The most unconventional zoo animals

The one that comes to mind is caecillians. I saw the ones (I can't remember what species these were though) in the reptile house at ZSL when I last visited. These were fairly active in their terrarium and I thought they were fascinating animals to see up close.

That said I think they are unconventional creatures for zoos as I don't suppose that they would inspire much interest or curiosity from the general public at all. I didn't see anyone else glance at the terrarium while I was there (so I can't know for sure) but unfortunately I can imagine most peoples reaction would be some variation of : " A worm!" , "Yuck!" , "Gross!".
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
The one that comes to mind is caecillians. I saw the ones (I can't remember what species these were though) in the reptile house at ZSL when I last visited. These were fairly active in their terrarium and I thought they were fascinating animals to see up close.

That said I think they are unconventional creatures for zoos as I don't suppose that they would inspire much interest or curiosity from the general public at all. I didn't see anyone else glance at the terrarium while I was there (so I can't know for sure) but unfortunately I can imagine most peoples reaction would be some variation of : " A worm!" , "Yuck!" , "Gross!".
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I have seen Typhlonectes natans exhibited before, and even that aquatic species tends to be inactive and not a great exhibit. Very little interest in it from the public as far as I have ever seen.
 
Great Argus said:
I have seen Typhlonectes natans exhibited before, and even that aquatic species tends to be inactive and not a great exhibit. Very little interest in it from the public as far as I have ever seen.
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I freely admit I'm not representative of an average member of the general public who visits zoos and I agree therefore what I find interesting wouldn't grab most peoples attention.

But I do hope that ZSL continue to exhibit more "obscure" smaller mammals, reptiles and amphibian species as for that 5 % of visitors who like me gain something from contemplating a caecilian , a potto, a giant jumping rat or a glass lizard it does offer an amazing opportunity.

It would be a great shame IMO if they were to somehow begin phasing these creatures out in favour of constructing more of the "exciting" exhibits that they already have like gorillas and tigers (which in contrast I sort of rushed through).

By the way , the caecillians I saw in the reptile house were quite active swiming through the roots and weeds of their terrarium, but maybe I did catch them on a good day.
 
Great Argus said:
I have seen Typhlonectes natans exhibited before, and even that aquatic species tends to be inactive and not a great exhibit. Very little interest in it from the public as far as I have ever seen.
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I've seen this species at 4 facilities (Brookfield, Como Park, Detroit, Shedd [Shedd no longer keeps them]). At Shedd and Detroit I couldn't find any. But at Detroit and Como Park they were very active and made a very cool display animal. Still no interest from the public, though.
 
I think the bluntnose knifefish are the oddest ones in the building. Some of their other knifefish are fairly active, but these ones just look dead.
 

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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
The one that comes to mind is caecillians. I saw the ones (I can't remember what species these were though) in the reptile house at ZSL when I last visited. These were fairly active in their terrarium and I thought they were fascinating animals to see up close.

That said I think they are unconventional creatures for zoos as I don't suppose that they would inspire much interest or curiosity from the general public at all. I didn't see anyone else glance at the terrarium while I was there (so I can't know for sure) but unfortunately I can imagine most peoples reaction would be some variation of : " A worm!" , "Yuck!" , "Gross!".
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Yeah, Caecillians are actually a really large and diverse clade of animals. I think a lot of people don't realize just how many different species there are.
 
CheeseChameleon2007 said:
Yeah, Caecillians are actually a really large and diverse clade of animals. I think a lot of people don't realize just how many different species there are.
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I was fascinated by the ones I saw at ZSL ! I know most zoo visitors would find them "disgusting" and probably just consider them as a "glorified earth worm" but I think they are very interesting indeed.

Worth mentioning that there are a few caecillians in South America (particularly in Colombia) that are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered (and many that we simply do not know the status of) and could benefit from ex-situ populations in zoos : The El Tambo Caecillian, Parker's caecillian etc.

Like most amphibians in zoos I'm sure they could be maintained and bred for a fraction of the cost and space that are required by many larger animals. Sadly, they would obviously never become "crowd favourites" though.
 
I dunno if this counts, but when I went to Burger's Zoo, Netherlands, a few years back, they had flashlight fish. And by that I mean the enclosure was pitch black in a darkened room and literally all you could see were these little bright dots swimming around.

From what I can tell, they're not that common in zoos/aquaria in Europe at the very least.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I was fascinated by the ones I saw at ZSL ! I know most zoo visitors would find them "disgusting" and probably just consider them as a "glorified earth worm" but I think they are very interesting indeed.

Worth mentioning that there are a few caecillians in South America (particularly in Colombia) that are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered (and many that we simply do not know the status of) and could benefit from ex-situ populations in zoos : The El Tambo Caecillian, Parker's caecillian etc.
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Yeah. I think Caecillians being amphibians instead of worms, is one of the coolest parts about them. And, they also have lots of different color patterns, some are truly beautiful like Uraeotyphlus oxyurus.
 
CrashMegaraptor said:
I dunno if this counts, but when I went to Burger's Zoo, Netherlands, a few years back, they had flashlight fish. And by that I mean the enclosure was pitch black in a darkened room and literally all you could see were these little bright dots swimming around.

From what I can tell, they're not that common in zoos/aquaria in Europe at the very least.
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Do you know what species they were? Flashlight fish can refer to many different species.
 
CrashMegaraptor said:
I dunno if this counts, but when I went to Burger's Zoo, Netherlands, a few years back, they had flashlight fish. And by that I mean the enclosure was pitch black in a darkened room and literally all you could see were these little bright dots swimming around.

From what I can tell, they're not that common in zoos/aquaria in Europe at the very least.
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I've seen tanks like that here in the US as well, specifically at Toledo and Shedd. I think they are a nice way to exhibit a fascinating species.
 
I've seen aquatic caecillians exhibited at a few collections, but are there any that keep terrestrial species?
 
birdsandbats said:
I've seen aquatic caecillians exhibited at a few collections, but are there any that keep terrestrial species?
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I think probably behind the scenes at certain zoos but they wouldn't make for good exhibits for the public (I guess caecillians wouldn't anyway whether terrestrial or acuatic) due to being fossorial.
 
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