Escape from the ABCs
- Thread starter Maguari
- Start date
I talked to the aquarium staff about them years ago when I was taking some photos. Apparently they spawned during a violent thunderstorm - perhaps that was the stimulus they needed.
Alan
They have some offshow which they are attempting to breed from, no luck yet. They've tried different combinations of temperature, fast/slow current etc. Nothing seems to suit this species.
As I'm having a lazy afternoon in front of the Grand Prix qualifying, I thought I'd share some more oddities 'from the archives', as it were!
Dusky Parrot Pionus fuscus
An odd creature - seems to be a parrot that has borrowed its plumage from a feral pigeon.
Giant Isopod Bathynomus giganteus
It's a giant, underwater woodlouse. What's not to like? I'm guessing that like a lot of marine inverts these can't generally be bred in captivity (even things like Coenobita clypeata, the usual species of Land Hermit Crab, have a planktonic larval stage that means they are invariably wild-caught).
Dominican Field Trip
I'm not as well travelled in search of actual wild wildife as many on here, but a particular advantage of wilflife watching overseas is that you do get see all the weird wild species that in all likelihood no-one will ever bother (or be able to get hold of) to keep in a zoo. Examples from Dominica include Leeward Racer, Lesser Antillean Whistling Frog, Dominican Mouse-eared Bat, Magnificent Frigatebird and Yellow-crowned Night Heron. The night heron was particularly exciting as it was a species I'd always wanted to see and it's not really in its main range in Dominica. And it was just sitting in the lodge gardens one morning! I got up to find another of the members of my group pointing his camera into a tree - pointing at a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Stunning bird. The lens of my camera wasn't able to really do it justice but I was made up just to see it.
American Paddlefish Polyodon spatula
Not as obscure as some of the animals on here maybe but very much an odd looking beast. The 'primitive' bony fishes like paddlefishes and sturgeons are always fascinating but this species is in a league of its own for weirdness. Always a highlight of a visit to Bristol.
Long-tailed Ground Roller Uratelornis chimaera
Like many species I saw at Walsrode, I'd never heard of this animal before looking at their stocklist.
Burmese Star Tortoise Geochelone platynota
One of many nice surprises among the superb reptile collection at Wroclaw. Similar in appearance to the more familiar Indian Star Tortoise G. elegans but with a slightly more geometric pattern. A very unusual sight in zoos.
Dusky Parrot Pionus fuscus
An odd creature - seems to be a parrot that has borrowed its plumage from a feral pigeon.
Giant Isopod Bathynomus giganteus
It's a giant, underwater woodlouse. What's not to like? I'm guessing that like a lot of marine inverts these can't generally be bred in captivity (even things like Coenobita clypeata, the usual species of Land Hermit Crab, have a planktonic larval stage that means they are invariably wild-caught).
Dominican Field Trip
I'm not as well travelled in search of actual wild wildife as many on here, but a particular advantage of wilflife watching overseas is that you do get see all the weird wild species that in all likelihood no-one will ever bother (or be able to get hold of) to keep in a zoo. Examples from Dominica include Leeward Racer, Lesser Antillean Whistling Frog, Dominican Mouse-eared Bat, Magnificent Frigatebird and Yellow-crowned Night Heron. The night heron was particularly exciting as it was a species I'd always wanted to see and it's not really in its main range in Dominica. And it was just sitting in the lodge gardens one morning! I got up to find another of the members of my group pointing his camera into a tree - pointing at a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Stunning bird. The lens of my camera wasn't able to really do it justice but I was made up just to see it.
American Paddlefish Polyodon spatula
Not as obscure as some of the animals on here maybe but very much an odd looking beast. The 'primitive' bony fishes like paddlefishes and sturgeons are always fascinating but this species is in a league of its own for weirdness. Always a highlight of a visit to Bristol.
Long-tailed Ground Roller Uratelornis chimaera
Like many species I saw at Walsrode, I'd never heard of this animal before looking at their stocklist.
Burmese Star Tortoise Geochelone platynota
One of many nice surprises among the superb reptile collection at Wroclaw. Similar in appearance to the more familiar Indian Star Tortoise G. elegans but with a slightly more geometric pattern. A very unusual sight in zoos.
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That's only because the tail isn't shown well on that photo. Bright red a purple-blue.
Hawk
Well-Known Member
An interesting bird for me would defiantly be the Tawny Frogmouth. I love seeing it at the Cotswold Wildlife park. I could watch it for hours.
http://www.zoochat.com/197/just-few-snaps-my-recent-visit-101052/
http://www.zoochat.com/197/just-few-snaps-my-recent-visit-101052/
Hawk
Well-Known Member
Yes, I'm exactly the same I love going and seeing the more exotic relatives. One of the best examples would be thinking of the average Wood Pigeon or Dove were use to and then seeing a Victoria Crowed Pigeon or Bleeding Heart dove.
CiaranDUK
Well-Known Member
Well, the snow's on the ground, the fog's descending with the night and I've been off work this afternoon as the office closes for Christmas. So settle back as I present: the Escape from the ABCs Christmas Special!
Jewel Wasp (Ampulex compressa)
These are real stars for zoos willing to put the effort in - a small, active, iridescent wasp species that reproduces by laying eggs inside a paralysed cockroach that they then bury alive. What's not to like?
London's display has a little on-show 'nursery' - a cutaway burrow inside which the ill-fated cockroach can be seen.
Potosi Pupfish (Cyprinodon alvarezi)
The toothcarps are a fascinating group of small fish - highly polymorphic and with a great many species with very restricted ranges. Chester, Bristol and London all have heavy involvement with these groups. C. alvarezi is an attractive blue species.
Schneider's Dwarf Caiman (Palaeosuchus trigonatus)
A very nice crocodilian species; Rome was where I saw my first individual (very likely the same one I photographed in October; the other croc tick I got from my first visit, American Crocodile, had disappeared). The species is around in a few places in Europe.
Hildebrandt's Starling (Lamprotornis hildebrandti)
At first glance, similar to the more familiar Superb Starling, but no white chest stripe and an orange eye-ring set this stunning species apart. A great example, as above, of the more colourful relatives of our native species.
Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos)
Attractive, friendly and fasciating to watch. I understand that new holders are being sought so hopefully we will see this species more in the future.
Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis)
Our smallest native carnivore, very difficult to see properly in the wild and rarely kept in captivity; here displayed in cutaway tunnels and busily tucking away the spoils of it's latest 'hunt'!
Jewel Wasp (Ampulex compressa)
These are real stars for zoos willing to put the effort in - a small, active, iridescent wasp species that reproduces by laying eggs inside a paralysed cockroach that they then bury alive. What's not to like?
London's display has a little on-show 'nursery' - a cutaway burrow inside which the ill-fated cockroach can be seen.Potosi Pupfish (Cyprinodon alvarezi)
The toothcarps are a fascinating group of small fish - highly polymorphic and with a great many species with very restricted ranges. Chester, Bristol and London all have heavy involvement with these groups. C. alvarezi is an attractive blue species.
Schneider's Dwarf Caiman (Palaeosuchus trigonatus)
A very nice crocodilian species; Rome was where I saw my first individual (very likely the same one I photographed in October; the other croc tick I got from my first visit, American Crocodile, had disappeared). The species is around in a few places in Europe.
Hildebrandt's Starling (Lamprotornis hildebrandti)
At first glance, similar to the more familiar Superb Starling, but no white chest stripe and an orange eye-ring set this stunning species apart. A great example, as above, of the more colourful relatives of our native species.
Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos)
Attractive, friendly and fasciating to watch. I understand that new holders are being sought so hopefully we will see this species more in the future.
Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis)
Our smallest native carnivore, very difficult to see properly in the wild and rarely kept in captivity; here displayed in cutaway tunnels and busily tucking away the spoils of it's latest 'hunt'!
wow the jewel wasp is great! Are these rarely displayed or relatively common (as far as insect displays go)?
Little pied shags are commonplace in NZ (in the wild), so from my point of view it would be like getting excited about a zoo displaying grey squirrels - by which I mean, I would be excited about a zoo here displaying grey squirrels while an English person would be like "grey squirrels!!?? What's interesting about that?"
In NZ there's a very attractive variation called the white-throated shag which is all-black except for the white throat. Much prettier than the regular colour form in my opinion. [to stall objections to my use of "shag" rather than "cormorant", in NZ all the cormorant species are called shags - and we've got 12 species]
Little pied shags are commonplace in NZ (in the wild), so from my point of view it would be like getting excited about a zoo displaying grey squirrels - by which I mean, I would be excited about a zoo here displaying grey squirrels while an English person would be like "grey squirrels!!?? What's interesting about that?"
In NZ there's a very attractive variation called the white-throated shag which is all-black except for the white throat. Much prettier than the regular colour form in my opinion. [to stall objections to my use of "shag" rather than "cormorant", in NZ all the cormorant species are called shags - and we've got 12 species]
Not massively common - London and Bristol both have them - I'm racking my brain as to where else I've seen them; there's at least one more I'm sure.
The UK has two native species - Phalacrocorax carbo (the Great Cormorant, here just called 'cormorant') and Phalacrocorax aristotelis (the European Shag, here just called 'shag'). I'm not sure if there are any rules as to whether it's a 'shag' or a 'cormorant' for other species.
EDIT: AquaZoo Dusseldorf is the other place I've seen Jewel Wasps recently!
just read through the whole thread, and a few questions and comments:
the stalk-eyed flies in post #1 - I'm assuming they are being bred at the zoo in question? Have you seen them in any other zoos at all? They are one of my favourite flies
)
)
the stalk-eyed flies in post #1 - I'm assuming they are being bred at the zoo in question? Have you seen them in any other zoos at all? They are one of my favourite flies
(from July): so have you seen a kiwi yet jwer? (I saw some yesterdayjwer said:
)terrestrial woodlice, which are basically the same (even still having gills!), produce well-developed babies that they carry around on their bellies for protection from predation. I don't know for sure but I would assume all the marine isopods do the same, in which case captive-breeding shouldn't be as difficult as in many marine invertebrates. However the adults may be more forgiving of water quality and temperature than the babies.Maguari said:
depends who you talk to. Some people say that all shags are cormorants but not all cormorants are shags. The group as a whole is "officially" called cormorants, but really shag and cormorant are just common names that have no real scientific standing (like frog and toad, for example - the usage comes from England where there are only a few easily-separated species). All species have always been called shags in NZ, stemming from the UK immigrant days of first settlement, but recently there have been moves by some to change the names of all to "cormorant". To me they will always be shags though. (p.s. the great cormorant is also found in NZ, where it is called the black shagMaguari said:
)
here are a selection of photos of mine from the gallery that portray some interesting species that fall outside the category of "common zoo animal"
invertebrates:
http://www.zoochat.com/104/balmain-bug-ibacus-peronii-30145/
http://www.zoochat.com/666/sea-apples-47324/
http://www.zoochat.com/656/man-faced-bug-catacanthus-nigripens-47258/
fish:
http://www.zoochat.com/399/nz-hagfish-eptatretus-cirrhatus-30657/
http://www.zoochat.com/399/nz-pouched-lamprey-geotria-australis-30665/
http://www.zoochat.com/104/male-shaws-cowfish-arcana-aurita-30147/
http://www.zoochat.com/104/tasselled-anglerfish-rhycherus-filamentosus-30146/
http://www.zoochat.com/666/garden-eels-47325/
birds:
http://www.zoochat.com/400/nz-pigeon-hemiphaga-novaeseelandiae-30705/
http://www.zoochat.com/380/papuan-frogmouth-cairns-wildlife-dome-30203/
http://www.zoochat.com/390/orange-dove-chrysoenas-victor-30301/
http://www.zoochat.com/244/shoebill-jurong-47192/
and a token mammal:
http://www.zoochat.com/662/feas-muntjac-chiang-mai-zoo-thailand-47318/
invertebrates:
http://www.zoochat.com/104/balmain-bug-ibacus-peronii-30145/
http://www.zoochat.com/666/sea-apples-47324/
http://www.zoochat.com/656/man-faced-bug-catacanthus-nigripens-47258/
fish:
http://www.zoochat.com/399/nz-hagfish-eptatretus-cirrhatus-30657/
http://www.zoochat.com/399/nz-pouched-lamprey-geotria-australis-30665/
http://www.zoochat.com/104/male-shaws-cowfish-arcana-aurita-30147/
http://www.zoochat.com/104/tasselled-anglerfish-rhycherus-filamentosus-30146/
http://www.zoochat.com/666/garden-eels-47325/
birds:
http://www.zoochat.com/400/nz-pigeon-hemiphaga-novaeseelandiae-30705/
http://www.zoochat.com/380/papuan-frogmouth-cairns-wildlife-dome-30203/
http://www.zoochat.com/390/orange-dove-chrysoenas-victor-30301/
http://www.zoochat.com/244/shoebill-jurong-47192/
and a token mammal:
http://www.zoochat.com/662/feas-muntjac-chiang-mai-zoo-thailand-47318/
regarding the giant isopod Bathynomus giganteus, here's a Wikipedia article that discusses the reproduction [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod]Giant isopod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
First and only time I've seen them exhibited. Was a fairly large 'colony' so I would imagine they are breeding but cannot confirm for certain. Very pleasant surprise to find them there!
Interesting re: the isopod reproduction. Sounds like a good challenge for someone there!
Good choices too - that Ibacus is great! Hagfish are something I'd like to see more of - I've again only seen them once, at The Deep in Hull.
(from July): so have you seen a kiwi yet jwer? (I saw some yesterday
Na-ah, not yet... Avifauna still on the planning for early next year
I did see the jewel wasps at Artis, and yesterday i saw the white-browed crake at Arnhem (the only animal of this species in Europe), and even managed to pet their Ardvark so i had some good days at the offices lately nonetheless
white-browed crakes are nice little birds. I'm a bit jealous you got to pat an aardvark!