Mixed species exhibit ideas

First of all the otters can cause multiple problems, which is why I generally recommend to not mix them. See this for example: https://www.eaza.net/assets/Uploads...sa-EAZA-Best-Practice-Guidelines-Approved.pdf

1: The otters could kill piglets
2: The male pigs and possibly even the tapirs or females with young could kill the otters (pups for sure, possibly even adults)
3: The otters could bully the tapirs, something observed with other species

The second aspect is the mixing of the tapirs and the pigs. According to the AZA ungulate tag mixed species manual, two collections in the US mix Malayan tapir with Visayan wharty pigs. One of them has them in a breeding setup with a tapir calf. They state that a separation area for the pigs is important. The other exhibit houses a non-breeding pair of tapir and a female-group of pigs, which seems the safest option to me.

Sizewise, one of them is less then 5.000 square feet (the non-breeding one) and the other one is between 5.000 and 10.000 square feet

Otters and barbirusa were mixed at Chester, so the wart pigs could possibly work. The tapirs though, probably not.
 
Otters and barbirusa were mixed at Chester, so the wart pigs could possibly work. The tapirs though, probably not.
They are mixed indeed, and for now it seems that it works with the current setup and individuals. The problem with otters is that there are several mixes known where changes in setup or animal-composition blew up the fragile cohabitation and resulted in several problems. It's always a risk to combine otters with other species, as this has lead to several deaths and loads of stress in certain exhibits.

One case where it did work with warty pigs though: Zoo Basel has combined otters with Visayan warty pigs for some years now and that has gone without much problems beside some initial provocations by the otters.

Also interesting. One exhibit which combined tapir and otters had the otters removed due to eye-problems caused by poor water quality. Another zoo on the other hand did actually combine otters with several tapirs for years without trouble.
 
I wasn't thinking it for a geographical exhibit. I was thinking about a possible exhibit on the order Carnivora yesterday- and was wondering about this mix. The other mixes in the exhibit would be Spectacled Bear with White-Nosed Coati, and Asian Small-clawed Otter with Binturong. Does anyone else know of any mixes between two Carnivorans that would work?
The following have all been housed successfully.
  1. Meerkat/Banded Mongoose
  2. Meerkat/Yellow Mongoose/Fennec Fox
  3. Meerkat/Yellow Mongoose
 
Is anyone aware of a black vulture + southern crested caracara mix in real life? While black vultures are known for being the most agressive among their kin, caracaras are an exception in their "black" list due to their better developed alert calls, thus it's common to see a group with individuals of both species sharing carcasses in the wild. Sometimes the different species can also be observed grooming each other, and I suppose both are rather resistant to disease.
 
Is anyone aware of a black vulture + southern crested caracara mix in real life? While black vultures are known for being the most agressive among their kin, caracaras are an exception in their "black" list due to their better developed alert calls, thus it's common to see a group with individuals of both species sharing carcasses in the wild. Sometimes the different species can also be observed grooming each other, and I suppose both are rather resistant to disease.

Yes, I think (if I remember correctly) that these two species are mixed in one of the large bird of prey / raptor aviaries at Chapultepec zoo in Mexico.
 
Here are my ideas for mixed species exhibits:

1: Hippopotamus, Marabou Stork, Great White Pelican, Yellow-Billed Stork

2. Blue Gnu, Sable Antelope, Impala, Cattle Egret, Red-Billed Oxpecker

3. Giant Anteater, Greater Rhea, Cocoi Heron

4. Rock Hyrax, Peach-Faced Lovebird, Speckled Mousebird, Long-Tailed Paradise Whydah, Northern Red Bishop, Common Waxbill, Pancake Tortoise, Common Agama

5. Platypus, New Guinea Snake-Necked Turtle, Australian Rainbowfish

6. Koala, Short-Nosed Echidna, Galah, Blue-Winged Kookaburra, Crested Pigeon,

7. African Crested Porcupine, African Spurred Tortoise

8. Brush-Tailed Rock Wallaby, Superb Lyrebird, Blue-Winged Kookaburra

9. Great Blue Heron, Trumpeter Swan, American Kestrel, River Cooter

10. Coyote, American Badger

11. King Vulture, Crested Oropendola, Scarlet Ibis

12. Belted Kingfisher, Red-Eared Slider,

13. South Polar Skua, Ivory Gull

14. Atlantic Puffin, Pigeon Guillemot, Surf Scoter, Leopard Shark, California Sheepshead, Garibaldi

15. Galapagos Dove, Marine Iguana, Sally Lightfoot Crab

16. Helmeted Vanga, Madagascan Hoope, Radiated Tortoise,

17. Panamanian Golden Frog, Green Vine Snake

18. Green Anaconda, Rainbow Whiptail

19. Bongo, Yellow-Backed Duiker, Black-And-White Colobous, Congo Peafowl, African Gray Parrot, Great Blue Turaco, White-Necked Rockfowl

20. Common Ostrich, Gemsbok, Serval

21. Common Warthog, Honey Badger

22. Aardwolf, Aardvark, Yellow Mongoose, Gray Crowed Crane

23. Reticulated Giraffe, Black-Backed Jackal
 
20. Common Ostrich, Gemsbok, Serval

Nothing even close to this has ever been attempted before so it's already shady territory. The only thing even remotely close I can think of is Servals and Pygmy Hippos at Fuengirola. The mix is likely to end up in dead Serval(s) probably at the hands of the Gemsbok. Maybe the only way it could work if (this is a massive if) the Gemsbok are replaced with something like Springbok or a smaller gazelle species and the Serval are given plenty of space that only they can access.
 
Nothing even close to this has ever been attempted before so it's already shady territory. The only thing even remotely close I can think of is Servals and Pygmy Hippos at Fuengirola. The mix is likely to end up in dead Serval(s) probably at the hands of the Gemsbok. Maybe the only way it could work if (this is a massive if) the Gemsbok are replaced with something like Springbok or a smaller gazelle species and the Serval are given plenty of space that only they can access.

Yeah, and ostrich don't tend to like niggly little carnivores around either, and given a single ostrich kick can kill a cheetah, I don't think the servals would last very long...

However, servals with an all-female group of something like a springbok as you say might work, depending on how aggressive the servals are and whether pregnant springboks are separated from the main group. :)
 
While I think many of these are very interesting mixes, I do think some of them would (almost certainly) not work. Obviously a lot of this is entirely dependent on the gender and temperament of the animals in question.

21. Common Warthog, Honey Badger

Eek. Two potentially highly aggressive and highly defensive species in the same exhibit. Don't think this would end well.

1: Hippopotamus, Marabou Stork, Great White Pelican, Yellow-Billed Stork

There is a very similar at ZooParc de Beauval in France, and I agree that this might well work. They don't have the Marabou stork however, and I think this is the species that could potentially cause problems. Luckily I think the other two bird species are large enough to avoid being quick snacks. ;)

2. Blue Gnu, Sable Antelope, Impala, Cattle Egret, Red-Billed Oxpecker

I reckon this could work, although the impala would probably have to be in larger numbers than the other two and the exhibit would have to be completely netted over. It would be nice to have a new Antwerp Buffalo aviary though ;).

3. Giant Anteater, Greater Rhea, Cocoi Heron

I think this would work as all three are pretty harmless towards each other :).

4. Rock Hyrax, Peach-Faced Lovebird, Speckled Mousebird, Long-Tailed Paradise Whydah, Northern Red Bishop, Common Waxbill, Pancake Tortoise, Common Agama

Nice one. Only think is that the viewing opportunities would have to be quite creative to allow the visitors to see all the species without having an exhibit that is too small. :)

6. Koala, Short-Nosed Echidna, Galah, Blue-Winged Kookaburra, Crested Pigeon,

Kookaburras are essentially a no-no in a mixed exhibit. They aren't really the kindest birds - any puggles or joeys wouldn't last terribly long, nor would any pigeon or galah eggs.

8. Brush-Tailed Rock Wallaby, Superb Lyrebird, Blue-Winged Kookaburra

Again, the kookaburras are the catch.

9. Great Blue Heron, Trumpeter Swan, American Kestrel, River Cooter

I'm sure the swans wouldn't appreciate having a bird of prey in the exhibit with them, even they don't pose a threat to them. That and the herons might well bully the kestrels.

10. Coyote, American Badger

Ooh, interesting. A nice symbiotic relationship in the wild, but I wonder whether they would become hostile towards each other when the need to hunt is taken away? Who knows.

11. King Vulture, Crested Oropendola, Scarlet Ibis

While they are primarily scavengers, king vultures have been known to prey on lizards or injured animals, so I would probably steer away from this one.

13. South Polar Skua, Ivory Gull

Any young gulls or eggs would not last very long.

14. Atlantic Puffin, Pigeon Guillemot, Surf Scoter, Leopard Shark, California Sheepshead, Garibaldi

Very interesting one and great idea. Probably some kind of 3-level viewing. Very nice. Would be intersting to see how the public (and the birds) react to having sharks in their exhibits :D

15. Galapagos Dove, Marine Iguana, Sally Lightfoot Crab

Well of course all three of these species are essentially impossible to obtain but I'm pretty sure it would work if it happened.

17. Panamanian Golden Frog, Green Vine Snake

Almost certainly not a good idea. Vine snakes eat small lizards, rodents and amphibians. Also, even if it were a species that didn't potentially eat them, the golden frogs are best kept out of mixed exhibits due to their status in the wild ;).

18. Green Anaconda, Rainbow Whiptail

Whiptails would either be constantly stressed or eaten as a light snack.

19. Bongo, Yellow-Backed Duiker, Black-And-White Colobous, Congo Peafowl, African Gray Parrot, Great Blue Turaco, White-Necked Rockfowl

Nice one! Think it would work, unless I've missed something.

23. Reticulated Giraffe, Black-Backed Jackal

Don't think so. A male giraffe would chase a jackal around all the time, and likely kill it eventually. If a calf were to be born, the giraffes would kill the jackals as well. Probably best to keep the giraffes for a savanna mixed exhibit or just by themselves.

22. Aardwolf, Aardvark, Yellow Mongoose, Gray Crowed Crane

I genuinely think this might just work! I mean the Aardwolves and Aardvark are nocturnal and the others are diurnal, so that might be a bit of a nuisance when designing an exhibit, but maybe?
 
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