I agree with the general concensus that ABC animals are the ones that visitors expect to see in zoos and tend to be the animals found in animal alphabet books, although there have been changes over the years. Some letters of the alphabet are more closely related to popular animals than others.
A: ape or antelope
B: bear
C: camel, crocodile or chimpanzee
D: deer or dolphin
E: elephant
F: fox or fish (but probably a big fish), but no real ABCs
G: giraffe or gorilla
H: hippopotamus
I: ibex or ibis, not really ABCs
J: jaguar
K: kangaroo
L: lion
M: monkey or meerkat
N: no real ABCs
O: otter, orang-utan, ostrich or owl
P: panda, parrot or penguin
Q: no real ABCs
R: rhinoceros
S: snake, sea lion or shark
T: tiger
U: no real ABCs
V: vultures aren't really ABCs
W:wolf
X: no real ABCs
Y; yaks aren't ABCs
Z: zebra
Most of the animals listed above are large mammals and I think most visitors expect to see elephants, hippos, rhinos, big cats, bears, great apes and large hoofed mammals and perhaps some monkeys, wild dogs and kangaroos. Meerkats have moved into the ABCs in the past few years and lemurs are also becoming more popular. Relatively few non-mammals make the list. These include ostriches, flamingoes, pelicans and other large birds, penguins, parrots and a few birds of prey, large and venomous snakes, crocodiles, sharks and perhaps spiders. I was pleased to see lots of signposts pointing to Prague Zoo's new gharial exhibit in 2009, but I would never class a gharial as an ABC animal.
As others have said, there is nothing intrinsically wrong in ABC animals. I have spent some time looking at Prague Zoo's male Rothschild's giraffe with its very dark markings on an almost white background or the Asiatic elephant with enormous tusks at Paris Vincennes Zoo. I have also wondered why people have spent long periods of time looking at a sleeping giant panda, which I found as interesting as a stuffed black and white cushion. Similarly, just because an animal is rare or unusual, it doesn't necessarily make it interesting to a visitor. I wondered why 'flying snakes' are exhibited as paradise tree snakes, as the title 'gliding snake' with an accompanying film would attract more visitors. I like the idea of the walk through gliding snake enclosure in another discussion. I tend to find active animals more interesting than inactive ones. I talked with the olingo keeper at Kilverstone Zoo and saw one of the animals moving about. This was far more interesting than seeing a ball of fluff at Exmouth Zoo.
I can understand the principle of ABC animals being used to attract visitors, but there should be a balance with endangered, non-ABC animals. I compiled a list of animals with most captive individuals and this includes ABC and non-ABC species and species from not yet threatened to critically endangered. The list is about a year old and was compiled using ISIS records. The list below includes ABC animals and some other popular species. It is not a complete list and, while I've tried to be objective about what I've included, some omissions and inclusions will be contentious:
Budgerigar 7922, Goldfish 7547, Goat 5162, Red piranha 5018, American flamingo 4822,
Chilean flamingo 4807, Greater flamingo 4662, Common peafowl 3896, Sheep 3792,
Red jungle fowl 3570, Mallard 2715, Humboldt’s penguin 2624, Ring-tailed lemur 2501, Slender-tailed meerkat 2227, Chimpanzee 2151, Black-tailed prairie dog 2058, Cheetah 1980, Jackass penguin 1920, Domestic ox 1763, American alligator 1731, Lion 1696,
Tiger 1666, Rabbit 1622, Lesser flamingo 1525, Grey wolf 1508 (includes 65 dingo, 282 domestic dog, 77 singing dog), Common zebra 1500, Horse 1482, Domestic guinea pig 1471, Giraffe 1461, Hamadryas baboon 1427, Blue and yellow macaw 1340, Wild boar 1295, Boa constrictor 1244, Common squirrel monkey 1187, Emu 1180, Llama 1151,
White-knee tarantula 1044, Eastern white pelican 1035, Grey parrot 1013, Red kangaroo 1011, Greater rhea 955, Northern seahorse 944, African wild ass and donkey 887, Oriental small-clawed otter 842, Bolivian squirrel monkey 831, Black and white ruffed lemur 825, Brown capuchin 789, Leopard 771, Bactrian camel 767, Turkey 754,
Western gorilla 753, Caribou 705, Scarlet macaw 688, Orang-utan 673 (inc 236 Sumatran, 329 Bornean), Hunting dog 648, Red ruffed lemur 596, Raccoon 551,
Californian sealion 548, Asiatic elephant 540, Laughing kookaburra 529, White rhino 511,
Brown bear 505.
When I compiled this list, I was surprised about some species, especially species I'd never seen in any zoo, but which have very large captive populations, while some very popular ABC animals are relatively scarce in captivity.
Basically, it doesn't really matter if an animal is in the ABC category or not, as long as it is kept in good environment and care is taken about its welfare. I think the problem lies when zoos spend vast sums of money on animals that will never be returned to the wild and neglect other species that could be saved from extinction. I was pleased that so many visitors were interested in the animals in Berlin Tierpark's Rodent House, but more people are probably interested in a sleeping ABC animal than an active obscure species and very few people would be interested in a dormant obscure species, especially if they can't see it.
