Why aren't beaver exhibits as widespread as otter exhibits?

snowleopard said:
Otters can be found in 52 of the top 60 American zoos (going by the 2008 book America's Best Zoos) while beavers are far less popular and are in fact quite a rarity in zoos. Their ability to remain static for hours in their tiny dens is not exactly a crowd-pleasing trick, while otters are active, energetic mammals that are enormously popular. Even seeing beavers up close and personal has been a disappointment for me on numerous occasions, as they are generally lumps of brown fur in a darkened environment. However, two highlights would be seeing them actively moving around in the dark in the world's largest nocturnal house (Kingdoms of the Night at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo) and a mother beaver with a number of kits at the Pittsburgh Zoo back in 2008. The mom would constantly shift the babies around the pool using her mouth and it was rather amusing!

There are many great beaver exhibits in American zoos (Oregon, Northwest Trek, ASDM, Minnesota, Cameron Park, etc) but perhaps the best is to be found at Cleveland Zoo. There the beavers and wolves share the same space but the water level is slightly too low for the wolves to grab a quick furry lunch.

http://www.zoochat.com/557/northern-trek-wolf-wilderness-wolf-beaver-174186/

Jackson Zoo in Mississippi has pop-up bubbles in its beaver exhibit:

http://www.zoochat.com/1136/mississippi-wilderness-beaver-exhibit-288808/
Click to expand...

Cameron Park does not have a beaver exhibit, just a beaver statue next to a fake beaver damn.
 
Having been fortunate enough to be a resident guest at one or two major zoos I can honestly say that both species of beaver seem to emerge outside in the evening when visitors have gone.That is to say still in daylight but then staying active through the night until well after my bedtime!
 
Ive just remembered the big exceptions to my previous thoughts which are a]any beaver from Beaver Waterworld near London[one of Britains worst zoos- but its a "sanctuary",i nearly forgot] which will beg for food and B] the aquarium near Tulsa where the beavers almost perform for the public by constantly slapping their tails[normally an alarm behaviour].
 
In Mexico, only Leon zoo has beavers. Chapultepec zoo had beavers many years ago. I have seen active beavers at the Toronto zoo and at Lincoln Park zoo in Chicago, both in the late afternoon. I remember both exhibits were nice .
 
iI seem to recall Edinburgh having a beaver in the 1980/90's I saw it once and may even have an old photo It was gorging on carrots if I remember correctly.
I shall look out the photo when I can.
dean
 
Shirokuma said:
No beavers at London Zoo. There is an enclosure between the Clore and Cotton Terraces which has a plaque noting, if I remember correctly, that there were two black beavers given to the Queen by the Hudson's Bay Company. There is a sign saying that the enclosure is temporarilly empty but I can't remember the last time anything lived there.
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That's the enclosure to which I referred. It has held Striped Skunk in the past decade, and rather oddly, a Rhinoceros Iguana on the infrequent occasions that it was warm enough in the mid 1990s.

It ceased to hold North American Beavers ca 1991. I can never remember its previous usage, but old guidebooks and photos show that it held Smooth-coated Otter in the 1960s (not a happy thought) and seals (an even more unhappy thought) in the 1950s.

This is another corner of London Zoo that is really due for a rethink.
 
Oklahoma City zoo has beavers in with the otters, so if the beavers are not doing much at least the otters can entertain.
 
When the Columbus Zoo's lone American black bear passed away, they moved their North American river otters from their exhibit (complete with underwater viewing) into the bear enclosure and replaced them with a pair of beavers. Perhaps I was just unusually lucky, but on my visit a few weeks ago both of the beavers were in the pool and were very active. They were both swimming up and down along the viewing window in front of a crowd of visitors that had gathered, and it was only around noon.
 
As I perused through this thread I had two thoughts however Snowleopard beat me to one of them! :)

A.The Cleveland Zoo has the best beaver exhibit in North America sporting both a den and underwater viewing

B.The Cleveland Zoo has 2 of the most active beavers in North America

Including today's visit which they were active I would say they are about 50-60 percent of the time we visit no matter the time of year.Also when active they are surprisingly a real crowd pleaser.

Team Tapir223
 
Toronto Zoo exhibits beavers; there's a glass window into their den. I've seen them swim about, gnaw, as well as sleep aplenty ;) I think they're a wonderful species.
 
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