Rarest animal(s) at your local zoo

According to ZTL, ZSL London has the following species found in only 0-5 ZTL collections:

Acigöl killifish, Develi killifish, Chapultepec splitfin, Balsas splitfin, polka-dot splitfin, eyespot rasbora, blackstripe rasbora (only ZTL collection), blue-striped angelfish, midnight angelfish, barred angelfish, Bleher's rainbowfish, grime rainbowfish (only ZTL collection), western rainbowfish, Charco Palma pupfish, Potosi pupfish, La Palma pupfish, checkered pupfish, Mezquital pupfish (only ZTL collection), boxer pupfish, discus tetra, flag tetra (only ZTL collection), flagtail butterfly tetra, stoplight tetra, garnet tetra (only ZTL collection), gold tetra, threespot leporinus, Y-bar leporinus, bannertail catfish, golden saw-finned goodeid, rainbow goodeid, darter characin, yellow-coloured dwarf flagcichlid, striped dottyback, blue-striped dottyback, staghorn damselfish (only ZTL collection), redface mac cichlid, Kendall's Tanganyika cichlid (only ZTL collection), striped Barombi Mbo cichlid, Tanganyikan cichlid (only ZTL collection), Hawaiian squirrelfish, greyface moray, mangrove rivulus, Monterey platyfish, rhino catfish, ornate pim catfish, flagtail catfish, orangespot metynnis, silver mylossoma, Arabian toothcarp, Roberta's toothcarp, pink corydoras, marked corydoras, red-tailed brycon (only ZTL collection), unicolor coralgoby (only ZTL collection), smudge spot cory, black acara, Tambraparmi barb, blackbelly tilapia

Congo caecilian (only ZTL collection), two-lined caecilian (only ZTL collection), Sardinian brook salamander, common midwife toad, Iberian midwife toad (only ZTL collection), Lake Oku clawed frog (only ZTL collection), Fea's treefrog

Big-headed turtle, tree runner, Fiji short-crested iguana, Round Island skink, Amazon Basin emerald tree boa, Ethiopian mountain adder, Central American bushmaster

Black-necked weaver, splendid sunbird, scarlet-chested sunbird (only ZTL collection)

Southern tamandua (only ZTL collection), aye-aye, potto, Moholi bushbaby, Australian water rat

Quite a few of those fish are common in the private trade, I always have found it interesting how so many fish species are considered rare in zoos but are abundant in aquarium stores...
 
Henry Vilas Zoo has Indian Crested Porcupines. They're the only uncommon species I can think of there.
 
Unfortunately none of my local zoos have anything particularly rare but this is as close as it gets:

Rare in the wild:
  • Sumatran tiger (San Francisco Zoo)
Rare(ish) in Captivity:
  • Aardvark (Sacramento Zoo) (emphasis on the "ish")
  • Giant garter snake (Sacramento Zoo)
  • Okapi (Sacramento Zoo) (emphasis on the "ish")
 
For my zoo, Los Angeles Zoo

Animals: Gray's Monitor, Mountain Tapir, Vampire Crab, Indochinese Green Magpie, Red uakari, Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat, Tasmanian Devil, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Blue-billed Curassow, Crested Capuchin, Red-billed Blue Magpie, and Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec.

This is all I could think of, but let me know if I'm missing some?
 
Unfortunately none of my local zoos have anything particularly rare but this is as close as it gets:

Rare in the wild:
  • Sumatran tiger (San Francisco Zoo)
Rare(ish) in Captivity:
  • Aardvark (Sacramento Zoo) (emphasis on the "ish")
  • Giant garter snake (Sacramento Zoo)
  • Okapi (Sacramento Zoo) (emphasis on the "ish")

Giant Garter Snake is actually pretty rare in captivity if my sources are correct.

San Francisco should have a few other rarer birds and mammals as well.
 
Giant Garter Snake is actually pretty rare in captivity if my sources are correct.

San Francisco should have a few other rarer birds and mammals as well.
I do recall reading a sign saying they have to only crested guan in the U.S. and Canada.
 
Edinburgh zoo:

In the wild:
Socorro dove
Baer's pochard
Partula sp.

In zoos:
Montane egg-eating snake
Midlands dwarf natal chameleon
Socorro dove(ish)
Partula sp.

For the Partula I cannot remember exact species so they not be rare in captivity
 
For the Partula I cannot remember exact species so they not be rare in captivity

You say that, but at least one of the Partula species which were at Edinburgh was so rare that when they died off there, this marked the species' extinction :(
 
Hello. The species I will be covering on this are not necessarily uncommon in the wild. Some of the birds are not even rare at zoos, but they are only found in places most ZooChatters have not been to, like a few obscure bird parks in Germany or small zoos in the UK.

BioParque do Rio (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil):
1. (Sphiggurus villosus) Paraguayan hairy dwarf porcupine;
2. (Chiropotes utahicki) Uta Hick's bearded saki;
3. (Alouatta belzebul) Red-handed howler;
4. (Ateles chamek) Peruvian spider monkey;
5. (Ateles marginatus) White-whiskered spider monkey;
6. (Cerdocyon thous) Crab-eating fox;
7. (Lontra longicaudis) Neotropical river otter;
8. (Mazama gouazoubira) Gray brocket deer;
9. (Pipile jacutinga) Black-fronted piping guan;
10. (Penelope obscura) Dusky-legged guan;
11. (Penelope superciliaris) - Rusty-margined guan;
12. (Crax blumenbachii) - Red-billed curassow;
13. (Larus dominicanus) Kelp gull;
14. (Brotogeris chiriri) Yellow-chevroned parakeet;
15. (Brotogeris tirica) Plain parakeet;
16. (Pionus maximilliani) Scaly-headed parrot;
17. (Amazona rhodocorytha) Red-browed amazon;
18. (Anodorhynchus leari) Lear's macaw (off-show);
19. (Psittacara leucophthalmus) White-eyed parakeet;
20. (Aratinga auricapilla) Golden-capped parakeet.

Many other uncommon species are held backstage.
 
I'm born and raised Jakartans, but is currently living in Yogyakarta atleast for a while. So, I visited the city's only large zoo every month, but I still frequent to zoos in Jakarta when I'm back home. What's rare for me and others are subjective, so this would be in context as an Indonesian zoo observer.

Feel free to ask for pictures!

Gembira Loka Zoo (Yogyakarta)
  • Cream-coloured giant squirrel (Ratufa affinis hypoleucos)
  • Malayan civet (Viverra tangalunga tangalunga)
  • Hooded butcherbird (Cracticus cassicus)
  • Tonkean macaque (Macaca tonkeana)
  • Heck's macaque (Macaca hecki)
  • Mitered langur (Presbytis mitrata)
  • Suck toad (Pseudobufo subasper)
  • Maluku ground boa (Candoia paulsoni tasmai)
  • Smooth-scaled death adder (Acanthopis laevis)
  • Amboina sailfin lizard (Hydrosaurus amboinensis)
  • Mindanao rufous hornbill (Buceros mindanensis mindanensis)
  • Black-browed barbet (Psilopogon oorti)
  • Chestnut-capped laughingthrush (Pterorhinus mitratus)
  • Sumatran laughingthrush (Garrulax bicolor)
  • Javan drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus javanus)
  • Helmeted friarbird (Philemon buceroides neglectus)
  • Javan fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus rizophoreus)
Ragunan Zoo (Jakarta)
  • Banded pig (Sus scrofa vittatus)
  • Bornean white-bearded gibbon (Hylobates albibarbis)
  • Javan surili (Presbytis comata comata)
  • Mitered langur (Presbytis mitrata)
  • Tonkean macaque (Macaca tonkeana)
  • Heck's macaque (Macaca hecki)
  • Bornean binturong (Arctictis binturong pageli)
  • Javanese narrow-headed softshell turtle (Chitra chitra javanensis)
  • Timor snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi timorensis)
  • Javan hawk-eagle (Nisaetus bartelsi)
  • Citron-crested cockatoo (Cacatua citrinocristata)
  • Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo)
  • Masai lion (Panthera Leo massaica)
  • Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica)
  • Gunung Muria small civet (Viverricula indica muriavensis)
  • Siamese pied myna (Gracupia fowleri)
  • Central Indian red-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer humayuni)
  • Red-whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus fuscicaudatus)
  • Yellow-faced myna (Mino dumontii)
  • Pink-spotted fruit dove (Ptilinopus perlatus perlatus)
  • Northern red-winged parrot (Aprosmictus erythropterus coccineopterus)
  • Baya weaver (Ploceus philippinus infortunatus)
  • Mountain anoa (Bubalus quarlesi)
  • Bawean deer (Axis kuhlii)
  • Celebes rusa deer (Rusa timorensis macassaricus)
 
Javan fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus rizophoreus)

Highly unlikely, as the subspecies is believed extinct - although naturally it would be very good if one has popped up unnoticed!

I suspect either a mislabelled nominate animal, or a mislabelled Sunda Leopard Cat - there was, in fact, a case of an individual of the latter taxon being mislabelled as Javan Fishing Cat a few years ago at a private collection visited by Joel Sartore, so this may well be the source of the animal in question.
 
Back
Top