Tropical World (Letterkenny) Tropical World review

[squirrelmonkey]

Just visited Tropical World in Letterkenny, Donegal today. A lot of work had been done since I last visited in 2015. It only opened in 2011 as a tropical butterfly house, and overtime has turned into a very good small zoo. I have requested a forum and gallery are to be created, so I will do a full review then but in short there is: A large Butterfly house, Bug World (Approx 25 tanks of insects, amphibians and some reptiles), a reptile section (Approx about 20 tanks), lots of aviaries, and good selection of smaller mammals such as Tamarins, Marmosets, Lemurs, Racoons, Meerkats e.t.c. Despite its small size it took me 90 minutes to get around once. It became a member of BIAZA I think back in 2014.

 

[Hvedekorn]

Good to hear about new additions to a relatively zoo-lacking country. Letterkenny's Tropical World doesn't seem to have an entry nor a species list on Zootierliste - is that something you would be up for?

 

[squirrelmonkey]

I have began creating a list of all the species on show Going again on Wednesday with someone else on Zoochat so I can finalise the list then and message you it for Zootierliste if that suits you.

 

[Hvedekorn]

You don't need to hurry or do it for my sake, I don't think I'll be going to Letterkenny during the next couple of months anyway. I just thought it would be a bit of a shame if a "proper" zoo like that didn't have a Zootierliste entry.

 

[squirrelmonkey]

After finally finishing the Species List Tropical World has Birds (48), Mammals (18), Reptiles (22), Amphibians (5), and Other (14). Will write a review when the Forum is created and if anyone wants a full list of the species just PM me.

 

[Chlidonias]

After finally finishing the Species List Tropical World has Birds (48), Mammals (18), Reptiles (22), Amphibians (5), and Other (14). Will write a review when the Forum is created and if anyone wants a full list of the species just PM me.

You can write the review whenever you want to, and one of the moderators can add the prefix later.

 

[dublinlion]

After finally finishing the Species List Tropical World has Birds (48), Mammals (18), Reptiles (22), Amphibians (5), and Other (14). Will write a review when the Forum is created and if anyone wants a full list of the species just PM me.

That's a much bigger list than expected. You should post the list here on this thread, as I and others I'm sure, would like to see it.

 

[squirrelmonkey]

Here is the full list of species @dublinlion. Was actually 19 mammals as I somehow managed to forget Raccoon.

Birds (No Particular Order)
Red-Billed Blue Magpie
Red-Billed Hornbill
African Crowned Hornbill
Violet Turaco
Rainbow Lorikeet
Yellow-Bibbed Lory
Black-Capped Lory
Orange Headed Thrush
Blue Eyed Cockatoo
Galah Cockatoo
Scarlet Macaw
Harlequin Macaw
Blue and Yellow Macaw
Canadian Great Horned Owl
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Channel Billed Toucan
Bali Starling
Australian King Parrot
Crimson Rosella
Indian Ringneck Parakeet
Cockatiel
Sun Conure
Maroon Bellied Conure
Yellow Crowned Amazon
Kakariki
Love Birds
Emerald Dove
Snowy-Crowned Robin Chat
Bleeding Heart Dove
Black Crowned Night Heron
White Cheeked Turaco
Blacksmith Plover
Wattled Starling
Burchell's Glossy Starling
Red Crested Turaco
Superb Starling
Livingstone Turaco
Canary
Zebra Finch
Bengalese Finch
Heck's Grass Finch
Snowy Owl
Great Grey Owl
Southern Boobook owl
Barred Owl
Wood/Carolina Duck
Fulvous Whistling duck
Rosy-Billed Pochard

Mammals
Red-Handed Tamarin
Cotton Top Tamarin
Geoldi's Marmoset (Was not signed)
White-Lipped Tamarin
Common Marmoset
Geoffroy's Marmoset
Squirrel Monkey
Prevost Squirrel
Pygmy Marmoset
Siberian Chipmunk
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Common Brown Lemur
Black Lemur
Parma Wallaby
Meerkat
Fennec Fox
Black Tailed Prairie Dog
Black and White Ruffed Lemur
Raccoon

Reptiles
Leopard Tortoise
Sulcata Tortoise
Horsefield's Tortoise
Hermann's Tortoise
Cuban Knight anole
Corn Snake
Central Bearded Dragon
Leopard Gecko
Fire Skink
Western Spiny Tailed Skink
Meller's Chameleon
Giant Day Gecko
Royal Python
Berber Skink
Blue Tongued Skink
Spiny-Tailed Lizard (Uromastyx)
Chinese Water Dragon
Argentine Black and White Tegu
Panther Chameleon
Green Iguana
Mountain Horned Dragon
Black Iguana (Ctenosaura similis)

Ambiphians
Giant Waxy Tree Frog
Yellow Tree Frog
Mission Golden Eyed Tree Frog
Whites Tree Frog
Pac-Man Frog

Other
Rusty Millipede
Sunny Stick Insect
Leaf Insect
Jungle Nymph
Praying mantis (No species given)
Brazilian Blonde Tarantula
New Guinea Spiny Stick Insect
Hesperophasma lobatum
Laos Black Forest Scorpian
Three Horned Rhinoceros Beetle
Cockroach (No species given)
Giant African Millipede
Pink Toe Tarantula
Chilean Rose Tarantula

Species signed but not seen
Red Footed Tortoise
Roul Partridge
Hahn's Macaw
Lesser Pantagonian Conure

Overall: Birds(48), Mammals(19), Reptiles(22), Amphibians(5), Other (14)

 

[dublinlion]

Thanks for posting this SM. That is really surprising that they have built such a large collection albeit smaller species, and this place is still pretty much under the radar.
Are there any larger groups or is it mostly single specimens or pairs?

 

[squirrelmonkey]

Thanks for posting this SM. That is really surprising that they have built such a large collection albeit smaller species, and this place is still pretty much under the radar.
Are there any larger groups or is it mostly single specimens or pairs?

For the birds most species are kept in groups with only the Macaws, Cockatoos, Toucan and Owls kept single or in pairs. There is a number of large aviaries. They do make the most out of their limited space. For example, the 'Jurassic Land' (Dinosaur models) is actually netted to make an aviary that houses about 12 White-Cheeked Turaco.
Most of the smaller social-able mammals were kept in quite large groups e.g. There was approximately ten Cotton-Top Tamarins. Due to the very limited space, the larger mammals were kept mostly in pairs. The exception being a trio of Ring-Tailed Lemur and a trio of Black Lemur. Most of the enclosures for mammals seem to be at maximum capacity, with some being on the small side for even just a pair. If any of the Lemurs were to breed, there would be problems creating an enclosure large enough.
When this Small Zoo first opened, the only mammals it had were some Meerkats, Common Marmoset, Otters (Replaced by the Prairie Dogs), Red Squirrel (Replaced by Prevost Squirrel), a pair of South American Coati (replaced by a species of Lemur) and a single Raccoon. The owners did not imagine how popular it would become. The nearest Zoo to it is Belfast which is nearly 90 miles away.

 

[squirrelmonkey]

Here is the current signed Zoo map. Missing is Bugs Worlds located at E1, and some new aviaries the the left of'MONKEYS'. When it first opened it was only the area which is slightly shaded grey (E.F.G)

 

[dublinlion]

The number of species held by this small zoo is close to the Fota and Tayto levels. Even though they are all small of stature species, it is still pretty impressive.