5 Must See Species Before You Die

I've seen indri in the wild, as well as several of the listed animals in zoos. These include eastern gorillas at Antwerp and Chester (I know there's some argument about whether the female gorillas are both eastern lowland gorillas or if one of them is a mountain gorilla. I've also seen platypus (Taronga), giant armadillo (London), saiga (Berlin TP and Cologne), various takins (several zoos), proboscis monkey (Cologne, Bronx)red uakari (Cologne, Los Angeles), Jentink's duiker (Berlin TP), giant panda (Paris, Berlin Zoo, London), Sumatran rhino (San Diego, Bronx, Port Lympne), pacarana (Frankfurt), zebra duiker (Los Angeles) and Komodo dragon (several zoos).

It is very daunting to try and list 5 animals I haven't seen before. If I can include species that may still exist, but have been kept in zoos, my list is as follows:

Thylacine
Solenodon (either species)
Diademed sifaka
Flying lemur (either species)
Saola
 
If I pick an extinct species, do I get to live longer in the hope of seeing it? If so, Pink-headed Duck will do nicely ;I have handled a skin, and live in hope someone will rediscover the living bird. After that, there's always the Crested Shelduck......
 
For me (I don't know about Den)

1. Sri Lankan Leopard
2. Beluga
3. Guinean cock-of-the-rock
4. Brown Caiman
5. Spix Macaw

Some are not the most adventerous but I struggled to pick some that I would like to see that arent in lots of places :D
 
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My 5 are (in no particular order):-
Any snub-nosed monkey species
Javan rhino
Arabian leopard
Saiga
Mediteranean monk seal

Quite surprised that no-one else has mentioned monk seals or any other rare pinnipeds! :)
 
Regulars who know my interests will find this as no surprise

1) marbled cat
2) bornean bay cat
3) african golden cat
4) guigna
5) andean cat


I guess age and region have a lot to do with the lists, because several animals that people list I have seen and do not think much of it. These include sumatran rhino (Los Angeles, San Diego, Bronx, Cincinnati), zebra duiker (Cincinnati), jentinks duiker (Brownsville), giant panda (Memphis, San Diego, Washington DC), saiga (both San Diegos), california condor (both San Diegos and Los Angeles from a distance on the horse/hiking trail), red uakari (Los Angeles), and iberian lynx (Sierra de Andujar National Park). The statement about me not thinking much of it does NOT apply to the last species mentioned :D.
 
In no particular order
jaguarundi
marine otter
bornean pygmy elephant
mountain gorilla
South China Tiger

If I could go back in time I would love to see Snowflake the gorilla.
 
@BRUM: this is why i love animals because you just introduced me to one amazing creature the Mediterranean monk seal. so dont be suprised just be glad that you showed me and maybe others this beatiful animal. thks
 
I may be cheating a little bit:D but already did one list going to do another.
1)Kakapo
2)Pygmy Three-toed Sloth
3)Vaquita
4)Pygmy Hog
5)Leatherback Turtle
 
jusko88 said:
@BRUM: this is why i love animals because you just introduced me to one amazing creature the Mediterranean monk seal. so dont be suprised just be glad that you showed me and maybe others this beatiful animal. thks
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No problem! :D Surely you've heard of the Hawaiian monk seal though? Sea World San Antonio houses some rescue animals but I have no idea if they're on show. I'm fairly certain nowhere has Mediteraneans though so my only hope is getting on a boat and cruising the Med and considering their rarity they could be quite tricky to spot! :(
 
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This is HARD. Having thought it through, I have to go with marine species:

Great white shark
Blue whale
Sperm whale
Narwhal
Leopard seal (off exhibit when I visited Taronga a few years ago)
 
JBZvolunteer said:
In no particular order
jaguarundi
marine otter
bornean pygmy elephant
mountain gorilla
South China Tiger

If I could go back in time I would love to see Snowflake the gorilla.
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I had the chance to visit the zoo in Barcelona and like an idiot didn't do it. Then Snowflake died three years later.
 
Copito de Nieve was cremated and a statue was placed in the barcelona zoo. There is a picture of it somewhere on the barcelona zoo gallery. I saw Copito about a year before his death, he had a cancer developing under his armpit. yet surrounded by his female companions and offspring, he seemed to face his ailment with, dare i say, great diginity.
I also saw keiko, the orca, in his capitivity at reino Aventura. Mexico City, and it was a sad to see him withstand the horrible surroundings.
When i studied in Chicago, i saw tasmanian devils at Brookfield zoo and at Lincoln Park zoo or maybe was it Toronto zoo on a canadian visit. I will probably never see these fascinating animals again.
Many zoos in Mexico and Latin America have Jaguarundis. Surprised to see them on this post so often.
 
I saw Snowflake in 2001, he was magnificent and at the same time, a bit eerie. To this day I don't think I've sat and watched a single zoo animal as long as I watched him that day.

I didn't realize that Tasmanian devils were all but gone from zoos outside of Australia. They definitely had at least one in Toronto, and in Cincinnati in the not-too-distant past. Given that, I'm surprised it's not on more of these lists.
 
If im correct, I think the last zoo in north america to have a tasmanian devil was Fort Wayne children's zoo in the state of Indiana. such a amazing marsupial and it's vanishing in front of our eyes.
 
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