Underrepresented Habitats

[cornu aspersum]

Poison Dart Frogs, though deadly

This is a bit off-topic, but poison dart frogs aren't naturally poisonous. They get their poison from consuming a type of ant, and the frogs in captivity can't eat it, making them safe to be mixed with other species and housed in walkthroughs.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Poison Dart Frogs, though deadly, would make an excellent addition to reptile exhibits.

Captive poison dart frogs are not dangerous - the frogs do not produce their own toxins, they are sequestered from consuming poisonous insects. A captive-bred dart frog, fed on fruit flies or other common feeder insects, is completely nontoxic.

 

[Enzo]

Amazon rainforest exhibits and areas are actually quite common (if not the most common South American biome represented in the world), with even whole zoos dedicated to exclusively show animals found there. Since you're from Australia, I believe that you've never seen one because they're not really common there, due to the limited species available and the IRA's, with only new world monkeys (except the Golden lion tamarin, of course), some birds and reptiles and now the tapir in Melbourne being native species from there. This leaves Southeast Asia and Central Africa the to-go tropical species and areas.

As @Velas pointed out, Australian zoos have no tropical forest-themed zones dedicated solely to South America because of the lack of stock native to that continent. There are many notable species absent, especially carnivores like the jaguar.

Correct me if I am wrong, but there are no exhibits solely dedicated to Central Africa in Oceania either. The Gorilla Rainforest at Melbourne may have the apes as their star attraction, but there are still a few Southeast Asian animals scattered across the trail.

This is also caused by a simple lack of stock (+ lack of resources/interest). Australasia has no African rainforest ungulates besides bongo, waterbuck and the two species of hippo, and to make matters worse, all four taxa are in relative danger when it comes to their Australasian population. At least there are still a few primate species from the region in the continent, so I don't think a Congo tropical forest exhibit is impossible to exist in the region.

 

[Enzo]

Are there any exhibits dedicated to the Sundarbans? I haven't really heard of any. Actually, I haven't seen that many mangrove-themed enclosures besides the one in Arnhem.

My local zoo could have one if it really wanted to... They already have a Guanabara Bay-themed aviary that is home to a kelp gull and a huge flock of scarlet ibises, which they plan to reintroduce to the bay itself. Besides these two species, the zoo is also home to crab-eating foxes and raccoons, as well as broad-snouted caimans and Geoffroy's side-necked turtles. So, I reckon a zone dedicated to the Carioca mangroves would be very nice to see.

 

[Haliaeetus]

At first, a lot of species like coyotes or grizzlys got successfuly phased-out. But European public still loves its Wild West theme too much and for zoos (especially those that are more entertainment parks than zoos) it proved lucrative to build North-American zones despite their zero value for species programs.

In France, several parks have breeding groups of American Buffaloes, Black Bears, Polar/McKenzie Wolves and Coyotes (+ American Alligators in outdoor lagoons).
They are mainly safari parks, or even (former ?) European-themed parks that have chosen to enlarge their collection with exotic but hardy animals that can thrive year-round in large plains.
North American species (including reptiles, birds and fish) are rarer (but not absent) in "generalist" and urban zoos.
I may add that the Kodiak and Grizzly Bears have been practically phased out in our continent, replaced by the "common" European Brown Bears (that don't disturb the average visitor).

 

[AndyJ08]

There are SO MANY underutilized (or not utilized at all) ecoregion themes that American zoos could realistically institute, and especially those with conservation priority species. Here are a few Neotropical exhibits that I’ve yet to see outside of one or two facilities:

Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests: Thick-billed parrot, military macaw, Montezuma quail, jaguar, ocelot, Mexican wolf, banded rock rattlesnake, etc.

Mesoamerican Gulf-Caribbean mangroves: West Indian manatee, boat-billed heron, Central American spider monkey, jaguar, brown pelican, yellow-naped Amazon, etc.

Pantanal: hyacinth macaw, jaguar, collared peccary, yellow anaconda, giant otter, blue-throated macaw, black howler monkey, etc.

Dry Chaco: Screaming hairy armadillo, guanaco, Chacoan peccary, jaguar, ocelot, greater rhea, etc.

 

[Thomas]

Houston Zoo did a region based on the Pantanal.

 

[Velas]

Houston Zoo did a region based on the Pantanal.

That has Baird's tapirs, Blue-billed curassows, Blue-throated macaws, Sunbitterns and also even used to have Golden-lion tamarins and Red-rumped agoutis... They didn't even bother to feature caimans, who are the most famous residents of the biome alongside jaguars...

It also features a weird walkthrough aviary called "Savannah aviary", who doesn't have any theme at all, featuring species from all over South America...