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

[birdsandbats]

While I've been waiting to hear more about snowleopard's trip, this thread inspired me to go back and figure out all of the mammal species I've seen, and all of the zoos I've seen them at. I won't bore anyone with the details and stats, but I do want to note a few interesting things - the (captive) primates and carnivorans I've seen that snowleopard hasn't.

I've seen Eastern Spotted Skunk at two zoos, Minnesota and the now-closed Special Memories. I think I mentioned this already on this thread, so I'll spare you the details, since if you're really interested you can find them above. I have no idea which species I've seen if you split this species out though, as some do.

I've seen Hawaiian Monk Seal at Minnesota. I don't think they're on exhibit anymore (replaced by the ubiquitous California Sea Lion), so I feel lucky to have seen them.

I saw Central American Squirrel Monkey at ZooAve in Costa Rica. This zoo actually maintains two separate troops of this species, representing different subspecies. They were kept in pretty large tracts of forest netted over, making these some of the best primate exhibits I've ever seen.

I also saw Panamanian White-faced Capuchin there, which I believe is a different species than the white-faced capuchins found in captivity outside Central America, though I'm not 100% certain of this. If so, that's another example. I also saw this one in the wild.

Sorry to hijack this thread a bit, can't wait to hear more from both this thread and the road trip. But I also felt very inspired this thread and wanted to share a few of the cooler things I've seen through the years. Frankly I'm a bit ecstatic I have even one species that wasn't on this thread.

 

[15399]

While I've been waiting to hear more about snowleopard's trip, this thread inspired me to go back and figure out all of the mammal species I've seen, and all of the zoos I've seen them at. I won't bore anyone with the details and stats, but I do want to note a few interesting things - the (captive) primates and carnivorans I've seen that snowleopard hasn't.

I've seen Eastern Spotted Skunk at two zoos, Minnesota and the now-closed Special Memories. I think I mentioned this already on this thread, so I'll spare you the details, since if you're really interested you can find them above. I have no idea which species I've seen if you split this species out though, as some do.

I've seen Hawaiian Monk Seal at Minnesota. I don't think they're on exhibit anymore (replaced by the ubiquitous California Sea Lion), so I feel lucky to have seen them.

I saw Central American Squirrel Monkey at ZooAve in Costa Rica. This zoo actually maintains two separate troops of this species, representing different subspecies. They were kept in pretty large tracts of forest netted over, making these some of the best primate exhibits I've ever seen.

I also saw Panamanian White-faced Capuchin there, which I believe is a different species than the white-faced capuchins found in captivity outside Central America, though I'm not 100% certain of this. If so, that's another example. I also saw this one in the wild.

Sorry to hijack this thread a bit, can't wait to hear more from both this thread and the road trip. But I also felt very inspired this thread and wanted to share a few of the cooler things I've seen through the years. Frankly I'm a bit ecstatic I have even one species that wasn't on this thread.

I think any of us who have been to at least one zoo in the neotropics are likely to have at least one or two species that have very little, if any, presence in the US or Europe. For example, I have two species from Belize Zoo which @snowleopard hasn't seen. One of them, the Yucatan black howler monkey, has only been housed in one US zoo in recent years (Gladys Porter) and per Zootierliste hasn't been in Europe since the 1930's. The other, northern tamandua, is currently not found in any zoos outside of Central America and Mexico. There's a good chance there's a third species as well, although we haven't seen all of @snowleopard's rodent lists, so not sure if he's seen a Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine.

For species in the United States, turns out there are two carnivoran species I've seen that @snowleopard hasn't too:

• spotted seals: Mystic Aquarium is the only holder in the continental US.
• pale fox: seen at Animal Adventures Family Zoo, an obscure roadside zoo I don't recommend that anyone visits.

Seeing as I've only seen approx. 291 mammal species since I started keeping track, I'm shocked four of them haven't been seen by someone who's visited 500 more zoos than me!

 

[birdsandbats]

I think any of us who have been to at least one zoo in the neotropics are likely to have at least one or two species that have very little, if any, presence in the US or Europe. For example, I have two species from Belize Zoo which @snowleopard hasn't seen. One of them, the Yucatan black howler monkey, has only been housed in one US zoo in recent years (Gladys Porter) and per Zootierliste hasn't been in Europe since the 1930's. The other, northern tamandua, is currently not found in any zoos outside of Central America and Mexico. There's a good chance there's a third species as well, although we haven't seen all of @snowleopard's rodent lists, so not sure if he's seen a Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine.

For species in the United States, turns out there are two carnivoran species I've seen that @snowleopard hasn't too:

• spotted seals: Mystic Aquarium is the only holder in the continental US.
• pale fox: seen at Animal Adventures Family Zoo, an obscure roadside zoo I don't recommend that anyone visits.

Seeing as I've only seen approx. 291 mammal species since I started keeping track, I'm shocked four of them haven't been seen by someone who's visited 500 more zoos than me!

I've actually been to two zoos in the Neotropics, though only one had non-domestic mammals. Of course, snowleopard has also visited a single zoo in the Neotropics, so I feel like this is still a fair comparison (especially when his total zoo count is literally hundreds more than mine ).

I found out as part of this project that I've seen 326 mammal species in captivity (not counting a handful more I've seen in the wild). I'm guessing I have several rodent species that snowleopard hasn't seen, although I don't think we'll ever know that for sure.

So far, of all the species covered on this thread, there's only one species that I've seen at more zoos than snowleopard has, which is Greater Grison at three zoos (three times more than snowleopard). So that's pretty cool too. And if all goes according to plan I should visit another zoo with Greater Grison before the end of the month.

 

[Emanuel Theodorus]

Snowleopard's & Twilighter's 2024 Road Trip: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore & Indonesia

This sounds amazing. I cannot wait for you to come to my home country and hopefully you'll enjoy it here. Manage your expectations on the zoos here though, the collections won't really be better than the world class zoos that you have visited.

 

[Panda_Fan]

I'll post more before I leave for my August 1st to August 23rd trip with Konstantin (@twilighter), and I'm excited to visit approximately 55 zoos that will all be brand-new to me. Today's last clue before the big reveal: we will be visiting zoos in FOUR nations.

It's amazing at how many species I've seen that I will NOT list on this thread. Even by touring 551 different zoos and aquariums, I've never seen species such as Pangolin, Tarsier, Dugong, Colugo or Numbat (unless Perth Zoo had them between '86-'88) or many other cool critters. Some of those I might never see.

Others are difficult to get exact numbers for. By virtue of the 19 zoos I've visited in Australia, I have viewed a lot of cool 'Down Under' animals. For example, the nocturnal houses at the various Aussie zoos have had a plethora of gems over the years, but I don't have species lists from the places I visited as a kid (1986-1988 when I lived near Perth in Western Australia), or when I traveled all over Oz in 2007. But I've definitely seen species such as Kowari, Mulgara, at least a couple of types of Quoll, a Phascogale or two, definitely some Dunnarts, Greater Bilbies for sure, a bunch of Bandicoots, various Gliders, plus Bettongs and Potoroos on 3 continents (Australia, North America, Europe).

Looking through a series of guidebooks that I own that have lists of species, and knowing that I toured Nocturnal Houses at Taronga Zoo, Alice Springs Desert Park, Adelaide Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary all in 2007, I've almost certainly seen a number of possums that I never listed earlier on this thread. My Healesville guide that I bought during my 2007 visit lists Leadbeater's Possum, Mountain Pygmy Possum, Eastern Pygmy Possum and Mountain Brushtail Possum as species seen in the Animals of the Night precinct. I surely saw at least two if not all four of those species, but I am not 100% sure and so I never added them to my 'possum' list.

I've also seen quite a few Tenrecs over the years, a minimum of 20 zoos with a species of Sengi, Hyraxes of multiple species up the kazoo, Armadillos by the dozen, I'm guessing a minimum of 150 zoos with Two-toed Sloths of either of the species, and I've even come incredibly close to a Three-toed Sloth. I've seen Treeshrews, usually the Northern species, at more than 20 zoos and likely a couple of other shrews tossed in there as well. I'm avoiding posting lists of everything I've named simply because during many of my older zoo visits I did not detail every single species at a zoo. I also don't want to risk the wrath of the 'taxonomic police' by getting some names wrong.

Here are some highlights:

I brushed up against a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth at Dallas World Aquarium (USA) when I was there in 2015. A keeper was carrying it through the building and it was neat to see how docile this particular creature was. Apparently, at the time the aquarium had around a dozen of these sloths behind the scenes.

I have definitely seen some type of Quoll on 3 continents, including zoos such as Frankfurt (Germany), Columbus (USA) and a few in Australia. I've even seen Quolls at small, obscure Aussie zoos such as Warrawong Sanctuary and here's my slightly blurry photo of two at Phillip Island Wildlife Park (Australia):

I can recall seeing Bilbies at several zoos and to be honest the smell from them was awful at Monarto Safari Park (Australia) via the open-topped enclosure there. These guys are the 'Easter Bunnies' of Oz.

@WhistlingKite24

I don't know what the species list was like at Alice Springs Desert Park (Australia) in 2007 when I toured the Nocturnal House, but that building is world-class. Mammals held there over the years include the following: Ghost Bat, Golden Bandicoot, Greater Bilby, Greater Stick-nest Rat, Red-tailed Phascogale, Rufous Hare-Wallaby and many others. The visitor space is memorably large, as are many of the animal habitats. I would have definitely racked up a whole bunch of rarities when I was there 17 years ago because I spent a very long time in that brilliant building.

@Hix

They aren't mammals, but just for the heck of it here's my 2007 photo of a couple of Thorny Devils at Alice Springs Desert Park.

Here's a Fat-tailed Dunnart at Healesville Sanctuary (Australia):

@Giant Eland

I'm not even going to attempt to organize and categorize all the Squirrels I've seen. When I was with @vogelcommando at De Eekhoorn (The Squirrel) Experience (De Evenaar, NL) in 2019, we saw at least a dozen species of squirrel in the space of an hour! Some of them I'd probably hardly ever seen before, like this stunning Black-and-white Variegated Squirrel:

@vogelcommando

Some are perhaps even unidentified (although this photo is labeled as Perny's Long-nosed Squirrel - Dremomys pernyi) but it might not even be that species:

@vogelcommando

I gave up long ago on categorizing all the captive mice and rats I've come across in my lifetime. I've never visited Plzen Zoo (Czech. Rep.), but nevertheless I've seen a LOT of rodents. Here's a Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat at Prague Zoo (Czech. Rep.):

@Rhino00

Maras, such as these free-roaming specimens at Whipsnade Zoo (England), are simply too plentiful to bother with. Do you know how many individual Maras I've seen? It feels like a thousand of them, and the same goes for Capybaras.

@Lafone

The future schedule: I am still piecing together an exhaustive list of macropods, and I will have lists of more than a dozen rodent species (beavers, porcupines, etc.), and then we are into hooved mammals. That's going to be a wild ride because my childhood zoo (Alberta Game Farm 1975-1986) had a staggering amount and my first visits to San Diego Zoo (when Horn & Hoof Mesa was still around) and San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 2006 will reveal immense numbers.

Good news snowleopard!!! After doing some research I discovered that you probably saw a numbat during your visits to Perth Zoo. (Information is on the wikipedia page of the zoo)

 

[amur leopard]

Good news snowleopard!!! After doing some research I discovered that you probably saw a numbat during your visits to Perth Zoo. (Information is on the wikipedia page of the zoo)

Doesn't say they were on-show at the time, nor would that guarantee that SL saw them. Can understand the frustration of not remembering, I have that with a great many species too, but it's a pretty big stretch to count them and I'm sure SL agrees .

 

[Panda_Fan]

Doesn't say they were on-show at the time, nor would that guarantee that SL saw them. Can understand the frustration of not remembering, I have that with a great many species too, but it's a pretty big stretch to count them and I'm sure SL agrees .

Yeah I know it didn't specific it and being wikipedia, maybe it's note true, so yeah, maybe lets let it be.

 

[snowleopard]

My last post was on July 31st and I'm posting now on September 2nd, so this thread has been dormant for the entirety of August. However, before that it was relentless and I certainly have covered a LOT of species and there's been a ton of great discussion. It's time to relaunch the thread. Let's rock and roll...

Well, @twilighter (Konstantin the species hunter extraordinaire) and myself (racking up zoos all day long) made for quite the combo and we had a blast exploring Southeast Asia. I was gone for 23 days and banged off 59 zoos and I'm now at 610 zoos all-time. We survived the traffic and insanity of the roads in SEA, which is a miracle in itself. It was a ton of fun, with many long, thrilling, exhausting days, and an incredible number of new mammals for us to see. For example, for those who haven't seen the photos I've uploaded here, in an hour-long behind the scenes tour at Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia), we saw species such as Javan Warty Pig, Bawean Warty Pig, Indonesian Mountain Weasel and Sumatran Striped Rabbit. Amazing! Add those to the Marbled Cat in Thailand and Flat-headed Cats and Laotian Langurs and even Pangolins and Proboscis Monkeys, which I'd never seen before and probably ended up viewing at 7 different zoos each. The rich diversity of Asian wildlife, never seen before by either of us, was fantastic. By the end of the trip we'd shrug when we came across yet another zoo with a Grizzled Tree Kangaroo. We became spoiled zoo nerds. Oh no, not another couple of exhibits with Red-shanked Douc Langurs. Haha. Just looking at macaques, I saw SIX new ones (Northern Pig-tailed, Siberut, Gorontalo, Heck's, Moor, Assamese) on this one trip that I'd never imagined seeing in my lifetime. On top of that, it was common to see major groups of African, South American and Australian fauna in the Asian zoos. There was a real 'Gondwana' vibe.

Besides all the rare species, and our new love for jungle zoos with the wildlife we saw roaming around outside the cages, and our eagerness which kept us going from early morning to late at night, Konstantin and I also realized how Westernized our views were prior to the trip. That goes for most everyone we know on this forum as well. I know of a trio of vastly experienced zoo nerds who had never even heard of Khao Kheow Zoo (Thailand), and I knew very little about the place before I visited. Yet it's a major, WAZA-accredited facility that is hundreds of acres in size, has all the big ABC megafauna, a gorgeous African Savanna, probably 800 wild Long-tailed Macaques rampaging everywhere, 10 feline species, 2 bear species, Koalas in an Australian zone, a massive aviary that's probably as big as anything in North America, all set in a jungle, and hardly anyone has heard of the place overseas. Wow. Or Sriayuthaya Lion Park, which doesn't even have a ZooChat gallery and it was a late addition to the itinerary. That place has 28 primate species, including Grey-shanked Douc Langurs, a fantastic Common Hippo exhibit, but also drugged big cats and chained elephants. That's a story for another day...

I can't wait to review and discuss all the 59 zoos I toured in Southeast Asia. Once my mammals thread is done and dusted, I will begin my latest 'Snowleopard's Road Trip' thread in January and it's going to be epic. I've received a lot of nice messages and comments since I've been back in Canada and lots of 'likes' on my photos. A couple of mornings I've woken up to 700+ alerts on ZooChat and that's awesome, but I do want to apologize in case I've missed any comments or questions on photos, as I've been getting caught up and hopefully I haven't ignored anything important in the past month. If I missed answering something, just ask again.

The biggest surprise of the whole trip? Bird Paradise. I knew that Singapore was going to be astonishing and I was not disappointed in the least. San Diego Zoo by itself is still arguably #1 for me and the two San Diego parks are mainly excellent, and the two Berlins are equally incredible, but Singapore has 4 and soon 5 parks that combined leave everywhere else in the dust. Konstantin has visited them all and is in agreement with me and he's clocked up 200 zoos to my 610 zoos. Everything is subjective, but we speak from experience.

Singapore Zoo is top-notch, but not quite at a San Diego or Berlin level in terms of size as one can comfortably see everything (including 4 wild Colugos) in around 5 hours. All are great zoos, but Singapore is smaller than the others and that's a key difference. Night Safari is an awesome experience and a must-see for every zoo nerd. River Wonders is only a decade old and is more of an aquarium than a zoo and the level of exhibit quality is extremely high. Rainforest Wild opens in 2025 and is going to be a major zoo. But, it was Bird Paradise that made us fall in love with birds. Take ONE aviary in that place and it's larger than every single aviary of every conceivable size at San Diego Zoo all added together. Bird Paradise's African Aviary is something like 4 acres in size, the South American one is 3 acres, the Asian one is 2 acres, and in total there's EIGHT enormous walk-through aviaries. It's mind-boggling. Each one is a masterpiece, as is the world-class penguin complex and the 42 aviaries in Winged Sanctuary. I'll never do a 'birds' thread as it's too late in the game for me, but Bird Paradise is phenomenal and with 400 species the place is immense. Bird nerds will need two days. There's apparently more than 140 additional aviaries behind the scenes and I'd love to take a tour one day. The signage, the giftshop and the general 'newness' of the park is staggering. There's even a whole row of EIGHT restaurants outdoors that will be a central eating hub between Bird Paradise and Rainforest Wild. No other zoo has anything like it. In all honesty, when you look at the jungle atmosphere, the mammals, the 35 primate species, the mind-blowing bird collection, the reptiles, amphibians, insects, all those gorgeous fish tanks at River Wonders...Singapore with FIVE zoological institutions smokes anywhere else on the planet. Separately, it's a different issue, but if I could choose one location to visit zoos then Singapore is the easiest choice ever. It's not even close.

Okay, enough about Southeast Asia...time to resurrect this mammals thread. It's back baby!

It's amusing for me to see some of the photos of signs I've taken of Pronghorn over the years, as quite frequently the images say 'Pronghorn Antelope'. Here's a mammal that is easy enough to see on the plains of many U.S. states and in fact their range spreads through several geographical zones. I've seen Pronghorn many times in the wild and I've seen them in exactly 30 zoos and none in Europe or Asia. How many of these establishments even have Pronghorn now?

1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – Pronghorn – 1975
2- Greater Vancouver Zoo (Canada) – Pronghorn – 1998
3- Minnesota Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2008
4- Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (USA) – Pronghorn – 2008
5- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2008
6- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2008
7- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – Peninsular Pronghorn – 2008
8- Sedgwick County Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2010
9- Roger Williams Park Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2010
10- San Diego Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2011
11- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – Peninsular Pronghorn - 2011
12- Great Plains Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2012
13- Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2012
14- Topeka Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2012
15- Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure (USA) – Pronghorn – 2012
16- Pocatello Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2012
17- Bear Country U.S.A. (USA) – Pronghorn – 2014
18- Dakota Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2014
19- Hemker Park & Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2014
20- Pine Grove Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2014
21- Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2014
22- Hutchinson Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2014
23- Lee Richardson Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2014
24- Amarillo Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2015
25- Spring River Park & Zoo (USA) – Pronghorn – 2015
26- Wildlife West Nature Park (USA) – Pronghorn – 2015
27- Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary (USA) – Pronghorn – 2015
28- Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo (Canada) – Pronghorn – 2018
29- Assiniboine Park Zoo (Canada) – Pronghorn – 2018
30- Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) – Pronghorn – 2023

Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) had American Bison with Pronghorn when I was there in 2008, with a Prairie Dog exhibit in the foreground.

A combination of American Bison/Pronghorn was at Minnesota Zoo (USA) for many years.

There's Peninsular Pronghorn at Los Angeles Zoo (USA) in a dusty exhibit.

Pronghorn were with Sandhill Cranes at Sedgwick County Zoo (USA) in 2010:

This ugly dust bowl disaster is an exhibit at San Diego Zoo (USA) for Pronghorn, some Llamas and Dromedaries inside the infamous Elephant Odyssey complex in 2011. Did they have horses in here at one time as well?

Topeka Zoo (USA) had Pronghorn in front of an aviary for Golden Eagles in 2012:

In 2012, at Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure (USA), there was a paddock with Pronghorn, Mule Deer and White-tailed Deer all together.

Pocatello Zoo (USA), now called Zoo Idaho, had Pronghorn with American Bison, Elk and White-tailed Deer in a vast, arid enclosure in 2012.

Here's two Pronghorn and two American Bison lounging together at Bear Country U.S.A. (USA) in 2014:

Here's some young Pronghorn at Bear Country U.S.A.:

There was a spacious, grassy paddock for Pronghorn and American Bison at Pine Grove Zoo (USA) in 2014, with a nice addition of a massive pile of boulders that added to the landscape.

At Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo (USA) in 2014, I saw American Bison and Pronghorn cohabitating a large, grassy yard with a large lake in the middle that attracted a lot of Canadian geese.

Peninsular Pronghorn can be found at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) and the desert environment suits these mammals.

Phoenix Zoo (USA) is another desert zoo with Pronghorn:

I saw a small herd of Pronghorn at Assiniboine Park Zoo (Canada) in 2018:

Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (USA) clearly has some major flaws when it comes to primates and birds, but for ungulates this is a park that does well. Pronghorn have a large enclosure under beautiful Arizona skies.

The closest many folks get to the fleet-footed Pronghorn is at a museum, such as the Royal Alberta Museum (Canada) in Edmonton. I like this image of the sprawling Alberta prairie and of a female Pronghorn ducking under some farmer's barbed wire fence.

Family Antilocapridae: 30 zoos with Pronghorn

 

[Smaggledagle]

Will the Southeast Asian trip have its own dedicated thread or is it too much time right now?

 

[snowleopard]

Will the Southeast Asian trip have its own dedicated thread or is it too much time right now?

It will have its own dedicated thread, beginning in January. See below:

I can't wait to review and discuss all the 59 zoos I toured in Southeast Asia. Once my mammals thread is done and dusted, I will begin my latest 'Snowleopard's Road Trip' thread in January and it's going to be epic.

 

[birdsandbats]

When you're through with all the ungulates, can you do a post updating the numbers for all the species covered previously? I'd be curious to see. Plus I'd be curious to see you go through some species from previous groups that you added on this most recent road trip.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Singapore has always been in my top 4 or so international travel goals, but I think your praise in that post alone has secured it at #2 for me (Japan's got to come first).

It’s a real shame pronghorns aren’t more common. Too far east or south just seems to be a dead zone for them. I see their mounted heads all the time in larger thrift store/antique mall type places (I did yesterday, in fact), but it was pretty disappointing visiting nearly a dozen zoos across Texas a few months ago and not seeing them there either - I don’t think they’re kept in that state anywhere east of El Paso.

Are your posts from here on out going to reflect your SEA trip or will this thread continue to focus on your prior zoo visits?

 

[TeaLovingDave]

It will have its own dedicated thread, beginning in January. See below:

I can't wait to review and discuss all the 59 zoos I toured in Southeast Asia. Once my mammals thread is done and dusted, I will begin my latest 'Snowleopard's Road Trip' thread in January and it's going to be epic.

A more cynical soul than I would wonder whether you are deliberately holding off until January in order that a) this thread won't have direct competition in any 2024 "Thread of the Year" contest and b) your Asian travel thread is eligible for the 2025 incarnation of same

 

[Kalaw]

It will have its own dedicated thread, beginning in January. See below:

I can't wait to review and discuss all the 59 zoos I toured in Southeast Asia. Once my mammals thread is done and dusted, I will begin my latest 'Snowleopard's Road Trip' thread in January and it's going to be epic.

Can’t wait for that. Was hoping for this as soon as I saw your SEA uploads in the gallery. What does this bring your overall zoos visited total up to? Are you closing in on the 600 mark?

 

[birdsandbats]

A more cynical soul than I would wonder whether you are deliberately holding off until January in order that a) this thread won't have direct competition in any 2024 "Thread of the Year" contest and b) your Asian travel thread is eligible for the 2025 incarnation of same

Or... he wants to finish up one active thread before he begins an another, and we have a lot of hoofstock to get through?

 

[Nile Hippo Expert]

a) this thread won't have direct competition in any 2024 "Thread of the Year" contest

I have also noticed that there have not been any legitimately good "Thread Of The Year" candidates besides this one, so I have been thinking if we even need to have a contest this year? However, @ZooBinh just made a thread about his California zoo trip this summer and @Kudu21 is planning to go on a zoo road trip to Europe and making a travel thread this so there might at least be some competition, but I would still be shocked if they got anywhere close to this amazing, glorious thread. Aside from all of that, let's just wait till December and see what happens.

 

[Zz123]

I think If there are many good threads, it is not necessary to have only one thread that is the "Thread of the Year". There may be 2 or 3 threads that are.

 

[birdsandbats]

I think If there are many good threads, it is not necessary to have only one thread that is the "Thread of the Year". There may be 2 or 3 threads that are.

He is referencing a specific competition which we hold every year to determine the official "thread of the year".

 

[snowleopard]

Yes @Smaggledagle 'Snowleopard's 2024 Road Trip: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore & Indonesia' will make its debut in January and be its own complete thread. I'd like to update all my lists @birdsandbats and that will take me a long time. There's lots of cool stats. For instance, it's fascinating to see that Gorillas and Orangutans were originally tied at 74 zoos each, but in Southeast Asia I saw 2 zoos with Gorillas and probably 20 zoos with Orangutans, so the red apes have surged far ahead. Gorillas are an extreme rarity there, showing up only in Pata (Thailand) and Ragunan (Indonesia), while twice I saw Orangutans wearing pants. No joke.

If I can swing the time, @biggest_dreamer, I'd love to have my posts on all the hooved mammals from here on out to include the 59 zoos that @twilighter and I saw in SEA. It's going to be a monumental task to update ALL my lists, but I think I can pull it off. Some mammals I saw daily (Orangutans, Tigers, Sun Bears, certain deer and civets), but others were surprisingly rare in SEA, such as African Wild Dogs (once the entire trip!), Addax (zero) and Harbour Seals (maybe twice off the top of my head).

Your reference to the 'Thread of the Year 2024' made me chuckle @TeaLovingDave. We definitely need to have the annual vote in December for sure, as one year in football there wasn't a Ballon d'Or vote (in 2020) and since then everyone has complained about it as Robert Lewandowski was shafted and he would have been the clear winner. In all honesty, I have only completed the lists of mammals for my SEA road trip thread and I've finished only one review. I really do need to spend the hour or two every day on this mammals thread, clean it all up by Christmas, and by then hopefully I will have pre-written most if not all of the Asian road trip thread. With teaching full-time and 4 kids in sports, I really do not have the time to run TWO major ZooChat threads at once.

And @Kalaw, I mentioned in my post yesterday that I'm now at 610 zoos all-time. That total won't change for a minimum of one year and maybe even several years and I don't even think I'm into the top 10 worldwide at this point. There's a bunch of excellent zoo nerd guys ahead of me. My list includes a ton of major zoological attractions across North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, but also exactly 123 aquariums, plus safari parks, reptile centers, insect zoos and lots of small places. I avoid farms and don't count domestics, much like most zoo nerds.

Here's my zoo breakdown:

16 Zoo Nations: (I’ve also visited three other countries but didn't see zoos there: Mexico, Italy and Vatican City)

USA – 377 zoos/aquariums
Netherlands – 43
Germany – 40
Canada – 33
Indonesia – 25
Australia – 19
Thailand – 19
Denmark – 16
Belgium – 10
Malaysia – 10
Sweden – 6
Singapore – 5
France – 2
Norway – 2
Switzerland – 2
Trinidad & Tobago – 1

I began this whole thread with a look at elephants and below is my fresh, newly updated 'Elephant List'. How many zoos with African Elephants did I see in SEA? Zero! But Asian Elephants are everywhere, usually posted on zoo signs as 'Sumatran Elephants' and when talking to zoo staff at many locations, the name 'Sumatran' was generally used. I saw Asian Elephants at 23 zoos and in fact there was a total of 24 zoos with the species but at one location I failed to see elephants. How does one not see an elephant? At the Royal Safari Garden Resort (Indonesia), which is a fancy hotel with an attached zoo, @twilighter and I arrived at closing time and we saw many species but the elephant ride area had closed down for the day.

Asian Elephants have now pulled far ahead of their African counterparts.

Asian Elephants – 84 zoos (85 zoos had the species)
African Elephants – 53 zoos

Some of these zoos are ones I’ve visited on many occasions, but I’ve listed them only once and that is based on the first time I saw elephants at each zoo.

1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – Asian – 1975
2- Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada) – Asian – 1977
3- Calgary Zoo (Canada) – Asian – 1986
4- Perth Zoo (Australia) – Asian – 1987
5- Greater Vancouver Zoo (Canada) – African & Asian together – 1988
6- Woodland Park Zoo (USA) – African & Asian together – 1994
7- Zurich Zoo (Switzerland) – Asian – 2003
8- Point Defiance Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2005
9- Oregon Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2005
10- San Diego Zoo (USA) – African & Asian – 2006
11- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – African – 2006
12- Denver Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2006
13- Taronga Zoo (Australia) – Asian – 2007
14- Melbourne Zoo (Australia) – Asian – 2007
15- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – African – 2008
16- Toledo Zoo (USA) – African – 2008
17- Toronto Zoo (Canada) – African – 2008
18- Bronx Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2008
19- Smithsonian’s National Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2008
20- Pittsburgh Zoo (USA) – African – 2008
21- Columbus Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2008
22- Cincinnati Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2008
23- Indianapolis Zoo (USA) – African – 2008
24- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo (USA) – African – 2008
25- Memphis Zoo (USA) – African – 2008
26- Zoo Knoxville (USA) – African – 2008
27- Zoo Atlanta (USA) – African – 2008
28- Fort Worth Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2008
29- Phoenix Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2008
30- Los Angeles Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2008
31- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (USA) – African – 2008
32- Jacksonville Zoo (USA) – African – 2008
33- Zoo Miami (USA) – African & Asian separate – 2008
34- Wildlife Safari (USA) – African – 2010
35- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
36- Sedgwick County Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
37- Tulsa Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
38- Kansas City Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
39- Saint Louis Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
40- Louisville Zoo (USA) – African & Asian together – 2010
41- Milwaukee County Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
42- Buffalo Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
43- Roger Williams Park Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
44- Maryland Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
45- North Carolina Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
46- Riverbanks Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
47- Nashville Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
48- Montgomery Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
49- Baton Rouge Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
50- Audubon Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
51- Houston Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
52- Caldwell Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
53- Dallas Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
54- Cameron Park Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
55- San Antonio Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
56- El Paso Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
57- ABQ BioPark Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2010
58- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – African – 2010
59- Oakland Zoo (USA) – African – 2011
60- Santa Barbara Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2011
61- Reid Park Zoo (USA) – African & Asian together – 2011
62- Fresno Chaffee Zoo (USA) – Asian (2011) & African (2017)
63- Rosamond Gifford Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2012
64- Virginia Zoo (USA) – African – 2012
65- ZooTampa at Lowry Park (USA) – African – 2012
66- Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (USA) – Asian – 2012
67- Little Rock Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2012
68- Dickerson Park Zoo (USA) – Asian – 2012
69- Topeka Zoo (USA) – African & Asian together – 2012
70- Grant’s Farm (USA) – African – 2014
71- Lee Richardson Zoo (USA) – African – 2014
72- Monterey Zoo (USA) – African – 2017
73- Artis Royal Zoo - Amsterdam (Netherlands) – Asian – 2019
74- Blijdorp Zoo - Rotterdam (Netherlands) – Asian – 2019
75- Zoo Maubeuge (France) – Asian – 2019
76- Zoo Antwerp (Belgium) – Asian – 2019
77- Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) – Asian – 2019
78- Pakawi Park (Belgium) – African – 2019
79- Pairi Daiza (Belgium) – African & Asian separate – 2019
80- Safari Parc Monde Sauvage (Belgium) – African – 2019
81- Opel Zoo (Germany) – African – 2019
82- Cologne Zoo (Germany) – Asian – 2019
83- Wuppertal Zoo (Germany) – African – 2019
84- Duisburg Zoo (Germany) – African – 2019
85- Krefeld Zoo (Germany) – Asian – 2019
86- Dierenrijk Animal Kingdom (Netherlands) – Asian – 2019
87- Safaripark Beekse Bergen (Netherlands) – African – 2019
88- Ouwehands Dierenpark (Netherlands) – African – 2019
89- Burgers’ Zoo (Netherlands) – Asian – 2019
90- Tierpark Hagenbeck (Germany) – Asian – 2019
91- Berlin Zoo (Germany) – Asian – 2019
92- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – African & Asian separate – 2019
93- Hannover Zoo (Germany) – Asian – 2019
94- Serengeti-Park (Germany) – African – 2019
95- Tierpark Strohen (Germany) – Asian – 2019
96- Osnabruck Zoo (Germany) – Asian – 2019
97- Allwetterzoo Munster (Germany) – Asian – 2019
98- Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen (Netherlands) – Asian – 2019
99- Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) – Asian – 2019
100- Givskud Zoo (Denmark) – Asian – 2022
101- Aalborg Zoo (Denmark) – African – 2022
102- Kolmarden Wildlife Park (Sweden) – Asian – 2022
103- Boras Zoo (Sweden) – African – 2022
104- Copenhagen Zoo (Denmark) – Asian – 2022
105- Sriayuthaya Lion Park (Thailand) – Asian – 2024
106- Khao Kheow Zoo (Thailand) – Asian – 2024
107- Pattaya Crocodile Farm (Thailand) – Asian – 2024
108- Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) – Asian – 2024
109- Chiang Mai Night Safari (Thailand) – Asian – 2024
110- Songkhla Zoo (Thailand) – Asian – 2024
111- Safari World Bangkok (Thailand) – Asian – 2024
112- Taiping Zoo (Malaysia) – Asian – 2024
113- Zoo Negara (Malaysia) – Asian – 2024
114- Zoo Melaka (Malaysia) – Asian – 2024
115- Singapore Zoo (Singapore) – Asian – 2024
116- Night Safari (Singapore) – Asian – 2024
117- Bali Zoo (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
118- Taman Safari III Bali (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
119- Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
120- Taman Safari II Prigen (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
121- Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
122- Solo Safari (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
123- Gembira Loka Zoo (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
124- Bandung Zoo (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
125- Lembang Park & Zoo (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
126- Taman Safari I Bogor (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024
127- Royal Safari Garden Resort (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024 (didn’t see)
128- Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia) – Asian – 2024

 

[carlos55]

Pronghorn are now absent from Mexican zoos. They are an endangered species here. When the peninsular pronghorn binational program began animals were sent to Los Ángeles zoo and San Juan de Aragon zoo in Mexico City, but the only the L.A. herd bred. A dry climate seems to be important for the welfare of pronghorn.