Rare/Absent species from the UK.

Javan Rhino

Javan Rhino

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I thought that this might be quite an interesting area for topic. As you may know from previous threads like 'Exhibit Designing Competition,' 'Design a Zoo' and 'Personal Vision for Chester' I enjoy designing zoos for the sheer hell of it. Now, I'd like to try and design one focusing on (though not exactly limited to) species that are either rare or absent in the UK, though are in captivity in other parts of the world. Rare would mean no more than 2/3 UK zoos have them.

I'd like to make this a general and educational topic about these, so this isn't where I'll post any designs. It would be interesting to learn about these, which few collections keep them and why they are so rare/absent. (Excluding private collections, only ones open to the public).

So, any species anybody wants to menion then go for it :)

(Forgot to mention, this includes subspecies).
 
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Javan Rhino said:
Now, I'd like to try and design one focusing on (though not exactly limited to) species that are either rare or absent in the UK, though are in captivity in other parts of the world. Rare would mean no more than 2/3 UK zoos have them.
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I like the idea, but I would not class a species as rare, if say, 1/3 of UK zoos had them, or 1/2 of UK zoos. I would class it as a rare species (as in which species is not commonly represented in the UK) if say, only 1,2 or 3 collections kept them.
 
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Well I would have to say Gaur, with only one pair in the UK thats really not going to do much in the way of breeding terms
 
There are also hundreds of Bat and Rodent species that are missing from UK collections. :(

I may design a zoo, maybe It really can be a dream zoo, where all I have are Rodents, Smaller Hoofstock and Marsupials! :rolleyes:
 
In terms of birds which are my main interest - Andean Flamingos,classed as threatend in the wild the only collection who has them is Slimbridge and they are old birds who don't breed not very often.James flamingos slimbridge now has just one bird the only one in the UK! I think the would do best if kept fully winged,In a large shelterd avairy with shallow pools,mirrors and areas of mud. The sex ratio of birds also needs to be similar.
I would Imagine unless some privert collection holds them they would have to come from the wild,chicks are often abandoned however by parent birds.
Fairy Penguins,I think bristol had some but they all died from a disease,in fact most penguins apart from humbolts are not kept that widely in the uk so all penguins could be inculded.
Hummingbirds,birds of paradise - chester has the red bird of paradise and london zoo has hummingbirds.
Think I'll design a small bird park/tropical garden with the above species included and more
 
Oh, I would so love to see a pangolin. Am I right in thinking that there are none in captivity in the UK? I know they're not rare in the wild, but they must be difficult to keep.

By the way, by "2/3 UK zoos" I think Javan Rhino meant two or three zoos, not two-thirds!
 
It seems to me that caprinae aren't at all well represented in UK collections with many species either entirely absent or only in one or two zoos.

Polar bears too, Mercedes is the only one on public display in the whole country.
 
i would like to see some gerenuk in the uk. i havnt heard of any in the uk.and also platypus. there are quite hard to keep in captivity. and also some tiata falcons. there are not many pairs left in the willd. i was lucky to see a pair. and we dont have any western bongo.
 
I'd really like to see Desmans ( Galemys pyrenaicus and Desmana moschata)

I've looked on zootierlister but can't see any in holdings for them. Does anyone know if they are held anywhere
 
I would like to see more hoofstock............

Thompson's gazelle
Slender-horned gazelle
Sand gazelle
Goitered gazelle
Argali
Topi
Hartebeest
Impala
Reedbuck
West Caucasian tur
Lesser kudu
Masai Giraffe
Yellow-backed duiker

and also this may sound odd, but I would like to see more parks keeping Bengal Tigers as everywhere seems to have switched to Amurs or Sumatran's. They seem to be getting more protection and the Bengals seem to be diserpearing faster from the wild even though there are more of them.
 
Bears, of course, especially polar bears.
And dolphins, whales and manatees.
And gazelles, wild goats and sheep - but this is, unfortunately, worldwide trend.
 
I think the reason many zoos are phasing out Bengals in favour of Sumatrans or Amurs is because of the fact there are very few pure-bred ones outside of India. I would prefer to see South China Tigers, but know this is very unlikely. I think Indochinese Tigers may be a nice addition to the UK though. I'll list the species I would immediately look at if doing a zoo with unusual species.

Monotremes:
Duck-Billed Platypus
Western Long-Beaked Echidna

Marsupials
Tasmanian Devil
Numbat
Tiger Quoll
Greater Bilby
Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat

Xenarthrans
Maned Three-toed Sloth
Silky Anteater
Giant Armadillo
Lesser Fairy Armadillo

Bats
Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox
Common Vampire Bat

Primates
Diadem Sifaka
Slender Loris
Philippine Tarsier
Bald Uakari
Proboscis Monkey
Olive Baboon
Hoolock Gibbon

Canids
Red Wolf
Dingo

Bears
Grizzly Bear
Kodiak Bear
Giant Panda

Mustelids
Sea Otter
Zorilla
Grison

Pinnipeds
Steller's Sea Lion
Walrus
Leopard Seal
Southern Elephant Seal
Hawaiian Monk Seal

Felids
Indochinese Tiger
South China Tiger
Persian Leopard
North China Leopard
Ocelot
Leopard Cat

Sirenia
West-Indian Manatee
African Manatee
Dugong

Tapirs and Rhinos
Mountain Tapir
Baird's Tapir
Sumatran Rhinoceros
South-Central Black Rhinoceros

Bovids
Zebra Duiker
Impala
Blue Wildebeest
Gerenuk
Saiga
Springbok
Thomson's Gazelle
Musk Ox

Giraffes
West-African Giraffe
Masai Giraffe

Cetaceans
Beluga
Orca
Bottle-nosed Dolphin

Thats just some I can think of for mammals. I might try and list birds as well, but don't know so much. I know many of these listed are mere fantasies (Sumatran Rhino, Duck-billed Platypus etc), but I wonder how many are possible/likely.
 
I think Howletts have north Chinese leopard and they recently had cubs.

It's probably also worth noting that some of the species aren't in captivity anywhere or are extremely rare, not just the UK. eg saiga and giant armadillo off the top of my head.
 
scimiterhorned1 said:
i think durrel might hav dessmands masfc. and yes we need orca and dolphins. and barids and mountaintapis
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That would be good. It's in my masterpkan to try and visit durrell in the next year.

I first saw the desman on something like life on earth and loved their busyness. I couldn't find out anything about them since as I thought they were called Desmonds and everytime I tried searching for them I got Desmond Morris! Sad but true :)
 
Shirokuma said:
I think Howletts have north Chinese leopard and they recently had cubs.

It's probably also worth noting that some of the species aren't in captivity anywhere or are extremely rare, not just the UK. eg saiga and giant armadillo off the top of my head.
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Ahh, I did attempt to steer clear of species absent altogether, but wasn't sure if they were in other areas worldwide.

As for the North Chinese Leopard, that is interesting and would be worth seeing.
 
I would love to see more in the way of unusual species come into Britain, and have devised a minor list of species that, if I had the choice, would be high on the list of animals that would come over to Britain:

Mammals
Red giant flying squirrel
Formosan pangolin
Yellow-throated marten
Piebald shrew
Common vampire bat
Beira antelope
Golden-mantled saddleback tamarin
Common spotted cuscus
Water opossum
Black agouti
Matschie's tree kangaroo
Central American cacomistle
Banded linsang
African tree pangolin
Black-and-rufous elephant-shrew
Goodman's mouse lemur
Impala
Sumichrast's vesper rat

Birds
Screaming piha
Flame bowerbird
West Mexican chachalaca
Blue-billed curassow
Dwarf cassowary
Little blue penguin
Azure-breasted pitta
Violet cuckoo
Blue-headed quail-dove
Grey gull
Red-legged kittiwake
Great black-headed gull
Yellow-fronted woodpecker
Greater yellownape woodpecker
Campo flicker woodpecker
Rufous-necked wryneck
Kruper's nuthatch
Kagu
Montezuma oropendola
South American yellow oriole
Violet-crowned hummingbird
Raggiana bird-of-paradise

Reptiles and Amphibians
Siamese crocodile
African tiger snake
Allison's anole lizard
Giant amphisbaena
Ko Tao island caecilian

Invertebrates
Bullet ant
Japanese giant hornet
Blue weevil
Kirby's dropwing dragonfly
African rainbow shield bug
Chinese water stick insect
Indonesian yellow crab spider
Japanese harlequin tiger beetle
Indian giant red velvet mite
 
I think the main problem is that so many zoos are scared to turn away from the ABC's, but it is easy to see that they don't have to if the more unusual subspecies can be sourced. The average zoo-goer would not be quick to notice any differance, they would just be thrilled to see the ABC's, whilst the more hardcore will go to see species not seen anywhere else in Britain.
 
It's also worth adding that animals which are now everywhere such as ring-tailed lemurs and meerkats were once quite rare in zoos. From another thread I know that only a generation ago there weren't any meerkats on display at all in the UK.
 
Shirokuma said:
It's also worth adding that animals which are now everywhere such as ring-tailed lemurs and meerkats were once quite rare in zoos. From another thread I know that only a generation ago there weren't any meerkats on display at all in the UK.
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Wow, that is fascinating info. I am now waiting until the next generation, just to see which species become common-place in UK zoos. Placing all bets :D.

I'm going for Giant Otter. I don't know how long Chestnut have had them for, but Chester and South Lakes only got theirs this year. Chestnut's have bred, and Chester and South Lakes have breeding pairs, so if all goes to plan I think the may become established quite quickly over here (does anybody know if anywhere else is interested in this species?)
 
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