‘All-native’ Zoos

Junklekitteb

Junklekitteb

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I could not find any other thread like this, so decided to create it.
This thread is for discussing zoos which house only species native to the region they are located in. This includes domestics and exotic species used as representatives for local species which cannot be kept. Feel free to talk in this thread about such ‘all-native’ zoos you know about or have visited, or what you feel about similar zoos which also have a few exotics.
I have personally never visited such a collection, for although most South Indian zoos house mainly local species, they tend to have lots of parrots, finches, pheasants, iguanas and the similar unceremoniously tossed in, which I always felt they could do without, or at least re-theme those areas to give more context.
 
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Are you referring to entire institutions devoted to local animals (such as the Arizona-Sonoma Desert Museum or the Western North Carolina Nature Center in the USA) or exhibits of all local animals (such as the Chihuahua Desert exhibit at the El Paso Zoo in the USA)?
 
Zooplantman said:
Are you referring to entire institutions devoted to local animals (such as the Arizona-Sonoma Desert Museum or the Western North Carolina Nature Center in the USA) or exhibits of all local animals (such as the Chihuahua Desert exhibit at the El Paso Zoo in the USA)?
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Sorry, I meant the former. I have edited the original post to hopefully make this clearer.
 
Inokashira park zoo in Tokyo, Japan house mostly native species. There are some odd bits here and there, but it's mostly all Japanese species (and with 4 subspecies of copper pheasant as well), and a freshwater house for native fish and herps. I would say it qualify in this thread and compensate well with the 3 other Tokyo collection. [since Ueno is the main zoo and Tama go for a naturalistic and more spacious approach]

Here is a species list from 2019 when I visited:
Inokashira park zoo species list [Inokashira Park Zoo]
 
These are relatively common in the United States. A few I can think of are Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in NH, Maine Wildlife Park, and New York State Zoo.
 
One thing I find interesting about native species zoos is the range of subtypes they come in, some of which I personally find much more compelling than others.

At their best places like the aforementioned Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Alpenzoo Innsbruck, along with Northwest Trek, Alice Springs Desert Park, and Healesville Sanctuary are as good as any zoo you'll visit. They use the local setting to best advantage and display a wide range of both obscure and charismatic species in such a way as to present visitors with a broad view of the ecology of their regions. One aspect of these places that I find important is that they present many species that would otherwise be very difficult to observe in the wild.

There are plenty of "nature center" type places that often have unreleasable animals in basic wood/wire enclosures. Nothing wrong with them, and they'll sometimes be good places to find rarer small carnivores or birds of prey, but they typically don't rise to the level of the above institutions.

Then there are the places that serve as museums to the local charismatic species -- National Eagle Center, Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, etc. Usually a nice visitor center building with high quality interpretation, but only 1-2 species. I'm sure these are perfectly nice establishments but the only one I've ever bothered to visit is the International Wolf Center, which happened to serve double duty as the permit-issuing station for a nearby wilderness area.

At the bottom of the heap for me are the commercialized places. Drive through a field filled with 250 bear cubs. Watch as the alligator is wrestled into submission. Hold a koala. Feed the "rare" white lions. No thanks, not for me.

The biggest question I have when considering visiting any sort of native-focused zoo is whether it provides good value in comparison to wildlife viewing nearby. It's hard for me to imagine getting into a zoo-visiting mindset when Yellowstone, or Denali, or the Everglades, or the Great Barrier Reef is right there. I remember when the World Cup was in South Africa and American sportswriters were filing their on-site stories that seemed to include an obligatory visit to the Lion Park outside Johannesburg. It boggled my mind. You could drive two hours down a paved expressway instead and see a full range of African wildlife in the wild, your very own Planet Earth experience.
 
Gondwana said:
At their best places like the aforementioned Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Alpenzoo Innsbruck, along with Northwest Trek, Alice Springs Desert Park, and Healesville Sanctuary are as good as any zoo you'll visit. They use the local setting to best advantage and display a wide range of both obscure and charismatic species in such a way as to present visitors with a broad view of the ecology of their regions. One aspect of these places that I find important is that they present many species that would otherwise be very difficult to observe in the wild.
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Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills is even better than Healesville for this. Healesville today is actually a fairly 'built-up' zoo, whereas Cleland really is settled in its landscape.
 
Gomphothere said:
The Queens Zoo in New York City is limited to animals from the Americas.
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“The Americas” is a big place, can you really a zoo in New York with Spectacled Bears an “all-native zoo”?

In fact, can you call a zoo with species even from throughout North America as an “all-native zoo”? ZooAmerica, for example, isn’t even close to something like Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
 
birdsandbats said:
“The Americas” is a big place, can you really a zoo in New York with Spectacled Bears an “all-native zoo”?

In fact, can you call a zoo with species even from throughout North America as an “all-native zoo”? ZooAmerica, for example, isn’t even close to something like Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
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It was never specified how small the region had to be, though I guess with that logic all zoos would be all-native as they have only species from earth.
 
Big Bear Alpine Zoo operates as a North American rescue center and has made it clear it exclusively works with North American Rescues. The exception is their two blind Snow Leopards who were taken in to allow space for breeding animals.
There are many small coastal rescue centers and aquariums in America the only hold animals located off the coast. Some examples that come to mind are Alaska Sea Life Center, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Seaside Aquarium, Roundhouse Aquarium, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, and Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
 
British wildlife Center houses species only found in the uk (I recall seeing barn owls, Eurasian otters, red fox, badgers and adders but it has been quite a few years since my last trip) and there is also El Hosquiolo in Cuenca, which houses a good assortment of Iberian fauna, namely Iberian wolves (looking through their website these seem to no longer be held), Cantabrian Bears, Boar, Iberian Eagle, and some rather interesting semi-captive yet tame fauna like mouflon, roe deer, fallow deer, red deer and spanish ibex. On my trips I’ve only ever seen the red deer free roaming (a particular doe had a liking towards one of the keepers and followed the tour group) and the boars in a pen.
 
Wildwood in Kent, England is an example of a zoo with a collection (almost) completely made up of species found in the UK. It is also situated in The Blean, the largest expanse of semi-natural ancient woodland in the southeast, and it is in an adjacent area of this woodland that they'll be releasing some bison this spring, in a joint conservation grazing/rewilding project with Kent Wildlife Trust.
 
Bengal Tiger said:
Zooamerica has only north American animals.
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It counts in the broadest sense but it includes animals from across the continent, rather than only animals from Pennsylvania (though there is a section for that including white-tailed deer, river otters, black bears, etc.). I think OP was looking for more specific regions
 
New Forest Wildlife Park houses mostly native European Species. Only species I can think aren’t native are the Smooth-Coated, Short-Clawed and Giant Otters + the burrowing owls, Red-wallabies and a single Sika Deer (although the latter two are invasive).

Technically the grey wolves are a NA subspecies too (although enclosure was designed for European subspecies until the ones they have now needed a home).

Beyond that it’s Red, Fallow and Roe Deer, wisent, polecats, pine martins, red foxes, Eurasian otters, Eurasian lynx, wild boar, mouflon, wildcats, European tree frogs, common toads, harvest mice, snowy, Eurasian eagle, little, ural, long-eared, great grey, barn, and tawny owls and grey partridge which are all either native to the UK or continental Europe.
 
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