Must See Rare Species in California Zoos

DavidBrown said:
All you have to do to see the sea otters at Monterey Aquarium is go outside and look off the back deck. There are usually docents out there with spotting scopes and binoculars to help people find them. There also might be migrating gray whales passing by.
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If you have extra time in Monterrey, I would recommend a kayak tour in Elkhorn Slough, about 30 minutes away. There are hundreds of sea otters, and some have even been known to climb onto people's kayaks. Great photography opportunities. Another option would be to go whale watching. Monterrey bay is often referred to as the "Serengeti of the Sea" because of its vast diversity of species. Fast Raft is my favorite local operator.
 
Cetacean_lover said:
You mentioned that the San Diego Zoo has an Aye Aye, but I think the San Francisco Zoo has a better Aye Aye viewing experience (guided tours of the exhibit every 45 minutes).
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San Francisco Zoo unfortunately no longer has aye-ayes.

San Diego will have them in a nocturnal exhibit in 2017.
 
I was aware that San francisco used to have aye-ayes, but did not know that they still did. I will certainly try to find them, but they aren't listed on the map and I will have to practically fly through this zoo to see it all. Hopefully all goes well.

Edit: well, never mind.
 
At the San Diego Zoo, the coconut crab is in a small glass exhibit on tiger trail right across from the tiger viewing area. I always look for him but so far no luck. I saw the aye-aye one time. Definitely see the pangolin talk at the children's zoo, I believe it is at 1:30. You can check the back of the map for the correct time.
 
betsy said:
At the San Diego Zoo, the coconut crab is in a small glass exhibit on tiger trail right across from the tiger viewing area. I always look for him but so far no luck. I saw the aye-aye one time. Definitely see the pangolin talk at the children's zoo, I believe it is at 1:30. You can check the back of the map for the correct time.
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Thanks! I was informed that the crab was in the insect house, so you just saved me a lot of time (and worrying)! I am certainly attending the pangolin talk, I've been interested in pangolins for a long time and this is one of the only chances I'll ever have to see one! It'll be a shame that I probably won't see any aye-ayes, but I've actually somehow managed to go to every other zoo with them in the country, except for Duke Lemur Center, where I really want to visit one day.
 
I went on a bird hunt for you at the San Diego Zoo. This is what I found... Talaud red and blue lory, collared lory, and Mariana fruit dove are located in small exhibits in Wings of Australasia along the Aviary trail. Great blue turaco is located in the walk through Scripps aviary. Capuchin babbler is in a small exhibit between Scripps aviary and the bonobos. Collared Imperial pigeon is in the Owens aviary. Also there is a African clawless otter on Center Street right past the aye-aye exhibit. Didn't see the aye-aye again.
 
betsy said:
I went on a bird hunt for you at the San Diego Zoo. This is what I found... Talaud red and blue lory, collared lory, and Mariana fruit dove are located in small exhibits in Wings of Australasia along the Aviary trail. Great blue turaco is located in the walk through Scripps aviary. Capuchin babbler is in a small exhibit between Scripps aviary and the bonobos. Collared Imperial pigeon is in the Owens aviary. Also there is a African clawless otter on Center Street right past the aye-aye exhibit. Didn't see the aye-aye again.
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Thank you so much! You didn't have to do that for me. You've saved me a lot of time, again, however. Thanks! Side note- would grey imperial pigeon and white bellied (Forster's) imperial pigeon also be in Owens aviary?
 
jayjds2 said:
Thank you so much! You didn't have to do that for me. You've saved me a lot of time, again, however. Thanks! Side note- would grey imperial pigeon and white bellied (Forster's) imperial pigeon also be in Owens aviary?
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No problem! I enjoyed the hunt. Honestly, I am just beginning to learn to identify birds but I didn't see a sign for those birds.
 
I am really into birds at the moment, so I apologize for the extensive list of them. I love near three major bird collections -Dallas World Aquarium, Houston Zoo, and San Antonio Zoo. I haven't even had time to go to Houston yet! I am also interested in reptiles, but the only thing missing from those three locations, and the Dallas Zoo, is a few species of Crocodilian that I haven't seen, which the San Diego Zoo has (Australian freshwater)
 
zoo_enthusiast said:
They did not have any white-sided or common dolphins - just bottlenosed and pilot whales. Good luck with Commersons, but last time I visited they had no plans to put them on exhibit. They have them on exhibit in Orlando (at SeaWorld Aquatica) where they were very easy to see last year. I was also told by the staff that their Pacific bottlenosed dolphins are darker than the Atlantic ones (they did not mention any size differences though) but even after they pointed out the Pacific one to me it was hard for me to reliably tell it apart from Atlantic ones:) but maybe that's just me.
I was not aware that their walrus has died. It was a very impressive specimen with good tusks - uncommon for captive walruses.
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Sea World San Diego did, at one time not all that long ago, have their Commersons on exhibit at the Journey To Atlantis ride. I don't remember how long ago, though, they took them off exhibit. A couple were moved to Orlando to be part of Aquatica, but San Diego had 5, I think. Sometimes you can see them in the Behind the Scenes Tour when it goes to Animal Care. At least, that's the last place I saw them.

Gracie, who lives at Rocky Point Preserve (I think they changed the name now...i don't go anymore so haven't really kept up), is very identifiable from the others. She is the only Pacific Bottlenose amongst a bunch of Atlantics. She is larger and darker grey and also has a lot of "battle scars". Bullet is one of the show dolphins and I believe is a Common Dolphin/Bottlenose hybrid. He is also very identifiable from the Atlantics in the show because he is shaped more like a torpedo and has more the coloring of a Pacific White Sided. I'm going by memory, though, so don't quote me on that. I do know, though, that he looks different from the others.

I will echo what a couple of others have said about the Blue Eyed Black Lemurs at the LA Zoo. While you're able to see them with no problem, getting a good picture was a big issue when I was there and despite spending a good 45 minutes with them, I never got a picture I was happy with. Unless they moved that exhibit, it's surrounded by trees, making it quite dark and not very camera friendly, but at least you can see them. They had a male and a female, who is brown, when I was there.
 
Thanks for the info about the dolphins. I am now considering that tour over the one that I was (which was animal spotlight). I am planning on calling to confirm, and if they are no longer viewable then I will stick with animal spotlight because it offers the chance to feed moray eels, which is unique. If I am able to see them now, then I will, but otherwise I will go to the Orlando water park, which is something that really takes me out of my way as for my Florida plans.

Kind of sad about the lemurs, but this isn't the only place I can see them. There are apparently some nearby in Waco, but I've never seen them.
 
The blue-eyed lemurs are no longer on exhibit at the LA Zoo, unless something has changed since my last visit to the zoo last month (entirely possible).

Your chance of seeing Panay cloud rats at the zoo is most likely zero percent. Nobody that I know has ever seen them, and we've all tried multiple times.
 
DavidBrown said:
The blue-eyed lemurs are no longer on exhibit at the LA Zoo, unless something has changed since my last visit to the zoo last month (entirely possible).

Your chance of seeing Panay cloud rats at the zoo is most likely zero percent. Nobody that I know has ever seen them, and we've all tried multiple times.
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The lemurs were still on their website, perhaps they are on exhibit now. I guess I'll find out. A real shame about the cloudrunners, though. L.A. is the only zoo in the country with them. I wonder if any more will be imported soon?
 
jayjds2 said:
Thanks for the info about the dolphins. I am now considering that tour over the one that I was (which was animal spotlight). I am planning on calling to confirm, and if they are no longer viewable then I will stick with animal spotlight because it offers the chance to feed moray eels, which is unique. If I am able to see them now, then I will, but otherwise I will go to the Orlando water park, which is something that really takes me out of my way as for my Florida plans.

Kind of sad about the lemurs, but this isn't the only place I can see them. There are apparently some nearby in Waco, but I've never seen them.
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You're welcome. I don't think I ever took the Animal Spotlight Tour. I did the Penguin Encounter one once and that was really neat because we actually got to touch a Penguin and go into the indoor exhibit. I've done Behind the Scenes so many times I can't remember. Every single tour had Animal Care as part of the tour, which was neat because you got to see the rehabbing marine life and if there's a trainer back there they often bring one of the dolphins up so you can touch it. The Shark lab was pretty neat, too. One time I was the only one on the tour so we just kind of walked around and talked about the history of San Diego, Mission Bay and Sea World. I actually knew a couple of things about Sea World that the tour guide didn't, which was kind of fun. I don't think I ever went on the same tour twice. I mean, the BTS tour. I never had the same "route" twice.
 
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