A Guide to the Rarities of Europe

[Rayane]

That is interesting and I've definitely observed this trend too, could this be because of France's links to Madagascar due to it being a former French colony ?

While everything @amur leopard says is right, I think the tight connection between France and Madagascar definitely helped the lemur population settle in french zoos.
The french department of Mayotte is an island part of the Comoros archipelago, and an introduced population of brown lemurs lives there. Eulemur fulvus are often referred as Mayotte's brown lemur in French zoos, they're held at 11 different collections.

Zoo de Vincennes had very interesting species in the last 20st century. To name a few : Red-tailed sportive lemur, Hairy-eared dwarf lemur, Fork-marked lemur.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

It isn't so much number of species as just number of individuals and zoos that have them. I think the reason for the high number of lemurs is mainly because they are low-maintenance, fairly entertaining species that fit in with the general ethos of 'a large forested patch of land is good enough'. That being said, it is possible that the speaking of French on Madagascar may have facilitating Vincennes' acquiring of so many rare lemur species from Madagascar, so you could well be right .

Yes, I totally agree that these are also probably other motives for French zoos keeping lemurs but I do think that the colonial and language connection to Madagascar may also be at least to some extent a cause too.

While everything @amur leopard says is right, I think the tight connection between France and Madagascar definitely helped the lemur population settle in french zoos.
The french department of Mayotte is an island part of the Comoros archipelago, and an introduced population of brown lemurs lives there. Eulemur fulvus are often referred as Mayotte's brown lemur in French zoos, they're held at 11 different collections.

Zoo de Vincennes had very interesting species in the last 20st century. To name a few : Red-tailed sportive lemur, Hairy-eared dwarf lemur, Fork-marked lemur.

Totally agree, I think there must be quite a tight connection between the two countries and I imagine that historically a lot of lemur species arrived and were kept in French zoos before being kept by zoos in other European capitals.

Some of the older zoochatters here have written posts before about seeing their first aye-ayes in the Paris zoo for example.

 

[Therabu]

It was common at the time to bring back from the colonies a baby lemur or guenon. A fair percentage of the time, the animal did not go well with his keepers and was donated to the local zoo.
In my opinion, that is the best explanation to the historical strong focus French institutions have with African primates.

I am quite impressed by the Beauval rarities count, the tropical Dome have strongly reinforce it with many rare freshwater fish species.

L'Aquarium Tropical de la Porte Dorée is currently undergoing a total renovation and is now closed for more than two years I think. It was expected to open again in March, but reopening will depends on the sanitary context. Let's see if they keep with all species previously managed but the tropical freshwaters will stay the strong focus.

 

[amur leopard]

Germany

By far the largest country for zoos in Europe, Germany is a must-visit for any Zoochatter wanting to see the best Europe has to offer. According to ZTL, there are 1238 collections in Germany. As a result, I will be covering the country in six more or less equal parts - this first post will cover A,B,C, the next will be D,E,F,G, the next will be H,I,J,K, the next L,M,N,O, the next Ö, P, R, S and the last T,Ü,U,V,W,Z. Each of these has far more zoos than the average European country.

So here goes:

Abensberg - Orange-fronted parakeet (NS).

Amelingshausen - Pearl-spottted owlet.

Angermünde - African grass rat.

Annaberg-Buchholz - Black-backed kalij.

Zoo Aschersleben - Gordon's wildcat, Hamlyn's monkey.

Zoo der Minis (Aue) - Hausa genet, Matthey's mouse, Least weasel, Taiwan Reeves' muntjac.

Zoo Augsburg

A fairly large collection in Bavaria, with a particularly nice bird collection. Two unique species of twinspot along with Ruby topazes top the list of rarities here.

Mammals: Bearded capuchin, Bengal slow loris.

Birds: Black-headed lapwing, Black-necked grebe, Blue ground-dove, Brown-breasted barbet, Curlew sandpiper, Dybowski's twinspot, Green-backed twinspot, Lavender waxbill, Magellanic penguin, Purple grenadier, Ornate lorikeet, Red pileated finch, Red-billed firefinch, Ruby topaz, Silver-beaked tanager, Spectacled parrotlet, White-lined tanager, White-eared bulbul.

Reptiles: Hernandez's helmeted basilisk, Huachuca mountain kingsnake, Mount Kenya three-horned chameleon, Reunion day gecko, Vietnamese crocodile lizard.

In summary, 25 rarities, of which 4 are unique in Europe and a further 1 is only found in a couple of the continent's institutions.

Bad Blankenburg - North African lanner falcon.

Bad Kissingen - Plum-headed finch.

Bad Liebenstein - Barking deer, Plains viscacha, Spix's saddle-back tamarin.

Bad Segeberg - Banded knob-tailed gecko, Kellen's African dormouse, Matthey's mouse, Smooth knob-tailed gecko.

Bansin - Ecuadorian ground-dove, Ruddy quail-dove.

Bayreuth - Buffy laughingthrush

Beilrode - Haitian curly-tailed lizard, Müller's sand boa, Northern pine snake, Persian rat snake, Peters' lava lizard, Rough-tailed gecko, Texas toad.

Beilstein - Indian white-headed griffon vulture.

Bendorf Sayn - Jamaican slider, Southern painted turtle, Yarrow's spiny lizard.

Aquadom Berlin

This is not a complete list - as I explain further down with Berlin Zoo, it is very difficult to make a vaguely accurate list of rarities that doesn't waste a ton of time.

Fish: Bastard grunt, Black-spot surgeonfish, Fire-tail devil, Indo-Pacific tarpon, Orange-socket surgeonfish, Sabah dottyback, Severns' wrasse, Yellowtail tamarin wrasse.

Tierpark Berlin

One of the largest collections in Germany, and may well have the largest rarity count when one discounts all fish. The park grew somewhat to compete with the Zoo on the Western side during the Cold War, and hence the competition between the two gave rise to two of the best urban zoos one can find anywhere, both in the same city. The Tierpark is famed for its massive collection or cervids and caprids, but one often glosses over its excellent bird and reptile collections, which are also definitely worth a mention and incidentally both with more rarities than the zoo.

As for individual rarities, there are many to choose from. The Tierpark boasts the only Barbary stags, Central American margays, Chinese hwameis, Taiwan liocichlas and Burnished buff-tanagers in Europe, as well as sharing the title of only Gerenuk holders on the continent with its Western counterpart. This is a truly special collection - perhaps not quite as large as Plzon, Prague or Zoo Berlin (when one factors in fish), but impressive and certainly worth visiting nonetheless - perhaps even more so if/when the only pikas in Europe go on show.

Mammals: Arabian small-spotted genet, Arabian striped hyena, Barbary stag, Barren Ground musk ox, Bawean deer, Central African ratel, Central American margay, Chacoan peccary, Chinese hamster, Crete spiny mouse, Daurian pika, Eastern wallaroo, Himalayan striped squirrel, Indian sambar deer, Javan leopard, Javan rusa, Malayan tiger, Manitoba elk, Marco Polo sheep, Neumann's grass rat, Palawan leopard cat, Sichuan takin, Southern gerenuk, Southern mountain reedbuck, Transcapian urial, Unstriped tamandua, Venezuelan red howler, White-bearded masked palm civet.

Birds: Arabian partridge, Asian pied starling, Atlantic harlequin duck, Bangs' black parrot, Barred eagle owl, Berlioz's silver pheasant, Black-bellied sandgrouse, Black-headed greenfinch, Black-tailed gull, Black-throated laughingthrush (NS), Blue-cheeked amazon, Buffy laughingthrush, Burnished buff-tanager, Chinese babax, Chinese hwamei, Chinese spotted dove, Desert finch, Eastern brown pelican, Eastern wild turkey, Goliath heron, Grand eclectus parrot, Great bustard, Greater necklaced laughingthrush (picticollis), Green-mantled tanager, Grey-headed goldfinch, Harpy eagle, Indian pond-heron, Khivan pheasant, Koklass pheasant, Laughing gull, Lesser necklaced laughingthrush, Lesser yellow-headed vulture, Little pied cormorant, Martial eagle, Nile hadada, Northern festive amazon, Oriental bay owl, Oriental turtle dove, Paradise tanager (paradisea), Philippine rufous night heron, Red pileated finch, Rusty-barred owl, Scarlet-faced liocichla, Scintillating copper pheasant, Siberian thrush, Spectacled eider, Spot-billed pelican, Sri Lankan spot-bellied eagle owl, Taiwan liocichla, White-browed laughingthrush, Yellow-faced amazon, Zerafshan pheasant.

Reptiles: African five-lined skink, Baird's rat snake, Bavay's giant gecko, Bell's forest lizard, Bismarck ringed python, Black wood turtle, Borneo skink, Branderhorst's snapping turtle, Central Vietnamese flowerback box turtle, Crevice spiny lizard, Cuban slider, East African black mud turtle, Forest hingeback tortoise, Japanese pond turtle, Moroccan cobra, Northern copperhead, Northern spider tortoise, Northwest Neotropical rattlesnake, Polillo false gecko, Red-cheeked mud turtle, South African bowsprit tortoise, South American rattlesnake, Southern brown tortoise, Stripe-necked leaf turtle, Taiwan yellow-margined box turtle, Texas longnose snake, Turner's gecko.

Amphibians: Chapa bug-eyed frog, Giant fire-bellied toad, Little rock frog, Vietnam crocodile newt.

Fish: Highfin spotted squeaker, Iquitos tiger pleco, Marungu cichlid, Orangestriped squeaker, Slender freshwater barracuda, Spotted prawn-goby, Temminck's bristlenosed catfish.

In summary, 120 rarities, of which 16 are unique in Europe and a further 20 are only found in a couple of the continent's institutions.

Berlin Voliere - Green rosella

Berlin Zoologischer Garten

The largest and most famous collection in Germany holds a spectacular collection full of rarities. The last Bornean bearded pig in Europe, the last Trumpet manucodes, and so much more reside here. The zoo happens to have a small rarity count in terms of mammals, birds and reptiles but redeems itself with its large aquarium.

NB: For those wondering why there is no fish species list but a random number has been added to the total rarity count, here is the explanation, and why it isn't random. My 'method' of counting fish rarities for countries other than Germany up to now has involved a combination of checking species that had a star next to them (meaning they aren't found in Germany) and checking species I hadn't heard of or had funny names. Not terribly thorough, but gets all the unique species and a fair few more, and while it definitely doesn't yield correct figures, I do end up with most of the rarities that are important to those interested.

However, there is a flaw in the plan, and that is that none of the species in German zoos have stars next to them (naturally, since they must all be found in German zoos). This means that my primary mode of generating a species list is gone, and so I have to, for now, rely on a game of averages. Having analysed the average percentage of species at various aquariums that were rarities, I came up with a ballpark figure for the zoo's fish rarity count - 105 rarities. for now, this will be my placeholder figure until I can get a more accurate picture thanks to @lintworm's help .

So here are the species lists:

Mammals: Ansell's mole rat, Bangka Prevost's squirrel, Bengal slow loris, Bornean bearded pig, Coruro, Eastern ring-tailed vontsira, Flower's gerbil, Graell's tamarin, Gray short-tailed opossum, Greater slow loris, Hamlyn's monkey, Malayan slow loris, Northern narrow-striped boky, Sichuan takin, Southern gerenuk, Southern springhre, Toque macaque.

Birds: African quallfinch, African yellow white-eye, Black and white seedeater, Black-bellied sandgrouse, Black-faced dacnis, Black-faced go-away bird, Black-headed lapwing, Black-winged myna, Blue grosbeak, Blue-capped cordon-bleu, Brown-hooded kingfisher, Channel-billed toucan, Coroneted fruit dove, Double-banded finch (NS), East African white-bellied bustard, Germain's peacock pheasant, Golden-headed manakin, Grey-headed oliveback, Indian pond-heron, Indochinese pied starling, Kagu, Long-tailed fiscal, Northern brown kiwi, Orange-bellied leafbird, Orange-fronted fruit dove, Orange-headed thrush, Paradise tanager (paradisea), Puna flamingo, Red-bellied fruit dove, Red-winged pytilia, Rueppell's glossy starling, Spotted palm-thrush, Taveta golden weaver, Trumpet manucode, Uganda red-billed firefinch, Wattled lapwing, Western bluebill, Western orange-bellied fruit dove, Western rockhopper penguin, White-bellied go-away bird, White-eared catbird, White-fronted bee-eater, White-rumped seedeater, White-winged blue-grey tanager, Yellow-crowned gonolek.

Reptiles: Bosk's fringe-toed lizard, Fiji short-crested iguana, Four-lined girdled lizard, Gharial, Northern Pilbara rock monitor, Puerto Rican boa, Red-sided curly-tailed lizard, Reisinger's tree monitor, Savigny's agama, Scorpion mud turtle, Short-tailed horned lizard, Spotted Martinique anole, Trans Pecos copperhead, Tuatara.

Amphibians: Algerian ribbed newt, Barking tree frog, Brongersma's toad, Budgett frog, Bumble bee toad, Burmese squat frog, Cayenne caecilian, Chinese warty newt, Greenhouse frog, Lesser siren, Lesser snouted treefrog, Perak horned toad, Riobamba marsupial frog, Spotted poison frog, Spurrell's treefrog, Taylor's tree frog, Tiger-striped leaf frog, Yellow stream frog.

In summary, 199 rarities (94 without fish estimate), of which 17 (of the 94) are unique in Europe and a further 10 are only found in a couple of the continent's collections.

Berlin (Marienfelde) - Durango mountain kingsnake

Tiergarten Bernburg - Central Asian lynx, Pale spear-nosed bat, Australian black duck, Great bustard, Hildebrandt's starling, Layard's bulbul, Stone partridge, Western dwarf clawed frog, Slender buffalohead cichlid.

Tierpark Birkenheide - White-browed coucal.

Vogelpark Bobenheim - Common swift, East African tawny eagle, Eastern common crane, Indochinese moustached parakeet, Spotted owlet.

Tierpark Bochum

A medium-sized zoo with a couple of nice rarities, the most obvious being the only Ringed tree boa in Europe.

Mammals: Egypt hedgehog, Fat sand rat, Grey slender loris.

Birds: Brush bronzewing, Eastern hill myna, Northern little ringed plover.

Reptiles: Ringed tree boa.

Fish: Black paradisefish, Bullseye snakehead, Croaking gourami, Fireback snakehead, Schwartz's catfish, Twoline cory.

Museum Koenig, Bonn

A collection I had not previously heard about but is actually a very special place, with some really nice rarities, particularly fish rarities.

Reptiles: Chinese water skink, Malayan snail-eating turtle.

Amphibians: Black-spotted rock frog, Bloody Bay poison frog, Green puddle frog, Round-tongued floating frog.

Fish: Bali goby, Banded serpent loach, Beautiful hillstream loach, Behr's carp, Borneo hornet catfish, Chinese yellow-fin goby, Croaking gourami, Evers' ricefish, Eyespot snakehead, Long-fin glass catfish, Mackerel barb, Marble goby, One-pore goby, Red-backed paradisefish, Sarasins minnow, Spotted algae eater, Spotted butterfly loach, Stoliczka's barb, Sulawesi regal halfbeak.

In summary, 25 rarities, of which 12 are unique in Europe and a further 2 are only found in a couple of the continent's collections.

Reptilienschutzzentrum Brandenburg - Taylor's strange agama.

Arche Noah Zoo, Braunschweig - Eastern spotted skunk.

Naturhistorisches Museum Braunschweig - Betsileo Madagascar frog, Forktail blenny.

Klimahaus Bremerhaven

A really interesting collection I hadn't heard of before - very small, but packed with rarities, particularly European lizard species. Visit if you are interested, there are many species that you can't see anywhere else.

Mammals: Levant vole.

Reptiles: Black emo skink, European leaf-toed gecko, Fiji short-crested iguana, Fitzinger's algyroides, Franco-Italian pond turtle, Horseshoe whipsnake, Northern Italian wall lizard, Senegal flap-shelled turtle, Tenerife wall gecko, Tyrrhenian wall lizard, Yellow-bellied house gecko.

Amphibians: Riggenbach's reed frog, Sardinian brook salamander, Tyrrhenian painted frog.

Fish: Black-mouth Cameroon tilapia, Pacific spiny lumpsucker, Short-finned Congo tetra, South European toothcarp, Ufermann's cichlid, Yellowhead moray.

In summary, 21 species, of which 6 are unique in Europe and a further 7 are only found in a couple of the continent's institutions.

Zoo am Meer, Bremerhaven - Mountain hare, Siberian red squirrel.

Vogelpark Bruchsal-Untergrombach - Black-chinned siskin, Blue grosbeak.

Burg Meereszentrum - Collared large-eye bream, Southseas devil, Tiger reef-eel.

Serpentarium Calden-Meimbressen

Another small and interesting place, this collection appears to love adders. It has a fair few rarities for a place of its size.

Reptiles: Alpine viper, Black tree snake, Great Lakes bush viper, Many-horned viper, Mountain adder, Namaqua dwarf adder, Peringuey's adder, Sahara rock viper, Timber rattlesnake, Water cobra, Western Montpellier snake, Western Russell's viper.

Amphibians: Giant fire-bellied toad.

In summary, 13 rarities, of which 2 are unique in Europe and 3 more are only found in a couple of the continent's institutions.

Tierpark Chemnitz

One of the most interesting places in Germany, this zoo has the greatest collection of amphibians in Europe and possibly the world. It holds a stunning 47 amphibian rarities. Other than this, it is a fairly normal collection, but its enormous list of salamanders and newts in particular make it noteworthy, and a collection to visit if these are high on your list.

Mammals: Gordon's wildcat, Mesic four-striped grass rat, Ornate spider monkey.

Birds: African pied starling, African yellow white-eye, Green woodhoopoe, Lewis' silver pheasant, Mountain quail, Long-tailed fiscal, Orange-bellied leafbird, Oriental magpie-robin, Sri Lankan junglefowl.

Reptiles: Barbados anole.

Amphibians: Anderson's salamander, Central Spanish fire salamander, Common midwife toad, Cyan newt, Danube crested newt, Dunn's oriental salamander, Dusky salamander, Fornastini's spiny reed frog, Giant fire-bellied toad, Greater siren, Green puddle frog, Hokkaido salamander, Hellbender, Hong Kong newt, Italian alpine newt, La Palm glass frog, Lanza's alpine salamander, Lesser siren, Little rock frog, Marbled newt, Marbled salamander, Mexican burrowing caecilian, Moroccan painted frog, North African fire salamander, Orange-eyed tree frog, Orange-legged leaf frog, Oviedo fire salamander, Paddle-tail newt, Pied warted treefrog, Portuguese fire salamander, Red salamander, Red-legged pan frog, Riggenbach's reed frog, Riobamba marsupial frog, Roughskin newt, Sasayama fire-bellied newt, Seal salamander, Siberian salamander, Smoky jungle frog, Southern crested newt, Spotted poison frog, Wallace's flying frog, Wanggao warty newt, White-spottted reed frog, Yellow stream frog, Yellow-striped poison frog, Yucatan casque-headed tree frog.

In summary, 60 rarities, of which 12 are unique in Europe and a further 10 are only found in a couple of the continent's collections.

Tierpark Cottbus

This medium-sized zoo's main claim to fame is to be one of only two remaining collections with Baird's tapir. It does have a few more rarities though.

Mammals: Baird's tapir, Black-rumped agouti, Pere David's rock squirrel.

Birds: Aleutian cackling goose, Chinese spot-billed duck, Dusky Canada goose.


So, that is the first part of Germany! I will now take a small break and resume Germany imminently. Hope this is useful .

 

[Coelacanth18]

I somehow missed Aschersleben picking up a pair of Hamlyn's Monkeys! An interesting development indeed. Also pleasantly surprised to see that the amphibian collection at Chemnitz is not just large, but choc-full of rarities as well.

Noticed one thing omitted: Berlin Zoo also has Andean Flamingo, a second species of flamingo shared only between it and Slimbridge.

 

[Chlidonias]

Zoo de Nouméa

Mammals: Loyalty ornate flying fox, Javan rusa, New Caledonia flying fox, New Caledonian ornate flying fox, Pacific flying fox.

Birds: Australasian goshawk, Australasian swamphen, Australian barn owl, Brown-capped emerald dove, Buff-banded rail, Cloven-feathered dove, Deplanche's lorikeet, Green-backed white-eye, Kagu, New Caledonia crow, New Caledonian friarbird, New Caledonian sacred kingfisher, New Caledonian imperial pigeon, New Caledonian metallic pigeon, New Caledonian parakeet, New Caledonian peregrine falcon, Ouvea parakeet, Pacific marsh-harrier, Red-bellied fruit dove, Whistling kite, White-bellied goshawk.

Reptiles: Garnier's giant skink, Mary River turtle, Pacific tree boa, Robust forest gecko, Sarasin's forest gecko.

In summary, 31 rarities, of which 21 are unique and a further 6 are only found in a couple of institutions.

This post made me do an updated species list for the zoo [here: Parc Zoologique et Forestier [Nouméa Zoo]]

There are a couple of birds no longer kept which are on your list, but there are also several "new" ones, as well as quite a lot of endemic lizards added, so your total rarities would be much higher now.

 

[amur leopard]

Thank you! Good to see that most of the native birds in particular are still there and that more have been added. I'll make an updated list later.

 

[CrashMegaraptor]

Ah, good ol' Berlin Zoo. I went there a few years back, largely to see the then-new Giant Pandas, and got treated to the kiwi, gerenuk and gharial.

Oh, but I DID see the pandas, to clarify.

 

[twilighter]

Great thread @amur leopard ! Thank you for the efforts. It will be a good reference for years to come. Let's hope that we can use it soon, though I already shortlisted one interesting place, never heard of - Bad Liebenstein.

 

[Enzo]

I can't wait until we get to Portugal.

 

[Batto]

Calden also keeps and breeds a newly described water cobra species, the dwarf water cobra (Naja nana).
New species of semi-aquatic cobra described from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

And yes - the owner is a big fan of the Bitis genus.

 

[amur leopard]

Right, small break over. Here is the second part of Germany (D,E,F,G). This sections covers some big(ish) names (Dresden, Duisburg, Dortmund, Aquazoo Dusseldorf, Erfurt and of course Frankfurt).

Darmstadt Vivarium

A good collection with a few rarities, notably the only House geckos in Europe:

Reptiles: Aldrovandi's skink, House gecko, Major skink, Oaxacan spiny-tailed iguana, Paulson's Pacific boa, Timber rattlesnake.

Amphibians: African common toad, Hong Kong newt.

Fish: Perugia's limia.

Tiergarten Delitzsch - Leverett's hillstream loach.

Tierpark Dessau - Elbe European beaver.

Vogelpark Detmold-Heiligenkirchen - Eastern red-tailed hawk, Lesser yellow-headed vulture, Wedge-tailed eagle, Upland buzzard.

Zoo Dortmund

A fairly large zoo with a nice collection, including 4 unique species as well as Southern tigrinas.

Mammals: Angolan giraffe, Gray short-tailed opossum, Green acouchy, Guyanan kinkajou, Himalayan palm civet, Philippine palm civet, Southern tigrina.

Birds: Buffy laughingthrush, Chinese ring-necked pheasant, Crested bobwhite, Eared dove, Goliath heron, Himalayan grey peacock pheasant, Lesser kiskadee, Mountain quail, Peruvian thick-knee, Red pileated finch, Saffron finch.

Reptiles: Chiapas giant musk turtle, False cobra.

In summary, 20 rarities, of which 4 are unique in Europe and 1 more is only found in a couple of collection on the continent.

Dresden Botanical Garden - Bubblenest catfish, Ceylonese combtail, Isthmian priapella, Salt and Pepper catfish.

Zoo Dresden

Another big zoo in a big city, Dresden has a fairly long rarities list. Surprisingly no mammal rarities but a fair few bird rarities, particularly when it comes to native bird species (it has a few European aviaries).

Birds: Atlantic Harlequin duck, Bohemian waxwing, Brambling, Corncrake, Goldcrest, Grey wagtail, Little stint, Long-tailed fiscal, Long-tailed tit, Ortolan bunting, Red-backed shrike, Red-bellied parrot, Reed bunting, White-crowned wheatear, Willow tit.

Reptiles: Chameleon forest dragon, Eastern black-bridged leaf turtle, Merakue blue-tongued skink, Pink-tongued skink, Trinket ratsnake.

Amphibians: Brongersma's toad, Central Spanish fire salamander, Marbled newt.

Fish: Boadzulu cichlid.

In summary, 24 rarities, of which 1 is unique in Europe and a further 4 are only found in a couple of the continent's collections.

Duisburg Aquarium - Celia's aphysemion, Zebra obliquidens.

Zoo Duisburg

World-famous (in the zoo world) for being home to Baby the Amazon River dolphin up until very recently, Zoo Duisburg has a few other rarities besides the now sadly deceased cetacean.

Mammals: Australian wombat, Eastern putty-nosed monkey, Tasmanian devil, Wagner's gerbil, Western blue duiker.

Birds: Bar-shouldered dove, Oriental magpie-robin, Pink-headed imperial pigeon, Southern kori bustard, White-browed coucal.

Reptiles: Leach's anole, Regal girdled lizard.

Fish: Flagtail shrimpgoby, Great spotted loach, Kamohara fang blenny, Mauritian anemonefish, Mountain hardyhead, Vanderbilt's chromis.

In summary, 18 rarities, of which 3 are unique in Europe and a further 1 is only found in a couple of the continent's collections.

Aquazoo Düsseldorf

Another fairly big name, this place holds quite a few herps and fish in particular. As with Berlin and later Frankfurt, I will not be actually finding all the fish rarities but rather making an estimate based on previous percentages etc. If anybody actually really wants the fish rarities lists for here and Frankfurt, I will do them but it is quite a lot of work.

Mammals: Great Balkan brush-tailed mouse.

Reptiles: Bauer's chameleon gecko, Bavay's giant gecko, Brown wood turtle, Diamondback terrapin, Knob-scaled lizard, Mitchell's water monitor, Rough greensnake.

Amphibians: Chinese warty newt, Little rock frog, Pichincha poison, Pied warted treefrog, Red toad, Riobamba marsupial frog.

Fish: See above for explanation - 49 rarities.

In total, that is 63 rarities.

Zoo Eberswalde - Grey ratsnake, Peninsula cooter.

Vogelpark Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen - Jardine's parrot (NS)

Gifttierhaus Eimsheim

A place I hadn't heard of beforehand but actually appears to be quite a nice place. The terrariums are perhaps a bit small in places at a glance, though not sure which species they house so I can't say anything definitive. Anyway, a fairly impressive collection for a small place:

Reptiles: Banded rock rattlesnake, Chinese moccasin, Chinese tree viper, Gumprecht's green pitviper, Mangrove pitviper, Mexican moccasin, Rough-scaled death adder, Sulawesi mangrove snake, Terciopelo, Urutu, Venezuela lancehead, Venezuelan rattlesnake, Western barred spitting cobra, Western coral snake, Western massassauga.

Amphibians: Veined tree frog.

In summary, 16 rarities, of which 1 is unique in Europe and a further 3 are only found in a couple of the continent's collections.

Wildpark Einhausen - Central European nuthatch, Common linnet, Jones' silver pheasant.

Tiergarten Eisenberg - Neumann's grass rat.

Emsbüren - Blue-eyed cichlid.

Zoopark Erfurt

Another fairly big name, this time with a fairly impressive few mammal rarities and a good list of reptiles.

Mammals: Common red-backed vole, Dusky langur, Great Balkan brush-tailed mouse, Levant vole.

Birds: Northern crested caracara.

Reptiles: Common variable skink, Formentara wall lizard, Vaillant's mabuya, Vietnamese crocodile lizard, Little-tailed zonosaur, Zimbabwe girdled lizard.

Amphibians: Portuguese fire salamander.

In summary, 12 rarities, of which 2 are unique in Europe.

Vogelpark Eslarn (inexplicable love of crossbills?) - Himalayan crossbill, Parrot crossbill, Two-barred crossbill, White-winged grosbeak.

Tierpark Esslingen - Natal multimammate mouse, Abbott's sulphur-crested cockatoo.

Tiergehege Falkenstein - Common house sparrow, Costa Rica variegated squirrel.

Tiergarten Falkenstein - Meller's chameleon.

Tierpark Finsterwalde - Mesic four-striped grass rat.

Wildpark Föckelberg - Finnish goshawk.

Frankfurt Palmengarten - Congo stone sucker.

Zoo Frankfurt

One of the best zoos in Germany, Frankfurt appears to still have quite a lot of old infrastructure but also a very nice collection. Again, as with Berlin, I won't be writing out the fish but rather estimating how many of them would be rarities based on earlier counts and a few other factors. Frankfurt has a particularly impressive mammal list, with mouse opossums, a unique ssp. of black rhino and dwarf lemurs, but also a nice herp list, with several unique species.

Mammals: Black-tailed garden dormouse, Black and rufous sengi, Aye-aye, Common water rat, Eastern quoll, Green acouchy, Kowari, Lesser Egyptian jerboa, Linnaeus's mouse opossum, Grey slender loris, Pale golden spiny mouse, Seurat's spiny mouse, South-central black rhinoceros, Southern springhare, Western fat-tailed dwarf lemur, Yellow-backed duiker.

Birds: Blue-necked tanager, Northern brown kiwi, Sociable weaver.

Reptiles: Angulated tortoise, Black-knobbed map turtle, Chicken turtle, Emperor flat lizard, Gray's keeled skink, Hispaniolan stout anole, MacDougall's spiny lizard, Mitchell's water monitor, Philby's ornate mastigure, Rough-scaled python, Smith's tropical night lizard, Texas spiny softshell, Yellow fan-fingered gecko, Yellow-blotched map turtle.

Amphibians: Cayenne caecilian, Cuvier's foam froglet, Mexican treefrog, Vicente's poison frog, Yucatan casque-headed tree frog.

Fish: As explained above, 35 rarities,

In summary, 73 rarities.

Frankfurt Schwanheim - Prairie rattlesnake.

Tiergehege Freiburg - White-headed dwarf gecko, Kim Howell's dwarf gecko.

Tierpark Friesoythe - Red-mantled saddle-back tamarin, Toque macaque, Buff-necked ibis, Green oropendola, Red-billed oxpecker.

Aquarium Fulda - Blue-eyed cochliodon.

Reptilienzoo Füssen - Basilisk rattlensnake, Coastal taipan, Field's viper, Oustalet's chameleon, Persian horned viper, Trans-Pecos copperhead, Chaco horned frog, Parry's bullfrog, Rainbow stiphiodon.

Zoom Gelsenkirchen - Dongola small-spotted genet, Philippine palm civet, Red-tailed moustached monkey.

Tierpark Gettorf - Yemeni spiny-tailed lizard.

Vogeninsel Gladbeck - Eastern hill myna.

Froschhaus Göcklingen - Agile frog, Common midwife toad, Moor frog, Palmate newt, Parsley frog.

Tierpark Görlitz - Chinese yellow-headed box turtle, Common rock sparrow, Himalayan crossbill, Indian golden-headed goby, Lesser necklaced laughingthrush.

Tierpark Gotha - Moor macaque, Rusty-spotted genet, Syrian brown bear.

Grafenau - Hazel grouse, Mistle thrush.

Greifvogelpark Grafenwiesen - African hawk-eagle, African pygmy-falcon, Bicolored hawk, Siberian golden eagle.

Groß-Rohrheim - Mew gull.

And that is the second installment of Germany done! Sorry for the delay. 410 out of 1238 collections in Germany covered and 35% of the entirety of Europe done now! Once Germany is completed, that number will be more like 57%, since Germany is home to a third of all European collections eek.

Next it'll be H,I,J and K.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Surprisingly no mammal rarities but a fair few bird rarities, particularly when it comes to native bird species (it has a few European aviaries).

One of its main mammal rarities - Etruscan Shrew - ceased to be so because of how copiously Dresden has bred and dispersed the species

 

[Batto]

A place I hadn't heard of beforehand but actually appears to be quite a nice place. The terrariums are perhaps a bit small in places at a glance, though not sure which species they house so I can't say anything definitive. Anyway, a fairly impressive collection for a small place:

It is a very nice place, indeed. The enclosure sizes for most of the species were anything but small, and it will be even more spacious once the renovation is done.

 

[CrashMegaraptor]

Funny thing is, when I went to Duisberg, the wombats weren't visible and they didn't have the tassies. But I did see the Bustards...and, of course, Baby.

 

[amur leopard]

And here is the next installment! Thanks to a pretty big shift in the past few days I have completed Germany up to L as well as all of Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco and Montenegro and started on the Netherlands, which in total is about 520 collections covered in a few days. Won't be able to keep up that kind of rate but I am now halfway on Germany and Europe as a whole.

The post below is Germany H,I,J,K and then after that I will do Greece, Hungary, Iceland and Ireland. I reckon either Germany L,M,N,O or Italy to Montenegro will follow. Either way, more posts coming imminently!

PS: I also trust you have got the hang of the bolding and underlining thing by now as I won't be explaining it below every large zoo any more .

Zoo Halle

A fairly large place with a good list of rarities, with Eastern aardwolves and Cape weavers as the main highlights.

Mammals: Caucasian squirrel, Eastern aardwolf, Hispid cotton rat, Spix's saddle-back tamarin, Wagner's gerbil.

Birds: Boehm's buffalo weaver, Cape weaver, Chinese red-whiskered bulbul, Eastern brown pelican, Hawaiian duck, Lake duck, Orange-bellied leafbird.

Reptiles: Dominican anole, South African Nile crocodile.

Fish: Giant hatchetfish, Whitespotted eartheater.

In summary, 16 rarities with 3 underlined.

Tierpark Hagenbeck

A collection with quite the history, beginning in 1863 with animals owned by Carl Hagenbeck Sr, which were then handed down to Carl Hagenbeck Jr, who reshaped the zoo and introduced major reforms to the zoo world at the time with his influential moated exhibits. These were designed to make the exhibits look more naturalistic, and even though they were largely still concrete, it did gain popularity throughout Europe and even across the pond, where zoos like Milwaukee still use the concept frequently. In terms of rarities, the place holds a large collection of birds together with a decent but not too gifted (in terms of rarities at least) mammal collection. This combined with a large collection of fish make it a fairly large collection of rarities. Again, the fish are an estimate because I don't really have the time or patience to sift through every single species, but I promise this, or another method, will be done later for those who are desperately in need for the fish rarities of German zoos .

Mammals: Pacific walrus, Rocky Mountain wapiti.

Birds: African three-banded plover, Atlantic harlequin duck, Chestnut-bellied sparrow lark, Common murre, Eastern wild turkey, Hildebrandt's starling, King eider, Long-tailed duck, Melba finch, Razorbill, Red-billed oxpecker, Red-browed firetail, Red-throated twinspot, Speckle-fronted weaver, Taveta golden weaver, Uganda red-billed firefinch, White-fronted bee-eater, White-throated bee-eater.

Reptiles: Schokari sand racer, Shield-nose snake.

Amphibians: Folohy golden mantella, Variable poison dart frog.

Fish: 35 rarities approx. See above for more.

In total, that is 69 rarities.

Tierpark Hamm - Grey gibbon, Tunisian spur-thighed tortoise.

Zoo Hannover - American woodland caribou, Fat sand rat, Javan elephant, Eastern sand boa, Jayakar lizard.

Hannover Landesmuseum - Crete spiny mouse + fish

Hannover SeaLife - Spotted Martinique anole + fish

Wildpark Lüneberger Heide - Barren Ground musk ox, Rocky Mountain wapiti.

Zoo Heidelberg

A fairly small place but still a nice species list, with Tarai grey langurs, Asian golden cats and vontsiras.

Mammals: Common hamster, Eastern ring-tailed vontsira, Pale golden spiny mouse, Syrian brown bear, Tarai grey langur, Tibetan golden cat.

Birds: African pied hornbill, Amazonian sunbittern, Atlantic harlequin duck, Lake duck, Luzon hornbill, Peruvian thick-knee, Reed bunting, Timor sulphur-crested cockatoo, White-spotted bluethroat, Yellow-crowned gonolek.

Reptiles: Brown horn-headed lizard.

In summary, 17 rarities of which 3 are bolded and 1 is underlined.

Tierpark Hirschfeld - Moor macaque.

Serengeti-Park Hodenhagen - Nubian red-necked gazelle.

Zoo Hof - Pale Usisya chameleon, Oriental turtle-dove.

Zoo Hoyerswerda - Honduras boat-billed heron, Nicaraguan slider, Santa Cruz giant tortoise.

Ibbenbüren

Somewhat a revelation for me at least - hadn't heard of this place before really. Has quite the collection of turtles in particular, with on Turtle Island in Graz surpassing it in that respect so far (so far).

Reptiles: African dwarf mud turtle, Black-knobbed map turtle, Black-bellied slider, Cagle's map turtle, Chiapas giant musk turtle, Eastern painted turtle, Four-eyed turtle, Gibba toadhead turtle, Indian black turtle, Indian roofed turtle, Japanese pond turtle, Malayan snail-eating turtle, Peninsula cooter, Red-cheeked mud turtle, Reimann's snake-necked turtle, Ringed map turtle, Southern painted turtle, Spotted-legged turtle, Stripe-necked turtle, Striped mud turtle, Tabasco mud turtle, Texas map turtle, White-lipped mud turtle, White-throated mud turtle.

In summary, 24 rarities, of which 1 is bolded and 6 more are underlined.

Naturlebnispark Ibbenbüren - Anderson's salamander, Fringebarbel sturgeon, Nichol's mouthbrooder.

Kleinzoo Ingolstadt - Vietnam crocodile newt.

Isselburg-Vehlingen - Levant vole.

Jaderpark Jaderberg - Grey-backed thrush, Spotted butterfly lizard.

Schmetterlingshaus Jonsdorf - Madagascar velvet gecko, Seychelles bronze gecko, Seychelles skink.

Aquarium Kaiserslautern - Cacao bristlenosed catfish, Chinese hillstream loach.

Zoo Kaiserslautern - Matthey's mouse.

Zoo Karlsruhe

Another fairly big zoo in a fairly big city, Karlsruhe is good for birds and fish. Highlights include the unique in Europe Red-eared parrotfinch.

Mammals: Southern long-nosed bat

Birds: Deplanche's lorikeet, Egyptian plover, Fiji parrotfinch, Lake duck, Mount Goliath stella lory, Oriental magpie robin, Red and white crake, Red-eared parrotfinch, Tambourine dove.

Amphibians: Brazil nut poison dart frog.

Fish: 11 rarities.

In summary, 22 rarities.

Vivarium Karlsruhe - Banded rock rattlesnake, Boelen's python, Three-striped poison dart frog + 32 fish species.

Irrland Kevelaer - African silverbill, Ashy woodpigeon, Indian red turtle dove, Jones' silver pheasant, Malay crestless fireback, Razor-billed curassow, Red-headed quelea.

Wildgehege Kleve - Fox squirrel.

Tierpark Klingenthal - Natal multimammate mouse.

Köln Botanical garden - Puerto Rican coqui.

Zoo Köln

The largest zoo in Germany when one doesn't include fish, Köln really surprised me when I was doing this list. While I had heard of its now-gone doucs, its superb duck collection and a still fantastic array of fruit doves, I had never dreamed that it would be on the scale that it is. Köln weighs in in fourth position on total rarities, just a single rarity behind Prague, though that could change when I get around to posting a fish list. A (relatively) small mammal rarity list of only 11 species is followed by massive fish and then herp lists. It might just be me, but I certainly wasn't expecting a turnout only a singel rarity behind Prague and beating both Berlins without fish...

So many fabulous rarities there - Malaysian elephants, Rufous sengis, Jambu, Pink-spotted and Wompoo fruit doves and every species of duck you can name. A truly special list of rarities, which, while not entirely out of the blue, was nevertheless unexpected, at least to me.

Mammals: Eastern ring-tailed vontsira, Garnett's greater galago, Goodman's mouse lemur, Greater bamboo lemur, Hausa genet, Malaysian elephant, Matschie's tree kangaroo (are these still there?), Rufous sengi, Southern African spiny mouse, Venezuelan red howler, Weddell's saddle-backed tamarin.

Birds: African white-backed duck, Atlantic harlequin duck, Black-chinned fruit dove, Black-headed duck, Blue coua, Blue-headed quail-dove, Boehm's buffalo weaver, Cape shoveler, Channel-billed cuckoo, Chinese spot-billed duck, Cochin Chinese red junglefowl, Common tern, Crested lark, Eastern superb fruit dove, Freckled duck, Fire-tufted barbet, Golden-fronted leafbird, Green oropendola, Indo-Chinese green peafowl, Hawaiian duck, Jambu fruit dove, King bird of paradise, Lake duck, Lesser bird of paradise, Lesser blue-eared glossy starling, Little bustard, Maccoa duck, Madagascar blue pigeon, Madagascar pond heron, Madagascar sacred ibis, Magpie shrike, Malayan Brahminy kite, Milky stork, New Zealand black duck, Orange-bellied leafbird, Orange-fronted fruit dove, Orange-headed thrush, Oriental magpie robin, Papuan mountain pigeon, Pink-eared duck, Pink-headed fruit dove, Pink-spotted fruit dove, Purple roller, Red-bellied fruit dove, Red-vented bulbul, Redhead, Ring-necked dove, Rose-crowned fruit dove, Solitary tinamou, Spotted imperial pigeon, Sulawesi knobbed hornbill, Sunda teal, Taveta golden weaver, Twelve-wired bird of paradise, Western long-tailed hornbill, White-browed coucal, White-eared brown dove, Wompoo fruit dove, Yellow-breasted fruit dove, Yellow-rumped cacique.

Reptiles: African grey monitor, Bengal monitor, Blue rainbow lizard, Broad-banded mountain ratsnake, Bronze mabuya, Brown horn-headed lizard, Brown kukri snake, Beauty butterfly lizard, Cat Ba leopard gecko, Chinese cave gecko, Chinese water skink, Chinese wonder gecko, Cryptic golden tegu, Eastern garden lizard, Gia Lai pricklenape, Oustalet's chameleon, Grey-banded kingsnake, Huulien leopard gecko, Indochinese box turtle, Japanese woodsnake, Lichtenfelder's gecko, Line-tailed pygmy monitor, Madagascar girdled lizard, Marbled gecko, New Guinea ground boa, Northern Vietnamese box turtle, Olafian day gecko, Olive tree skink, Oriental brown-sided skink, Rainer Gunther's monitor, Reeves' butterfly lizard, Reunion day gecko, Rough-scaled python, Sakishima grass lizard, Southeast Asian water monitor, Southern brown tortoise, Stimson's python, Sunwatcher toadhead agama, Tartar sand boa, Tricolored monitor, Turquoise monitor, Vietnamese leopard gecko, Vietnamese three-striped box turtle, White-throated gecko.

Amphibians: Beautiful pygmy frog, Betsileo Madagascar frog, Black-spotted rock frog, Black-striped frog, Bloody Bay poison frog, Butler's narrow-mouthed toad, Burmese squat frog, Chinese tree frog, Crested toad, Heymon's narrow-mouthed frog, Laos warty newt, Little rock frog, Nassau Plateau stubfoot toad, Painted Indonesian tree frog, Red-eared greenback frog, Red-spotted burrow frog, Small-webbed bell toad, Smooth frog, Solomon Islands eyelash frog, Tam Dao warty newt, Taylor's treefrog, Vietnam crocodile newt, Ziegler's crocodile newt.

Fish: 46 rarities.

In summary, 184 rarities total. Without the fish, 138 rarities, with 25 bolded and 25 more underlined.

Reptilienzoo Königswinter - Brown water python, Jampea reticulated python, Pacific gophersnake.

SeaLife Königswinter - Dark moray, Guinean puffer.

SeaLife Konstanz - Blaufelchen, Bluespotted corydoras, Rubberlip grunt, Yellow-spotted triggerfish.

Konstanz Terrarium - Common red-backed vole, Betsileo Madagascar frog, Haitian boa (NS), Pacific house gecko, Turner's gecko.

Zoo Krefeld

Now possibly the most famous single animal in Germany, Julius the Mountain anoa is Krefeld's big rarity. Otherwise, the zoo doesn't have much to offer, with a previous awful primate house having burnt down in a fire. Anyway, it does have other small rarities.

Mammals: Crete spiny mouse, Mountain anoa, Southern long-nosed bat, Taiwan Reeves' muntjac.

Birds: Blue ground dove, Kittlitz's plover, Oriental magpie robin, Two-banded courser, White-throated bee-eater.

Reptiles: Spotted martinique anole.

Fish: Granulated catfish.

Opel Zoo - Common hamster, Siberian flying squirrel, Jardine's parrot (NS), Sabine's map turtle, Common midwife toad, Common spadefoot (NS), Palmate newt.

And that is half of Germany done! Next will be Greece, Hungary etc. .

 

[CheeseChameleon1945]

I appreciate these lists, and I think its pretty interesting, but I'm honestly kind of disappointed of the Non-inclusions of Fish. I mean are they just not important enough to put on a list or something? I know its a lot of work to create these lists (I could never do it) But the lack of recognition that fish are interesting kind of bothers me a bit. Just my preference, but its up to you.

 

[TZDugong]

I appreciate these lists, and I think its pretty interesting, but I'm honestly kind of disappointed of the Non-inclusions of Fish. I mean are they just not important enough to put on a list or something? I know its a lot of work to create these lists (I could never do it) But the lack of recognition that fish are interesting kind of bothers me a bit. Just my preference, but its up to you.

Fish are listed quite a bit, just for smaller places. For larger zoos like Berlin I can understand why AL decided not to type out a comprehensive list, that's an insane amount of manual work and would slow down this excellent thread.

I may be wrong, but Fish lists would also be the least accurate group on ZTL considering how many species are un-signed and how hard fish identification can be.

 

[Someokapinextdoor]

I'm missing Hannover's Tasmanian wombat. Other than that, great list!

 

[amur leopard]

I appreciate these lists, and I think its pretty interesting, but I'm honestly kind of disappointed of the Non-inclusions of Fish. I mean are they just not important enough to put on a list or something? I know its a lot of work to create these lists (I could never do it) But the lack of recognition that fish are interesting kind of bothers me a bit. Just my preference, but its up to you.

I explained a bit about this up thread but essentially there are a number of factors at play. When I make these lists I have to sift through hundreds, sometimes thousands of species. As I progress, I can now tell immediately whether a mammal or bird is a rarity or not, making the process a lot faster in that regard. I can also get a fair few of the herps as well. The problem with fish is fourfold:

• The fish lists are much longer on average than any other class.
• I don’t really know anything about fish so can only really recognise a few rarities, unlike in the other classes.
• I don’t have the time or motivation. This whole process is massively time consuming. I can’t do everything perfectly, particularly if the framework I am largely working off (ZTL) is inaccurate for fish. Much as I find fish fascinating in their own way, the reality is that most zoochatters will be looking at mammals and birds, perhaps herps, to decide which zoo to visit. Only massive ‘landmark’ fish species like whale sharks or manta rays get much attention on the whole. So as you can imagine it isn’t terribly motivating to be sinking two thirds of one’s time into lists most people won’t even give a second glance.
• As I have posted above quite a few times, ZTL’s system is set up in such a way that a species not found in Germany has a star next to it. Previously, I have been using these stars as a reference point for my fish lists since it guarantees that I get all the unique species down. However, when I am going through German fish lists there are no stars of course so I can’t do the lists in that manner.

I will however at least try to get these fish lists done for the collections in Germany that are owed them, whether by long hours of trawling or another method is yet to be seen. You query is fair and hopefully I have answered it satisfactorily .