Top 20 Most Popular ABC's to the public.

Chlidonias said:
Scrub Zebra? Are they better than Mountain Zebras?
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If you scrub them, the stripes come off, and what you have is a horse. That's why I replaced them with Zoe's Band-tailed Imperial Pigeon, which is after all, a BIRD, and therefore a superior life form. In the end, it's all about birds.
 
Wouldn't a scrubbed zebra become a white donkey instead? Or would it be a black donkey?
 
Aardvark,bandicoot,colugo,dingiso,echidna,fanaloka,grison,harp seal,iriomote cat,jaguarundi,kiwi,lemming,margay,numbat,oilbird,platypus,quokka,ringtail,shoebill,tamandua,urial,volcano rabbit,wombat,X-ray tetra,yapok,zorilla
 
Ze-bra vs Ze-lingerie. A pun on underwear styles :D

I feel like the ABC list-purpose of this thread has kind of been derailed a bit. If you want to spout out how many animals you can think of for a certain letter there's always this
 
Scottish Wildcat said:
Ze-bra vs Ze-lingerie. A pun on underwear styles :D

I feel like the ABC list-purpose of this thread has kind of been derailed a bit. If you want to spout out how many animals you can think of for a certain letter there's always this
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OK, but fun was had. Which could be a bad thing.
 
I would like to know what the answer is to this question. Not sure how you would answer it since it cannot be by looking at what zoos have since small zoos cannot accommodate the larger ABCs. It is interesting to see the lists that individual members would like to see but this is not answering the question. Also to put down elephants or rhinos is also avoiding the question since it stipulates species not groups. A list of the top twenty most popular zoo animals would be very interesting.

It would also vary over time and between countries.
 
Here is my list although if you ask me tomorrow it will be different. Don't think it is a list that would attract many.

Mauritius Kestrel
Rodrigues Fruit Bat
Andean Condor
Guenther's Gecko
Spix Macaw
Round Island Boa
Philippine Eagle
Pink Pigeon
California Condor
Golden Eagle
Great Green Macaw
Red-billed Chough
Echo Parakeet
Rodrigues Fody
Lesser Night Gecko
Forest Eagle Owl
Gyr Falcon (white)
Ornate Hawk-eagle
Pallas Cat
Marbled Polecat
 
It's interesting how the public are now interested in Meerkats, when not many years ago, you had to be an 'animal person' to know what one was. What I take from this, is that any animal can be made into a star attraction, with the right PR build-up. Meerkats are badically a jumped-up ferret (alright, not strictly taxonomically correct, but you get the idea. Lion King and clever insurance advertisement later, everybody wants to see them. Admittedly, sitting up like little people, helps.
However, I would suggest that, if you tell the public 'Come and see the Whateveranimal, they're amazing!' And tell them the ways in which the thing is wonderful, you will create a demand, and everyone will want to see it, and by extension, conserve it and its habitat.
My own impression of what the average zoo visitor wants to see is:
Meerkats
Penguins
Really big snakes
'Monkeys' -- you mean there's more than one sort?
Gorillas -- a lot of them are quite happy to assume Sulawesi Macaques are baby Gorillas
Lions
Tigers -- a surprising number of people don't really know the difference
Elephants
Rhinos
Giraffes
And that's about it.
However, if the right publicity is done on Owston's Civet, Kaiser Newts or Grosbeak Starlings, they'll want to see those.
As to what twenty species I would have, it's a bit difficult, as I've probably got about two hundred favourite species of bird, never mind anything else.
However, let's try:
Demoiselle Crane -- arguably the most elegantly proportioned of all birds
Red-breasted Goose -- conservation message, very beautiful
Lady Amherst's Pheasant -- it has everything: colour, shape, big enough to see
Laysan Teal -- fun little duck with endearing personality, good conservation message, interesting evolutionary history
Nene -- conservation success story
Dodo -- empty enclosure with signage and simulated habitat.Example of a species that was actually kept in Europe, and allowed to go extinct because nobody really understood the issues.
Passenger Pigeon -- another empty enclosure, with signage explaining how the species went extinct, despite being bred in good numbers in UK, captive stocks were allowed to die out.
Shama -- song, colour, shape, urgent conservation message with current 'mining' of songbirds in South-east Asia
Sumatran Laughingthrush -- important to build up and maintain captive populations, also does what the Shama does
Pekin Robin -- much as the Shama really
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl -- the public like owls, I like this species because it's an amazing little thing like a carnivorous budgie
Edwards' Pheasant -- possibly extinct in the wild, needs all the holders it can get
European Oystercatcher -- because I really like them
Livingstone's Fruit Bat -- needs more holders, conservation message, wonderful animal
Rodriguez Fruit Bat -- much the same really, not as impressive as Livvies, but massive teddy bear cuteness factor
Blackbuck -- one of the most elegant and prettiest hoofstock around, conservation message
Vine Snake -- just a really attractive species
Pied Tamarin -- needs holders, conservation message
Fossa -- fascinating thing that evolved to do the cat role in Madagascar
Clouded Leopard -- to demonstrate similarities in arboreal lifestyle to Fossa, graphic about convergent evolution

Left out lots of species, so hard to choose.
 
FBBird said:
It's interesting how the public are now interested in Meerkats, when not many years ago, you had to be an 'animal person' to know what one was. What I take from this, is that any animal can be made into a star attraction, with the right PR build-up. Meerkats are badically a jumped-up ferret (alright, not strictly taxonomically correct, but you get the idea. Lion King and clever insurance advertisement later, everybody wants to see them. Admittedly, sitting up like little people, helps.
However, I would suggest that, if you tell the public 'Come and see the Whateveranimal, they're amazing!' And tell them the ways in which the thing is wonderful, you will create a demand, and everyone will want to see it, and by extension, conserve it and its habitat.
My own impression of what the average zoo visitor wants to see is:
Meerkats
Penguins
Really big snakes
'Monkeys' -- you mean there's more than one sort?
Gorillas -- a lot of them are quite happy to assume Sulawesi Macaques are baby Gorillas
Lions
Tigers -- a surprising number of people don't really know the difference
Elephants
Rhinos
Giraffes
And that's about it.
However, if the right publicity is done on Owston's Civet, Kaiser Newts or Grosbeak Starlings, they'll want to see those.
As to what twenty species I would have, it's a bit difficult, as I've probably got about two hundred favourite species of bird, never mind anything else.
However, let's try:
Demoiselle Crane -- arguably the most elegantly proportioned of all birds
Red-breasted Goose -- conservation message, very beautiful
Lady Amherst's Pheasant -- it has everything: colour, shape, big enough to see
Laysan Teal -- fun little duck with endearing personality, good conservation message, interesting evolutionary history
Nene -- conservation success story
Dodo -- empty enclosure with signage and simulated habitat.Example of a species that was actually kept in Europe, and allowed to go extinct because nobody really understood the issues.
Passenger Pigeon -- another empty enclosure, with signage explaining how the species went extinct, despite being bred in good numbers in UK, captive stocks were allowed to die out.
Shama -- song, colour, shape, urgent conservation message with current 'mining' of songbirds in South-east Asia
Sumatran Laughingthrush -- important to build up and maintain captive populations, also does what the Shama does
Pekin Robin -- much as the Shama really
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl -- the public like owls, I like this species because it's an amazing little thing like a carnivorous budgie
Edwards' Pheasant -- possibly extinct in the wild, needs all the holders it can get
European Oystercatcher -- because I really like them
Livingstone's Fruit Bat -- needs more holders, conservation message, wonderful animal
Rodriguez Fruit Bat -- much the same really, not as impressive as Livvies, but massive teddy bear cuteness factor
Blackbuck -- one of the most elegant and prettiest hoofstock around, conservation message
Vine Snake -- just a really attractive species
Pied Tamarin -- needs holders, conservation message
Fossa -- fascinating thing that evolved to do the cat role in Madagascar
Clouded Leopard -- to demonstrate similarities in arboreal lifestyle to Fossa, graphic about convergent evolution

Left out lots of species, so hard to choose.
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Actually, you could have a couple of surrogate species in the Dodo and Passenger Pigeon enclosures. I suggest Aldabra Giant Tortoises ( graphics about island evolution and extinctions) and European Turtledove (catastrophically declining species, draw attention to desertification on migration routes, modern farming methods).
So that's my twenty living species, plus two extinct ones.
I'm aware this is very higher vertebrate heavy, and doesn't give prominence to the invertebrates that we'd be lost without. I'll leave them to those who understand them, and concentrate on stuff I know a tiny bit about.
 
FBBird said:
Actually, you could have a couple of surrogate species in the Dodo and Passenger Pigeon enclosures. I suggest Aldabra Giant Tortoises ( graphics about island evolution and extinctions) and European Turtledove (catastrophically declining species, draw attention to desertification on migration routes, modern farming methods).
So that's my twenty living species, plus two extinct ones.
I'm aware this is very higher vertebrate heavy, and doesn't give prominence to the invertebrates that we'd be lost without. I'll leave them to those who understand them, and concentrate on stuff I know a tiny bit about.
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The History of Meerkats;

Their rise in popularity is an interesting phenomenon. As I've mentioned before, I believe it all started with a BBC Wildlife Documentary 'Meerkats United', dated around the 1980's' and prior to which the general public had probably never heard of them. Subsequent to that was at least one other wildlife film and then a whole series(Meerkat Manor) developed in the US, and of course the 'Compare the Meerkat.com'. Insurance adverts which reached a far larger audience on TV than the documentary-type shows did. It was the latter, which increasingly personalised them, which really made them a household name, I think.

As you said, with careful marketing and mass exposure, a lot of other species could no doubt be made similarly popular. It seems to have happened to a lesser extent with Penguins. It might have happened with Spix Macaw too, after the 'Rio' films, except there weren't any for people to see...
 
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These are the 20 animals I think are classic examples of “ABC animals”, and are very well-known to the general public. This list is not ranked from greatest to least.

1. African Elephants
2. Reticulated Giraffes
3. Plains Zebras
4. African Lions
5. Bengal Tigers
6. Western Lowland Gorillas
7. White Rhinoceroses
8. Medium-sized new and old world monkeys (capuchins, baboons, macaques, etc.)
9. Red Kangaroos
10. Giant Pandas
11. Meerkats
12. Koalas
13. Common Hippopotamuses
14. Common Ostriches
15. Emperor Penguins
16. American Flamingos
17. Parrots (mainly macaws and amazons)
18. Indian Peafowl
19. Nile Crocodiles
20. Large snakes (pythons, anacondas, etc.)
 
Junklekitteb said:
On the one hand you’ve got individual subspecies, then an entire order?
Also, atleast two species/subspecies shown are quite rare in zoos
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Junklekitteb said:
On the one hand you’ve got individual subspecies, then an entire order?
Also, atleast two species/subspecies shown are quite rare in zoos
Click to expand...

The reason I put specific species for some animals, is because they are what I like to call “stereotypical species”. For example, if you mention a penguin to someone, usually the first picture that comes to mind is that classic, well-known Emperor Penguin look, the one that we see in those BBC documentaries. Although they are not common in captivity, they are well-known to the average zoo guest and everyone thinks of them when their common name is mentioned.

For some of the listed animals like the parrots however, I couldn’t think of a stereotypical species, so I just put types of parrots that are common in captivity.
 
My personal list of animals people want in a zoo

1. Lions (Immediate animal people think about, despite the fact they don't do much, used a lot in advertising)
2. Meerkats (Almost every zoo these days is expected to have them, to the dismay of ZooChatters)
3. Lemurs, specifically ring tailed (With the popularity of Madagascar, Avatar, Zooboomafoo, Dinosaur, and countless nature documentaries, these have leaped into people's hearts)
4. River otters (Kids love watching these, and I reluctantly do too)
5. Giant pandas (Do I need to explain?)
6. Red pandas (Definitely has become more popular among the public recently, used a lot in advertising)
7. Giraffes (Iconic zoo animal, feeding stations have become more common leading to the "feed a giraffe!" adverts seen a lot)
8. Elephants (Another iconic zoo animal, used for adverts a lot too.)
9. Tigers (less popular than lions IMO, but still expected, especially in zoos up north)
10. Great apes (Another iconic zoo animal, fun for the public to watch)
11. Tamarins, Spider monkeys (While tamarins may not be easily identified by the public, every zoo seems to have them, and spider monkeys, while not easily identified by the public, are what most cartoon monkeys resemble I think.)
12. Penguins (Used a lot in advertising, fun to watch)
13. Flamingoes (A feel like most people expect to see them when they first walk into a zoo)
14. Seals/Sea lions (Another fun animal to watch, used in advertising a lot)
15. Llamas/Sloths (Have become incredibly popular during the past few years due to the internet and videos/memes)
16. Poison dart frogs (I swear almost every zoo in North America has these things)
17. Lorikeets/Budgies (Most zoos advertise their Australian bird aviaries like you get to swim with dolphins, people love these things)
18. Bears (Another very well known zoo animal)
19. Kangaroos/Wallabies (Kangaroo walkthroughs have boosted in popularity)
20. Hippos (With the star that is Fiona and the overall intrigue of hippos, people love to see them)
 
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