Aggieland Safari New Aggieland Safari Park and Species List

as for other zoos holding this species of swamphen, I would note the indoor walk-thru aviary at Houston Zoo has a very large swamphen, but I could not locate a sign and did not get any photos, so i am uncertain if it is this species or a purple (or something else). I hope to visit Houston again when weather is cooler, and go early in morning, and hopefully speak to one of the aviary keepers during the feeding time. Hopefully, they will be able to help me ID some of the unsigned birds there, like the mystery swamphen.

none of the walk-thru exhibits were large enough to hold the giant eland, and if they are still there, I am sure must be in drive-thru. I do hope to go again when the weather is cooler, and bring my binoculars, and a printout species list with pictures of the hoofstock. On my first visit I did not have a species list with me (I had not found this thread yet!) and they don't have any pamphlets or signs for the animals in drive -thru, so I certainly saw some animals I couldn't ID for certain.

There were a LOT of unsigned waterfowl in the aviary, and I was only able to ID some of the species with certainty. Next time I will bring this full species list. Also, while I am familiar with a lot of waterfowl, I have still never seen a garganey, so I might have easily missed that one. As for the giant wood rail, although it was unsigned, I am quite positive I ID'd it correctly. I spent considerable time studying it and writing down its identifiable features.

Remember this is a PRIVATE non-AZA facility, so it is not too surprising to find animals here not normally seen in AZA zoos. Despite the name, the facility is not actually owned by nor affiliated with the city nor the university, although university vet students do intern there.
 
AbileneBoy said:
As for the giant wood rail, although it was unsigned, I am quite positive I ID'd it correctly. I spent considerable time studying it and writing down its identifiable features.
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I have no doubt, they are around privately and are occasionally seen in roadside collections.
 
@AmbikaFan The Bronx doesn't keep any Scimitar-Horned Oryx-- or any oryx for that matter. To my knowledge the zoo has not held an oryx species since around 2009 when they phased out their Arabian herd.

As for the incredible species list of this new zoo, I'd imagine quite a lot of these animals came from the exotic pet/private keeper trade. I've seen all of the non-ungulate mammals listed for sale in the US in the past (only ever seen one pair of the squirrel listed, which are probably the ones here) and ungulates such as the oryx, aforementioned Bongo, eland, kudu, Blackbuck, Addra/Mhorr Gazelle, Nilgai, ibex, mouflon, and even bearded pig can be bought from private ranchers. As for some of the rarer AZA program ungulates such as the Grant's Gazelles, I'd imagine a lack of interest from most zoos has left the program leaders rather desperate for enthusiastic new holders.

~Thylo
 
Apologies. Dementia plagues me. I'll not mention any hoofstock--which confuse me most-- again lol.
 
I'll admit I am not 100% certain on ID of Grant's gazelle. One of unsigned species in drive-through. But they were pale, with even paler sides instead of the black stripes I associated with Thomson's
 
A few updates from a visit yesterday:

I found the same animals in the drive-thru part as on my first visit, including the Common Eland in question.

The signs in the aviary have all vanished, but I was able to find Canada Goose, Cackling Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Marbled Teal, Radjah Shelduck, Reeve's Muntjac, Great Curassow, Black Swan, California Quail, Grey-headed Swamphen, and Giant Wood Rail. Given the intense sunlight at the peak of the day, almost every single bird was hiding under the boardwalk so it should be noted that this is definitely not the full amount of birds in the area. The Silver Pheasant has been moved to the adjacent pen with domesticated animals.

One of the previously unsigned exhibits which featured Bonnet Macaques appears to now have some species of carnivore in it that is not a primate, judging by the food bowl content and fur of the animal I saw in it's box. However, I have no idea what this animal is since the fur is all I saw of it.

The Crab-eating Raccoons are still on the map, and the enclosure had a net and two animal transport boxes next to it's door which may or may not have anything to do with them. Other than that there were no changes to the enclosure. I did not see any of the raccoons inside. It is difficult to determine whether the raccoon/s are still on exhibit given they rarely come out of their box which cannot be peered into. The situation reminds me of that with the Yapok at the Dallas World Aquarium which many of the staff themselves have never seen (I asked about the raccoons and the staff at the safari were surprised when I told them I saw the raccoon at all, most of them had never seen it).

Also, @AbileneBoy how do you know the Red Foxes are eurasian? The sign only mentions that they are silver.
 
I am not in hindsight 100% sure they were Eurasian. When I visited, I was under impression all silver foxes were domesticated European stock, but apparently that is not true, and even many silver foxes in Europe are of American descent. And one cannot always trust the signs to distinguish by scientific name, as sometimes both are considered conspecific.

I never any signs in aviary save for the curassows and the agouti, though I never saw the agouti and notice you didn't either. one elderly visitor told me she had seen a "small shy furry thing" running around I assumed must be agouti, but reading your comments above perhaps she saw a muntjac in there?

I never saw the crab eating raccoons and am unsure they are still there. Did you see the tayra? I wondered if the tayra replaced the raccoons

from my visit IIRC all the macaque cages so-labeled actually had macaque. But note also: I did see signs saying some primates and binturongs might be temporarily shuffled around due to summer heat as needed, did you see binturong indoors?

as much as I love the aviary, probably their nicest exhibit in design and content, I really wish they would sign it. Very frustrating, but probably not a lot of demand. They did tell me there is supposed to be a pamphlet ID for drive thru at [unspecified!] time in future

next time I go I plan to bring binoculars, and hopefully will find eland

did you see any of the exotic deer or antelope in the walk-thru? When I went at least one of the Pere David was up there, and two unsigned antelope adjacent to giraffe (female Kudu I think?)

I had noticed the pheasant in the donkey-alpaca pen when I was there, no idea why he is not in aviary. maybe escaped?
 
I visited the facility again today, and was quite surprised by the amount of change that has occurred.
Most noticeable was the addition of several birds to the aviary and the omission of some.

Additions to the Aviary:
Black-throated Magpie Jay
Swinhoe's Pheasant
Argus Pheasant

Birds I found again and can thus confirm are still present:
Germaine's Peacock Pheasant
Garganey

Birds that have left he aviary:
Northern Helmeted Curassow
Great Curassow

I was able to find the Crab-eating Raccoons and get visual confirmation that it is, in fact, alive. It has been moved to an unmarked exhibit that is adjacent to the far end of the aviary. In the old exhibit of the raccoons is a new species to the collection, a Red Ruffed Lemur.

All of the primates have gone off exhibit except for the lemurs, spider monkeys, and Common Marmosets. The Gibbon enclosure now holds all of the Northern Helmeted Curassow, the Black Crested Macaques have been replaced by Greater Vasa Parrot and Blue-and-gold Macaws, the Bonnet Macaques have been replaced by, based on my view of its fur and some of its body, a Binturong, and the Japanese Macaques have been replaced by all of the Great Curassow.

Another change outdoor is the semi-new bird exhibit which only housed Rainbow Lorikeets on my last visit. Additions to this enclosure include: Yellow-streaked Lory, Roul-roul, and Speckled Mousebird. Also outdoors, the Fennec Foxes have been moved indoors to a very spacious exhibit for them, and a young Eurasian Eagle Owl has taken residence in their old space.

The only other changes I noticed were indoors. The Red-crested Turaco has moved into the freeflight feeding area, and a Turquoise-fronted Amazon has taken its place. An African Congo Grey Parrot has also been added indoors. The Kinkajou exhibit is now complete though I did not see any of the Kinkajou inside. There is also an unsigned lizard I will need to identify sharing an exhibit with the Eastern Collared Lizard that is new. A Patagonian Mara shares the exhibit space with the tamanduas, although I only saw one tamandua.

I got a better view of this tamandua's upper body and it appears not to be a Unicolored Southern Tamandua since it's upper body is dark, so I will upload a photo of it soon.

Also, I continue to not find Somali Wild Ass in the drive-through. @AbileneBoy Are you sure they were not the Zebra-donkey hybrids roaming around the large pasture?
 
re: the ass, as I have said, there was neither guide nor signs for the drive-thru animals, and the employees I talked to tended to be rather clueless (ie, could not name species I asked about, or gave me wrong info, like thinking Pere David's deer were from Israel). I did my best. I saw one animal from a great distance without aid of binocs and thought it was a Somali Wild Ass, but you are probably right that it is a zorse or zonkey or something like that. When I had called I was told a pamphlet for drive thru was "in the works" and I hope that is true.

While many of the macaques were "first time seen" for me, and I am glad I got to see them, I am honestly glad they got rid of the macaques and gibbons, and hope they went to a better place. i did not think the exhibits in question were suitable for them, although they would be much better suited for the birds, and certainly more spacious than the new arrangenements all sound more spacious than where the turaco and parrots you mention had been kept.

I am very excited to hear the raccoon is still present somewhere, and hope to see it on my next visit, as that would be a new one for my species list

re: tamandua, when I was there I saw two individuals, albeit curled up sleeping so I couldn't get the best view of markings. However, at the time the signage did state they were NORTHERN (mexicana) tamanduas, and I am glad to hear you confirm it, as that is another one for my species list, since AZA institutions usual have the southern species

I wonder if they took curassows out of aviary and put them in cages because they had gotten TOO comfortable with people? (seemed that way when I was there). The new additions all sound great, and I don't think I've ever seen a Swinhoe's; other new species I have all seen but they are still great animals, and it has been some years since I saw a fennec

some questions:
did you see the antelope in the cage next to giraffe, and determine what species they were? I was guessing a kudu or something related
did you see more than one hippo?
was there still a Pere David and a pheasant in the donkey-alpaca yard?
what is now in the indoors room next to the parakeet-feeing aviary? that was where they had the binturong, which you indicate has been moved (there was a sign when I was there indicating the binturong would be moved when weather permitted, but not saying what he would be switched with)
 
d1am0ndback said:
I got a better view of this tamandua's upper body and it appears not to be a Unicolored Southern Tamandua since it's upper body is dark, so I will upload a photo of it soon.
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AbileneBoy said:
re: tamandua, when I was there I saw two individuals, albeit curled up sleeping so I couldn't get the best view of markings. However, at the time the signage did state they were NORTHERN (mexicana) tamanduas, and I am glad to hear you confirm it, as that is another one for my species list, since AZA institutions usual have the southern species
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That wasn't a confirmation of it being a Northern Tamandua. He simply said it wasn't an unstriped Southern Tamandua.
 
Chlidonias said:
That wasn't a confirmation of it being a Northern Tamandua. He simply said it wasn't an unstriped Southern Tamandua.
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Yeah the Southern Tamandua is usually striped, it's just the northern population of the Southern Tamandua that isn't.

~Thylo
 
AbileneBoy said:
some questions:
did you see the antelope in the cage next to giraffe, and determine what species they were? I was guessing a kudu or something related
did you see more than one hippo?
was there still a Pere David and a pheasant in the donkey-alpaca yard?
what is now in the indoors room next to the parakeet-feeing aviary? that was where they had the binturong, which you indicate has been moved (there was a sign when I was there indicating the binturong would be moved when weather permitted, but not saying what he would be switched with)
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-Yes, I am very bad with antelope but I'm pretty sure it was an eland of some kind. I have photos of both individuals in question.
-Every time Iv'e visited Iv'e either seen no hippos or one hippo at a time. I am fairly certain they have at least 2, but there likely are more. Given the nature of the exhibit, as I'm sure you are well aware, it can be very difficult to see any hippos, my only view today was a hippo surfacing.
-No and no.
-The indoor room is where the Fennec Foxes are now. Upon my first visit that room contained pigs and was labelled as a baby room, then my second it contained the singular Patagonian Mara now with the tamanduas.
 
I have identified the unsigned lizard species in question which now shares an exhibit with an Eastern Collared Lizard, it appears to be a Checkered Whiptail (Cnemidophorus tesselatus).
 
AbileneBoy said:
deer ID question:

What are the best fieldmarks to distinguish Pere David from Barasingha?
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These species look nothing alike:

Pere David's Deer are bulkier in size and are often more tawny in color. They also have a black stripe going down their spine. They have a fairly long tail for a deer as well. They have a more prolonged face, somewhat mule-like in appearance.

Barasingha are more slender in appearance despite their large size and are generally more of an orange or reddish-brown coloration. They tend to have white patches under the chin, sometimes stretching all the way to the underside. In general, they are more "deer-like" in their overall appearance.

~Thylo
 
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