Depends what you mean by dog
Haha whoops, I'd say maybe medium sized, like a labrador
What animal looks different in real life to what you expected?
- Thread starter Grant Rhino
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Haha whoops, I'd say maybe medium sized, like a labrador
Last saterday I visited the Aquarium - Terrarium / Insect fair "Vivarium" at Rosmalen - the Netherlands and here I saw a Lifer : the Common sea dragon. Having seen already a lot of pictures and some films about this species, I always thought they would be the same size like sea-horses but now a saw a small group of about 7 animals and I found them realy HUGE !
I'm a tad surprised it's taken you this long to see the species, given how many years you have been zoo-visiting!
I've tried to see them earlier but none of the zoos / aquariums I've visited kept the species during the time of my visit.
Around 2015 I went special for this species to Sealife Scheveningen to discover they had left the collections a few days before my visit ( at least thats what the keeper told me, its also possible that the animal(s) died a few days before my visit ).
So was quite happy and surprised to find them at such an unlikely place as an Aquarium-fair !
Around 2015 I went special for this species to Sealife Scheveningen to discover they had left the collections a few days before my visit ( at least thats what the keeper told me, its also possible that the animal(s) died a few days before my visit ).
So was quite happy and surprised to find them at such an unlikely place as an Aquarium-fair !
I recall thinking for some reason that springhares were about jerboa-sized or so ... when I saw my first ones at Berlin in 2022 I was a bit surprised at how large they actually were !
[that said, I have yet to see jerboa anywhere outside a museum]
[that said, I have yet to see jerboa anywhere outside a museum]
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I was sure Tricolored Herons were large like an Ardea species, so imagine my surprise when they're basically the same size as a Snowy Egret.
cerperal
Well-Known Member
When I first went to Whipsnade, I was staggered by the size of European bison. They're huge(ly) impressive animals. And then when I went to Berlin last year, I was completely taken aback by their American counterparts as well.
And perhaps a slightly more obvious one - even as someone who loves elephants, I was completely astonished at just how huge Asian bulls are.
And perhaps a slightly more obvious one - even as someone who loves elephants, I was completely astonished at just how huge Asian bulls are.
No matter how often I see them, the size of bottlenose dolphins always impresses me, as if I don't remember them being as big as they are.
I imagined giant pandas being bigger than they are before I first saw them.
I knew groupers were big but... being up close to a Queensland grouper really left me in awe. Also reef sharks especially whitetips, are a bit bigger than I thought they would be.
I imagined giant pandas being bigger than they are before I first saw them.
I knew groupers were big but... being up close to a Queensland grouper really left me in awe. Also reef sharks especially whitetips, are a bit bigger than I thought they would be.
Giant pandas are tiny compared to what I imagined them to be. I always imagined them to be the size of American black bears.
Giant pandas are bigger than the average american black bear
But the black bear can reach a bigger extreme weight in males.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
Komodo Dragons never fail to underwhelm me with their size. The ones I see in documentaries look like a totally different species compared to the ones I've seen at zoos. What's up with that? Were the first captive Komodos runts and their runtiness got passed down? Have they not been eating their meaty wheaties? Have I just been seeing the wrong lizards???
For the longest time I thought all deer sans pudu were the size of red deer and wapiti because I was either small when I first saw deer or I have been only exposed to animals in books and toys that do not have pictures to scale. So when I saw sika and axis up close in Nara and Kobe animal kingdom. The same could be said for many species of antelope such as sitatunga and gazelle as well.
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
I always tought all duikers were more or less the same size with the exception of yellow-backed, the "giant amongst duikers". Then in my strongest epoch of making animal figuirines for my collection I did a Jentink's duiker and later I did a zebra duiker. Both figurines are approximately the same size and the Jentink's is just very slightly bigger.
Then I saw a photo (I think from the book "Duikers of Africa") uploaded here in Zoochat somewhere (I can't find that photo, nor in Google Images), that showed Jentink's and zebra duikers in captivity together in a mixed exhibit, in some central African zoo. And gosh. Jentinks are thriple than zebras and as big as yellow-backed!
Then I saw a photo (I think from the book "Duikers of Africa") uploaded here in Zoochat somewhere (I can't find that photo, nor in Google Images), that showed Jentink's and zebra duikers in captivity together in a mixed exhibit, in some central African zoo. And gosh. Jentinks are thriple than zebras and as big as yellow-backed!
Chacoan mara surprised me with how small it was compared to Patagonian mara. Also, plains viscacha being much larger than long-tailed chinchilla, and feathertail glider being much smaller than sugar glider.
Also, it’s always interesting to see size diversity in the same genus, as with horned lizards, snake-necked turtles, anoles, and of course, monitor lizards (I don’t know why they’re still considered one genus with many subgenera).
Also, it’s always interesting to see size diversity in the same genus, as with horned lizards, snake-necked turtles, anoles, and of course, monitor lizards (I don’t know why they’re still considered one genus with many subgenera).
Well, they aren't all that closely related - unlike the other examples you cite.
Wildebeest were smaller than I expected. And giraffes are much bigger when you can get close up to them!
This can be applied to a lot of colorful species, they're really much harder to find than they may seem.
I remember being quite surprised how easy it was to tell the King and Emperor Penguins apart at SeaWorld, I'd always imagined them as being closer in size and bulk. Seeing them in close proximity the differences were very clear.
There's a handful of species that I've seen that looked different than I expected, but here are some that I can remember. Most are from my recent trip to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Greater one-horned rhinoceros: compared to the black rhino at the Fort Worth Zoo, these seemed to be twice the size.
Greater/lesser kudu: I never have been curious enough to know the difference between the two until I saw both of them in person. The greater kudu was noticeably much larger.
De Brazza's monkey: I previously thought these guys were the size of an Allen's swamp monkey.
Victoria crowned pigeon: previously thought they would be the size of any other species of pigeon.
Pygmy marmoset: While they are the smallest living primate, I still wasn't expecting something as small as what they are.
Greater one-horned rhinoceros: compared to the black rhino at the Fort Worth Zoo, these seemed to be twice the size.
Greater/lesser kudu: I never have been curious enough to know the difference between the two until I saw both of them in person. The greater kudu was noticeably much larger.
De Brazza's monkey: I previously thought these guys were the size of an Allen's swamp monkey.
Victoria crowned pigeon: previously thought they would be the size of any other species of pigeon.
Pygmy marmoset: While they are the smallest living primate, I still wasn't expecting something as small as what they are.