Small Animals That Attract Non-ZooChat Attention

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The majority of "ABC" animals that tend to attract the most crowds are large animals, hence making it unrealistic for small zoos to have a lot of these crowd-pleasers. Here is a list of small crowd-pleasers I have come up with. What are other people's thoughts on the topic?
- Red Panda
- Slender-tailed Meerkat
- Any Tamarin species
- Any Otter species
- Any Lemur species
- Squirrel Monkeys
- Fennec Fox
- Two-toed Sloth
 
ZPA said:
I know that penguins are very popular, but also koalas, capybaras, and definitely butterflies. Depending upon the penguin species, it could be small or medium sized.
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I definitely agree with koalas. Don't have them near me so forgot about them. I would consider penguins more a medium species, simply because they take a fair amount of space, as they live in large groups. Capybara is also a little on the medium size. I would not disagree with the popularity of either. Butterflies are probably quite popular as well, although most zoos that exhibit them have to dedicate a fair amount of space to them.
 
Coatis and Tapir are both fairly popular among the general public, tapirs not really a small animal but I the premise is similar.

Neil chace said:
I definitely agree with koalas. Don't have them near me so forgot about them. I would consider penguins more a medium species, simply because they take a fair amount of space, as they live in large groups. Capybara is also a little on the medium size. I would not disagree with the popularity of either. Butterflies are probably quite popular as well, although most zoos that exhibit them have to dedicate a fair amount of space to them.
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In Australian Zoos koalas get more attention than any other animal combined, even those with ABC's.
 
Neil chace said:
The majority of "ABC" animals that tend to attract the most crowds are large animals, hence making it unrealistic for small zoos to have a lot of these crowd-pleasers. Here is a list of small crowd-pleasers I have come up with. What are other people's thoughts on the topic?
- Red Panda
- Slender-tailed Meerkat
- Any Tamarin species
- Any Otter species
- Any Lemur species
- Squirrel Monkeys
- Fennec Fox
- Two-toed Sloth
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At the Melbourne Zoo I barely ever see people at the red pandas but they are in an awkward spot so it's understandble why.

I've never seen people crowd around Tamarins, but Gibbons, Spider Monkeys and Squirrel Monkeys all attract decent attention

Short Clawed Otters attract a decent amount of attention.

With lemurs only Ring Tailed.

I haven't seen Fennec Foxes and much to my dismay there are no sloths or Xenarthans at all in Australia.
 
A slightly unconventional one: Leaf-cutter ants. They might not be what people visit a zoo to see, but there will always be at least 3-4 people stood at their tank or under their rope watching the ants go back and forth with pieces of leaf

Another one is colourful or 'talkative' birds. Macaws, toucans, hornbills, cockatoos and lorikeets always seem to get lots of attention. Owls and birds of prey tend to be big draws as well

I'm not sure how many reptiles fit into this category. Maybe some small tortoise and some snakes, namely the venomous ones that just seem to catch people's attention (not including pythons, giant tortoises, or komodo dragons here obviously). If a zoo has piranhas they also seem popular for the same reason venomous snakes are: tell someone that something is dangerous and they're entranced by it

Non-meerkat/otter small-carnivores can be a hit or miss in terms of actually showing up, but I feel like a lot of visitors at places I visit get kicks out of wildcats, binturongs, small mustelids, skunks, etc.
 
Black-tailed prairie dog, southern tamandua, and three-banded armadillo count, I believe.
 
There's been some mention of fennec foxes but in my experience folks really like foxes in general. They're a well-known group with lots of folklore and contemporary stories, found on all continents (unfortunately for Australia), and you can easily project a lot of the positive associations with dogs onto them and other canines. Plus, well, they're generally really cute.

Big agree with meerkats + otters + prairie dogs + penguins + parrots. Some of y'all might be tired of seeing them pop up on exhibit everywhere but the public eye (especially kids!) often gravitates towards social, active, noisy animals that can be exhibited in big groups. Same principle applies to California sea lions, though they don't fit the small category.

A lot of small monkey species fit the above description pretty well too. I don't even know if species matters when we're talking about the average person at the zoo. Just "we saw the monkeys" seems to tick off the box and people walk away thrilled.
 
Xenarthra said:
There's been some mention of fennec foxes but in my experience folks really like foxes in general. They're a well-known group with lots of folklore and contemporary stories, found on all continents (unfortunately for Australia), and you can easily project a lot of the positive associations with dogs onto them and other canines. Plus, well, they're generally really cute.

Big agree with meerkats + otters + prairie dogs + penguins + parrots. Some of y'all might be tired of seeing them pop up on exhibit everywhere but the public eye (especially kids!) often gravitates towards social, active, noisy animals that can be exhibited in big groups. Same principle applies to California sea lions, though they don't fit the small category.

A lot of small monkey species fit the above description pretty well too. I don't even know if species matters when we're talking about the average person at the zoo. Just "we saw the monkeys" seems to tick off the box and people walk away thrilled.
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Species matters for monkeys to some degree. Most monkeys work, but they need to look like what people think of as monkeys. Debrazza's Monkey is the one that comes to mind that isn't especially popular.
 
I find that any small primate species has a good chance of getting a crowd. Sure, most people aren't coming for the tamarins and lemurs and whatnot, but those animals tend to be pretty active and interesting to watch.

Meerkats, for the same reason. I know most people here aren't fans, but like primates, they're quite active and that makes them fun to watch. I've also seen this effect with other small mongoose species, and prairie dogs.

I find that parrots and birds of prey can draw a good crowd too.

The San Antonio Zoo has a little area with some small cat exhibits and a ring-tail cat exhibit. These animals aren't visible all the time, but when they are, people really gather around!
 
Neil chace said:
Species matters for monkeys to some degree. Most monkeys work, but they need to look like what people think of as monkeys. Debrazza's Monkey is the one that comes to mind that isn't especially popular.
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That's a good point. Something like white-faced sakis, missing that gangly quality of spider monkeys and similar species, might not get the public going either.

TheMightyOrca said:
I find that any small primate species has a good chance of getting a crowd. Sure, most people aren't coming for the tamarins and lemurs and whatnot, but those animals tend to be pretty active and interesting to watch.

Meerkats, for the same reason. I know most people here aren't fans, but like primates, they're quite active and that makes them fun to watch. I've also seen this effect with other small mongoose species, and prairie dogs.

I find that parrots and birds of prey can draw a good crowd too.

The San Antonio Zoo has a little area with some small cat exhibits and a ring-tail cat exhibit. These animals aren't visible all the time, but when they are, people really gather around!
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I don't know if it's the case any longer, but the Madagascar animated movies were great PR for lemurs in the the mid 2000's to the early 2010's. My local group of red ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs were swamped with kids during my visits, and the movie influence wasn't subtle (singing and dancing, "move it move it" :p). I don't think exhibiting lemurs is ever going to have the raw advertising/excitement power of penguins, but for a while it definitely seemed like they were a highlight worth making a trip for.
 
Xenarthra said:
That's a good point. Something like white-faced sakis, missing that gangly quality of spider monkeys and similar species, might not get the public going either.



I don't know if it's the case any longer, but the Madagascar animated movies were great PR for lemurs in the the mid 2000's to the early 2010's. My local group of red ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs were swamped with kids during my visits, and the movie influence wasn't subtle (singing and dancing, "move it move it" :p). I don't think exhibiting lemurs is ever going to have the raw advertising/excitement power of penguins, but for a while it definitely seemed like they were a highlight worth making a trip for.
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Meerkats and mandrills are another two that gained popularity due to a movie, in this case the Lion King. I think because of this meerkats are more popular than dwarf mongooses, although I personally prefer dwarf mongooses. Also probably part of the reason mandrills are more commonly kept than drills, as mandrills are more popular.
 
Neil chace said:
Meerkats and mandrills are another two that gained popularity due to a movie, in this case the Lion King. I think because of this meerkats are more popular than dwarf mongooses, although I personally prefer dwarf mongooses. Also probably part of the reason mandrills are more commonly kept than drills, as mandrills are more popular.
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Maybe we just need to cross our fingers and hope for a Dreamworks movie starring plucky dwarf mongooses and a De Brazza's monkey, then :D

Hell, I think if you can get an animal popular with kids, that's a really valuable thing that can then last a lifetime. I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of species in this thread are ones I've seen/heard about being exhibited in Children's Zoos.
 
FBBird said:
People seem to like Harvest Mice and Squirrels, especially if they look like a Chipmunk.
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One of my rather, uh, spicy opinions, is that zoos should explore phasing out black-tailed prairie dogs for literally any other threatened or endangered ground squirrel species native to the USA. I don't see it happening overnight, as prairie dogs have catchy names and generally can be exhibited in larger colonies. Establishing captive populations of endangered species that can be exhibited similarly, though, could be worth it.

Plus many of them have chipmunk-ish stripes, like my local (and endangered) San Joaquin antelope squirrels. The public would probably persist with just calling them "chipmunks" but the species might benefit, so maybe worth it.
 
In terms of small mammals these are the ones that I have seen that seem to be "crowd favourites".

Meerkats (unfortunately...) seem to garner a lot of attention.

Otters of all kinds of species (including the giant otter if that can be classed as a "small animal") too can be very entertaining for the public. I think this could be because they are so active and stealthy underwater and because of their family groups / social structure which I suppose people strongly identify with.

Both marmosets and tamarins are quite popular animals with visitors. In Brazil this is a very good thing in my opinion as considering the conservation status of many callitrichidae this helps raise public awareness. The leontopithecus are particularly popular.

Some small carnivores like canids and felids seem to have the charisma factor too. Bush dogs seem to be popular and crowd favourites and are often compared to "teddy bears" or called "cute" while people often comment on the beauty of Ocelots (though sadly other small wild cat species don't get much attention).

In terms of smaller reptiles the venomous snakes typically attract a lot of attention. But sadly this of the morbid "yuck!" kind rather than an actual respect or affinity. In regards to amphibians some of the more colourful ones such as poison dart frogs and some of the stranger such as the axolotl can invoke a curiosity. Again and unfortunately as with reptiles this typically seems to be tinged with disgust in visitors attitudes.

Where there are walkthrough butterfly houses in zoos these also seem to be very popular attractions with crowds too.
 
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Klipspringers, dwarf mongooses, and peccaries are some that people seem to enjoy at Henry Doorly. I want to say puffins but usually people skip by them since the penguins are right after.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
In terms of smaller reptiles the venomous snakes typically attract a lot of attention. But sadly this of the morbid "yuck!" kind rather than an actual respect or affinity. In regards to amphibians some of the more colourful ones such as poison dart frogs and some of the stranger such as the axolotl can invoke a curiosity. Again and unfortunately as with reptiles this typically seems to be tinged with disgust in visitors attitudes.
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Interesting; I've heard very little of this sentiment about reptiles and amphibians from visitors in US zoos. Most of the people who mill through reptile houses and past herp exhibits seem genuinely fascinated and intrigued by them, without malice or disgust. Maybe this is a geographic/cultural thing?
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Interesting; I've heard very little of this sentiment about reptiles and amphibians from visitors in US zoos. Most of the people who mill through reptile houses and past herp exhibits seem genuinely fascinated and intrigued by them, without malice or disgust. Maybe this is a geographic/cultural thing?
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I think a lot if people tend not to enter the reptile houses, and this is why. If you are grossed out by reptiles, you simply don't enter the reptile house. Instead, I think this comes from facilities that keep reptiles in exhibits in the same building as non-reptiles. The one reptile that I feel a lot of people do really like, however, is turtles and tortoises.
 
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