I went to a safari park to see (probably zoomix) wildebeest. How is that not ridiculous?
Koala was a bigger priority than the moles, (un)surprisingly brushtail possum and the moles was more intriguing.
Have you ever visited a zoo for a specific species?
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I went to a safari park to see (probably zoomix) wildebeest. How is that not ridiculous?
Koala was a bigger priority than the moles, (un)surprisingly brushtail possum and the moles was more intriguing.
How is it ridiculous? They're not that common in zoos. I've only seen wildebeest twice, that I can recall. Both last year.
I went to Halle specifically to see the Aardwolf. Missed it in the TP Berlin twice. First time didn't show up and the second - passed away a week prior my arrival. On top of that the Covid ruined my plans to visit Hamerton. Seeing the species in Halle was not easy either. I arrived there in the afternoon, but it was rainy and the Aardwolf didn't showed up. I had to deviate from my plans, sleep in Halle and luckily see it on the next morning.
I hear people get more interesting over actually rare animals such as a Spix's macaw or subspecies. Getting excited over a wildebeest sounds silly compared to seeing just another leopard subspecies.
Just last Monday I returned to the Amarillo Zoo in Texas becuase although I had visited it only months prior, I was unsuccessful at seeing their black footed ferret. Thankfully their education building was back open again and I was able to see her. So cute and definitely worth the short trip.
The first time I went to the Smithsonian National Zoo was almost solely for the elephants.
No, they were neither. I had already seen gorillas at several UK zoos and at the Jardin des Plantes, and the gorillas at Basle were (and are) Gorilla gorilla gorilla: but Basle was the second zoo in the world to breed gorillas, the first to have an infant reared by its mother and so the first to establish a family group. I had never seen more than 2 gorillas together before, although several other zoos did have breeding groups by that time.
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
Specific species in zoos tend to be much of my reasons for visit cities and even countries. I visited Berlin for trumpet manucode, Duisburg for river dolphin, Loro Park for killer whales, Prague for Lear's macaw, and Benelux for Bulwer's pheasant, Spix's macaws and harbour porpoises. My biggest dreams (unreachable for now) are Pekin for the Chinese monal and the three species of snub-nosed monkey, and Japan for the many fabulous things they keep (dugong, finless porpoise, Commerson's dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin, crested argus, etc). Of course that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy their many other species.
Is the monorail still classified in the Rallidae?
Well yeah, anyone in their right mind would get excited over a Spix's, or a river dolphin or something. But look at how many people in here have gone to see gorillas, or elephants, even though they're fairly common major zoos. Wildebeest are really unusual looking animals and are two of the core African species that are frequently photographed.
In 1987, I went with a group of London Zoo volunteers to Bristol Zoo. I saw some tarsiers in a nocturnal area. When I told some other volunteers, only one of them was interested. The others seemed to like seeing animals also held at London Zoo. I wonder if they would have been interested to see a Spix's macaw.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I bet some them regret it.
A few years back I visited Zoo Veldhoven mainly for the pair of Bare-necked fruitcrows they had at that moment. Was able to find both animals and made some nice photos of them. Had been at this zoo already before ( it was then however still called Nederlands Opvang Papegaaien = NOP ) but then they didn't have the species in the collection.
Was realy happy with this sighting because now the species has gone from the collection and also no others are kept at European public collections.
Was realy happy with this sighting because now the species has gone from the collection and also no others are kept at European public collections.
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
Many of the mainland European zoos I visited in 2017 were specifically to try and see and photograph threatened mammals I hadn't before. As I didn't see it on that trip, I returned to Duisburg to see the River dolphin in 2019, as I missed it the first time.
Equally, my selection for a trip might be influenced by the presence of new borns and young mammals.
Equally, my selection for a trip might be influenced by the presence of new borns and young mammals.
Neva
Well-Known Member
Well, all my trips focuses on specific species. The most often - Felidae. Heidelberg and their Asiatic golden cat comes to my mind as first. Also Dortmund to see Southern Oncilla, Ostrava for Rusty-spotted cats, Fishing cats, Cloudies. Jihlava/Brno for Margay...
And Halle for Aardwolf and Nürnberg for Saharan striped weasel!
And Dvur Kralove for fossas, African civets and Nubian red-necked gazelle...
And Halle for Aardwolf and Nürnberg for Saharan striped weasel!
And Dvur Kralove for fossas, African civets and Nubian red-necked gazelle...
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
It's because they didn't show that I went along to Duisburg late afternoon and see Baby.
Another zoo-visit special for one species was made in Feb. 2017. Together with @devilfish - which also wanted to see this species - I went to Artis Royal Zoo - Amsterdam - the Netherlands to see for the first time in my life a group of Rock sandpipers. Artis had recieved a group of 10 a few months earlier and both devilfish and I were very happy to see a healthy group of the species.
I've visited Artis several times after but the Rock sandpipers were moved to another aviary were I was unable to discover them. Last rumor I've heared is that the species has died-out at Artis completly and with this the species has also disappeared from public collections in Europe
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I've visited Artis several times after but the Rock sandpipers were moved to another aviary were I was unable to discover them. Last rumor I've heared is that the species has died-out at Artis completly and with this the species has also disappeared from public collections in Europe
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I haven't visited a zoo solely to see a rare species, although there are a few places that a very nice species was the main reason I visited.
- Japanese Serow at Granby Zoo.
- Musk Ox and American Badger at Safari Niagara.
- Yapok and Antillean Manatee (just a sub-species but still very cool) at Dallas World Aquarium.
- Japanese Serow at Granby Zoo.
- Musk Ox and American Badger at Safari Niagara.
- Yapok and Antillean Manatee (just a sub-species but still very cool) at Dallas World Aquarium.
It's a pity that you can't visit Kansas Zoo by tapping your heels together