A Few General Questions?

Apart from my great apes (though gorillas don't really excite me that much), I love Komodo dragons and any tiny colourful frog (I simply love searching for them!). I've also developed a fondness for hornbills. I can walk past most hoof stock and not really bother, though I love okapi and rhino.

I've actually surprised myself by picking these species, the question has really made me think about what I MUST see.

I also like to watch any animal exhibiting interesting/active behaviour.
 
I would travel for Birds, Monitors, Wolves, Cats, Old World Monkey's and a few other Rare mammals

Again I am one of the people who for some reason have not got as much heart to go and see a large ape don't know why but it's only happened over the last couple of years
 
Gorillas and Chimpanzees do nothing at all for me. I would not cross the road to see a Giant Panda. As far as mammals go, I'd love to see the 1960s/70s staples return and if Cetaceans came back to the UK I'd be overjoyed.

I can happily admire just about all species of bird, although maybe not Ostriches (much as I like other Ratites), but not surprisingly Parrots come top of my list just ahead of Toucans, Hornbills, Cranes, Touracos, Francolins.....I'll leave it there - I can think of quite a few more.

Reptiles and Amphibians mmm, Fishes not really nor Invertebrates.
 
Most primates although chimps/bonobos do absolutely nothing for me.

Have never seen the appeal of canids either [domestic aside].

Strangely enough i used to love ALL big cats when i was younger but that's kind of waned as ive got older,tigers & clouded leopards still fascinate me though.

Birds but not waterfowl or prey,love reps & amps[expecially frogs]

Never got the thing with eles either.

Im sure there's more.
 
My favourites, i love Gorillas, but Wolverine, Honey Badger and Armadillo have a strange pulling power for me. Still yet to see Aardvarks, but i've just found out Chester have them, and i'm going there next month. Hyena, and the way Port Lympne have prevented people from seeing theirs is almost criminal are also one of my favourites. But in my opinion the most beautiful and peculiar creature i have ever seen is the Picasso Triggerfish.
 
IanRRobinson said:
It would be interesting, nonetheless, to swap notes about what species posters find exciting..........

.......Do other posters share similar quirks?
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Yes, I’m sure we all have our own particular quirks about the species that interest us the most.

Seeing almost any rare species that I’ve never seen before will always excite me but, generally speaking, mammals are the animals that interest me the most.

Ungulates (both Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla) are definitely my favourites especially wild asses, zebras, rhinos, hippos, chevrotains, takins and antelopes (in particular the smaller species such as duikers). Sirenians, too, are particular favourites.

Again, I’m another person who doesn’t get excited by great apes; as far as primates are concerned I much prefer guenons and the more rarely-seen colobine monkeys such douc langurs, snub-nosed monkeys and proboscis monkeys.

When it comes to birds, cassowaries, hornbills and toucans are probably my favourites although anything unusual such as a shoebill or a kagu will certainly grab my attention. Pheasants, though, leave me completely cold for some reason.

Certain freshwater fish such as lungfish, paddlefish and arowanas are also animals that greatly interest me.
 
Pheasants, though, leave me completely cold for some reason
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A pair each of Bulwer's wattled, and Blood Pheasants, Western Tragopans and Sclater's Monals at London might make you change your mind...;)
 
I try not to have favourites: I work on the theory that any species which is happy, healthy and properly displayed should be worth careful observation.
But of course I'm only human - some species are just too beautiful or too interesting, so I must confess to special likings for African freshwater pipefish, angwantibo, blue-crowned lories, bottle-nosed dolphins, Demidoff's galagos, Everglades pygmy sunfish, gentle lemurs ;), golden-headed lion tamarins, golden mantellas, gorillas, kowari, Lamprologus ocellatus, neon day geckos and several dozen others. I must also confess to a fairly irrational dislikes of caecilians, camels, Clarias species and some of the other rather monstrous catfishes (plus a few others whose names don't begin with a letter C).

Alan

PS To go back to another of the initial questions; I love the idea of a National Bird collection (the name of Walsrode-on-Trent springs to mind for some reason) but this doesn't seem to be the right time as current collections are having hard times for example Leeds Castle is closing and Harewood is shrinking.
 
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