Lies!
~Thylo
The least known animals in captivity.
- Thread starter CheeseChameleon1945
- Start date
African cichlids (Malawi and Tanganyika) are very common in the aquarium trade, I would hardly call them unknown! (I will admit I'm terrible with African cichlids, the only one I can positively identify is the yellow labidochromis! Even then, I often accidentally call it the yellow haplochromis!)
He's saying zoos rarely identify the specific species they exhibit and therefore for zoo visitors the taxa go fairly unknown. And as he said, non-specialists.
~Thylo
I wasn't talking about Malawi cichlids as a whole. I was talking about individual species.
Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding. Yes, African cichlid exhibits often have terrible signage!
They also happen to be some of my favorite fish to see in an aquarium tank all together. Such colors!
imaginarius
Well-Known Member
Really? What a travesty. Is it because it spends so much time underground, and thus would be hard for visitors to ever see?
Im afraid so. There fairly elusive, and they would not make much of a show piece in a zoo.
imaginarius
Well-Known Member
But. So. Cute....
Very funny
. There are some collections that showcase moles, so maybe in the future we might get some more underground species like tuco-tucos and golden moles like you stated. Out of all the insectivores, I really want there to be more moonrats in captivity. I think they're super interesting, and nocturnal animals are my kind of thing.
Funny you say that about Meerkats. 30, maybe 25 years ago they were pretty much unknown, although I am sure there were some around. Then came the Lion King, and they became ultra popular. I recall the owners of a small, new zoo in England telling me that meerkats saved them in their first season. By fluke they had obtained a pair just a few weeks before the Lion King opened.Lots of zoos have the typical Meerkats, Parakeets, Cownose rays, and other crowd favorites. But are their any animals in zoos that not many scientists even know that much about them? Such as Aardvarks, Clouded leopards, and more. But lets talk obscure. What are some very little known animals that mother nature has hidden in corners of the earth, that are so elusive that even scientists dont know much about, but of course, Are kept in zoos. I am excited to hear your lists below.
Tokyo Sea Life Park has the leaping blenny, a very cool fish that seems to be pretty obscure.
Pangolins.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Very funny
There are apparently tuco-tucos kept by Temaiken biopark in Argentina.
Could they exhibit them similar to Naked Mole-Rats?
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
You mean the tuco-tucos ?
I don't think so as they are not eusocial like the mole-rats but there is at least one critically endangered species that believe it or not is called the "social tuco tuco".
This species apparently has higher sociability and I guess it could potentially be kept in larger groups (though of course nothing like the groups of naked molerats) if provided with large enough artificial burrows.
imaginarius
Well-Known Member
I’ve always wondered why these are so rare in captivity, especially in the US. They’re so much cooler than armadilloes. Do they not do well in zoos?
There are many conservations about pangolins in captivity across the forum but yes, they are usually rather difficult to maintain in human care. Their diet seems to be the trickiest part to get right, and even after that it seems they're often prone to illness. Still, they do better now than they used to. Only a few zoos have managed to actually breed them.
~Thylo