Nocturnal House - Dream Animal Collection

S

sniffer

Member
Hey there, everyone! I created a list of which animals I would want in my ideal zoo's nocturnal house. I tried to keep it to 30 species, just because so many awesome species are nocturnal. They are in no particular order. :P

1. Kakapo, Strigops habroptilus
2. Platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus
3. Black-footed cat, Felis nigripes
4. Tawny frogmouth, Podargus strigoides
5. Tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus
6. North Island brown kiwi, Apteryx mantelli
7. Kinkajou, Potos flavus
8. Common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus
9. Aardvark, Orycteropus afer
10. Coconut crab, Birgus latro
11. Rodrigues flying fox, Pteropus rodricensis
12. Gray-handed night monkey, Aotus griseimembra
13. Lowland streaked tenrec, Hemicentetes semispinosus
14. Tree pangolin, Manis tricuspis
15. Pink fairy armadillo, Chlamyphorus truncatus
16. Bushy-tailed olingo, Bassaricyon gabbii
17. Aardwolf, Proteles cristata
18. Aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis
19. African civet, Civettictis civetta
20. Great horned owl, Bubo virginianus
21. Crab-eating raccoon, Procyon cancrivorus
22. East African spring hare, Pedetes surdaster
23. North American porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum
24. Giant armadillo, Priodontes maximus
25. Brown greater galago, Otolemur crassicaudatus
26. Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, Choloepus hoffmanni
27. Bengal slow loris, Nycticebus bengalensis
28. Black flying fox, Pteropus alecto
29. Long-eared hedgehog, Hemiechinus auritus
30. Olm, Proteus anguinus

Please tell me if there are any major ones I missed! For example, I am aware my collection does not represent reptiles and amphibians well, and there are not many birds either.

In addition, anyone who wants to can write down their ideal nocturnal house species here as well! I would be very interested in reading what other nocturnal species Zoochatters would want. :)

And now, a rhyme:
Hoo-hickle poo-pickle, banana-fana farfle
Hinkle squinkle, Mary Margaret Marple
 
Tuatara would be better in a diurnal exhibit (they aren't really all that more active at night than day, and during the day they usually sit outside their burrows in plain view).

Platypus are cathemeral (active at all hours) -- I would have them in a standard exhibit instead (as opposed to being in a nocturnal house) as it would make viewing of them better.

I prefer flying foxes to be in aviary-type enclosures, especially large species like alecto. They are just as visible (actually more so because they are in day-light) and they have room to fly which most nocturnal house enclosures don't give them unless it is a "whole house" approach. Much the same applies to large mammals like aardvarks and aardwolves -- in nocturnal houses there is far less room for them than regular outside enclosures.

That said, there are many animals on your list which can indeed only be displayed satisfactorily in nocturnal enclosures (kiwi, kinkajou, etc).
 
Hmm...you make a lot of good points, Chlidonias.

What would you think if I switched out tuatara, platypus, Rodrigues flying fox, black flying fox, aardvark, and aardwolf, and instead put in the following (though not necessarily in the same amount of enclosure space)?

Egyptian fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus
Ghost bat, Macroderma gigas
Striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis
Potto, Perodicticus potto
Sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps
Philippine tarsier, Carlito syrichta

Also, what about reptiles, amphibians, or invertebrates? Are there any/many nocturnal species of those that would be good for a nocturnal house?
 
Boobsniffer said:
Also, what about reptiles and amphibians? Are there any/many nocturnal species of either that would be good for a nocturnal house?
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The Omaha Zoo nocturnal house has a swamp with alligators in it and another exhibit with Australian freshwater crocodiles.

This video shows several reptile and frog species in the Omaha nocturnal exhibit:

The LA Zoo has a cave exhibit with axolotyls.
 
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Boobsniffer said:
Hmm...you make a lot of good points, Chlidonias.

What would you think if I switched out tuatara, platypus, Rodrigues flying fox, black flying fox, aardvark, and aardwolf, and instead put in the following (though not necessarily in the same amount of enclosure space)?

Egyptian fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus
Ghost bat, Macroderma gigas
Striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis
Potto, Perodicticus potto
Sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps
Philippine tarsier, Carlito syrichta

Also, what about reptiles, amphibians, or invertebrates? Are there any/many nocturnal species of those that would be good for a nocturnal house?
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Rousettus are good for nocturnal houses because they are small and cave-dwelling. I have reservations about mammals and birds in nocturnal houses when they are species which aren't fully-nocturnal, because being housed entirely inside denies them the benefits of sunlight. Owls, for example, while nocturnal still like to sun-bathe (there are some photos on Zoochat demonstrating this), and everyone knows how much cats like to lie in the sun even if they are predominantly active by night. This also comes back to the big flying foxes -- they roost in the open in trees so probably would benefit much more from being in outside enclosures where they can get the sun. So for myself I would only have animals which actually are fully nocturnal (e.g. lorises or kiwi) or which live in cave environments so never see sun anyway.

From the list in the quote I personally wouldn't include the skunk, but the others seem fine (although Philippine tarsiers normally "roost" in the open on branches).
 
I'd take out the tree porcupines and the Hoffmann's sloths too, they aren't very active by day, but I don't think they are very active at night either, and they are much easier to see in daylight.
Species that I have seen in nocturnal displays and can recommend include other loris types (angwantibo plus slow, pygmy slow and/or slender loris), fat-tailed and dwarf lemurs, giant jumping rats, cloud rats and several more marsupials (particularly striped and Leadbetter's possums and kowari). All the bushbabies are good too, my favourite being the tiny Demidoff's (although I have never seen one in a zoo). You could also consider fisherman bats which have made a nice display in an American zoo (I can't remember which). Your obvious reptile choices are the geckos, you could make a very display with the giant species from New Caledonia, and don't forget that many catfish species are nocturnal.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I'd take out the tree porcupines and the Hoffmann's sloths too, they aren't very active by day, but I don't think they are very active at night either, and they are much easier to see in daylight.
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yes, I've never understood why some zoos keep their sloths in nocturnal houses. Armadillos I can understand, but even with those the only ones I've ever seen were in a daylight (inside) exhibit and were very active indeed.
 
gentle lemur said:
(...) fisherman bats which have made a nice display in an American zoo (I can't remember which).
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Memphis Zoo keeps the Greater bulldog bat or fisherman bat (Noctilio leporinus). Otherwise, I agree with Chli-Pteropus species should better be kept with access to natural sunlight. Same goes for the coconut crab and the raccoon.
 
I wonder if a night house can switch light cycle partially, so eg. for the first 2 hours animals are in the light, and the house has small outdoor enclosures, to give animals opportunity to bask in the sun. Later the "night" begins.

Problem with reptiles and amphibians is that they are inactive. Although night house at least tells that they are night animals.

You could show cave invertebrates together with bats. Bat caves often have dense population of crickets and cockroaches, plus centipedes, spiders and tarantuals which prey on them. In side exhibits, you can put snakes, owls or small carnivores which go into caves to hunt bats.
 
Do fossas and binturongs show well in nocturnal exhibits?

I think I would add to this list the small-spotted genet, if I could add my opinion. I think they are adorable and have never seen one!
 
BedildaSue said:
Do fossas and binturongs show well in nocturnal exhibits?
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I've only ever seen fossa once (in an outside cage, which is where they would be best displayed -- they are large and can be very active indeed).

Binturongs are huge -- in my opinion they should not be in a nocturnal house simply because of their size. However in an outdoors enclosure where they can be given appropriate space they sleep most of the time. (Although unlike many nocturnal animals they do tend to sleep in the open rather than inside a box or log).
 
Chlidonias said:
I've only ever seen fossa once (in an outside cage, which is where they would be best displayed -- they are large and can be very active indeed).

Binturongs are huge -- in my opinion they should not be in a nocturnal house simply because of their size. However in an outdoors enclosure where they can be given appropriate space they sleep most of the time. (Although unlike many nocturnal animals they do tend to sleep in the open rather than inside a box or log).
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In my experience, both are pretty active and showy during the daylight and nocturnal hours, being cathemeral species - as such, they are not really suitable for a nocturnal exhibit as they will be equally active in a day exhibit, and you'll be able to see them better in normal lighting anyhow.
 
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Chlidonias said:
That said, there are many animals on your list which can indeed only be displayed satisfactorily in nocturnal enclosures (kiwi, kinkajou, etc).
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Are there any other animals that, in your opinion, can only be displayed appropriately in nocturnal houses?
 
BedildaSue said:
Are there any other animals that, in your opinion, can only be displayed appropriately in nocturnal houses?
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well like I said earlier, basically anything that is strictly nocturnal or cave-dwelling. And in my opinion they would need to be small-bodied because larger animals simply wouldn't get enough room. There are lots of species that would be potentials.

Also many invertebrates would make good nocturnal house occupants, especially larger ones like weta, giant centipedes, giant snails, etc.
 
Of course, the more inactive the animal naturally is, the larger it could reasonably be - in terms of active animals I would say the upper size limit is probably about aye-aye size (they are larger than one initially imagines) but something larger but more inactive might be doable.
 
Nocturnal house needs not to be a string of glass-fronted boxes. Kingdoms of the Night at Omaha and Nocturnorama in Switzerland are darkened version of tropical hall-type house, with large exhibits fit for larger animals. Both are not completely well done, but they could be forerunners of a new type of zoo exhibit.

One species I would like to see in night houses are standard-winged and pennant-winged nightjars. Unfortunately, never seen them in the wild.
 
Jurek7 said:
Nocturnal house needs not to be a string of glass-fronted boxes. Kingdoms of the Night at Omaha and Nocturnorama in Switzerland are darkened version of tropical hall-type house, with large exhibits fit for larger animals. Both are not completely well done, but they could be forerunners of a new type of zoo exhibit.

One species I would like to see in night houses are standard-winged and pennant-winged nightjars. Unfortunately, never seen them in the wild.
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my mind-zoo nocturnal houses tend to be of that nature. Either open walk-through halls where everything is mixed (and this would certainly allow much larger animals to be housed because there would be a lot more room overall) or "jungle" settings where the animals are separated from one another but the dividers are cleverly-hidden by branches, vines, etc so it appears to be one enclosure.

I'm not even sure how one would keep nightjars successfully. They feed on the wing which would be difficult in itself, but also the two you mention would need massive enclosures to allow the wing-streamers to be appreciated in flight.
 
What about a potoo? Not potto like the primate, but I know potoos are closely related to nightjars...would they be difficult to keep in captivity?
 
BedildaSue said:
What about a potoo? Not potto like the primate, but I know potoos are closely related to nightjars...would they be difficult to keep in captivity?
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I think potoos would be similar to frogmouths to keep, and frogmouths are pretty simple.
 
Jurek7 said:
Nocturnal house needs not to be a string of glass-fronted boxes. Kingdoms of the Night at Omaha and Nocturnorama in Switzerland are darkened version of tropical hall-type house, with large exhibits fit for larger animals. Both are not completely well done, but they could be forerunners of a new type of zoo exhibit.
Click to expand...


Budapest has a nice nocturnal enclosure/space for some marsupials. When you enter there is first a glass "box" with feather-tailed gliders and when you go further there is a big open space with ground-cuscus, brush-tailed possums, sugargliders, western woylies and if I m correct long-nosed potoroos. There is a path in the middle and a viewing balcony above the entrance and the animals can use the whole space while for visitors there is a low barrier. At the end of the space there is a seperate room with a pon which has australian finches flying over them. If you walk back to the exit there are some glass "boxes" with frogs and invertibrates.

It is nothing fancy but it gives these species a lot more space than in zoos that keep them in traditional nocturnal enclosures and at the same time it increases the attractiveness for visitors as a cuscus or possum that is sitting within one meter without a barrier is a lot more interesting than one behind the glass.

Also Apeldoorn Zoo has arranged their nocturnal house with walkthrough enclosures and Apenheul has done the same for their douroucoulis. All of them very interesting and quite easy and cheap to build.
 
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