Best Small Mammal House in the US

[JVM]

I was surprised there was not already a thread for this, or at least not one I found.

Once one of the standard, classic taxonomic zoo buildings, many zoos had a small mammal building, with bats among the major attractions as well as mongooses, otters, small primates, small cats, and more. Though reptile buildings and aviaries remain a vital part of many zoos and continue to be built and renovated, the remaining small mammal houses are often outdated buildings seen as relics of an earlier era before habitat-based exhibits. The best exhibits for many animals once kept in these buildings are often elsewhere. A quick google for me shows Philadelphia and the National Zoo first, with neither example receiving much positive feedback, both older exhibits. Is there a single modernized small mammal building in the US?

Which 'Small Mammal House' is the best and why?

 

[twilighter]

I am curious to find out, if someone can beat the Mouse House at Bronx. Historically the Small Antelope House at Brookfield deserves special mention.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Wildlife World in Litchfield Park has a decent Small Mammal House. It's in the Original Zoo area by the carousel.

I'm not exactly sure when it was built, but nothing there is as old as some of the historical examples in New York and other East Coast cities.

 

[Persephone]

Most of the remaining “small mammal house” exhibits… aren’t that. Taxonomic buildings in general are on the way out in favor of zoogeographic or biome ones. Something like Brookfield’s Fragile Rain Forest or Desert’s Edge might as well be a small mammal house but isn’t discussed in those terms. Same for Lake Superior Zoo’s nocturnal house.

One of those not-technically-small-mammal-houses thats get a lot of praise is The Roadhouse at Columbus Zoo, which is more for its collection than exhibits. Cincinnati’s Night Hunters is probably similar if we count it as a small mammal house. The African building on Jungle Trails at the same zoo is also pretty decent.

tl;dr I wouldn’t call many of them beloved, but if you’re willing to slightly expand the definition of a small mammal house than I think you’ll find that they’re still around.

 

[Pleistocene891]

The best one I’ve seen has to be the Mouse House in the Bronx Zoo. It’s got historical value, houses unique rodents, and gives them quality exhibits. There’s a nocturnal section in the Mouse House as well.

 

[wild boar]

I was surprised there was not already a thread for this, or at least not one I found.

Once one of the standard, classic taxonomic zoo buildings, many zoos had a small mammal building, with bats among the major attractions as well as mongooses, otters, small primates, small cats, and more. Though reptile buildings and aviaries remain a vital part of many zoos and continue to be built and renovated, the remaining small mammal houses are often outdated buildings seen as relics of an earlier era before habitat-based exhibits. The best exhibits for many animals once kept in these buildings are often elsewhere. A quick google for me shows Philadelphia and the National Zoo first, with neither example receiving much positive feedback, both older exhibits. Is there a single modernized small mammal building in the US?

Which 'Small Mammal House' is the best and why?

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Lincoln Park Zoo's exhibit, the Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House. Granted, the first room is for reptiles and amphibians and the latter has several species of other classes, but it does have a diverse array of smaller mammals.

 

[PSO]

Same can be said about Omahas Desert and Night exhibits

 

[MeiLover]

I’ll have to say the Small Mammal House at Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Love the variety of species and how their species and exhibits are always changing.

 

[15399]

I've noticed a few people mentioning Mouse House at the Bronx Zoo, however I respectfully disagree. I know this is an unpopular opinion, however on my visit to Bronx this year it was one of the areas I was least impressed with. The exhibits all seemed very repetitive, and more so reminiscent of the days of "postage stamp collections" rather than modern displays for animals. It certainly doesn't help that the residents (barring a few) are all very similar-looking species! Furthermore, one of the few non-repetitive exhibits was what has to be the smallest agouti exhibit I've ever seen, and not what I'd consider an adequate home for that species. Feathertail gliders are always a treat to see, however, and elephant shrews are also a neat species- so the exhibit does have some great species, however if I ever go back to the Bronx Zoo it's an exhibit I certainly won't prioritize returning to. That's not to criticize those who love the exhibit, I respect your opinion, it simply isn't an exhibit that I personally enjoyed.

 

[King of Komodo Dragons]

From Videos I have seen, the nocturnal houses at Omaha, Memphis, and Cincinnati aswell as the Bronx Zoo's mouse house which has been mentioned a few times already seem to be the best.

 

[Coelacanth18]

A quick google for me shows Philadelphia and the National Zoo first, with neither example receiving much positive feedback, both older exhibits.

Smithsonian's Small Mammal House is decent IMO. The majority of exhibits are good for their inhabitants, they have a wide variety of species and there are good educational displays about mammals.

Philly's Small Mammal House is closed now. I only saw it near the end of its lifetime - apparently it had quite a few good species in it 10 to 15 years ago - but it's a lot smaller building than Smithsonian's.

 

[JVM]

Most of the remaining “small mammal house” exhibits… aren’t that. Taxonomic buildings in general are on the way out in favor of zoogeographic or biome ones. Something like Brookfield’s Fragile Rain Forest or Desert’s Edge might as well be a small mammal house but isn’t discussed in those terms. Same for Lake Superior Zoo’s nocturnal house.

One of those not-technically-small-mammal-houses thats get a lot of praise is The Roadhouse at Columbus Zoo, which is more for its collection than exhibits. Cincinnati’s Night Hunters is probably similar if we count it as a small mammal house. The African building on Jungle Trails at the same zoo is also pretty decent.

tl;dr I wouldn’t call many of them beloved, but if you’re willing to slightly expand the definition of a small mammal house than I think you’ll find that they’re still around.

I acknowledged this in the first post slightly, and the narrow definition was intentional for the thread. I have some broader questions I was curious about and hoping to answer a bit indirectly through this exercise.

The Roadhouse is interesting but it's an exhibit I'd like to study more. I don't know much about Lake Superior Zoo's building or the Jungle Trails building. The Fragile Kingdoms and Night Hunters I'm more familiar with already.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Lincoln Park Zoo's exhibit, the Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House. Granted, the first room is for reptiles and amphibians and the latter has several species of other classes, but it does have a diverse array of smaller mammals.

It's one of my favorite buildings at the zoo, and I left it out somewhat intentionally. I think a lot of the small mammal exhibits would be considered small by zoochat standards, but it's a great collection even with some big losses over the years. I do really wish they'd get a small carnivore back of some kind.

 

[turkeyfox]

Milwaukee County Zoo's small mammal house is incredibly old and outdated, where everything basically lives in glass boxes, but historically the diversity of animals was very strong. They had, up until relatively recently, douroucoulis, pottos, pygmy marmosets, black footed cats, springhaas, tayras, kinkajous, and still have some relatively hard to find zoo species like vampire bats. In the 1970's they even had a giant pangolin.

Nowadays it's still quite diverse but the number of species has gone down to give them more room (most animals have access to two or three exhibit boxes at a time) and it's mostly the standard fare you see at every AZA zoo, sloths, lemurs, tamarins, fennec foxes, prehensile tailed porcupines, etc.

 

[JVM]

Milwaukee County Zoo's small mammal house is incredibly old and outdated, where everything basically lives in glass boxes, but historically the diversity of animals was very strong. They had, up until relatively recently, douroucoulis, pottos, pygmy marmosets, black footed cats, springhaas, tayras, kinkajous, and still have some relatively hard to find zoo species like vampire bats. In the 1970's they even had a giant pangolin.

Nowadays it's still quite diverse but the number of species has gone down to give them more room (most animals have access to two or three exhibit boxes at a time) and it's mostly the standard fare you see at every AZA zoo, sloths, lemurs, tamarins, fennec foxes, prehensile tailed porcupines, etc.

Yeah, on my 2014 visit, the Small Mammal House was unforgettable -- the springhass, kinkajou, and potto at least were still there, probably a few others, but I remember those vividly. The whole nocturnal area was active that day. It's one of the reasons the exhibit has a special place in my heart despite being what most would consider awful. I really wish there was a way to modernize it without having to lose all of what made it special, but I am fairly certain if the building is ever modernized it'll have to be something completely different.