Como Park Zoo and Conservatory Como Park Zoo and Conservatory Full Species List

birdsandbats

birdsandbats

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Date of visit: July 28 2021

Species not seen in italics

Como Park Zoo

Pollinators: All The Buzz
1. Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee, Blue Orchid Mason Bee
2. Common Eastern Bumble Bee

Bird Exhibit
1. Chilean Flamingo, Ruddy Duck, White-faced Whistling Duck, Red-breasted Goose, Common Shelduck
2. unidentified Galapagos tortoise

Primates
1. Black-handed Spider Monkey
2. Blue-eyed Black Lemur
3. Emperor Tamarin
4. Golden-headed Lion Tamarin, White-faced Saki
5. Patas Monkey
6. Sumatran Orangutan
7. Western Lowland Gorilla
8. Sumatran Orangutan
9. Gorilla Forest: Western Lowland Gorilla

Como Harbor
1. California Sea Lion
2. Cove Exhibit: California Sea Lion

Aquatic Animal Building
1. Gray Seal
2. California Sea Lion
3. Tufted Puffin
4. African Penguin

Polar Bear Odyssey
1. Polar Bear
2. Ecolab Training Area: Polar Bear
3. Big Dig Pit: Polar Bear

Old Hoofstock
1. American Bison
2. Dall Sheep
3. Reindeer
4. Arctic Fox

Large Cats
1. African Lion
2. Snow Leopard
3. African Lion
4. Amur Tiger
5. Cougar
6. Cougar

Wolf Woods
1. Gray Wolf

African Hoofed Stock
1. Generic Giraffe, Common Ostrich
2. Grant's Zebra, African Spurred Tortoise, Lesser Kudu
3. Two-spot Assassin Bug
4. Egyptian Spiny Mouse
5. African Bullfrog
6. Girdle-tailed Lizard, Pancake Tortoise
7. African Lungfish, unidentified African cichlid species x3

Tropical Encounters
1. Hilarie's Toad-headed Turtle, Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle, unidentified turtle, unidentified pleco
2. Green Anaconda
3. Green-and-black Poison Dart Frog
4. Aquatic Caecillian
5. Tambaqui, Banded Leporinus, unidentified catfish, unidentified cichlid x2, unidentified silver dollar x2
6. Blue Poison Dart Frog
7. Chilean Rose-haired Tarantula
8. Brazilian Rainbow Boa
9. unidentified leafcutter ant
10. Red-footed Tortoise
11. Epaulette Shark, Spanish Hogfish, unidentified wrasse, unidentified butterflyfish x2
Free-roaming: Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth, Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle, Saffron Finch, Blue-gray Tanager, Croaking Ground Dove, Burnished-Buff Tanager, Sunbittern, Green Honeycreeper, Violaceous Euphonia (see next post for more details)



Marjorie McNeely Conservatory (Almost entirely botanical exhibits, but two sections do contain live animals)

Ribbit Zibbit (Closed due to COVID. This exhibit is very hidden, I didn't even know it existed until recently and have therefore never even seen this complex. Therefore, this species list may not be current and is based on a previous list by @Dhole dude)
1. Red-eyed Tree Frog, Waxy Monkey Frog
2. Smoky Jungle Frog
3. Panamanian Golden Frog
4. Blue Poison Dart Frog, Yellow-banded Poison Dart Frog
5. Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

North Garden
1. Koi
 
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Regarding free flight birds in Tropical Encounters - Como is known to at least used to have a large collection of rare birds free-flying this exhibit, but exactly what species they have now is in question due to the lack of signage that plagues the zoo, and due to the fact that it is very easy for a bird to hide in Tropical Encounters. In an attempt to solve this, I asked a keeper what bird species were in tropical encounters, and I got this list:

-Saffron Finch
-Blue-gray Tanager
-Croaking Ground Dove
-Sunbittern
-Burnished-buff Tanager

I thought that the mystery was solved, until a few minutes later I saw a pair of Violaceous Euphonias and a Green Honeycreeper. *sign* Just to clarify, in addition to those two just mentioned species I saw the finch, the dove, and the Blue-gray Tanager, but not the Sunbittern. I also saw an odd tanager that I didn't recognize, I think it was probably a juvenile Silver-beaked but it may have been an odd plumage of Burnished-buff. At the very least it appears the contingas, hummers, and manakins that used to be here are all gone.
 
What did you think of the new Como Zoo sea lion exhibit? Can you please give us your review of it when you get a chance?
 
I really don't have much to say about the new sea lion exhibit, which is why I didn't type up a full review. It's clearly better than what used to be there, but its not really anything special. The pool in the main exhibit is pretty big and the underwater viewing is nice. The other two sea lion exhibits look like the one at Shedd Aquarium (not good). The theming is quite tacky. Overall, meh.
 
birdsandbats said:
I really don't have much to say about the new sea lion exhibit, which is why I didn't type up a full review. It's clearly better than what used to be there, but its not really anything special. The pool in the main exhibit is pretty big and the underwater viewing is nice. The other two sea lion exhibits look like the one at Shedd Aquarium (not good). The theming is quite tacky. Overall, meh.
Click to expand...

This about sums up what others think of the new exhibit. It only cost $21 MILLION... :p
 
birdsandbats said:
Regarding free flight birds in Tropical Encounters - Como is known to at least used to have a large collection of rare birds free-flying this exhibit, but exactly what species they have now is in question due to the lack of signage that plagues the zoo, and due to the fact that it is very easy for a bird to hide in Tropical Encounters. In an attempt to solve this, I asked a keeper what bird species were in tropical encounters, and I got this list:

-Saffron Finch
-Blue-gray Tanager
-Croaking Ground Dove
-Sunbittern
-Burnished-buff Tanager

I thought that the mystery was solved, until a few minutes later I saw a pair of Violaceous Euphonias and a Green Honeycreeper. *sign* Just to clarify, in addition to those two just mentioned species I saw the finch, the dove, and the Blue-gray Tanager, but not the Sunbittern. I also saw an odd tanager that I didn't recognize, I think it was probably a juvenile Silver-beaked but it may have been an odd plumage of Burnished-buff. At the very least it appears the contingas, hummers, and manakins that used to be here are all gone.
Click to expand...

Silver-beaked has been a usual inhabitant so it seems reasonable that the mystery tanager would have been that species. I've seen a bunch of other tanagers here in the past (Paradise, Bay-headed, Turquoise, Swallow, Blue Dacnis, Red-legged Honeycreeper) but no idea if any are still kept. Likewise for years there were free-ranging anoles and dartfrogs but I'm not sure about their current status.

A few other annotations to the full list (based on April visit):
-there is one hybrid Orangutan kept with the Sumatrans
-there are also two Harbor Seals in the pinniped complex
-the aquatic turtle exhibit in Tropical Encounters also has Matamata, and should have leopoldi and motoro Freshwater Stingrays plus Silver Arowana
-I can't remember what fish I saw most recently in the main aquarium in Tropical Encounters, but based on what it's typically held the unidentified catfish was probably either Ripsaw or Redtail, the cichlids were probably Quetzal and Midas, and the Silver Dollars were probably Metynnis luna and Myloplus rubripinnis
-in the small saltwater tank the unidentified wrasse is Bluehead, and the unidentified butterflyfish are Foureye and Reef assuming no recent changes

Did any of the various empty aquaria/terraria in the Aquatics or African Hoofstock buildings look like they were nearing completion?
 
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Gondwana said:
Silver-beaked has been a usual inhabitant so it seems reasonable that the mystery tanager would have been that species. I've seen a bunch of other tanagers here in the past (Paradise, Bay-headed, Turquoise, Swallow, Blue Dacnis, Red-legged Honeycreeper) but no idea if any are still kept. Likewise for years there were free-ranging anoles and dartfrogs but I'm not sure about their current status.

A few other annotations to the full list (based on April visit):
-there is one hybrid Orangutan kept with the Sumatrans
-there are also two Harbor Seals in the pinniped complex
-the aquatic turtle exhibit in Tropical Encounters also has Matamata, and should have leopoldi and motoro Freshwater Stingrays plus Silver Arowana
-I can't remember what fish I saw most recently in the main aquarium in Tropical Encounters, but based on what it's typically held the unidentified catfish was probably either Ripsaw or Redtail, the cichlids were probably Quetzal and Midas, and the Silver Dollars were probably Metynnis luna and Myloplus rubripinnis
-in the small saltwater tank the unidentified wrasse is Bluehead, and the unidentified butterflyfish are Foureye and Reef assuming no recent changes

Did any of the various empty aquaria/terraria in the Aquatics or African Hoofstock buildings look like they were nearing completion?
Click to expand...
Where are the Harbor Seals? I saw the sign for them, but the only seals I saw (in the AAB) where obviously Gray.

I saw no Matamata, stingrays, or arowana in TE. I looked for them because I knew they were supposed to be there, but they may all be gone now.

Thanks for the fish IDs! The catfish was Ripsaw.

in the zebra building, one tank looked completed as was signed for Meller’s Chameleon, but was empty. The tank signed for Emperor Scorpion still looked barren.
 
birdsandbats said:
Where are the Harbor Seals? I saw the sign for them, but the only seals I saw (in the AAB) where obviously Gray.

I saw no Matamata, stingrays, or arowana in TE. I looked for them because I knew they were supposed to be there, but they may all be gone now.

Thanks for the fish IDs! The catfish was Ripsaw.

in the zebra building, one tank looked completed as was signed for Meller’s Chameleon, but was empty. The tank signed for Emperor Scorpion still looked barren.
Click to expand...
I saw one harbor seal mixed with the sea lions on my last visit about a month ago, but I heard elsewhere that they have two.
The emperor scorpion has been gone for over a year now.
In addition, I’ve seen a couple of blue dancis, a banannaquit, and a multitude of female red-legged honeycreapers on my last few visits.
 
Dhole dude said:
I saw one harbor seal mixed with the sea lions on my last visit about a month ago, but I heard elsewhere that they have two.
The emperor scorpion has been gone for over a year now.
In addition, I’ve seen a couple of blue dancis, a banannaquit, and a multitude of female red-legged honeycreapers on my last few visits.
Click to expand...
When I visited in April I saw two harbor seals in the smaller outdoor exhibit, which wasn't yet open but was occupied. I guess with two outdoor exhibits, two indoor exhibits, and offshow holding it is a bit random which seals/sea lions you wind up seeing on a given day.

On the terrariums I appreciate Como's attempts at displaying some smaller things but it seems like it takes them forever to complete or refurbish.
 
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