Lake Superior Zoo Lake Superior Zoo former species

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wild boar

Well-Known Member
This idea began for me after I found an article about different animals in the Lake Superior Zoo's history, which I was reading about to learn more about Mr. Magoo, a mongoose that John F. Kennedy pardoned. Over the past few days, I have compiled a list of species (mostly those that have not been at the zoo for a couple of decades) that is definitely not complete, so additions to this are fine. The list is below. Please refrain from including domestic animals in your updates.

- polar bear
- Indian elephant
- Nile hippopotamus
- black rhinoceros
- Himalayan black bear
- giant eland
- Rhesus macaque
- debrazza monkey
- Père David's deer
- jaguar
- White's tree frog
- bat-eared fox
- straw-colored fruit bat
- Seba's short-tailed fruit bat
- harbor seal
- spectacled owl
- Cape Barren geese
- mongoose
- zebra
- sea lion
- baboon
- capuchin
- toucan
- gibbon
- moose
- bison
- chimpanzee
- tiger
- elk
- leopard
- cassowary
- species of Galápagos tortoise

I am most often posting in New England zoo threads so this might seem weird, but I spend a good part of the year in Minnesota.
 
wild boar said:
This idea began for me after I found an article about different animals in the Lake Superior Zoo's history, which I was reading about to learn more about Mr. Magoo, a mongoose that John F. Kennedy pardoned. Over the past few days, I have compiled a list of species (mostly those that have not been at the zoo for a couple of decades) that is definitely not complete, so additions to this are fine. The list is below. Please refrain from including domestic animals in your updates.

- polar bear
- Indian elephant
- Nile hippopotamus
- black rhinoceros
- Himalayan black bear
- giant eland
- Rhesus macaque
- debrazza monkey
- Père David's deer
- jaguar
- White's tree frog
- bat-eared fox
- straw-colored fruit bat
- Seba's short-tailed fruit bat
- harbor seal
- spectacled owl
- Cape Barren geese
- mongoose
- zebra
- sea lion
- baboon
- capuchin
- toucan
- gibbon
- moose
- bison
- chimpanzee
- tiger
- elk
- leopard
- cassowary
- species of Galápagos tortoise

I am most often posting in New England zoo threads so this might seem weird, but I spend a good part of the year in Minnesota.
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Tiger isn't a former species, the zoo still keeps that species.
 
Others:
Mouse Opossum
Virginia Opossum
Brush-tailed Possum
Sugar Glider
Western Gray Kangaroo
Diana Monkey
Allen's Swamp Monkey
Lion-tailed Macaque
Night Monkey
Red Ruffed Lemur
Flying Squirrel
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Woodchuck
Springhaas
Pygmy Mouse
Lemming
Chinchilla
Degu
Acouchi
African Hedgehog
Fennec Fox
Arctic Fox
Black-footed Ferret
Raccoon
Tapir
Domestic Pig
Llama
Camel
White-tailed Deer
Reindeer
Markhor
Mountain Goat
Pronghorn
Emu
Tundra Swan
Black Swan
Magpie Goose
Magellanic Penguin
Snowy Owl
Peregrine Falcon
American Kestrel
Red-tailed Hawk
Roadrunner
various parrots
Siamese Crocodile
American Alligator
Boa Constrictor
Reticulated Python
 
Gondwana said:
Others:
Mouse Opossum
Virginia Opossum
Brush-tailed Possum
Sugar Glider
Western Gray Kangaroo
Diana Monkey
Allen's Swamp Monkey
Lion-tailed Macaque
Night Monkey
Red Ruffed Lemur
Flying Squirrel
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Woodchuck
Springhaas
Pygmy Mouse
Lemming
Chinchilla
Degu
Acouchi
African Hedgehog
Fennec Fox
Arctic Fox
Black-footed Ferret
Raccoon
Tapir
Domestic Pig
Llama
Camel
White-tailed Deer
Reindeer
Markhor
Mountain Goat
Pronghorn
Emu
Tundra Swan
Black Swan
Magpie Goose
Magellanic Penguin
Snowy Owl
Peregrine Falcon
American Kestrel
Red-tailed Hawk
Roadrunner
various parrots
Siamese Crocodile
American Alligator
Boa Constrictor
Reticulated Python
Click to expand...
African Hedgehog isn't a former species, either.
 
DavidBrown said:
@Gondwana This seems like a (once?) major zoo if it had megafauna like elephants, hippos, rhinos, etc. When was the last time that it had these big ABC species?
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I'm not sure why this wasn't directed at me but I do have an answer. Bessie, the zoo's only elephant ever, died in 1974 at the age of 49. Peggy the hippo and the two rhinos were gone by the late 1980s, possibly dying much earlier. I believe the Lake Superior Zoo administration claims that it is the eighteenth oldest zoo in the country if that helps.
 
birdsandbats said:
Tiger isn't a former species, the zoo still keeps that species.
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Oops. I'm sorry about that. I know the zoo currently keeps an Amur tiger but found information on Bengal tigers that they had. I wrote that and then deleted "Bengal" because I thought there was a distinct possibility that these animals were actually generic. I guess I forgot to write "possibly generic."
 
DavidBrown said:
@Gondwana This seems like a (once?) major zoo if it had megafauna like elephants, hippos, rhinos, etc. When was the last time that it had these big ABC species?
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I wouldn't quite call it major, but it did have the standard set of pre-WPA and WPA midwestern/northeastern municipal zoos: main building (big cats, monkeys, and miscellaneous animals in menagerie-style cages), elephant barn, monkey island, bear grotto. I can't add too much to the info provided by @wild boar on the pachyderms, but by the mid 1980s the elephant barn was exhibiting tapir, camel, and llama and by the end of the 1980s it was being converted into polar bear and seal holding for the under-construction polar shores exhibit. Now it's the brown bear holding. The older bear grottos are in use for black bear, the main building has one newer monkey exhibit plus miscellaneous small animals, and the monkey island is gone.
 
I can't belive I missed this thread, considering I've been her over ten times! I have only a couple of additions to this list.

Merten's Water Monitor and Gould's Parakeet ere both kept in the Australia & Ocienia Building in the past.

Desert Tortoise, Striped Skunk, & Cape Porcupine were all held in the Main Building at different points in time.

Red-Tailed Hawk, Domestic Pig, & Black-Tailed Prairie Dog are all still present to my knowledge.
 
Dhole dude said:
I can't belive I missed this thread, considering I've been her over ten times! I have only a couple of additions to this list.

Merten's Water Monitor and Gould's Parakeet ere both kept in the Australia & Ocienia Building in the past.

Desert Tortoise, Striped Skunk, & Cape Porcupine were all held in the Main Building at different points in time.

Red-Tailed Hawk, Domestic Pig, & Black-Tailed Prairie Dog are all still present to my knowledge.
Click to expand...
When I visited this January I saw Merten's Water Monitor and did not see any exhibit containing or signed for Red-tailed Hawk, Domestic Pig, or Black-tailed Prairie Dog. Also, do you mean Bourke's Parrot?
 
birdsandbats said:
When I visited this January I saw Merten's Water Monitor.
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Sorry, I meant to say Gould's Monitor :p.
birdsandbats said:
did not see any exhibit containing or signed for Red-tailed Hawk, Domestic Pig, or Black-tailed Prairie Dog. Also, do you mean Bourke's Parrot?
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The Red-Tailed Hawk is a program animal, although it can occasionally be seen in a building adjacent to the Main Building. There was a Domestic pig in the contact area that was acquired fairly recently, although I don't believe there was any signage. Did you miss the pair of exhibits for Eurasian Eagle Owl & Black-Tailed Prairie Dog next to the Nocturnal building?? They seem to be absent from your species list from this January, did you not see them or were they unoccupied?
birdsandbats said:
Also, do you mean Bourke's Parrot?
Click to expand...
What I meant to say was Gouldian Finch, apologies for the confusion :p.
 
Dhole dude said:
Did you miss the pair of exhibits for Eurasian Eagle Owl & Black-Tailed Prairie Dog next to the Nocturnal building?? They seem to be absent from your species list from this January, did you not see them or were they unoccupied?
Click to expand...
They were empty with the signs removed.
 
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