Species You Haven't Appreciated Until Recently?

Okapipako

Okapipako

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
There have been quite a few examples of these on my end, lately, which inspired this thread. It's very much for gushing about them, at least partly :) But perhaps we'll be able to introduce each other to taxa we might not pay attention to otherwise, or at least inspire appreciation in them. It could mean species you've seen before, maybe even quite frequently, but are starting to see in a new light, or any you've only just learned about.

I'm a bit obsessed with opossums lately. I've been putting together for myself a mammal species/general taxonomy list I can update periodically and base a life list off of. Listing them in the usual systematic order means the Didelphimorphia come second, after Monotremata, and I went down a rabbit hole going through them all. I've always been fond of yapoks and Virginias, but I've gained a newfound love for much of the rest of the family such as white-eareds and all the woolly opossums - especially Brown-eared Caluromys lanatus with its autumnal colors, dapper facial markings and striking red eyes. They're a much more diverse group than you might think, and I'd love to see what could have become of them if they had all the room to evolve into just about every niche like Australian marsupials. But all of them still have that didelphid charm with their primitive appearance - weird, almost reptilian oversized mouths, stumpy legs, and distant, not-quite-all-there expressions. Charming in my book anyway :p

But my new favorite might be the Lutrine or Thick-tailed Opossum, Lutreolina crassicaudata, which I only recently realized even existed. There's just something about slinky, long-bodied small mammals to me. This is pretty much a mustelid-opossum love-child as far as I'm concerned and I'm smitten.

http://www.ecoregistros.org/site/images/albumes/47/2953/COMADREJA.jpg
http://www.ecoregistros.org/site/images/dataimages/2015/04/14/94255/0800_jst_2.jpg
https://www.reservacostanera.com.ar/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/comadreja-colorada-JST-06-11.jpg

Thankfully I saw images of live individuals first, as this one would have made a less-than-great first impression: https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2804/4290044546_b9fd419eea.jpg

I figure there aren't any in public collections outside of South America at the moment, although Zootierliste lists some former holdings in Europe like Frankfurt (no surprise there) and London.
 
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I've begun to like wild sheep, in particular the Argalis (Altai & Marco Polo subspecies). I also found that people raise bighorn sheep on ranches. That sounds pretty cool. Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those horns though! Also Camels are very cool if you look at their evolutionary history. The fact that they have fangs is really cool and they have't changed much in size since the species Titanotylopus nebraskensis. Anyone know which camel is more prehistoric (excluding New World camelids)? I'd guess Bactrian because of their tall neural spines towards the shoulders.

Titanotylopus nebraskensis skeleton
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Bactrian skeleton
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I'm embarrassed to admit that okapis are on this list for me. When I would see them in zoos I would barely look their way. Then I joined zoochat, and they seemed to be among the more popular animals here. I then built an exhibit for them, and now months later they are a top 5 favorite animal for me as well:)
 
I was never a bird person. To be honest, I'm rather afraid of them. I'd usually skip aviaries and the like, other than the occasional flamingo or penguin, etc. But a very close friend of mine is an active birder and has gotten more into it the last few years, and I've begun to really take an interest in them. Still afraid of them, but I spend a lot of time watching them now and know most of the species that are common in zoos and whatnot. I went with a friend to a few zoos in the last week and surprised myself with how much I've learned!
 
Until six years ago, I hadn't been to a zoo since childhood in the early 80's. I think that I have only began to appreciate 99% of species held in zoos in these recent years. Reading comments about other visitors misidentifying animals makes me chuckle, as a lot of them have only become familiar to me in this period.
 
In last years I'm growing a bigger interest for mammals. Overall hoofstock and cetaceans are my favourites, but small carnivores and many others too. I have been a bird person during most of my youthness and an insect boy before that, but, while I still like insects and birds a lot, my obsession for these groups decreased and my interest for Mammals increased. I think that frequent participation in Zoochat and visit to certain zoos played a role in this, tough when I registered here I still was a bird fanatic (hence my nickname and avatar)
 
BigNate said:
I'm embarrassed to admit that okapis are on this list for me. When I would see them in zoos I would barely look their way. Then I joined zoochat, and they seemed to be among the more popular animals here. I then built an exhibit for them, and now months later they are a top 5 favorite animal for me as well:)
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What do you mean you built an exhibit for them?
 
birdsandbats said:
Domestic animals. Not sure why, but I see them differently now.
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I find dogs incredibly fascinating. They're a species that changed specifically to live with us, and we changed to live with them. How many species share such a deep connection? A lot of people see it as humans ruling over dogs but I see it as more of us working together.

Not only that, but how much variety has resulted from selective breeding. (of course, some breeds are really messed and basically shouldn't exist... At least not in their current form)
 
Okapipako said:
I'm a bit obsessed with opossums lately. I've been putting together for myself a mammal species/general taxonomy list I can update periodically and base a life list off of...

But my new favorite might be the Lutrine or Thick-tailed Opossum, Lutreolina crassicaudata, which I only recently realized even existed. There's just something about slinky, long-bodied small mammals to me. This is pretty much a mustelid-opossum love-child as far as I'm concerned and I'm smitten.
Click to expand...

How many opossum species have you managed for your life list so far?

I was hopeful of seeing a Lutrine Opossum at the Batan Zoo in Argentina, as it was listed on their website (and the main reason for me heading there), but alas as has happened with 3-4 Opossum species, it had passed away before I arrived.
 
Okapipako said:
@Giant Eland: Just Virginia, sadly. :( I've got a ways to go. That's a huge shame about the Lutrine... Was it the only one in captivity?
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I believe so- I certainly haven't heard of any others

As I've complained elsewhere before I've had close calls with many species:

1.) Ihering's Three-striped Opossum (Monodelphis iheringi) at Wildlife World, AZ (Listed on International Species Information System (ISIS), but wasn't there when I arrived)
2.) Elegant Fat-tailed Mouse Opossum (Thylamys elegans) at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, NE (Listed on ISIS, and seen Joel Sartore's photographs taken here, but wasn't there when I went)
3.) northern red-sided opossum (Monodelphis brevicaudata) at Cincinnati Zoo, OH (Listed on ISIS and asked zoo keepers about the species, but they showed me a gray short-tailed opossum instead)
4.) lutrine opossum (Lutreolina crassicaudata) at Batan Zoo, Argentina (on Zoo website, but passed away before I arrived)
5.) Patagonian opossum (Lestodelphys halli) at Temaiken, Argentina (Was listed on ISIS. Had passed away before I arrived)

But I can't be too upset because I've been lucky enough to have photographed 10 species of an almost never exhibited group of mammals:

1. (Caluromys derbianus) Derby’s woolly opossum
2. (Caluromys philander) bare-tailed woolly opossum
3. (Philander opossum) Four-eyed opossum
4. (Chironectes minimus) Yapok
5. (Didelphis albiventris) white-eared opossum
6. (Didelphis aurita) big-eared opossum
7. (Didelphis marsupialis) Common opossum
8. (Didelphis virginiana) Virginia opossum
9. (Marmosa zeledoni) Zeledon’s mouse opossum
10. (Monodelphis domestica) Grey short-tailed opossum
 
I've always been a herp guy but recently I've gotten into canines and birds
My favorites are probably the Aardwolf and the Tawny Owl
 
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