Rarest animals in UK collections

Do you mean rare as in Rare in the wild i.e Critically Endangered? Or rare in Zoo's?

Indian Marsh Crocodiles at Thrigby are the only pair in the UK?
 
@Bongorob. Belive me, Chester does have a female Red Forest duiker, maybe they still keep it behind the scenes. Otherwise, maybe it passed away....But they got one.

I think the correct word here is 'had' a Red Forest duiker.
 
What about the Mountain Viscachas at Hamerton ? No other zoo outside of South America seems to have them !
 
Slender snouted crocodiles at Colchester Zoo are the only ones in the UK on public display. Oh and lets not forget the Muggers at Thrigby!
 
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Wingz bird sanctuary have the only Crimson rumped toucanet in the UK on public display.
 
It would be lovely to get black mangabeys again. Colchester used to have the only ones in the UK. I hope they get them back.
 
It would be lovely to get black mangabeys again. Colchester used to have the only ones in the UK. I hope they get them back.

I think there may still be some (per their website) at Cefn-yr-erw*.


* this is not an endorsement
 
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I think there may still be some (per their website) at Cefn-yr-erw*.


* this is not an endorsement

There were 2 male black mangabey at Cefn-yr-Erw when I visited last year . They are ex-pets .
 
It would be lovely to get black mangabeys again. Colchester used to have the only ones in the UK. I hope they get them back.

Bristol Zoo also had Black Mangabeys for a while at around the same time. But they could have been the same animals, were they transferred to Colchester perhaps or did both exhibit them?
 
If we are talking animals rare in uk zoos - then Yorkshire Wildlife Park holds racoon dogs, I think only a couple of other uk collections hold them as well.
 
How about Black-footed cats? Belfast have a group off-show

Port Lympne has these on-show now. Well, as on-show as Black-footed Cats ever are!

They were also on-show at the RSCC when I made my last visit before it closed to the public; as far as I'm aware they're still there.
 
So are they pretty rare in U.K collections?

Definitely; there's only those three keeping them. But two years or so ago Belfast were the only ones, so they are spreading.

They're actually much rarer when you look at a European level - 3 zoos in the UK is rare but not unheard of - but if you look at the rest of Europe there's only one other zoo that keeps them (Wuppertal, who admittedly have dozens of the things!).

Very rare zoo animal.
 
Unfortunately we no longer keep the species, our last animals died earlier this year. The cats in general suffer from an unusual kidney problem. Wuppertal only have 3 animals left too. However we will be importing new animals in the future.
 
Unfortunately we no longer keep the species, our last animals died earlier this year. The cats in general suffer from an unusual kidney problem. Wuppertal only have 3 animals left too. However we will be importing new animals in the future.

Thanks for the update; rather surprised that Wuppertal have got so low as they had so many (admittedly mostly off-show) when I was there in 2009. Good luck with the new import!

Given Al's post, the cats are even rarer than I thought!
 
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