The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens Living Desert Species List - Apr 2022

[Coelacanth18]

An update to my species list from 2019. Since that time two new exhibit areas have opened: a Black Rhino/mixed savanna complex and an Australian complex. Additionally, the Sonoran/Palm Oasis Aviary has been revamped; some of its inhabitants (egret and herons) were moved to the small walk-in aviary on the North American loop, while some of its new inhabitants (owls and raven) are from the carousel of small American aviaries. Seen species are in bold; each bullet is a separate enclosure unless otherwise noted.

African Grassland (new complex):

• Side Exhibits by Front: Dwarf Mongoose, Banded Mongoose
• Tunnel Exhibit: Naked Mole-rat
• Mixed Savanna (split across multiple paddocks, with fences that prevented movement of some animals like the rhinos): Black Rhino, Waterbuck, Cattle Egret, Pink-backed Pelican, Great White Pelican, (unsigned) Helmeted Guineafowl, Springbok

African Grassland (old exhibit):

• Giraffe (hybrid), Ostrich, Greater Kudu, Gray Crowned Crane

Outer Path Between African Grassland and Village

• Common Warthog

African Village

• Small Aviary: White-headed Buffalo Weaver, Taveta Golden Weaver, Racquet-tailed Roller. The signage is outdated and has a few species on it that haven't been in there for years; these are the three species I saw.
  
• Amur Leopard (signed only as Leopard)
• Striped Hyena
• Dromedary Camel
• Addax
• African Spurred Tortoise

Other African Exhibits

• Cape Porcupine
• Grevy's Zebra
• Leopard Tortoise, Bat-eared Fox, Rock Hyrax
  
• Slender-horned (Rhim) Gazelle, Addra Gazelle, African Spurred Tortoise, Cinereous Vulture, (unsigned) Yellow-billed Stork
  
• Kori Bustard
• Painted Dog
  
• Arabian Oryx
• Speke's Gazelle, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill
• Cheetah
• Fennec Fox
• Meerkat

Small African Aviaries

• Cape Thick-knee, Green Woodhoopoe, Von der Decken's Hornbill
• Waldrapp Ibis
• Hadada Ibis

North American Main Path Between Africa and Small Loop

• Desert Bighorn Sheep
• Peninsular Pronghorn
• White-nosed Coati

Carousel of North American Aviaries

• American Kestrel, Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)
  
• Hooded Oriole, Western Tanager
• Western Screech Owl
• Great Horned Owl

Garden Trail

• Jaguar

Loop of American Exhibits

• Mexican Gray Wolf
• Chacoan Peccary
• American Badger
• Ringtail
• Swift Fox
• Kit Fox
• Bobcat
• Caracal
• Mountain Lion
• Island Fox
• Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle

Walk-in Wetland Aviary on Small American Loop

• Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Redhead, Great-tailed Grackle, Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Turkey Vulture, Southwestern Pond Turtle

Exhibit Building on Small American Loop (species not sorted by enclosure)

• Colorado River Toad (Incilius alvarius)
• Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)
• Gopher Snake
• Rosy Boa
• Common Chuckwalla
• Mexican Boa Constrictor (Boa imperator/Boa constrictor imperator)
• California Newt

Wall of Small Exhibits in same building; many of these were labelled as "off-exhibit". I did not record any as seen.

• Western Lyre Snake
• American Cockroach
• Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus)
  
• Giant Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis)
  
• Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma spp)
  
• Red-spotted Toad
• Pinacate Beetle (Eleodes spp)

Palm Oasis Aviary (remodeled):

• Side Aviary: Red-tailed Hawk
• Walk-through Aviary: Greater Roadrunner, Turkey Vulture, Common Raven, Burrowing Owl, Barn Owl, Black-tailed Prairie Dog

Desert Pond

• Desert Pupfish

Outer Path Between Desert Pond and Palm Oasis Aviary

• Coyote

Animal Hospital

• Rhinoceros Iguana, Argentine Black-and-White Tegu

Mojave Garden

• Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)

Reptile House (not sorted by enclosure)

• Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia wislizenii)
• Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus uniformis)
• Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
• Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (including melanistic individual)
• Panamint Rattlesnake
• Gopher Snake (Bull Snake - sayi spp)
• Common Chuckwalla
• Gila Monster
• Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)
• Great Basin Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus bicinctores)
• Red Diamond Rattlesnake
• Speckled Rattlesnake

Australian Complex (outside mesh dome)

• Emu

Australian Complex (inside mesh dome)

• Free-roaming: Bennett's Wallaby, Budgerigar
• Olive Python
• Blue-tongued Skink (Tiliqua scincoides)
• Short-beaked Echidna
• Brush-tailed Bettong (Woylie)
• Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby
• Laughing Kookaburra

 

[Arizona Docent]

Of interest to me as a cat lover is that it appears there is now a black-footed cat on exhibit next to the meerkats. They used to have this and sand cat in atrociously small exhibits that were torn down several years ago and the small cats moved off exhibit. They have now put one on exhibit in an existing enclosure that used to house something else (not sure what).