Herptiles

[^Chris^]

It's particularly quiet here in the General Forum- is everyone all OK? Just thought I'd chuck some ambiguous open-ended questions in to get everyone talking again...

Just pondering aimlessly today about herptiles in zoos.Everyone seems to like a reptile house but they're never a big feature. You can sort of see why with reptiles and amphibians- they don't move much, they've not got a great deal of character and they all look alike.

Occasionally, however, you can get a species of reptile that really shines or an exhibit that makes them more of an attraction. I was just wondering what anyone had to say about that. Has anyone got any particular favourites?

I guess a reptile that always stands out for me is the Komodo Dragon. Its just clearly a lot bigger than the average lizard and all the enclosures that I've seen for them have been really impressive. My favourite is probably the big one at Chester that houses the male- its a huge exhibit that's very naturalistic.

I suppose crocodiles should stand out too- but there are very few places that keep them in particularly good exhibits here in the UK. In fact I'd go as far as saying most crocodile exhibits are worse than mediocre. I think you guys down under have a slightly better approach when it comes to crocs from what I've seen.

My other favourite reptile exhibit is Bristol Zoo's Rhinoceros Iguanas. They are the only place I've seen in the UK that keeps this species outside and it's a nice change. Its a big lush exhibit with a pool, grass and palms and definitely far better than a cramped indoor tank style enclosure.

Anyway, it's there if you fancy a chat about it.

 

[Nigel]

attracting people to reptiles

If the zoos ( outside of NZ ) that have a tuatara on display , they can make the most of the fact that the tuatara is basically a dinosaur .
How many people realise that there are still dinosaurs living , let alone seen one alive ? Alot of people in NZ know this fact , but I am not sure how well known it is overseas .

Another reptile that could draw crowds would be a reticulated python , and I am sure a thorny devil will also go down well .

If there was a good presentation with some interaction available for the visitors this should also help to inform people about common misconceptions ( especially with snakes ) But it should avoid the Irwin style hype , and be more realistic like the snake show/talk at Currimbin

 

[patrick]

aw i hate to burst youor bubble (and the rest on new zealands!) nige, but tuatara's are no more a dinosaur than any species of crocodile, of turtle or lizard for that matter. instead what makes them unique is that they represent an order of reptiles that is, with the exception of those extant species in new zealand, known only from dinosaur-ERA fossils and has no other living relatives. as i'm sure you know, despite their appearance they are not actually lizards and instead represent an entirely different lineage of the reptile family tree.

taronga zoo has tuatara. and i hate to say it, but i don't think it makes for an "attraction" in its own right, nor are they particuarly interesting to watch in the enclosure taronga keeps them in in the reptile house.. (i recommend they try the obvious and switch the day-night cycle on the lighting). most people breeze straight past. but no doubt the same people, if holidaying in NZ, would spend half a day facinated by them. as i say with all animals its all in the presentation and the scenario surrounding them. it has much less to do with the actual species than most people think. few spent more than 2 minutes at melbournes elephants before they moved them from a tiny concrete box.

with reptiles - each species may not be astoundingly exciting in their own right, (neither are the bulk of zoo animals) but group them together in a "house" and i'de disagree with chris and say they certainly do make an a relatively big feature collectively. most people visit the reptile house at the zoo.

melbourne has a reptile house and a frog house. the frogs, when exhibited alone, do a much better job of educating about frogs and amphibian decline than they do when mixed in with the other herps.

personally i like all my species, be them feathers, scaled or furred, mixed up in immersion exhibits as our australian zoos are slowly starting to do. melbournes asia exhibit has elongated tortoises, insects, taiwan snakes and frogs in one of its reseach huts. werribee has ground boas and african fish in its "pula reserve" village.

in any event - i think if theres a glass tank people always peer in. they are not much different to any other animal in zoos. boring, unless made to be exciting. plenty of zoos make a numeber 1 attraction from reptiles..

oh, and may i just say we have a fantastic reptile collection in australia. not only do we have an huuuge range of natives but we have some very wonderful and obscure exotics as well. i'm particuarly fond of melbournes philippine crocodiles, the fijian iguanas (who are always moving about) and the way they mix theior reptiles together based on goegraphy. african chamelons live with rhino vipers, basilisks live with spiny terrapins, iguanas with boas and the asian stram has fish, turtles, tortoises and philippine sail fin dragons all sharing a large streambank. its nice!

 

[Writhedhornbill]

At chester, I hear loads of gasps when people take a look at the komodo dragons, Crocodile monitors and lesser antilles iguanas. They seem to be popular with small children because of their size and for the monitors power.

The gaboon and rhinoceras vipers, also make people stare. They are both so well adapted to life on the forest floor that they have markings on them that make them so beautiful.

Other popular species at Chester do tend to be the:
Galapagos tortoises
Dwarf crocodiles
Tuartara
Mangrove snake
pig nosed river turtle (New in the elephant house)
And basically any reptile that people see moving!!

For amphibians, I like the mountain Chicken. For those of you that don't know, it's a very large frog from the island of montserrat. At Chester, and Jersey zoo, they just sit there, staring into space thoughtfully.

Poison dart frogs seem to catch people's eyes, as they are one of the animals that most people consider to be a typical rainforest species. I think that they are alright, My favourite is certainly the blue. It has such a rich tone of blue on it's skin, that it's hard to imagine it being able to blend in with the green of the forest. But then, it doesn't need to, as it is dangerous anyway.

Patrick, I do try and visit the reptile house at most zoos, but sometimes I run out of time and something has to give. At London zoo we missed the reptile house. This was especially bad because they have the best reptile collection in the country. Black mambas, boomslang, 10 gaboon vipers.

Chester also trys to mix it's reptiles together to create more active exhibits. Tortoises seem to mix well with most other reptiles. There have been mixes with tortoises and lesser antilles iguana, rhinoceras viper and probably many other animals. There was a mix between tree shrews and spiny turtles, but when the spiny turtles produced and egg they were moved out of the enclosure, as the tree shrews would have eaten the egg.