Is it unusual Stateside? I'm hard pressed to think of a large general European zoo that doesn't have some combination of tapir/mara/capybara/anteater/rhea/vicuna/guanaco/waterfowl - even peccary and Turkey Vulture in the odd cases, or Maned Wolf/anteater.
Well, West Palm Beach, Miami, Dallas World Aquarium, Santa Ana, Audubon, Jacksonville, Reid Park, Mesker Park, Buffalo, National Aquarium in Baltimore, Shedd Aquarium, Houston (not themed, but in aggregate), LA (ditto) and Wichita all do the continent pretty well, in different ways. But in general certainly less well represented than Africa, Tropical Asia or North America.
It is not so much that South America is not represented, but that the pampas are not represented. U.S. zoos generally stick to either rain forest or generic exhibits for South America. The very small Santa Ana Zoo (California) recently opened a pampas exhibit which may be one of the few and best in this country.
This exhibit is slated to be cleared out for Phase 2 of the Jaguar Jungle.
No details yet on exactly what will be exhibited but reports include a nocturnal house for Central/South American animals.
Construction will probably begin sometime in 2015-16.
