Species you wish your local zoo(s) still have.

1

15399

Well-Known Member
Every single zoo has to make difficult decisions over what species they choose to exhibit. Oftentimes this means either not replacing a species when it dies or sending a species to another zoo instead. What animals that you have seen at your local zoo do you wish were still exhibited there?
Here is my list-
Capron Park Zoo-
1. Ocelot
2. Indian Crested Porcupine
3. Six-banded Armadillo
4. Violet Turaco
5. Purple Swamp Hen
6. Southern Screamer
7. Binturong
8. Southern Screamer
9. Llama

Roger Williams Park Zoo-
1. Humboldt Penguin
2. African Wild Dog
3. Dexter Cattle
4. Green Aracari
5. Northern Tree Shrew
6. Arctic Fox
 
Maryland Zoo used to have an animal I would have always wanted to see before going to the Bronx.
Rock Hyraxes
They used to be in the colobus indoor enclosure, and I never knew why they were phased out. It took me until 2016 to see them at the Bronx. At least I got to see Geladas at the same time.
 
I wish Minnesota zoo still had...

Darien pika
Clouded leopard
Goitered gazelle
Nigiri tahrs
Sloth bears
Beluga whales
Malayan chevrotains
Fishing cats
Long tailed goral
Asiatic lions
Matschie’s tree kangaroo
Binturong
Rock hyrax
Meerkat
Greater hornbill

I wish como zoo still had...

Degus
Wyoming toads
Francois’ langur
Common seal
 
Last edited:
Dhole dude said:
I wish Minnesota zoo still had...

Darien pika
Clouded leopard
Goitered gazelle
Nigiri tahrs
Sloth bears
Beluga whales
Malayan chevrotains
Fishing cats
Long tailed goral
Asiatic lions
Matschie’s tree kangaroo
Binturong
Rock hyrax
Meerkat
Greater hornbill

I wish como zoo still had...

Degus
Wyoming toads
Francois’ langur
Common seal
Click to expand...
Were all those animals at Minnesota at the same time? I don't know too much about Minnesota Zoo but that sounds like it would be an INCREDIBLE animal collection.
 
London Zoo has kept many species in my life time.
They include Barton's echidna, four-eyed opossum, spiny bandicoot, red-bellied lemur, Rondo bushbaby, red uakari, Campbell's guenon, hoolock gibbon, Panay cloudrunner, casiragua, Haitian solenodon, hog badger, markhor.
Kiwi, Nduk eagle owl, plumbeous redstart, gharial, paddlefish, garden eel, velvet worm, Hercules beetle, crown of thorns starfish.
 
Fresno Zoo had a pair of binturongs for a few years that left in 2010 for the Virginia Zoo; they're one of my faves and I'm a bit sad that they're not included in the upcoming Southeast Asia plans.

On a similar note, Malayan tapir. They had a pair for years that eventually passed due to old age, and seeing those friendly black-and-white faces again would be nice.

Others on the list would probably be lowland gorillas (responsibly phased out in the 90's), bison + elk (I vaguely remember a mixed species exhibit as a child), and leopard (unsure of the subspecies, all of the media coverage I can find after her illness-related euthanization in 2009 just refers to her as a "black leopard").
 
Neil chace said:
Were all those animals at Minnesota at the same time? I don't know too much about Minnesota Zoo but that sounds like it would be an INCREDIBLE animal collection.
Click to expand...
No... not really but it did and still does have a stellar collection!
 
For me, probably would be the entire collection of Living Coasts. Good they don't have to be euthanized though.
 
For La Aurora Zoo, I wish they still had red kangaroo. However, I'm not entirely sure if they ever holded that species. I remember that they did some publicity about it some years ago when I was a kid, but I never got to see them. When I finally went to the zoo, there weren't any kangaroo but instead there were Red-Necked Wallabies.

Other specie that I wish they still had are Blue Poison Dart Frog. Since they remodeled the herpetary, I never saw them again.
 
Philadelphia Zoo
  • Okapi
  • Malayan Tapir
  • Huon Tree-Kangaroo
  • Red-shanked Douc Langur
  • Striped Possum
  • Aardwolf
  • Tayra
  • Drill
  • Pronghorn
  • Red-flanked Duiker
  • Hammer-headed Fruit Bat

Brandywine Zoo
  • Mainland Clouded Leopard

Cape May County Park Zoo
  • Pronghorn
  • Amur Tiger
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Chinese Alligator
 
Dhole dude said:
I wish Minnesota zoo still had...

Darien pika
Clouded leopard
Goitered gazelle
Nigiri tahrs
Sloth bears
Beluga whales
Malayan chevrotains
Fishing cats
Long tailed goral
Asiatic lions
Matschie’s tree kangaroo
Binturong
Rock hyrax
Meerkat
Greater hornbill

I wish como zoo still had...

Degus
Wyoming toads
Francois’ langur
Common seal
Click to expand...
Also, I wish they still kept sun bears(but not in the TERRIBLE enclosure they where given) , koalas, Bennett’s wallaby, emu, black swan, red kangaroo and bottlenose dolphins
 
While not my local zoo, Mysore Zoo has quite well kept records, and looking through them makes me wish they still had Bennett’s Gazelle, Black Rhinos, Brown Lemurs, Bat-eared Fox and Fallow Deer. As well as loads of birds.
 
I wish the Ecotarium still had polar bear because they were the last facility in my area to have them. The exhibit for the single female they had wasn’t good if I’m remembering correctly but it was still a big hit to the zoo community in New England to loose all our polar bears In the span of something like 10 years.
 
Brookfield has so many all star animals missing that it isn’t funny.

The big ones being African and Asian elephants in general, white and Indian rhinos, Nile hippopotamus, walruses, aardvarks, Giant pandas, wildebeest, chimps, bongos, sable antelopes, spotted hyenas, African forest buffalos, Holstein cows, pot bellied pigs, donkeys, chickens, greater and lesser kudus, Hamadryas and Guinea baboons, mandrills, takins, cheetahs, warthogs, Dalls sheep, Rocky Mountain goats, Asiatic and American black bears, Musk ox, European bison, Red and Cokes hartebeest, fur and elephant seals, Beisa and Scimitar Horned oryxes, blesboks, topis, white eared kobs, mule deer and white tailed deer, sitatungas, Nile lechwes, water chevrotains, waterbucks, geese, and horses.

I’m not expecting these species to come back. Just giving an idea of which ones could be reintroduced after more exhibits are made.
 
Tapir Master said:
Brookfield has so many all star animals missing that it isn’t funny.

The big ones being African and Asian elephants in general, white and Indian rhinos, Nile hippopotamus, walruses, aardvarks, Giant pandas, wildebeest, chimps, bongos, sable antelopes, spotted hyenas, African forest buffalos, Holstein cows, pot bellied pigs, donkeys, chickens, greater and lesser kudus, Hamadryas and Guinea baboons, mandrills, takins, cheetahs, warthogs, Dalls sheep, Rocky Mountain goats, Asiatic and American black bears, Musk ox, European bison, Red and Cokes hartebeest, fur and elephant seals, Beisa and Scimitar Horned oryxes, blesboks, topis, white eared kobs, mule deer and white tailed deer, sitatungas, Nile lechwes, water chevrotains, waterbucks, geese, and horses.

I’m not expecting these species to come back. Just giving an idea of which ones could be reintroduced after more exhibits are made.
Click to expand...
I'm really glad Brookfield doesn't have any White-tailed Deer, as far as I am concerned that species is just a waste of space at zoos within its native range.
 
birdsandbats said:
I'm really glad Brookfield doesn't have any White-tailed Deer, as far as I am concerned that species is just a waste of space at zoos within its native range.
Click to expand...

It’s true that they are so common that one can just see them in the wild already.

I would had said Pere David‘s Deer, but that is a species literally extinct in the wild and keeping one again without a concrete breeding program would be too risky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top