Animals You've Seen That Few Zoochatters Have Seen

Gonna be completely honest, I doubt that any of the species I put on the "Captive" list really fit the criteria of species that few Zoochatters have seen, especially considering that basically all of these institutions are in institutions located in major metropolitan areas. However, I just thought it could be interesting to make a list of species I've seen that aren't held by that many institutions (at least according to zootierliste)

Captive (Mainly just based on the number of institutions on zoootierliste that have them)
Antelope Jackrabbit (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Apache Trout (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Australian Whipray (National Aquarium)
Baja California Rattlesnake (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Barkly Death Adder (National Aquarium)
Black Milksnake (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Black Tandan (National Aquarium)
Bluehead Chub (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Blue Salmon Catfish (National Aquarium)
Broken-Striped Newt (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Brongersma's Pit Viper (Bronx Zoo)
Bullet Ant (Shedd Aquarium)
Butler's Grunter (National Aquarium)
Canyon Tree Frog (Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum)
Cape Fear Shiner (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Centralian Rough Knob-Tailed Gecko (National Aquarium)
Cochin Black Turtle (Bronx Zoo)
Colorado Pikeminnow (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Darwin Snake-Necked Turtle (National Aquarium)
Exuma Island Iguana (Shedd Aquarium)
Flying Steamerduck (Philadelphia Zoo)
Fowler's Toad (National Zoo)
Gila Topminnow (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Hecq's Shelldweller (National Aquarium)
Humpback Chub (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Hyrtl's Catfish (National Aquarium)
Indian Roofed Turtle (Bronx Zoo, only holder in the US)
Irwin's Turtle (National Aquarium)
Kihansi Spray Toad (Bronx Zoo)
Kimberly Snake-Necked Turtle (National Aquarium)
Long-Nosed Snake (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Longtail Salamander (National Zoo)
Milos Viper (Bronx Zoo)
Mojave Desert Sidewinder (Bronx Zoo)
Naked Goby (National Aquarium)
Northern Yellow-Faced Turtle (National Aquarium)
One-Toed Amphiuma (Philadelphia Zoo)
Pine Woods Tree Frog (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Piping Plover (Lincoln Park Zoo)
Razorbill (National Aquarium)
Red-Backed Salamander (National Zoo)
Red-Cheeked Salamander (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Red Milksnake (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Ring-Tailed Vontsira (Bronx Zoo) (definitely unsure about whether or not to count this considering the number of European institutions, but only the Bronx and Nashville have it in the US)
Roundtail Chub (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Rufous Hummingbird (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Screaming Piha (National Aquarium)
Shenandoah Salamander (National Zoo)
Silver Cobbler (National Aquarium)
Skilletfish (National Aquarium)
Sonora Chub (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Sonoran Desert Sidewinder (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Sonoran Mud Turtle (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
South Pacific Tree Boa (Philadelphia Zoo)
Spotted Blue-Eye (National Aquarium)
Squirrel Tree Frog (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Storm's Stork (Bronx Zoo)
Stripe-Necked Musk Turtle (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences)
Twin-Spotted Rattlesnake (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
Victoria Short-Necked Turtle (National Aquarium)
White-Throated Snapping Turtle (National Aquarium)
Yaqui Chub (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)

Wild

Burrowing Owl
California Condor
Costa's Hummingbird
Devil's Hole Pupfish
Greater Antillean Grackle
Great Lakes Piping Plover
Heermann's Gull
Sonoran Mud Turtle
Sonoyta Pupfish
Nice list! From the wild list I have seen 4 of the birds. How was the viewing like for the Devil's hole pupfish since the hole is fenced off? Were the Sonoyta pupfish easy to see?
 
Nice list! From the wild list I have seen 4 of the birds. How was the viewing like for the Devil's hole pupfish since the hole is fenced off? Were the Sonoyta pupfish easy to see?
At Quitobaquito, it's pretty easy to see the Sonoyta pupfish because you are able to get pretty close to the water. When it came to Devil's Hole, due to the distance between the viewing platform and the water, I was only really able to see one of the pupfish by looking through a pair of binoculars that I brought with me.
 
At Quitobaquito, it's pretty easy to see the Sonoyta pupfish because you are able to get pretty close to the water. When it came to Devil's Hole, due to the distance between the viewing platform and the water, I was only really able to see one of the pupfish by looking through a pair of binoculars that I brought with me.
Awesome! Are the bullet ants at Shedd on display and do you know if they are Paraponera clavata?
 
Narwhal: Coney Island aquarium
When did the New York Aquarium have a narwhal?! That's a really cool species to have had the chance to see.

Tarsier: Duke primate center
I'm definitely jealous of this one- tarsiers are so weird and some of my favorite animals out there- unfortunately I'm unlikely to ever get the chance to see one in real life.
 
I can definitely recommend the experience of seeing wild Tarsiers on Sulawesi!
I was lucky to be taken "behind the scenes" to see a Sulawesi tarsier at the Rare Species Conservation Centre. And I was fortunate to see Philippine tarsiers several times at both Frankfurt Zoo and Bristol Zoo. Sadly I doubt I'll ever see another tarsier again.
 
I may not have a long list of rarities but I can't think of too many Zoochatters that have seen these species:

African butterflyfish Chaetodon dolosus
Flathead perch Rainfordia opercularis
Oreni tilefish Hoplolatilus oreni
Kidako moray Gymnothorax kidako

I could go into vast detail about the wild insect and other invertebrates that I have seen but many are just overlooked and not necessarily rare.
 
A couple ones I've added via birding and wildlife watching:
(All wild species so don't go hard on me saying that they're common in captivity even though most of them aren't except for the mammals)

WILD Birds that few ZCtters have seen

Japanese Accentor (1st image on ZC)
Japanese Green Woodpecker
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker
Japanese Paradise Flycatcher (1st image on ZC)
Black-faced Spoonbill (Relatively common in captivity throughout East Asia, VERY common in captivity in Japan, pretty endangered and scarce in the wild)
Asian Stubtail (1st image on ZC)
Eastern White's Thrush
Straw Headed Bulbul
Japanese Grosbeak
Grey Bunting (No Image on ZC)
Japanese Wagtail (1st image on ZC)
Eastern Crowned Warbler (1st image on ZC)
Eastern Buzzard
Long Billed Plover (No Image on ZC)
Terek Sandpiper (1st image on ZC)

WILD Endemic Mammals in Japan that few ZCtters have seen

Japanese Squirrel
Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel
Japanese Hare
Japanese House Bat
Japanese Long-Eared Bat
Japanese Raccoon Dog
Japanese Marten
Japanese Serow

Other pretty not-so-common species from the wild (Japan Endemics)


Daruma Pond Frog
Pelophylax nigromaculatus
Japanese Brown Frog
Montane Brown Frog
Japanese Tree Frog
Kajika Frog
Japanese Common Toad
Eastern japanese Skink
Japanese Skink
Japanese Grass Lizard
Japanese Gecko
Japanese Rat Snake
Japanese Striped Snake
Japanese Brown Snake
 
Would Persian Leopards count? I saw them at Cleveland years ago before they were phased out of US Zoos.
 
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I'll have to make a list soon since fortunately I've been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium & California Academy of Sciences quite a few times so I've seen some really rare species. However I'm just at the tail end of my Oahu trip and got to visit the Waikiki Aquarium & Bishop Museum. The Waikiki Aquarium is known in the Aquarium community to have housed some of the rarest species in captivity at points in its history, and still does to this day. So far here's some notable ones: (all of these were posted in the media section for the Aquarium)
•Abe's Angelfish (Centropyge abei) - Only individual on public display worldwide (the other 6 or 7 in captivity are in private collections)
•Masked Angelfish (Genicanthus personatus)
•Bandit Angelfish (Apolemichthys arcuatus)
•Hawaiian Morwong (Goniistisus vittatus)
(They also did have a sign for a Smith's Butterfly Fish 'Chaetodon smithi' which would make it the only individual(s) on public display worldwide, but I didn't get a glimpse)

The Bishop Museum is more of a natural history Museum with just 3 tanks (1 Freshwater showing invasive endlers, 1 that showcases a few shallow water predators, and 1 Twighlight Zone tank for this next species) so it doesn't have a media section on here like the California Academy of Sciences. However, because some of the most famous ichthyologists work here, they've had the opportunity to display one of the rarest Butterfly Fish in captivity.
This is the Pete Basabei's / Orange Fin Butterfly Fish (Prognathodes basabei). Only housed at the Bishop Museum & the NOAA Center on the Big Island (The Waikiki Aquarium used to have one, but it's not on display anymore). This fish was only described 9 years ago by scientists that work at the Museum. It's endemic to the Mesophotic Zone of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off of Oahu. Some individuals are in private Japanese collections when Hawaii used to be open for export, but I'm not sure if they're still alive.
 
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