European Themed Section In Zoos

Mr. Bobcat

Mr. Bobcat

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I was thinking about continental wildlife themes in zoos. I've been to over 50 zoos and aquariums in the United States and I don't remember seeing a European themed area of a zoo. Has anyone else seen one?
And if you were going to create one what would you include?
It can include reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and fish.
 
I certainly don't recall ever having seen any European species in zoos (besides species that do occur in Europe but also elsewhere, like Mallard, Common Kestrel, Red Fox and Peregrine Falcon). I've only seen European-themed aquariums, at Malta National Aquarium and Tokyo Sea Life Park. Malta National Aquarium, naturally, has quite a few displays of local Mediterranean marine fishes, and Tokyo Sea Life Park has Mediterranean and North Sea tanks in it's "Oceans of the World" gallery.
 
That's because they are just 'native species'.

Many collections have Wisent, wolves, lynx, brown bear, various deer and many smaller animals as part of their local breeding programmes.
 
Bronx Zoo's World of Birds has one European forest stream exhibit with capercaillies, ruff, Eurasian blackbirds, but also azure-winged magpies (East Asian) and harlequin ducks (very rarely enter Western Europe).
 
What surprises me is how many zoos in Europe have capercaillie/woodgrouse, even Bronx has a couple... but nobody in the UK exhibits them....can't fathom why
 
DaLilFishie said:
I certainly don't recall ever having seen any European species in zoos (besides species that do occur in Europe but also elsewhere, like Mallard, Common Kestrel, Red Fox and Peregrine Falcon). I've only seen European-themed aquariums, at Malta National Aquarium and Tokyo Sea Life Park. Malta National Aquarium, naturally, has quite a few displays of local Mediterranean marine fishes, and Tokyo Sea Life Park has Mediterranean and North Sea tanks in it's "Oceans of the World" gallery.
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Many (if not most) European aquaria have one or more European section(s) with native marine and freshwater species.
 
I saw someone in the Zoochat mentioned that AZA and EAZA have reached an agreement not to hold the species from each other's continents. While EAZA doesn't have that strong control over zoos, many European facilities still import NA faunas like Coyotes, Cougars, American Black Bears, Canadian Porcupines, Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures etc. By contrast, many European faunas such as Wisent, Barbary Macaques and Chamois were phased out in AZA facilities. However there are still some European species existing in NA facilities, like White Stork, Mouflon, Eagle-Owl, Demoiselle Cranes, Fallow Deer, Eurasian Lynx (39 holders in NA), Red Deer (22 holders in NA), Wolverines (most Wolverines in NA zoos are Eurasian subspecies) and Wild Boars (9 holders in NA). European Herptiles should be much easier to acquire; the Buffalo Zoo has one tank in the Herptile House displaying Hermann's Tortoise and Sheltopusik.
I have a European theme in my fantasy zoo called "Black Forest Tale", which focuses on Southern German fauna with Bavarian element decorations. It is completely outdoor so no Poikilotherms. The roster includes Western Capercaillie, White Stork, Eagle-Owl, Eurasian Lynx, Wild Boar, Fallow Deer, Red Deer and Chamois (imported from European facilities).
If any of you guys are interested, the Norwegian Fjord theme can be considered, with species such as Arctic Fox, Grey Seal, Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, White-tailed Sea Eagle, King Eider and Falcons (Gyr or Peregrine). Most species here are also NA faunas, so not hard to acquire
 
StellarChaser said:
someone in the Zoochat
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That member was Jana in this thread.
StellarChaser said:
many European facilities still import NA faunas
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I would argue these kind of imports rarely happen and it's just the relict populations from people that imported until a decade or more ago (except for pumas as they are quite the popular big cat pet), by all means these imports may still happen but zoos of the EAZA circuit seem to not be the protagonists, privates may be more involved (see the seized pumas of Prague Zoo).
StellarChaser said:
White Stork, Mouflon, Eagle-Owl, Demoiselle Cranes, Fallow Deer, Eurasian Lynx, Red Deer, Wild boar
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They are respectively:
- not exclusive of Europe or Eurasia, they still have an exotic value and quite the popular ornamental bird in private holdings;
- a popular game ovine, originating from the Mediterranean area and quite hardy especially to conditions where ranches are more popular (southern US);
- popular falconry animals;
- quite limited in range in Europe sensu stricto (or even lato for the matter) and are more Afro-Eurasian than European, and same thing of the popular ornamental bird as the stork apply for the crane;
- the fallow and red deer are quite popular game species as well, with fallows being introduced and invasive to several parts of the world, they are bound to be in ranches and the likes;
- the Eurasian lynx you cite are all in non-AZA facilities and so could either come from privates breeding them for exotic cat value or they could be expensive rescues, so AZA involvement is again 0;
- Wild boars are invasive and common hunting animals, so I guess taking animals from the wild is allowed for people.
StellarChaser said:
most Wolverines in NA zoos are Eurasian subspecies
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As far as we know, there may be still other facilities (and privates) that have locally caught specimens, they're just not added to ZTL.
StellarChaser said:
European Herptiles should be much easier to acquire
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As they are popular pet themselves, moreso for the tortoise than the sheltopusik.

The rest of the reply I say is unnecessary, especially as far as promotion of your speculative zoo design is concerned, it doesn't add anything.
 
Mickey said:
That member was Jana in this thread.

I would argue these kind of imports rarely happen and it's just the relict populations from people that imported until a decade or more ago (except for pumas as they are quite the popular big cat pet), by all means these imports may still happen but zoos of the EAZA circuit seem to not be the protagonists, privates may be more involved (see the seized pumas of Prague Zoo).

They are respectively:
- not exclusive of Europe or Eurasia, they still have an exotic value and quite the popular ornamental bird in private holdings;
- a popular game ovine, originating from the Mediterranean area and quite hardy especially to conditions where ranches are more popular (southern US);
- popular falconry animals;
- quite limited in range in Europe sensu stricto (or even lato for the matter) and are more Afro-Eurasian than European, and same thing of the popular ornamental bird as the stork apply for the crane;
- the fallow and red deer are quite popular game species as well, with fallows being introduced and invasive to several parts of the world, they are bound to be in ranches and the likes;
- the Eurasian lynx you cite are all in non-AZA facilities and so could either come from privates breeding them for exotic cat value or they could be expensive rescues, so AZA involvement is again 0;
- Wild boars are invasive and common hunting animals, so I guess taking animals from the wild is allowed for people.

As far as we know, there may be still other facilities (and privates) that have locally caught specimens, they're just not added to ZTL.

As they are popular pet themselves, moreso for the tortoise than the sheltopusik.

The rest of the reply I say is unnecessary, especially as far as promotion of your speculative zoo design is concerned, it doesn't add anything.
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I add that the Barbary Macaque is more African (Morocco/Algeria) than truly European, even if a small colony persists in Gibraltar. One (including me) may think there was a truly native population there, but now the current monkeys have the same genes than the African counterparts, resulting from many introductions (maybe to address the local extinction of the former native population ?) so the "European" blood - if it still exists - is at best very diluted.
Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) are European but also Asian ; the White Storks are even more widespread (Europe + Asia + Africa), curiously it seems that the NA facilities house them in their African sections (as well as the Marabou Storks, Sacred Ibises or Shoebills !), that may surprise any European visitor.
Conversely the Puma isn't exclusively North American, it is widespread in Central/South America.
To end the post, the array of "Nordic" animals isn't typically European, all of them are Atlantic (Europe + NA) or circumpolar (Europe + NA + Asia) species.
 
Wanderer said:
In terms of wildlife there are few mammal species that are endemic to Europe, most are part of the larger Eurasian temperate area. So in a way making a Europe-themed section doesn't make that much sense if you're outside of Europe.
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There are a couple of endemic/near-endemic European mammals, as (only to mention the medium to large species) several caprines, the Wisent, the Forest Reindeer, the Alpine Marmot, the European Beaver (also present in Asia but very rare there), the European Mink, the Iberian Lynx... Some of them may be very rare among European zoos themselves, especially the latter species.
Otherwise the European theming may be referred to particular environments (for example the Alps, the Mediterranean wetlands...) and to the culture that is linked to them, more than to endemic species.
 
I feel like the main reason for a lack of European exhibits outside of Europe come down to the lack of big crowd drawing species as seen in other regions such as elephants or big cats, or costs involving imports: why would an American Zoo spend the money to import Eurasian Beavers when local american beavers are far more accessible and look the same to the regular visitor? Furthermore, conservation priorities are also worth considering, as it would make little sense to put funds into protecting, say, Iberian Wolves when there are Red or Mexican wolves present much closer to home.

Back in Europe, meanwhile, european fauna typically gets a far smaller spotlight simply because they're less appealing or showy than exotic wildlife, even if they should get far more conservation awareness.
 
Haliaeetus said:
There are a couple of endemic/near-endemic European mammals, as (only to mention the medium to large species) several caprines, the Wisent, the Forest Reindeer, the Alpine Marmot, the European Beaver (also present in Asia but very rare there), the European Mink, the Iberian Lynx... Some of them may be very rare among European zoos themselves, especially the latter species.
Otherwise the European theming may be referred to particular environments (for example the Alps, the Mediterranean wetlands...) and to the culture that is linked to them, more than to endemic species.
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Although very rare, I didn't even know wild beavers were distributed in Asia.
 
Randomname0183 said:
I feel like the main reason for a lack of European exhibits outside of Europe come down to the lack of big crowd drawing species as seen in other regions such as elephants or big cats, or costs involving imports: why would an American Zoo spend the money to import Eurasian Beavers when local american beavers are far more accessible and look the same to the regular visitor? Furthermore, conservation priorities are also worth considering, as it would make little sense to put funds into protecting, say, Iberian Wolves when there are Red or Mexican wolves present much closer to home.
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In short form, Europe lacks "unique" species; the European fauna is too similar to the North American counterpart, which both have Lynx, Otter, Bison, Wolf, Brown Bear, Beaver, Badger
captain alligator said:
Although very rare, I didn't even know wild beavers were distributed in Asia.
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Eurasian Beavers are even present in China, but just a tiny portion
Mickey said:
The rest of the reply I say is unnecessary, especially as far as promotion of your speculative zoo design is concerned, it doesn't add anything.
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Well, those are just my response to Mr. Bobcat's question, "And if you were going to create one what would you include?" I know all the species there are not endemic to Europe, but they are feasible for North American facilities
 
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