5 Must See Species Before You Die

If I were to see some of my longtime favorite animals, they would be:

Sumatran Rhinoceros - Way Kambas National Park
Blue Whale - Monterey Bay of California (via a whale watch)
Chinese Giant Salamander - Los Angeles Zoo
Marine Iguana - Galapagos Islands
Platypus - San Diego Zoo Safari Park (the only zoo in the US that displays them outside of Australia)
 
If I go to a few major zoos, I can cross out most of these such as Brookfield zoo, San Diego safari park, Toledo zoo, and Dallas world aquarium. I tried to make these doable-ish so it wouldn’t be too unrealistic.
 
If we can include see again I’d add 3 new and 2 seconds.
1. Saiga
2. Philippine Eagle
3. Chinese Pangolin
4. Dhole (Seen at Wilds)
5. Sumatran Rhino (Seen at Cincinnati, have one terrible picture)
 
For an aquarium bucket list in general I would say I recommend:
1. Whale shark (Rhincodon typus)
2. Giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris)
3. Great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran)
4. Elephant seal (any Mirounga)
5. Hawaiian monk seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi)
I know those are all big charismatic megafauna species, but they're also just some of the rarest and most incredible to witness in an aquarium or even zoo, so they'd be ones I think anyone should do all in their power to see before they die. Honorable mention to the dugong, which someone put on their list just above me so I didn't include. I do want to see that one myself though.

My personal bucket list is as follows:
1. Speartooth shark (Glyphis glyphis)
2. Dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata)
3. Narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata)
4. Hawaiian monk seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi)
5. Dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus)
I narrowly missed catching the Hawaiian monk seal at Minnesota Zoo and hopefully will get to go back someday and see it, or get to the Hawaiian institution(s?) that have one. The two sawfish are important to me as they're some of my favorites, I've seen all the other species, and want to complete the set given that they're all critically endangered. And the speartooth and dusky sharks I just find immensely fascinating as an elasmobranch lover/specialist, and they're both extremely rare in aquaria.
 
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Currently my top 5 probably looks something like this:
1. Chinese Pangolin
2. Duck Billed Platypus
3. Short Beaked Echidna
4. North Island Brown Kiwi
5. Honey Badger

Have been very lucky to see some of the animals I was desperate to see recently with a trip to Pairi Daiza over the summer, meaning I saw animals like the Shoebill, Walrus and Muskox but unfortunately I think it will be a while before I see any of these animals currently at the top of my list.
 
Stygi said:
Currently my top 5 probably looks something like this:
1. Chinese Pangolin
2. Duck Billed Platypus
3. Short Beaked Echidna
4. North Island Brown Kiwi
5. Honey Badger

Have been very lucky to see some of the animals I was desperate to see recently with a trip to Pairi Daiza over the summer, meaning I saw animals like the Shoebill, Walrus and Muskox but unfortunately I think it will be a while before I see any of these animals currently at the top of my list.
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You never know :) two of them are possible within the UK, and two of the others are possible elsewhere in Europe!
 
Local_Shark said:
For an aquarium bucket list in general I would say I recommend:
1. Whale shark (Rhincodon typus)
2. Giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris)
3. Great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran)
4. Elephant seal (any Mirounga)
5. Hawaiian monk seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi)
I know those are all big charismatic megafauna species, but they're also just some of the rarest and most incredible to witness in an aquarium or even zoo, so they'd be ones I think anyone should do all in their power to see before they die. Honorable mention to the dugong, which someone put on their list just above me so I didn't include. I do want to see that one myself though.
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Surely the idea of a bucket list is inherently subjective, taking into account a variety of personal reasons why something may appeal to an individual. Childhood memories of reading about an animal in books or seeing them on TY, for example. Personally, and with all due respect to the monk seal and hammerhead, they doesn't come close to my top five, even just sticking to aquaria - dugongs and belugas will certainly be above them, sunfish and sawfish not far off, as well as sea otters and walruses had I not already seen them. I find the whole idea of a 'recommended' bucket list to be quite bizarre...
 
Kalaw said:
Personally, and with all due respect to the monk seal and hammerhead, they doesn't come close to my top five, even just sticking to aquaria - dugongs and belugas will certainly be above them, sunfish and sawfish not far off, as well as sea otters and walruses had I not already seen them. I find the whole idea of a 'recommended' bucket list to be quite bizarre...
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Lol I mean, I guess I didn't examine the very concept of a bucket list that deeply - I just had already seen most of the species that I felt every aquarium visitor should see. So I decided to include a list of those, and a list of my own very personal and more eccentric ones. But for what it's worth, I most heavily considered sheer rarity in that first list. I omitted belugas because of how common they are here in the US (there are six aquaria here that have them, plus one right across the border in Niagara Falls), and even more so abroad, so they're fairly easy to check off (30+ total holdings). Sawfish you've got a case for given how endangered they are, but there's five species and thus the family is fairly common in captivity too (30+ holdings). Sunfish are much more common in Europe and Asia than the US and growing more numerous in general (8 holdings and possibly more on the way from what I hear). Walruses and sea otters are both growing quite common in global captivity (30+ holdings each).

The number of holdings for my list are:
1. Whale shark - 7
2. Giant manta - 4
3. Great hammerhead - 2
4. Elephant seal - 5
5. Hawaiian monk seal - 2
 
My list:
1. Okapi
2. Giant Anteater
3. Pangolin
4. Sumatran Rhino
5. Whale Shark

Also, any cat species I haven't seen yet :)
 
Hix said:
1. Ayeaye
2. Dibatag
3. Colugo
4. Tarsier
5. Pangolin

:p

Hix
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I'm 5/5 now that I've just seen Dibatag in Ethiopia. Would love to see Tarsier and Pangolin wild especially since they'd be new wild families for me! Have you seen any since, @Hix ?

Rayane said:
- Jentink's duiker
- Zebra duiker
- Any Uakaris, just cause they're so unique
- Dama gazelle, Nanger dama dama. They're apparently held at Al Ain. I think both Mhorrs and Addras are super cool and elegant, and I have no idea what a dama dama looks like, if anyone can help btw. I think the only pictures out are ruficolis or mhorr.
- Black and rufous elephant shrew or Golden rumped elephant shrew.

These are only mammals though, I may have to think about birds and then make my choice between the 10.


Edit : After reading some other posts, good challengers would be :
- Ethiopian wolf
- Menelik's bushbuck
- Beira
- Tonkin or any snub-nosed monkeys

It goes on and on, so many species I'd like to see.
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Great list @Rayane ! I've seen all (including 3 Uakaris and with Beira as the latest) except the Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey (although some friends of mine have recently!) And then I'm not sure about the Nanger dama dama - according to Zootierliste I have.
Did you managed the Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew yet?

twilighter said:
The Kouprey most probably left this world already, so :

1. Saola
2. Flat-headed cat
3. Zebra duiker
4. Beira
5. Falanouc
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@twilighter Ohh I know you had luck with Flat-headed Cat recently so that's special!! I missed a wild Falanouc by only a couple minutes, so I'll have to settle for 3/5 off your list ;)

Sneeuwpanter said:
Realisticly. I'd Have to go to US. Most species in european zoos on my wishlist I've seen.

1. Whaleshark (Atlanta aquarium)
2. Giant Eland
3. Platypus (San Diego wildlife park)
4. Tiger Shark (Atlanta aquarium)
5. Elephant seal (Californian coast)

...And the ultimate species would be Philippine Eagle
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I've been lucky enough to see 5/5, including Whale Shark, Tiger Shark and both Elephant Seals wild. Happy Giant Eland was included!! Did you ever end up seeing any of these @Sneeuwpanter ?
 
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Giant Eland said:
Great list @Rayane ! I've seen all (including 3 Uakaris and with Beira as the latest) except the Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey (although some friends of mine have recently!) And then I'm not sure about the Nanger dama dama - according to Zootierliste I have.
Did you managed the Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew yet?
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I did, quite a few times now.

Honestly, the top 5 always evolves.
Sengis still remain very high, I'd like to see all genus first of all, then we'll see species wise.
Snub-nosed I'd like to see them all as well.
Uakaris I don't care much at all anymore.

About your Dama, I don't think you should consider it a nominate. I read a paper a while back which I cannot find again for some reason, about the hypothesis of the nominate subspecies being just a natural hybrid in the contact zone for the two subspecies. They made some tests in Al Ain and somewhere in Morocco, crossing the two subspecies to compare patterns and dna to true dama dama (not sure how). Probably would be of interest for you
 
Giant Eland said:
I'm 5/5 now that I've just seen Dibatag in Ethiopia. Would love to see Tarsier and Pangolin wild especially since they'd be new wild families for me! Have you seen any since, @Hix ?
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@Giant Eland I've seen Colugo in the wild in Singapore and a pangolin on display in the Singapore Night Zoo. The Aye-aye and tarsier are gettable if I was travelling some more (but I'm not at this stage).

And I did see that you got Dibatag (you lucky bastard!) - very jealous!

:p

Hix
 
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