Walkthroughs and free-roamers

Mr Gharial

Mr Gharial

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
What animals have you seen / do you know of that can interact freely with the guests of the park?

This includes walkthrough enclosures, free-roaming animals in domes / greenhouses, and free-roamers in the zoo itself

We have the obvious peafowl that often roam freely in parks. And the common lemur walkthrough. But what are some interesting ones that you didn't expect?
 
Mr Gharial said:
What animals have you seen / do you know of that can interact freely with the guests of the park?

This includes walkthrough enclosures, free-roaming animals in domes / greenhouses, and free-roamers in the zoo itself

We have the obvious peafowl that often roam freely in parks. And the common lemur walkthrough. But what are some interesting ones that you didn't expect?
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I remember that once at south lakes safari zoo, in one of the houses there was an anaconda exhibit with no barriers that meant the visitors could touch the snake, or the snake could touch the visitors:p. The first time I visited I was so surprised that I thought it wasn’t a real snakeo_O
 
pangolin12 said:
I remember that once at south lakes safari zoo, in one of the houses there was an anaconda exhibit with no barriers that meant the visitors could touch the snake, or the snake could touch the visitors:p. The first time I visited I was so surprised that I thought it wasn’t a real snakeo_O
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That's a very interesting one indeed!
 
Walkthrough aviaries are also extremely common, with all kinds of birds. I've also seen walkthroughs with kangaroos, penguins, flamingos, tortoises, goats, and fruit bats.
 
Neil chace said:
Walkthrough aviaries are also extremely common, with all kinds of birds. I've also seen walkthroughs with kangaroos, penguins, flamingos, tortoises, goats, and fruit bats.
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Tortoises? Really? That's one I've never seen before. Where did you see that one?
 
Birds of all kinds, the biggest one I've seen in a walkthrough is an Emu.
When it comes to mammals, the one I enjoyed the most was Hamlyn's monkeys but there are also Barbary macaques and many others that can be exhibited in such exhibits.
 
Free-roaming:
  • Guineafowl
  • Chickens
  • Geese
  • Ducks
Walkthroughs:
  • Lots of different kinds of birds
  • Tortoises
  • Duikers
  • Kangaroos
  • Water dragons
  • Tamarins
  • Sloths
  • Turtles
  • Frogs
 
In Jihlava, a few cotton-tops tamarins are allowed to free-roam around their enclosure, they don't go very far but they appeared to be free to leave.
 
Rayane said:
In Jihlava, a few cotton-tops tamarins are allowed to free-roam around their enclosure, they don't go very far but they appeared to be free to leave.
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Plzen used to have free-roaming tamarins too. But they lost some after stupid visitors fed them cotton candy so the zoo discontinued it.
 
I’ve heard of a few walk-through enclosures for Deer & Llamas, one zoo even had free-roaming deer.
 
Rayane said:
In Jihlava, a few cotton-tops tamarins are allowed to free-roam around their enclosure, they don't go very far but they appeared to be free to leave.
Click to expand...
Jersey Zoo has had various Callitrichids free range over the years, all trained to return to their sheds at night. Wonderful to see Pied and Golden Lion Tamarins in the same tree as wild Red Squirrels.
 
Tim May said:
Whipsnade has both free-ranging Chinese water deer and Reeves' muntjac.

In addition to the deer, there are also free-ranging Bennett's wallaby and mara.
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There were free range Peafowl and Red Junglefowl for many years. The latter are long gone, but there may be one Peacock left.
The Tropical Bird Gardens at Rode had various pheasants at full winged liberty. Sacred Ibis were tried, but didn’t stay well. Carolina Wood Ducks were also free flying
 
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