Signature Species?

Cheyenne Mountain: Giraffe
Denver Zoo: Asian Elephant
 
Duisburg: Bottlenose Dolphin & Koala
Münster : African Penguin and African Cheetah
Zoo Berlin: Giant Panda and Polar Bear
Tierpark Berlin: Plains Bison and Great White Pelican
Cologne : Asian Elephant and Bactrian Camel
Rheine: Babary Macaque and Withe Stork
Hamburg: Asian Elephant and Polar Bear
Dortmund Giant Otter and Lowland Tapir
Nordhorn: Wood Bison and Amur (fromer Persian) Leopard
Osnabrück: Naked Mole Rat and "Hybridbears" (Polar Bear X Brown Bear)
Walsrode: Toco Tucan and multible Birds of Paradise sepcies
Wuppertal: King Penguin and Babirusa
Hamm: Fossa
Avifauna (Alphen aan den Rijn) : Steller's Sea Eagle
Apeldoorn: Lowland Gorilla and Bonobo
Arnhem: Withe Rhino and Rotschild's Giraffe
Hannover: Polarbear and Hippopotamus
Gelsenkirchen: Californian Sealion and Brown Bear
Nürnberg: Bottlenose Dolphin and West Indian Manatee
Leipzig: Chimpanze and Lowland Gorilla
Rostock: Polar Bear

Not sure if I agree with all of those.

Tierpark Berlin doesn't even hold plains bison atm, they have wood bison instead. I would say, histrorically their signature are African and Asian elephants as they were tho only zoo to have breedings groups for both of them. Other than that, Mishmi takin, Milu and Sumatran tiger come to mind as species where they are and were leading the breeding for a long time

Rheine: geladas, biggest troop outside of africa

Dortmund: Giant anteater, they were the ones that found out how to breed them iirc

Leipzig: Lion and Amur tiger. The big cats have historically been more important and sucessful than the big apes
 
Saint Louis Zoo - Lesser Kudu
Cincinnati Zoo - Common Hippopotamus
Potter Park Zoo - Black Rhinoceros
Chattanooga Zoo - Jaguar Or Chimpanzee
 
For me, these are a combination of signature exhibits, breeding successes, and historical involvement

Smithsonian National Zoo: Giant Panda (argument could be made for GLT, BFF)
San Diego Zoo: Koala
San Diego Zoo Safari Park: California Condor, White Rhino
Toledo Zoo: Nile Hippopotamus
Maryland Zoo in Baltimore: African Penguin (or Panamanian Golden Frog)
Bronx Zoo: American Bison (arguably plenty of others, but the historic angle here seals the deal for me. For WCS as a whole I'd say California sea lion as the unifying feature of their parks)
Phoenix Zoo: Arabian Oryx
Knoxville Zoo: Red Panda
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: Giraffe
Brookfield Zoo: Okapi, or perhaps Bottlenose Dolphin?
Dallas World Aquarium: Orinoco Crocodile, Toucans and Aracaris
St. Augustine Alligator Farm: Pretty much any crocodilian, but especially American alligator, saltwater crocodile, and gharial
Salisbury Zoo: Andean Bear
National Aquarium in Baltimore: Poison Dart Frogs
Mystic Aquarium: Beluga
Newport Aquarium: Bowmouth Guitarfish
Point Defiance Zoo: Red Wolf
SeaWorld Parks: Orca, Antarctic Penguins
Philadelphia Zoo: Giant Otter
Columbus Zoo: Gorilla

If a zoo could be said to have a signature species that it no longer has, I'd say Cincinnati Zoo and Sumatran rhino. They don't have them anymore and never will again, but that's always the first animal I'll think of when someone mentions them.
 
A few others I missed: Zoo Tampa with Manatee, Minnesota with Amur Tiger, Jacksonville with Jaguar, and Nashville with Clouded Leopard.
 
Just came back after a while, thanks for the replies everyone! To continue, i thought of a few others. It would be nice if we could have more answers for zoos in the UK, Australia, Canada, etc. as well as more famous zoos like Omaha.

Vienna Zoo - Giant Panda, African Bush Elephant
Beijing Zoo - Giant Panda

I'll think of more answers when i can.
 
Some I can think of:

- Memphis Zoo: Nile hippo and giant panda
- Great Plains Zoo: black rhino
- Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo: giraffe
- Zoo Atlanta: giant panda, gorilla, and orangutan
- Oregon Zoo: Asian elephant
- Rio Grande Zoo: Asian elephant and Tasmanian devi
 
Let me try.

Detroit - Polar Bear
Toledo - Hippopotamus
Columbus - Western Lowland Gorilla or Cheetah
Cleveland - Bornean Orangutan
John Ball - Chimpanzee
 
Lincoln Park Zoo has generally been gorilla. Bushman's memory is still very alive in Chicago, the Great Ape House was often seen as one of the zoo's most iconic exhibits even in the nineties including a documentary about Otto, all before it became the Center for African Apes, which is a fine zoo building, and there is a long history of breeding success. What I want to emphasize though is most of the time I see LPZ's history referenced, it will be regarding gorillas.

Brookfield is harder to pin down - they have quite a few animals they do a lot of work with, such as bison, Mexican gray wolves, bears, okapi, addax, bottlenose dolphin. I would probably say bears and dolphin win out, especially as some of the zoo's best known history stories involved bears. I hesitated on dolphin but their involvement in the Sarasota research program is significant. I would also say walrus and baboon were signature species for them in the past. I will note though the zoo has promoted its conservation work with Mexican gray wolves and addax a lot more than some animals.
 
Chapultepec zoo for the general public is famous for giant pandas, of which we still have 1 female, the daughter of the last London zoo panda.
To zoo fans and nerds the animal stars are our breeding group of volcano rabbits or teporingo, which are still going strong. Also very popular are the different species of axolotl in their brand new building.
 
Hello.

RioZoo: Lear's macaw
AquaRio: spiny butterfly ray
Belo Horizonte: western lowland gorillas
São Paulo Aquarium: polar bear (no breeding has happened yet)
São Paulo Zoo: Alcatrazes tree frog
Sorocaba: Southern muriqui
Itatiba: Brazilian merganser
Brasília: Giant river otter
 
Alaska Zoo: Polar Bear
Beardsley Zoo: Amur Tiger
Gulf Breeze Zoo: Giraffe
Tallahassee Museum: Florida Panther
Homossassa Springs: River Hippopotamus…..Manatee
Busch Gardens Tampa: Lion
Lowry Zoo: Florida Panther
Miami Zoo: Tiger
Brevard Zoo: White Rhinoceros
St. Augustine Alligator Farm: Saltwater Crocodile
Jacksonville Zoo: Jaguar
Oatland Island: Bobcat
Charles Towne Landing: Cougar
North Carolina Zoo: African Elephant, Polar Bear, Elk
Mill Mountain Zoo: Red Panda
Virginia Safari Park: Cheetah, Zebra
Pittsburg Zoo: Polar Bear
Brookfield Zoo: African Lion, Bison
Minnesota Zoo: Amur Tiger
Henry Doorly Zoo: African Elephant
Denver Zoo: African Lion, Asian Elephant
Lee G. Simmons Wildlife Park: Elk
Montana Zoo: Amur Tiger
Calgary Zoo: River Hippopotamus
Edmonton Zoo: Asian Elephant, Bactrian Camel, Northern Fur Seal
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center: Wood Bison, Brown Bear, Moose
Alaska Sea Life Center: Tufted Puffin, Steller’s Sea Lion
Reindeer Farm: Reindeer
Musk Ox Farm: Muskox
Large Animal Research Station: Muskox
Action Wildlife: Zebra
Roger Williams Zoo: Dinosaurs …. then maybe African Elephants … seriously think that they never got over losing their Polar Bear.
Buttonwood Park Zoo: Asian Elephant
Mystic Aquarium: Beluga Whales
 
Just adding a few from Indonesia:

Taman Safari: Before it was the big cats, particularly the White Tigers as well as the Sumatran Elephants. Nowdays the Giant Panda get the spotlight.

Bali Zoo: African Lion

Jakarta Aquarium: Ironically I think their safari animals, including serval and meerkat got more spotlight than the aquatic parts.

Ragunan Zoo: Western Lowland Gorilla

Batu Secret Zoo: Big cats again, particularly African lions. Giant otters are a huge spotlight recently as well.

Faunaland: White lion

Lembang Park Zoo: Tigers
 
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