The zoo from hell

FBBird said:
Interesting, so they're in their own family now?
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Yes, Mephitidae. The stink badgers of southeast Asia are also skunks as it turns out (basically, badgery-looking skunks rather than skunky-looking badgers), and there are also quite a few fossil skunks known from Eurasia.
 
Andrew Swales said:
Again wrong, I am afraid. They do not smell 'terrible'. Large numbers are commonly kept as pets in the UK where de-scenting is illegal. Of the many animals we have kept none has ever discharged its scent, and under normal conditions they only have a faint musky smell no worse than a Binturong or a Ferret. We have owned just one de-scented animal, specifically de-scented and imported from CZ where the practice is legal.
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Wild skunks are constantly leaking this scent, and I know captive ones occasionally do as well.
 
birdsandbats said:
Wild skunks are constantly leaking this scent, and I know captive ones occasionally do as well.
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As a general rule of thumb it's perhaps not the wisest course of action to tell multiple people with experience of intact skunks (including individuals with an extensive history of first-hand care of intact skunks) that their opinions are wrong and yours are right :P

Chlidonias said:
No, it's more the case that they were in Mustelidae but got split off about 20 years ago. There has been a little dispute about whether they should be a separate family or not, but molecular studies show pretty consistently that they are less closely related to the "other" mustelids than raccoons which have always been separate.
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Indeed; if memory serves me correctly, retaining skunks within the Mustelidae would require red pandas to be lumped within the family too :) given the skunk/badger/zorilla body plan is so common within the group, it raises interesting questions about the basal state of the clade as a whole. I certainly recall reading that the particularly small size of the genus Mustela is a derived condition.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
As a general rule of thumb it's perhaps not the wisest course of action to tell multiple people with experience of intact skunks (including individuals with an extensive history of first-hand care of intact skunks) that their opinions are wrong and yours are right :p



Indeed; if memory serves me correctly, retaining skunks within the Mustelidae would require red pandas to be lumped within the family too :) given the skunk/badger/zorilla body plan is so common within the group, it raises interesting questions about the basal state of the clade as a whole. I certainly recall reading that the particularly small size of the genus Mustela is a derived condition.
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Let's see: which one has an actual zoo?:)
 
birdsandbats said:
Wild skunks are constantly leaking this scent, and I know captive ones occasionally do as well.
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TeaLovingDave said:
As a general rule of thumb it's perhaps not the wisest course of action to tell multiple people with experience of intact skunks (including individuals with an extensive history of first-hand care of intact skunks) that their opinions are wrong and yours are right :p
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If one person is talking (in this instance) about wild skunks, with which he is presumably at least somewhat familiar, and another is talking about captive skunks and probably has had no contact with wild skunks at all, then I feel like both people can be equally correct. I'd imagine that wild skunks would smell more whiffy than captive skunks because they have probably had cause to spray repeatedly, and everyone knows how well the scent of skunk-spray clings.
 
Chlidonias said:
If one person is talking (in this instance) about wild skunks, with which he is presumably at least somewhat familiar, and another is talking about captive skunks and probably has had no contact with wild skunks at all, then I feel like both people can be equally correct. I'd imagine that wild skunks would smell more whiffy than captive skunks because they have probably had cause to spray repeatedly, and everyone knows how well the scent of skunk-spray clings.
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What an excellent resolution, the rest of us should have thought of that.
 
Chlidonias said:
If one person is talking (in this instance) about wild skunks, with which he is presumably at least somewhat familiar, and another is talking about captive skunks and probably has had no contact with wild skunks at all, then I feel like both people can be equally correct.
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Very true.... but the tangent arose because birdsandbats was saying intact skunks in captivity cannot be used as pets or experience animals because they smell too bad:

birdsandbats said:
They are common educational animals in North America and make great pets. Obviously neither of those can happen if the scent glands are still on the animal
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birdsandbats said:
It isn't the problem of them being able to spray - as noted earlier as long as you keep them on their good side it isn't an issue - it's the fact that they will smell terrible. No one will want to pet a "scented" skunk!
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Chlidonias said:
If one person is talking (in this instance) about wild skunks, with which he is presumably at least somewhat familiar, and another is talking about captive skunks and probably has had no contact with wild skunks at all, then I feel like both people can be equally correct. I'd imagine that wild skunks would smell more whiffy than captive skunks because they have probably had cause to spray repeatedly, and everyone knows how well the scent of skunk-spray clings.
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That makes sense, thanks. I am quite familiar with wild skunks, I have never seen a captive skunk with scent glands intact.
 
birdsandbats said:
No one will want to pet a "scented" skunk!
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TeaLovingDave said:
You say that, but it is illegal in the UK to de-scent skunks and yet they are rather popular here both as pets and educational animals :p not to mention that in my opinion, there are much worse smells than the background unagitated smell of a skunk.
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You say this but I, apparently, did pet some scented skunks whilst in the UK last. I did not realize they were scented until this moment, though :p

~Thylo
 
Here is another exhibit idea, an aquarium where every tank/enclosure is filled with single use plastics. The seabird and shorebird exhibits at this aquarium would have crude oil gushing into them. That would certainly be a zoological facility from hell! Unfortunately a hell that already exists on our earth all to often...
 
1. Walkthrough tarantula room, complete with spider webs, juuuuust out of reach of a person's head, at the entrance and exits.
2. A big concrete room with many big dogs in cages. Their barking will be very loud.
3. A glass tunnel with a glass floor suspended in a big shark tank. Sharks above, net to, and under you. Maybe every now and then the tunnel wobbles. Every now and then, speakers hidden by info signs loudly play the sounds of glass breaking, water rushing, and the Jaws theme song.
4. Walkthrough (vampire) bat enclosure. In some sections, paths will be next to a rock wall that is obscured by darkness. Every now and then, little machines in the rock wall puff air on the guests to make them think the bats will get in their hair.
5. Rhinoceros matador experience.
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
Here is another exhibit idea, an aquarium where every tank/enclosure is filled with single use plastics. The seabird and shorebird exhibits at this aquarium would have crude oil gushing into them. That would certainly be a zoological facility from hell! Unfortunately a hell that already exists on our earth all to often...
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There actually is a tank filled with single use plastics at the Melbourne Aquarium


Luke da Zoo nerd said:
A walk through ostrich, emu, and cassowary exhibit.
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Never seen a walk through Ostrich or Cassowary exhibit but walkthrough Emu exhibits are scary.

ive been to two, one I can’t remember as I was quite young and it’s up in Queensland’s Currumbin Sanctuary.

The other though (shudders) is at Phillip Island Wildlife park where it’s you, other peope, red kangaroos and large mobs of emus. The emus run towards you and try and steal the food bags off you by pecking where ever they see or smell food. Luckily by raising your hand up they back down.
 
A zoo where all the information boards only have cartoon character pictures and only holds information on their movie counterparts

Lion - Simba
Elephant - Dumbo
Lemur (any species) - King Julian
Regal blue tang - Dory
Any old world monkey - Monkey (from Kung Fu Panda)

Animals who aren't movie stars are either not held at the zoo, or have basic cartoon characters with slap-on personality (Example: Koro the crocodile! He has trouble making friends because of his sharp teeth, but he really just wants a hug!)
 
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