Snowleopard's Mammals: A Lifetime List of Species Mammalian and Non-Mammalian

snowleopard said:
Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) has loads of small, active critters. Not only Banded Mongooses, but also Dwarf Mongooses, Yellow Mongooses, Ring-tailed Vontsiras and Common Kusimanses. Plus Siberian Weasels and Prairie Dogs...but no Meerkats! (at least not in 2019)
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Are you sure there were no meerkats? I just checked my albums and I did see and photograph meerkats in Zie-Zoo in April and May 2019. Also seen them before 2019, and they keep the species until this day.
Of course it's possible they very temporarily went out of meerkats during a few months in 2019 and your visit happened to be during their absence...

Zie-Zoo no longer keeps yellow mongoose though. In the past, they also briefly kept slender mongoose (I saw them just once before they were gone again) and Egyptian mongoose (unfortunately during a time I didn't make any visits). Additionally, marsh mongoose has been kept by Zie-Zoo behind the scenes.
 
ralph said:
Are you sure there were no meerkats? I just checked my albums and I did see and photograph meerkats in Zie-Zoo in April and May 2019. Also seen them before 2019, and they keep the species until this day.
Of course it's possible they very temporarily went out of meerkats during a few months in 2019 and your visit happened to be during their absence...

Zie-Zoo no longer keeps yellow mongoose though. In the past, they also briefly kept slender mongoose (I saw them just once before they were gone again) and Egyptian mongoose (unfortunately during a time I didn't make any visits). Additionally, marsh mongoose has been kept by Zie-Zoo behind the scenes.
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Yes, my mistake. Of course Zie-Zoo had Meerkats and there are lots of photos of them at that zoo in the gallery. Thanks for pointing that out. :)

I actually wasn't going to tally up all my Meerkat sightings at all and so I had them in a separate word document. The rest of these stats and facts I added up over a period of several months in 2023 and I literally just did Meerkats last week because I became curious about the species. So, yes, Zie-Zoo had everything. It's amazing that in the summer of 2019 I saw Meerkats, Banded Mongooses, Dwarf Mongooses, Yellow Mongooses, Ring-tailed Vontsiras, Common Kusimanses, Siberian Weasels and Prairie Dogs all at a single Dutch zoo. Loads of small critters.
 
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I'll finish off Herpestidae with TWO species in this post. Just like with the Dwarf and Banded Mongooses, the Yellow species is one that is extremely rare in North American collections. In fact, I know of zero zoos on that continent that have kept Yellow Mongooses and yet there's around 100 zoos just in Europe with the species. Western European zoos LOVE mongooses!

I've seen Yellow Mongooses at 9 zoos and all in the same month:

1- Avonturia de Vogelkelder (Netherlands) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
2- Diergaarde Blijdorp (Netherlands) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
3- Faunapark Flakkee (Netherlands) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
4- Dortmund Zoo (Germany) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
5- Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
6- De Paay (Netherlands) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
7- Ouwehands Dierenpark (Netherlands) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
8- Nordhorn Zoo (Germany) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019
9- Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) – Yellow Mongoose – 2019

AND...

I've seen Common Kusimanses (or spelled as "Cusimanses") at 5 zoos:

1- Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary (USA) – Common Kusimanse – 2015
2- Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA) – Common Kusimanse – 2015
3- GaiaZOO (Netherlands) – Common Kusimanse – 2019
4- Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) Common Kusimanse – 2019
5- Skaerup Zoo (Denmark) - Common Kusimanse – 2022

A glaring Yellow Mongoose:

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@GiraffeJack10

Check out this bonkers Yellow Mongoose exhibit at Avonturia de Vogelkelder (Netherlands). The mongoose is looking at me and going "what the heck?"

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Here's what the Yellow Mongoose exhibit at Diergaarde Blijdorp (Netherlands) looked like in 2019...complete with a zoo nerd friend who is publishing a book on German zoos this summer.

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Yellow Mongoose exhibit at Faunapark Flakkee (Netherlands):

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Dortmund Zoo (Germany) has Yellow Mongooses inside the Giraffe House:

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@gulogulogulo

Yellow Mongooses used to share their space with Indian Crested Porcupines at Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands):

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@KevinB

De Paay (Netherlands) is a naff little zoo, with very poor exhibits. It's an anomaly in one of the truly great zoo nations of the world. Here's the Yellow Mongoose exhibit (left) and Lesser Grison enclosure (right):

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Yellow Mongoose exhibit at Ouwehands Dierenpark (Netherlands):

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@Morgan

Yellow Mongoose exhibit at Nordhorn Zoo (Germany):

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@Mr. Zootycoon

Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) is the 7th Dutch zoo where I've seen Yellow Mongooses.

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@KevinB

Common Kusimanse:

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@robreintjes

You can actually see a Common Kusimanse at the back of this very tall cage at Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary (USA):

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There's also a Common Kusimanse visible (on the left) in this exhibit at the roadside facility called Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA):

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GaiaZOO (Netherlands) had Common Kusimanses when I was there in 2019.

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@KevinB

Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) has tons of small animals, including Common Kusimanses:

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@KevinB

Common Kusimanse at Skaerup Zoo (Denmark):

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@Fat-tailed dwarf lemur

Species Lists:

Eupleridae: 3 species (25 zoos with Fossa, 3 Ring-tailed Vontsira, 1 Fanaloka)

Herpestidae: 5 species (129 zoos with Meerkat, 29 Dwarf Mongoose, 22 Banded Mongoose, 9 Yellow Mongoose, 5 Common Kusimanse)

Hyaenidae: 3 species (44 zoos with Spotted Hyena, 14 Striped Hyena, 1 Southern Aardwolf)

* On page 42 of this thread, there's an extensive list of all the species I've seen for Primates (141), Felidae (28) and Canidae (19).
 
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I'm still slowly working my way through the canids but this thread is really making me loathe all of the tire swings that low quality zoos seem to want to slap everywhere. I don't think I've ever seen something that wasn't a primate actually use them (although I do wanna say I recently saw a surprising picture of a mustelid actually in one... honey badger maybe?). Do felids or canids ever actually engage with these tires or is it strictly lazy window dressing to make it look like these dusty kennels are better-suited than they really are?
 
I’m struggling to think of a group of animals that isn’t better represented in European collections than in North American ones, and herpestids are definitely no exception! Notably, it is only the subfamily Mungotinae that seems to have any real representation over here, while both it and Herpestinae have several species present in European zoos. Since the latter subfamily contains the small Indian mongoose, which has been a highly destructive species in Hawaii and other US islands, I do wonder if the trauma associated with that could explain why we only seem to have mungotines and very few if any herpestines.
 
Alright, so there are probably some groups that are as well or better represented over here, but carnivorans are one that I think we can definitely agree Europe has us beat in.
 
Looking through ZTL there are a ton of other examples, enough that I stopped counting. Including some species like Klipspringer that I don't even think of particularly uncommon over here.
 
evilmonkey239 said:
That would be news to me, do you have any examples off the top of your head?
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Giant eland, harnessed bushbuck, Grant’s gazelle, red-fronted gazelle, slender-horned gazelle, Soemmerring’s gazelle, Speke’s gazelle, steenbok, klipspringer, bay duiker, black duiker, red-flanked duiker, kob, and if we’re including subspecies addra gazelle and bontebok — all off the top of my head.
 
Giant Eland said:
My first Brown Hyena wasn't until 2010 first at Kronberg Opel Zoo, then at Prague Zoo and Tierpark Berlin. Tried for them wild at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in 2023 but no luck. Has anyone seen Brown Hyena at any zoos in USA? I think Riverbanks Zoo used to have them?
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Personaly never seen one in the USA ( maybe because I've never been there ) but found out that in the 1980s several North American collections had the species for exmple :
Colorado
Detroit
Oklahoma
Omaha
San Diego ( zoo )
and in Canada : Winnipeg
 
I've seen Binturongs at 38 zoos. These are stinky mammals, sometimes called 'Bearcats' in American zoos, and interestingly enough I've never seen one in a zoo within my native Canada. I also didn't see any Binturongs when I toured Scandinavian zoos in 2022.

Another fascinating fact is that almost every single American zoo with Binturongs kept the species by themselves, but 5 out of 9 European zoos had Binturongs in a mixed-species environment.

1- San Diego Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2006
2- Taronga Zoo (Australia) – Binturong – 2007
3- Adelaide Zoo (Australia) – Binturong – 2007
4- Melbourne Zoo (Australia) – Binturong – 2007
5- Minnesota Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2008
6- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2008
7- Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (USA) – Binturong – 2008
8- Memphis Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2008
9- Kansas City Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2010
10- Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden (USA) – Binturong – 2010
11- Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2010
12- Roger Williams Park Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2010
13- ABQ BioPark Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2010
14- Zoo Boise (USA) – Binturong – 2010
15- Santa Ana Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2011
16- Potter Park Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2012
17- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2012
18- Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA) – Binturong – 2014
19- DeYoung Family Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2014
20- Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA) – Binturong – 2014
21- Tanganyika Wildlife Park (USA) – Binturong – 2014
22- Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (USA) – Binturong – 2015
23- Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA) – Binturong – 2015
24- Austin Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2015
25- West Coast Game Park Safari (USA) – Binturong – 2015
26- Monterey Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2017
27- Roscommon Zoo (USA) – Binturong – 2018
28- Creature Conservancy Wildlife Park (USA) – Binturong – 2018
29- Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park (USA) – Binturong – 2018
30- Artis Royal Zoo (Netherlands) – Binturong – 2019
31- Lille Zoo (France) – Binturong – 2019
32- Pairi Daiza (Belgium) – Binturong – 2019
33- Frankfurt Zoo (Germany) – Binturong – 2019
34- ZOOM Erlebniswelt (Germany) – Binturong – 2019
35- BestZOO (Netherlands) – Binturong – 2019
36- Dierenpark Zie-ZOO (Netherlands) – Binturong – 2019
37- Burgers' Zoo (Netherlands) – Binturong – 2019
38- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – Binturong – 2019

My first time seeing Binturongs was at San Diego Zoo (USA) in a pair of old-school metal cages in the loop currently known as Urban Jungle. There are surprisingly few photos of Binturongs in the San Diego Zoo gallery, as this species is now an ambassador animal and likely only found behind-the-scenes.

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I saw Binturongs at a trio of Aussie zoos in 2007, with Taronga Zoo (Australia) having a notable exhibit with many climbing opportunities.

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@Jabiru96

Here's a Binturong and a Malayan Tapir hanging out at Minnesota Zoo (USA):

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@geomorph

Memphis Zoo (USA) has long held Binturongs inside their Nocturnal House, and this must be the only zoo out of 38 where I've seen that situation.

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@Coelacanth18

Many AZA zoos, such as Kansas City, Fort Wayne and Mesker Park (USA) have kept Binturongs in basic, functional metal cages.

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Of course, it's easier for visitors to photograph a Binturong when there's no barriers, but this enclosure at Roger Williams Park Zoo (USA) is arguably worse for the inhabitants than an old-fashioned cage that has more climbing options. (2010 photo)

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Many AZA zoos, such as Sant Ana Zoo (USA), which used to be accredited pre-2017, have kept Binturongs in small cages. It's almost like people forget just how large these animals can be up close.

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At so many of the roadside American zoos that I visited 10-15 years ago, I had almost no expectations of what I would find. In probably 100+ zoos in my life, I was the very first ZooChatter to extensively photograph and document the zoos I was visiting. Therefore, I really had no clue that I'd be seeing a Binturong in a corn-crib cage at Wildwood Wildlife Park (USA):

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And the same goes for this horrendous Binturong exhibit at Timbavati Wildlife Park (USA). When I visited this place in 2014 I saw loads of advertisements about a brand-new zoo in Wisconsin. The whole place was built from scratch shortly before I arrived, and therefore I had no idea that there would be accommodation for Binturongs that looked like the photo below. I was expecting a brand-new, higher-quality zoo.

This 'exhibit' probably wouldn't even qualify as an off-show holding space in many European zoos, yet here it is in all its glory. No wonder my 2018 trip was the deal-breaker for me visiting American collections and instead I headed for Europe and didn't look back! When I documented U.S. zoos I almost never had much knowledge of the overall quality of a particular institution, specifically the zoos that were previously unknown to all zoo nerds. It was uncharted territory.

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The entire space for a Binturong at Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (USA). What a shambles.

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West Coast Game Park Safari (USA) has an extraordinary looking Binturong exhibit. The lower half of the enclosure is a puny space, but the main part of the exhibit is a massive tree tied to a pole.

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Binturong exhibit at Roscommon Zoo (USA):

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On my one and only day in France in 2019, visiting two zoos, I stopped by Lille Zoo (France) and saw Binturongs mixed with Small-clawed Otters in this popular exhibit:

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Pairi Daiza (Belgium) has Binturongs and Bharal together in this exhibit, which has been an established combination for a minimum of 6 years:

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@KevinB

When I was at Frankfurt Zoo (Germany) in 2019, there was a mixed-species exhibit of Sumatran Orangutans and Binturongs.

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@carlos55

This next Binturong exhibit is a very poor one, located at BestZOO (Netherlands), as the holding quarters on the left is a small, dark little space that's not really adequate for the species. Then there's a log that goes over the visitor pathway, and the two Binturongs were able to go up far into that white birch tree on the right. If you look closely, there's some black metal poles sticking out of the birch tree that prevent a Binturong from climbing down. It's a poor setup, and I imagine that on a rainy, wet day it wouldn't take much for a Binturong to slip from that slick middle tree branch.

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Burgers' Zoo (Netherlands) has Sun Bears and Binturongs together in the Rimba zone:

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@Paul Kalisch

Here's where I saw a Binturong at Berlin Tierpark (Germany) in 2019:

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Here's the new indoor space for Sun Bears and Binturongs:

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@RonBurrgundy
 
snowleopard said:
Of course, it's easier for visitors to photograph a Binturong when there's no barriers, but this enclosure at Roger Williams Park Zoo (USA) is arguably worse for the inhabitants than an old-fashioned cage that has more climbing options. (2010 photo)

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Within a year or two of your visit, this climbing structure was replaced with a new, larger structure. 2023 photo by @Pleistohorse:
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Of course, it isn't exactly easy to take a photograph of binturongs at Roger Williams Park Zoo, since the individuals are notorious for hiding out of sight. In the above photo you can actually see a binturong- or at least a ball of fur- on the hammock in the structure. I'm at this zoo all the time during the summer months, and it's likely the species I've seen least often out of every exhibit animal at the zoo.
 
birdsandbats said:
How many of those zoos kept the noticeably smaller Palawan subspecies?
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That's a good question and I really don't know. Looking at Zootierliste, right now there is a list of zoos with Palawan Binturongs that includes 4 I've visited (BestZoo, Cincinnati, Kansas City, San Diego), as well as one former holding (ZOOM) that I've also visited. It seems reasonable that I've seen Palawan Binturongs at a couple of zoos, at the very least. It's crazy that there's something like nine subspecies in total.
 
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