arm-chair zoo curatoring

Ituri

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
My local zoo has an exhibit which currently houses bat-eared foxes. It is an approximately 10 foot by 10 foot indoor space, which is viewed from an outdoor viewing area (window shopping style). The region of the building is devoted to desert animals. Other animals in the area include crested porcupines, meerkats, desert tortoises, Gila monsters, and California kingsnakes. I hear that the bat-eared foxes will be moving to another part of the zoo, so I thought it would be fun to see what the group here could come up with for possible replacement animals for that exhibit. Lets here your ideas...
 
Ivan the gorilla?

What about cacomistles? They are beautiful and active although would require nocturnal lighting. 10 x 10 is not all that generous, although I think the cacomistles in Burger's zoo are in a smaller enclosure than that. They share it with something else I think, but exactly what escapes me, might be a skunk
 
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I loved the harrison's antilope squirrel exhibit in Stockholm, any species of very active groundsquirrel would be nice...
 
A tricky one. What I would get, and what I would expect them to get are very different things. I think that a large reptile might be quite likely, perhaps a big Nile monitor or something similar.

If a mammal, maybe a large desert rodent.
 
I was also thinking, what do people think about maybe hairy or three-banded armadillos?
 
Aruba rattlesnake?
Egyptian tortoise + elephant shrew + gundi + blue-naped mousebird?
Naked mole rat?
Rock hyrax + Yemen chameleon + colorful Agama lizard?
South african ground squirrel + barbet Tachyphonus?
Rock python?
Several colorful finches and parakeet from Australia together?

I must say, that closed glassy exhibit in open sunny area is often hard to look into and ignored by visitors. But this is what you got, then... :-)
 
Whiptails and Squirrels

Desert-grassland whiptails. These lizards are fascinating.
Kangaroo rat/pack rat/ground squirrel, etc. Any small rodent can work if it has to be a mammal.
Ituri: What zoo is this?
 
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