What species are objectively exhibited best in nocturnal houses?

[Komodo Dragon]

Night houses often feature species that can be easily displayed in typical enclosures, such as sloths, aardvarks, and porcupines. I'm not against keeping such creatures in nocturnal houses, but I do believe it's worth discussing how to best use the limited spaces such buildings provide.

As far as animal welfare goes, off the top of my head, the following do best in night houses:

Kiwis
Many bats, particularly microbats
Many smaller rodents
Nocturnal primates

I think that zoos with nocturnal houses should therefore focus on these.

But what other animals do well in night houses? Are their species typically not exhibited in them that you believe would thrive in them? Nocturnal exhibits tend to be rather mammal-focused; how can nocturnal birds, herps, fish, and invertebrates be incorporated well into nocturnal houses? Could non-animal life of the night (smile molds, bioluminescent fungi, night-blooming plants) also be housed in such buildings to best represent the nocturnal realm?

 

[TinoPup]

Ringtail. ZooAmerica has them in a nocturnal exhibit and they're always active when I visit. They've also successfully bred them. The only other place I've seen them active is CIncinnati, where they're also in a nocturnal exhibit but the lights hadn't been turned off yet. Every other place I've seen them at has been a regular exhibit and they've always been asleep, if visible at all. I've never seen Lehigh Valley's, which have an outdoor exhibit.

 

[Chlidonias]

As far as animal welfare goes, off the top of my head, the following do best in night houses:

There is a huge difference between housing something in a nocturnal house for "animal welfare" and just so that it is more visible to the public. In probably no situation is a nocturnal house "best" for animal welfare, other than that one could argue that it means the keepers can observe them more readily. They exist in zoos purely for display purposes.

 

[MRJ]

@Chlidonias is right here. Most nocturnal houses have abnormally small enclosures and work poorly for animal welfare. Perhaps a better question is what nocturnal houses work better for which species? An example would be the kiwi houses in New Zealand zoos, which are huge when compared to most nocturnal house exhibits and usually extremely well fitted out.

 

[TinoPup]

@Chlidonias is right here. Most nocturnal houses have abnormally small enclosures and work poorly for animal welfare. Perhaps a better question is what nocturnal houses work better for which species? An example would be the kiwi houses in New Zealand zoos, which are huge when compared to most nocturnal house exhibits and usually extremely well fitted out.

I completely agree with your first sentence! But now that you mention it, that's a big difference for the ringtail exhibits I mentioned, as well, like what you've said with kiwis. ZooAmerica's is really big, with two rooms and an open door between them (that they love to jump from) so that they can separate individuals if need be. One of the rooms is set up like a front porch. At Cincinnati there's two separate very large enclosures for them. They can run, jump, and climb all over. The other exhibits I've seen have all been much smaller, to try and keep the animals visible while sleeping.

 

[JVM]

The lack of investment in nocturnal houses is reflected in their dated nature as I feel about a lot of indoor habitat styles that have gone without new development. Habitat standards have increased a lot in twenty and even thirty years, but some styles have not been brought into the twenty-first century.

I can only cite two zoos for this specific animal so if anyone is better informed correct me, but I've had better luck seeing aardvarks in nocturnal habitats; but indoor lighted habitats or outdoor habitats I have not seen. Lincoln Park's individual is well-known among staff I've talked to for choosing to stay behind the scenes or in a dark log, whereas when she is confined to the undersized nocturnal habitat she will sleep in the visible area. The lighted habitat is better for space and more enrichment opportunity, but the fact she seems to be avoiding the lighted area seems telling to me.

 

[Dr. Wolverine]

Don’t forget owls, though some enclosures are indeed bad. Singapore NS’s owl enclosures are very good.

 

[Jurek7]

Most small and mid-sized mammals are nocturnal, so night houses concentrate on this group. Not only the above, but also small marsupials, small carnivores etc.

Indeed, the main problem is that most night houses are old, and not easily remodelled into modern standards of enclosure sizes. A good example is Nocturnorama in Kerzers, which is a large night hall with space sufficient for diverse mid-sized mammals like kinkajous.

Aardvarks - in every nocturnal exhibit which I seen, aardvarks were very active. In every day exhibit, they were asleep. Either invisible, or, like in Arnhem, asleep on the surface because the zoo did not give them any possibility to burrow. Which is not a good animal welfare. I think, despite their space requirements, it is better to display aardvarks in night exhibits.

Owls and frogmouths - they can be kept in night houses, but they are basically sit-and-wait hunters, so they are just as inactive as in day exhibits. I prefer the day exhibits for them.