Nocturnal Houses Species Lists

AWP

AWP

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I like nocturnal houses, mainly because of the small mammals that are kept in these places. In Europe, or at least in the Netherlands, nocturnal houses become more and more rare. However, in Australia almost every zoo or larger wildlife park seems to have one, what is great. Earlier, I visited the fantastic nocturnal houses of Alice Springs Desert Park and Territory Wildlife. Below I'll put lists of the set-up of the different nocturnal houses I visited during my last trip.

Perth Zoo
numbers corresponding to the enclosures
1. Western Ringtail, Red-tailed Phascogale
2. Fat-tailed Dunnart
3. Southern Boobook, Long-nosed Potoroo, Common Brushtail Possum
4. Dibbler
5. Tawny Frogmouth
6. Ghost Bat
7. Olive Python
8. Cane Toad
9. Jungle Python
10. Rough-scaled Python
11. Northern Quoll
12. Spinifex Hopping Mouse, Owlet-Nightjar
13. Greater Bilby, Ghost Bat
14. Northern Sugar Glider
15. Green Tree Frog
16. Western Quoll
17. Giant Prickly Stick Insect
18. Scorpion
19. Australian Tarantula
20. Banded Knobtail Gecko
21. Stimson’s Python
22. Feathertail Glider, Leaftail Gecko
23. Golden-bellied Water Rat
 
They are getting rare in Europe and I do not know why.

Chester's nocturnal house (Fruit bats of the forest) has

Rodrigues Fruit Bat
Seba's short-tailed bat
Omani blind cave fish
Pygmy hedgehog tenrec

the bats are housed together in the free flight area, the cave fish are exhibited in a cave inside this building. The tenrecs are housed in the foyer.
 
Trying to remember what is in Bristol's nocturnal house, as I was there today:

Eastern quoll
Kowari
Turkish spiny mice
Linne's two-toed sloth
Aye-aye
Mouse deer (I don't think it's a Philippine one, but can't remember)
Pygmy slow loris
Grey mouse lemur
Naked mole rats
Yellow mongoose
Malagasy jumping rats
Ground cuscus

Were the blind cave fish in there as well? There was some kind of cockroach, too. I am sure I have missed a few things there and others can fill them in. At the end there are rats and mice, but I am not sure if that bit counts as being part of the nocturnal house.
 
Should have black and brown rat, house mouse, a tree frog (species I can't remember), Aruba Island rattlesnake. The mouse deer are the "javanicus" or "kanchil" species
 
Faunia in Madrid have (more or less in order of appareance within the exhibit)

Striped skunk
Springhare and Senegal bushbaby
Three-striped night monkey
Aardvark and Kirk's dik-dik
Eastern quoll
Binturong
Reticulated python
Egyptian fruit bat
Fennec fox
Hoffmann's two-toed sloth and Moholi bushbaby
Seba's short-tailed bat
Desmares't hutia
Nancy Maa's night monkey and thre-banded armadillo
Amano shrimp
Long-snouted seahorse, Fire dart goby and Chocolate chip starfish
Brazilian porcupine and three-striped night monkey
Ocelot
Northern raccoon
Brown-nosed coati
Common genet
Small-clawed otter
Electric eel
Lesser hegdehog tenrec (supposedly also a Potto in same enclosure, but absolutely unable to find it)
Burmese python and green anaconda
 
This may not be the place for this question, but I am intrigued as to why some zoos put certain animals in nocturnal houses, and others don't. Chester's sloths are not in a nocturnal house, but other places do - Bristol even moved theirs from being in with some primates, to now being in the old quoll enclosure, as the quolls have moved to the old sand cat enclosure. Chester's sloths certainly seem content. And talking of sand cats, Bristol's was in the nocturnal house, yet Exmoor's are not - and were very active when I saw them a couple of years ago.

On the other hand, I am sure I have read people mentioning aardvarks being more active in a nocturnal house somewhere, whereas Chester's are asleep every time I see them (though they do let it all hang out and sleep in full view of the window!)
 
BeakerUK said:
On the other hand, I am sure I have read people mentioning aardvarks being more active in a nocturnal house somewhere, whereas Chester's are asleep every time I see them (though they do let it all hang out and sleep in full view of the window!)
Click to expand...

I’ve never seen aardvarks more active than the ones at Berlin Zoo. Therefore, I feel nocturnal houses are very valuable, as they provide a viewing experience that may not be possible otherwise.
 
chester's sloths are very active during the day, in the 1980s Bristol held sloths in an outdoor exhibit with natural lighting
 
London Zoo has:

Moholi bushbaby
Cave cricket
Madagascar hissing cockroach
Giant African land snail (unsure if still there)
Panay bushy-tailed cloud rat
Malagasy jumping rat, Moholi bushbaby
Australian water rat
Naked mole rat
Potto
Mexican blind cave fish
Seba's short-tailed bat
Grey slender loris
Grey slender loris


Frankfurt Zoo (best nocturnal house I've ever been to) has:

Pale golden spiny mouse
Tibesti spiny mouse
Golden lion tamarin, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth
Kowari
Eastern quoll
Large hairy armadillo, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth, Grey legged night monkey
Northern Luzon giant cloud rat
Fat tailed dwarf lemur, Grey mouse lemur, Lesser hedgehog tenrec
Asian garden dormouse
Grey slender loris
Seba’s short tailed bat
Brazilian porcupine
Southern springhare, Senegal bushbaby, Aardvark
Aye-aye, Grey mouse lemur
Aye-aye, Grey mouse lemur
Aye-aye, Grey mouse lemur
Grey slender loris
Aye-aye
Tibesti spiny mouse
Feathertail glider
Australian water rat
Short-beaked echidna, Tawny frogmouth
Kowari
Belanger’s tree shrew
Black-and-rufous elephant shrew
Asian small-clawed otter
Short-eared elephant shrew
White-faced saki, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth, Greater guinea pig
Javan mouse deer
Goeldi’s monkey, Green acouchi
Komodo dragon
Barbary striped grass mouse
Gundi
Paraguayan tamandua, Bearded emperor tamarin
Cape ground squirrel, Sociable weaver
Pygmy marmoset
Dwarf mongoose, Yellow-spotted rock hyrax
Golden lion tamarin, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth

It should be noted that, in Frankfurt's case, the pale golden spiny mouse and tamarin/sloth enclosures at the beginning, plus every enclosure past the echidnas and frogmouths, are diurnally lit.
 
Antwerp:
Gambian pouched rat (formerly, though I expect them to return soon)
Balabac mouse-deer, Grey slender loris
Aardvark, Southern springhare
Aardvark, Southern springhare
Australian water rat
Javan mouse-deer, Grey slender loris
Southern tamandua
Linneaus' two-toed sloth, Hoffmann's night monkey, Southern three-banded armadillo, Egyptian fruit bat
Egyptian fruit bat

Batu Secret Zoo: (not quite comparable to Frankfurt, but perhaps an equally mouth-watering species list!)
Sugar glider
Sunda pangolin
Sunda pangolin
Javan slow loris
Sulawesi dwarf cuscus
Small Asian mongoose
Malayan civet
Spectral tarsier, Turtle (unsure which)
Kinkajou
Common spotted cuscus
Great hairy armadillo
(and apparently, according to their website, Western long-beaked echidna as well, though I didn't see those in 2016.)

Oh, and they also have Bear cuscus elsewhere in the zoo. 3 Cuscus species in one zoo!
 
Wow, I didn't expect this. My intention was just to share the set-up of the Australian nocturnal houses that I visited recently. No worries, I like this general discussion! For the other lists, see:

AWP said:
Perth Zoo

Adelaide Zoo

Taronga - Australian Nightlife

Wildlife Sydney

Koala Gardens - Nocturnal Wonders
Click to expand...
 
In the Netherlands, we just have the nocturnal house of Amersfoort (well, and some nocturnal parts in the Desert of Burgers Zoo and since last year the miniature one in Ouwehands). The Henri Martin House of Blijdorp with its diverse collection of nocturnal animals and small mammals, the Jungle by Night of Artis, the nocturnal section of the AmeriCasa in Emmen... all gone since the turn of the century.

For Europe, the Grzimek-Haus of Frankfurt is the best. I give Berlin and Antwerp a shared second place. Zoo Praha and Zoo Plžen have some nice nocturnal sections as well.
 
Nocturnal Houses are sadly also becoming rare in the US. The only one I have managed to see for myself is Milwaukee's, which has a very nice collection:

1. Straw-Colored Fruit Bat, Ruwenzori Long-Haired Fruit Bat
2. Common Vampire Bat
3. Southern Three-Banded Armadillo
4. Straw-Colored Fruit Bat, Ruwenzori Long-Haired Fruit Bat
5. Sugar Glider
6. Springhaas, Moholi Bushbaby, Potto
7. Fennec Fox
 
AWP said:
The Henri Martin House of Blijdorp with its diverse collection of nocturnal animals and small mammals, the Jungle by Night of Artis
Click to expand...

As someone who visited both collections in recent weeks, I would be interested to hear what species were displayed in these exhibits in their latter years.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
As someone who visited both collections in recent weeks, I would be interested to hear what species were displayed in these exhibits in their latter years.
Click to expand...

I have a map of the Henri Martin House with the set-up around 2000 and several guides of Artis, I will look them up and make a list.
 
BeakerUK said:
Trying to remember what is in Bristol's nocturnal house, as I was there today:

Eastern quoll
Kowari
Turkish spiny mice
Linne's two-toed sloth
Aye-aye
Mouse deer (I don't think it's a Philippine one, but can't remember)
Pygmy slow loris
Grey mouse lemur
Naked mole rats
Yellow mongoose
Malagasy jumping rats
Ground cuscus
Click to expand...

Also Brush-tailed bettong in with the Cuscus
 
Would the nocturnal section of koala house in Tama count?

Sugar glider
Tawny frog mouth
Common brush-tail possum
 
TeaLovingDave said:
As someone who visited both collections in recent weeks, I would be interested to hear what species were displayed in these exhibits in their latter years.
Click to expand...

The Henri Martin-huis of Blijdorp, nowadays the location of the veterinary department, had the following exhibits in 2000:

day light section
1. Alaotra bamboo lemur
2. François' langur
3. Eastern black-and-white colobus
4. Crab-eating macaque
5. Cuban hutia
6. Votsotsa

main nocturnal section
7. Slender loris, lesser mouse-deer
8. Slender loris
9. Gray mouse lemur
10. Tokeh
11. Night Monkey
12. Viscacha
13. African pygmy dormouse
14. Nine-banded armadillo, two-toed sloth
15. Kinkajou
16. Northern sugar glider
17. Potto

Australian nocturnal section
18. Ground cuscus
19. Northern sugar glider
20. Ground cuscus
21. Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo, common brushtail possum, brush-tailed bettong, tawny frogmouth

(interesting to know: in the early days of the Henri Martin-huis the Australian collection was even more diverse with quolls, bandicoots (with breeding success!) and hairy-nosed wombats, but these species were already gone when I first visited the zoo as a child in the early nineties)

The Jungle by Night (1995-2011) of Artis was located in the building that borders the vulture aviary. It replaced the Wereld der Duisternis (World of Darkness) that closed in 1989 and that was located near the current Pampa exhibits. I may have visited the Wereld der Duisternis when I was very young, but can't remember anything of it.

At first the Jungle by Night was a nocturnal South American rainforest exhibit. In the last years several non-American mammals were kept as well, some coming from the closed Henri Martin-huis. It consisted of a kind of riverine enclosure with fish and caiman, three large enclosures for mammals and a couple of smaller enclosures for mice and arthropods. In 2011, most species moved to or the Kleine Zoogdierenhuis (Small Mammal House) or the renovated Apenhuis (Monkey House) and some of them are still on display. The following species were kept in the Jungle by Night:

mammals - first years: night monkey, Seba's short-tailed bat, Darwin's leaf-eared mouse, mountain paca, Brazilian agouti and nine-banded armadillo
mammals - last years: night monkey, Seba's short-tailed bat, African pygmy mouse, large hairy armadillo, short-eared elephant-shrew, northern sugar glider, ground cuscus and potto
reptiles: spectacled caiman, freshwater turtle
amphibians: cane toad, splendid leaf frog (first years)
fish: Midas cichlid, blind cave fish
arthropods: red-knee tarantula, death's head cockroach, thorny devil stick insect
 
Last edited:
AWP said:
mammals - last years: night monkey, Seba's short-tailed bat, African pygmy mouse, large hairy armadillo, short-eared elephant-shrew, northern sugar glider, ground cuscus and potto
Click to expand...

Even in the final years I still remember seeing nine-banded armadillo + big hairy armadillo. I don't remember ever seeing elephant shrew in there, but I have memories of a tree boa. If I remember correctly the turtle was some kind of softshell turtle, but I am not sure about that...
 
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