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
71- Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) – North American Porcupine – 2019
72- Tierpark Hagenbeck (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
73- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
74- Osnabruck Zoo (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
75- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2022
76- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2023

Even Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (USA), an otherwise fantastic facility and very much like the 150+ German 'wildparks' that can be found in Europe, cannot come up with a half-decent North American Porcupine exhibit. It's just a concrete bowl with a few branches and logs.

The North American Porcupine exhibit at Minnesota Zoo (USA), with the species combined with Great Horned Owls in the past, is just okay.

When I was at California Living Museum (USA) in 2011, the North American Porcupine exhibit was just a small pit-like enclosure. Since then the species has also been kept in a traditional cage setting. Vertically speaking, this is a disaster and would be more suited to some Chuckwallas!

At John Ball Zoo (USA), which is an AZA-accredited establishment, the North American Porcupine exhibit in 2012 had a total height of maybe two feet for the animals. The rest was wasted space that was probably an old aviary.

Another AZA-accredited facility, Dakota Zoo (USA), has kept North American Porcupines in a small cement bowl with a single, crappy little branch in the middle. It would be more appropriate for African Crested Porcupines.

A small metal cage with some woodchips and a few old branches, is the home to a North American Porcupine at Irvine Park & Zoo (USA).

This very tiny cage has a single log in it at DeYoung Family Zoo (USA) and is totally useless for its North American Porcupine occupant.

Willow Park Zoo (USA), now known as Zootah at Willow Park, went with the corn-crib cage look when I was there in 2014. Several zoos on my list have kept North American Porcupines in these old cages, so when it rains the animals go deaf.

Another tiny cage with literally zero climbing branches, unless the North American Porcupine squeezed into here can scale the metal on the sides, at Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary (USA). A 'sanctuary' from what???

A small metal cage with a cement floor for a North American Porcupine at San Angelo Nature Center (USA).

This combination of mock-rock, metal and a cement floor at least has the opportunity for the North American Porcupine living in this hellhole to get some height. I took this photo at Spring River Park & Zoo (USA) in New Mexico.

At first glance, the North American Porcupine exhibit at Bearizona (USA) in northern Arizona looks to be a good one. But, peer closer and you can see that there's a row of hotwire along the front of the exhibit (on the mock-rock), there's a fence of electrified wire at the back, none of the trees are climbable because of metal shields wrapped around them, and so it's actually a very poor exhibit overall.

At Lindsay Wildlife Experience (USA), the North American Porcupines are brought out and shown to the public on a regular basis. However, this enclosure is essentially a glass tank and there's no outdoor access for the animals. This is their life and there's more space for the SIGNS than the actual living quarters for the critters.

When I visited America's Teaching Zoo (USA) in 2017, I saw some appalling cages with big carnivores on slabs of cement in a facility that trains young zookeepers. The North American Porcupine exhibit there was a typically nasty corn-crib cage, but at least it had what appeared to be a new wooden climbing platform inside. Still not great though.

Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) had an African Crested Porcupine in essentially what was a tiny box, and the North American Porcupine exhibit does offer up a bit of height but the animal probably just sits there most of its life doing absolutely nothing. Why not build a whole series of connected platforms?

An awful enclosure for North American Porcupines at the now closed Jo-Don Farms (USA), a naff little zoo in Wisconsin.

Ahhh, Animal Haven Zoo (USA), another crap Wisconsin hellhole. Now closed, ya gotta love the signage at this place. The arrows point right to the animal!

Another naff little corn-crib cage, this time at Special Memories Zoo (USA), and in the gallery there's a couple more of my photos that show a keeper with a microphone handling a North American Porcupine. When I was at this zoo, I took a train ride and the train stops at various enclosures while the keeper goes into a cage and hauls an animal out by its tail before giving a talk while holding the creature. Very odd!

I could go on all day with the travesties that are the porcupine exhibits in American zoos, but for my last two photos I will jet off to Western Europe. Earlier, I mentioned ZOOM Erlebniswelt (Germany) with its North American Beaver/North American Porcupine exhibit that is better than 90% of the enclosures for porcupines in U.S. zoos. There's also Artis Royal Zoo (Netherlands) with its tall, shaded, North American Porcupine exhibit with actual live trees:

@vogelcommando

The North American Porcupine/Beaver exhibit at Osnabruck Zoo (USA) is fantastic, with a beautiful stream, nice rockwork and lots of climbing opportunities. If you want to see wonderful exhibits for this North American species, then head to Europe! Isn't that so crazy?

Rodents: 15 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
North American Porcupine - 76 zoos
African Crested Porcupine - 74 zoos (and some of those will be Cape Porcupines)
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Indian Crested Porcupine - 34 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Cape Porcupine - 3 zoos (and likely many more that have been mislabeled in zoos)
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

 

[birdsandbats]

My house's backyard borders a forest and about twice a year an American Black Bear wanders through the area. Of course, bears are highly active in my community in southern British Columbia, Canada, with signs of them everywhere, but actually seeing a bear is twice a year. We also get Coyotes quite frequently, a once a year glance at an Opossum, loads of Raccoons and White-tailed Deer and even a Bobcat every year or two. But in all my lifetime of viewing animals in the Canadian wild, including going hiking a lot in my youth, I've never once seen a North American Porcupine outside of a zoo other than some dead ones on the side of the highway.

This species rests in trees and is partly arboreal, thus I always feel that so many zoo exhibits for North American Porcupines are terrible as there's very little climbing opportunities and a limited amount of space. Most porcupines are rescue animals, so it's great that zoos provide a space for them, but finding a truly great exhibit for the species is a lost cause. Zoos in North America seem to have no minimal requirements other than keeping an animal alive with food and water, so this post today will showcase some dreadful accommodation. I had to fly to Europe (!!) to see some excellent exhibits for this species because the zoos over there are generally of a higher quality.

I've seen North American Porcupines at 76 zoos (6 of the zoos are outside North America):

2014 = 12 zoos
2015 = 14 zoos
2018 = 12 zoos

1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 1975
2- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 1996
3- Greater Vancouver Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 1998
4- Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2001
5- Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2005
6- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2006
7- B.C. Wildlife Park (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2006
8- Minnesota Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2008
9- Montreal Biodome (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2008
10- Fort Worth Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2008
11- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2008
12- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
13- Sedgwick County Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
14- Houston Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
15- Zoo Boise (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2010
16- CuriOdyssey (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
17- San Diego Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
18- Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
19- CALM (California Living Museum) (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2011
20- Great Plains Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
21- John Ball Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
22- Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
23- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
24- Pocatello Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2012
25- Dakota Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
26- Red River Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
27- Lake Superior Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
28- Irvine Park & Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
29- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
30- DeYoung Family Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
31- Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
32- Niabi Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
33- Miller Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
34- Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
35- Hutchinson Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
36- Willow Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2014
37- Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
38- G W Exotic Animal Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
39- San Angelo Nature Center (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
40- Austin Nature & Science Center (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
41- Abilene Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
42- Hillcrest Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
43- Spring River Park & Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
44- Living Desert Zoo – New Mexico (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
45- Wildlife West Nature Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
46- Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
47- Bearizona (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
48- Turtle Bay Exploration Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
49- Sequoia Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
50- High Desert Museum (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2015
51- Discovery Wildlife Park (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2016
52- Lindsay Wildlife Experience (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
53- Orange County Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
54- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
55- Wildlife Learning Center (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
56- America’s Teaching Zoo: Moorpark College (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2017
57- Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2018
58- Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
59- GarLyn Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
60- Howell Nature Center: Wild Wonders Wildlife Park (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
61- Washington Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
62- Columbian Park Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
63- Summerfield Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
64- Jo-Don Farms (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
65- Bear Den Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
66- Animal Haven Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
67- Special Memories Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
68- Zollman Zoo (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2018
69- Artis Royal Zoo (Netherlands) – North American Porcupine – 2019
70- ZOOM Erlebniswelt (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
71- Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) – North American Porcupine – 2019
72- Tierpark Hagenbeck (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
73- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
74- Osnabruck Zoo (Germany) – North American Porcupine – 2019
75- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – North American Porcupine – 2022
76- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – North American Porcupine – 2023

Even Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (USA), an otherwise fantastic facility and very much like the 150+ German 'wildparks' that can be found in Europe, cannot come up with a half-decent North American Porcupine exhibit. It's just a concrete bowl with a few branches and logs.

The North American Porcupine exhibit at Minnesota Zoo (USA), with the species combined with Great Horned Owls in the past, is just okay.

When I was at California Living Museum (USA) in 2011, the North American Porcupine exhibit was just a small pit-like enclosure. Since then the species has also been kept in a traditional cage setting. Vertically speaking, this is a disaster and would be more suited to some Chuckwallas!

At John Ball Zoo (USA), which is an AZA-accredited establishment, the North American Porcupine exhibit in 2012 had a total height of maybe two feet for the animals. The rest was wasted space that was probably an old aviary.

Another AZA-accredited facility, Dakota Zoo (USA), has kept North American Porcupines in a small cement bowl with a single, crappy little branch in the middle. It would be more appropriate for African Crested Porcupines.

A small metal cage with some woodchips and a few old branches, is the home to a North American Porcupine at Irvine Park & Zoo (USA).

This very tiny cage has a single log in it at DeYoung Family Zoo (USA) and is totally useless for its North American Porcupine occupant.

Willow Park Zoo (USA), now known as Zootah at Willow Park, went with the corn-crib cage look when I was there in 2014. Several zoos on my list have kept North American Porcupines in these old cages, so when it rains the animals go deaf.

Another tiny cage with literally zero climbing branches, unless the North American Porcupine squeezed into here can scale the metal on the sides, at Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary (USA). A 'sanctuary' from what???

A small metal cage with a cement floor for a North American Porcupine at San Angelo Nature Center (USA).

This combination of mock-rock, metal and a cement floor at least has the opportunity for the North American Porcupine living in this hellhole to get some height. I took this photo at Spring River Park & Zoo (USA) in New Mexico.

At first glance, the North American Porcupine exhibit at Bearizona (USA) in northern Arizona looks to be a good one. But, peer closer and you can see that there's a row of hotwire along the front of the exhibit (on the mock-rock), there's a fence of electrified wire at the back, none of the trees are climbable because of metal shields wrapped around them, and so it's actually a very poor exhibit overall.

At Lindsay Wildlife Experience (USA), the North American Porcupines are brought out and shown to the public on a regular basis. However, this enclosure is essentially a glass tank and there's no outdoor access for the animals. This is their life and there's more space for the SIGNS than the actual living quarters for the critters.

When I visited America's Teaching Zoo (USA) in 2017, I saw some appalling cages with big carnivores on slabs of cement in a facility that trains young zookeepers. The North American Porcupine exhibit there was a typically nasty corn-crib cage, but at least it had what appeared to be a new wooden climbing platform inside. Still not great though.

Wilderness Walk Zoo (USA) had an African Crested Porcupine in essentially what was a tiny box, and the North American Porcupine exhibit does offer up a bit of height but the animal probably just sits there most of its life doing absolutely nothing. Why not build a whole series of connected platforms?

An awful enclosure for North American Porcupines at the now closed Jo-Don Farms (USA), a naff little zoo in Wisconsin.

Ahhh, Animal Haven Zoo (USA), another crap Wisconsin hellhole. Now closed, ya gotta love the signage at this place. The arrows point right to the animal!

Another naff little corn-crib cage, this time at Special Memories Zoo (USA), and in the gallery there's a couple more of my photos that show a keeper with a microphone handling a North American Porcupine. When I was at this zoo, I took a train ride and the train stops at various enclosures while the keeper goes into a cage and hauls an animal out by its tail before giving a talk while holding the creature. Very odd!

I could go on all day with the travesties that are the porcupine exhibits in American zoos, but for my last two photos I will jet off to Western Europe. Earlier, I mentioned ZOOM Erlebniswelt (Germany) with its North American Beaver/North American Porcupine exhibit that is better than 90% of the enclosures for porcupines in U.S. zoos. There's also Artis Royal Zoo (Netherlands) with its tall, shaded, North American Porcupine exhibit with actual live trees:


@vogelcommando

The North American Porcupine/Beaver exhibit at Osnabruck Zoo (USA) is fantastic, with a beautiful stream, nice rockwork and lots of climbing opportunities. If you want to see wonderful exhibits for this North American species, then head to Europe! Isn't that so crazy?


Rodents: 15 species so far (and not many more to go!)

Prairie Dog - 116 zoos
North American Porcupine - 76 zoos
African Crested Porcupine - 74 zoos (and some of those will be Cape Porcupines)
Naked Mole-Rat - 37 zoos
North American Beaver - 35 zoos
Indian Crested Porcupine - 34 zoos
Nutria - 24 zoos
Woodchuck - 18 zoos
Lowland Paca - 11 zoos
Eurasian Beaver - 6 zoos
Damaraland Mole-Rat - 4 zoos
Cape Porcupine - 3 zoos (and likely many more that have been mislabeled in zoos)
Ansell's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Mechow's Mole-Rat - 1 zoo
Zambian Mole-Rat - 1 zoo

It's pretty interesting you haven't seen these in the wild. I've seen them a good number of times and they even live on the campus of the college I attend. Sometimes I see one just up in a tree on my way to class.

While I agree North American Porcupine exhibits are rarely good, at least sometimes they're interesting. Henry Vilas Zoo actually converted an old seal exhibit into one for this species, which is at the very least an interesting transformation:

As a Harbor Seal exhibit, taken in 2014 by @snowleopard

As a North American Porcupine exhibit, taken in 2022 by @pachyderm pro