Best rodent collection

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
I was having a conversation with a friend in the pub when she asked me if thier were any zoo's or parks with good rodent collections and I was stumped as I didn't know of any could you please help so I can tell my friend.
I know Birmingham Nature Centre as a small collection of rodents any others I'm not sure about
 
Plzen Zoo in the Czech Republic comes up time and time again when searching rodent species on ISIS - often as the only holder in the world. I have no idea how many species they have but it's certainly in the dozens.
 
Allen Nyhuis' book on American zoos from 2008 lists the National Zoo in Washington D.C. as being the best in small mammals; followed by the Bronx, Brookfield and Cincinnati. Allen is a Zoochat member, so if he comes across this thread, I'm sure he can tell you more. All I can tell you is what says in his (and Jon Wassner's) very good new book.
 
I could do with a bit of help with the UK collections of Rodents but many thanks for your replies please keep them coming
 
Plzen(Pilsen, Czech Republic) has maaaany rodent species(most off-show), definetely the biggest collection in Europe, but Tierpark Berlin and Moscow also have many rodents.
 
Thirty years ago, you could have seen at least a dozen species of rodents in the Clore Pavilion at Regents Park, including giant squirrels, cuis, degu (not a pet species at the time), brush-tailed and crested porcupines and in the Moonlight World various species of jirds, voles, hamsters and dormice, plus harvest mice.

Alan
 
According to zoo Plzen yearbook they had 100 rodent species at the end of 2008. Now it is probably a little bit bigger collection.
 
that would be an amazing collection to see. Any idea how many species are on show to the public and how many off show?
 
Marwell once had a good collection of rodents but I dont know where they all went?
 
I visited Plzen last weekend, but I haven´t written any list of seen species. I would estimate there were around 30 different rodent species on show. This figure will rise a little bit after they´are opening the redeveloped 6ha of asian and african exhibits on 30th of June this year. I´s mainly oriented on bringing in big crowds-attracting animals as rhino, giraffe, cheetah, pygmy hippo into the zoo, but I´m quite sure they´ve incorporated some rodents in these plans too.
 
Marwell were/are breeding many native species of rodent, and some were on-show in the old yard. I believe (thanks to Zambar) they still have them, but off-show.

Don't know if there are any smaller species in the various houses or education centre?

I can think of:

Capybara, Mara, Prevost Squirrel, Chipmunk, Degu & Crested Porcupine from my last visit.
 
Gary said:
Marwell were/are breeding many native species of rodent, and some were on-show in the old yard. I believe (thanks to Zambar) they still have them, but off-show.

Don't know if there are any smaller species in the various houses or education centre?

I can think of:

Capybara, Mara, Prevost Squirrel, Chipmunk, Degu & Crested Porcupine from my last visit.
Click to expand...

Marwell used to have a huge collection of small rodents only a few years, mostly due to the influence of the old Deputy Curator. Most could be seen in the rodent room, which was in the stable block of the gazelle complex with many off show behind, and it it was mainly mouse-like rodents. The rodent room has since been made off show when Life in the Trees was built, and the number of rodents significantly decreased (the 2005 annual report lists 20 species, the 2009 one 12).

Marwell currently doesn't have any native rodents aside from black rats, though it has had water voles, red squirrels and harvest mice in recent years.

Currently, Marwell has:

Capybara
Mara
Crested Porcupine
Madagascan Jumping Rat
Arabian Spiny Mouse
Prevost's Squirrel
Siberian Chipmunk
Domestic Rat (Education Centre)
Black Rat (Off-Show)
African Dormouse (Off-Show)
 
It looks like London currently have 10 species (not sure what happened to their mara.) Not including the house mice found all around the zoo: Prairie dogs, Chinchillas, Agouti, African crested and brush-tailed porcupines, Naked mole rats, brown rats, Australian water rats, Malagasy giant jumping rats and Panay cloudrunners (now on display in the new nightzone).
 
I remember reading Marwells old magazines and reading about all their breeding success with small rodents; spiny mice; various gerbils, lemmings etc

London also had a fantastic collection I remember seeing Emins pouched rats, Cloud rats, etc
 
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