Wild wild animals living on the zoo grounds

NNM. said:
So um… I wish I hadn’t learned this, but Zoo New England sets traps for wild animals in exhibits like Butterfly Hollow and, well…. euthanizes them.
Click to expand...

Like mice and stuff, I'd imagine?

Don't get me wrong, I understand the distaste. But I'm not against zoos doing like... pest control. A bug-eating animal in a butterfly house is bad news. A lot of the butterfly exhibits I've visited anyway have some emphasis on the importance of pollinator preservation and endangered butterflies.

This gets into a bigger "debate" about ethical pest management, right. But I am in favor of zoos protecting their own animals. I wouldn't want a wild rodent bringing disease to a captive rodent, or a wild animal coming in and eating captive butterflies or caterpillars.
 
St Louis sits adjacent to a 120 ish acre forest as part of Forest Park that is probably as
naturalistic as any place in Missouri. Consequently gray fox , Virginia possums,
and raccoons are commonly seen on the zoo grounds. An albino raccoon was caught on the grounds and displayed for many years at the Children's zoo. Probably every species of bird
seen in St Louis has been seen on the grounds and many breed there.
 
One thing I have just noticed and enjoyed looking through is the 'Spotted on Site' page on iNaturalist, where anyone at BIAZA zoo or aquarium can submit sightings of any wildlife species that they photograph. A total of 69 collections are taking part in the project.

The top three collections are, in reverse order:
  • Chester Zoo - 6,054 observations of 818 species
  • Birdworld - 7,207 observations of 1,147 species
  • ZSL Whipsnade - 12,375 observations of 1,965 species
It isn't just big collections with lots of outdoor space that have done very well - The Deep in Hull has 1,006 observations of 269 species, despite the only real green space being a few shrubs dividing the car parking rows and a few small wildlife garden areas. One special sighting from here is the first-ever record of the hairy dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) in the local area, according to this link. There also can't be many zoological collections in the UK where the most commonly-seen mammal on the site is the harbour porpoise.

Just looking at the Colchester Zoo list, the most fascinating thing to me is the multiple sightings of stag beetles on the grounds - they are supposed to be pretty rare in this area, and I have never seen the species before.

The full list of collections can be seen here:
BIAZA Spotted on Site · iNaturalist United Kingdom
 
So last year in this thread, I mentioned that the pond outside the Africa entrance at the North Carolina zoo had fallen low. Thankfully, during my visit last month, the pond's water levels have returned to normal, and I saw many MANY turtles gathering below. There must have been 20, if not upwards of 30 turtles visible at once. It was truly a site to behold.
 
Victoria’s zoos have a wide variety of wild animals on site although it depends from zoo to zoo.

Melbourne Zoo is a nice little spot for inner city birding, many common species can be found here such as Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Miner, Red Wattlebird, Chestnut Teal, Australian White Ibis etc. Additionally some slightly rarer species are found here too, Willie Wagtails like to hang out on some of the lawns towards the back entrance of the zoo, Buff Banded Rails can be found on the Trail of the Elephants and Bell Miners are abundant throughout most of the zoo, however, the best views are usually at Wild Seas. My best finds there include a Nankeen Night Heron in the Pygmy Hippo enclosure, some Eurasian Tree Sparrows and a Little Lorikeet. Additionally, there are Australian Water Dragons and Garden Skinks there too.

Healesville Sanctuary is an amazing spot for wildlife watching, particularly its abundant birdlife, some of the most common species include Brown Thornbill, Superb Fairywren, Eastern Spinebill, Red-browed Finch, White-throated Treecreeper, Common Bronzewing, Australian King Parrot, Grey Shrike-Thrush and Crimson Rosella. Keep an eye out for Wedge-tailed Eagles near the Land of Parrots aviary, other birds of prey can be seen in the sky too. It’s not just birds either, other wildlife seen here include Brown Trout, Swamp Rat and Southern Water Skink, I’m sure there would be snakes here too however, I’ve yet to see one here.

Werribee Zoo is great for spotting waterfowl, all the common species of course but also Magpie Goose, Cape Barren Goose, Australian Shelduck and Australasian Shoveler, although there’s even more species and in much greater numbers at the nearby Western Treatment Plant. Black Kites are common in the skies and it’s a great spot to see Buff Banded Rails.

Moonlit Sanctuary is small in size but does have a few interesting birds, there are Cape Barren Geese and Australian Golden Whistlers, lots of Brush Tailed Possums at night. I love seeing the Royal Spoonbills that descend onto the main lake, such majestic birds. The real draw here are the invertebrates, lots of tiny critters in the native garden section and others on fences and posts throughout, my favourite find here was my one and only sighting of the humongous robber fly Neoaratus hercules.




 
DesertRhino150 said:
One thing I have just noticed and enjoyed looking through is the 'Spotted on Site' page on iNaturalist, where anyone at BIAZA zoo or aquarium can submit sightings of any wildlife species that they photograph. A total of 69 collections are taking part in the project.

The top three collections are, in reverse order:
  • Chester Zoo - 6,054 observations of 818 species
  • Birdworld - 7,207 observations of 1,147 species
  • ZSL Whipsnade - 12,375 observations of 1,965 species
It isn't just big collections with lots of outdoor space that have done very well - The Deep in Hull has 1,006 observations of 269 species, despite the only real green space being a few shrubs dividing the car parking rows and a few small wildlife garden areas. One special sighting from here is the first-ever record of the hairy dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) in the local area, according to this link. There also can't be many zoological collections in the UK where the most commonly-seen mammal on the site is the harbour porpoise.

Just looking at the Colchester Zoo list, the most fascinating thing to me is the multiple sightings of stag beetles on the grounds - they are supposed to be pretty rare in this area, and I have never seen the species before.

The full list of collections can be seen here:
BIAZA Spotted on Site · iNaturalist United Kingdom
Click to expand...

Highly relevant - Colchester Zoo have actually released a news article on their website about their 'Spotted on Site' efforts. The nature reserve, which first opened thirteen years ago, has now had several sightings of wandering Eurasian otters along the river:

Spotted on Site - Colchester Zoological Society
 
Longleat Safari Park also has a pretty impressive suite of wildlife, including quite a few of the darlings of rewilding - as well as the pretty well-known wild beaver population, they have also now got pine martens back on the site and at least two white-tailed eagles have regularly visited to scavenge the remains left behind by the park's large carnivores.

Also, there has recently been surveying on the zoo's grounds that has confirmed the presence of fourteen species of bat, including some of Britain's rarest species. One of the rarest, the Bechstein's bat, is thought to be breeding at Longleat. Also recorded were both the greater and lesser horseshoe bats, barbastelle, serotine, Leisler's and Nathusius' pipistrelle.
Longleat holds 14 bat species, survey finds - BirdGuides
 
Dudley Zoo has, historically, had European Badger setts on site, but I don't know if they are currently active.
 
When I was at the Maryland Zoo last year, I saw a white-tailed deer in the forested area where the shuttle runs, and I saw a number of wild lizard species while at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum earlier this year (notably ornate tree lizards, zebra-tailed lizards, a couple Aspidoscelis and Sceloporus species, and a hybrid population of San Esteban Island and Sonoran Spiny-Tailed Iguanas that resides within the zoo)
 
When I visited the National Zoo in Washington D.C. back in 2019, I remember seeing several wild deer (I think white-tails?) on the property. One doe was even grazing inside the elephant yard! On a less exciting note, there were of course your usual city birds and mice.

Closer to home, the Greater Vancouver Zoo is frequented by a whole host of wild animals, in particular birds. The most notable is surely the resident bald eagle pair who have a nest on the property. There are also several great blue herons who regularly make appearances, along with countless ducks, songbirds and woodpeckers. Various frogs and small mammals can also be observed, and though the zoo itself does its best to deter large wild mammals from its grounds, they have had the occasional American black bear and coyote hang around.
 
I saw a Rosy Boa in the succulent garden in the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Apparently, there are also wild bobcats and cougars on the largely undeveloped zoo grounds - I never seen any in the wild and would happily trade them for a zoo tiger :)
 
kermodei said:
When I visited the National Zoo in Washington D.C. back in 2019, I remember seeing several wild deer (I think white-tails?) on the property. One doe was even grazing inside the elephant yard! On a less exciting note, there were of course your usual city birds and mice.
Click to expand...

Fun fact: Fifteen years ago, a wild deer literally jumped into the lion exhibit! It ended poorly for the deer.

 
At Detroit zoo there’s multiple wild species you can find;
striped skunks, herons(3 species), frogs, turtles, wood ducks, raccoons, turkey vultures and there’s a nest of peregrine falcons and hundreds of ground hogs.
 
At Belo Horizonte zoo there's a lot of wild species that inhabit the zoo's grounds, since it is located inside a Mata Atlântica forest fragment. Some of the most notable ones (of which I have seen some myself) are Grey-cowled wood rails, Argentine black and white tegu, Common & Yellow-headed caracaras, Black-tufted marmosets, a whole flock of Great-white herons that nests on a tree right by the zoo's entrance and even Three-toed sloths (don't know which species, probably Brown-throated).

Seeing wild animals in brazilian zoos is actually quite common, but there's some zoos in the country that are visited by quite some uncommon species. As previously mentioned in this thread, Brasília zoo is home to multiple wild Capybara, that sometimes even enter some of the enclousures, as well as a Spectacled caiman, who lives on one of the zoo's lakes. At Zooparque Itatiba, there's wild Maned wolves that dwell in the zoo grounds at night. And last but not least, there's a female Blue-and-yellow macaw that sometimes visits Bioparque do Rio in other to interact with the captive macaws.
 
Last edited:
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has large areas of the property set aside for biodiversity with 24 mammal, 179 bird, 28 reptile, and 4 amphibian species. some species include the red diamond rattlesnake and coastal patch-nosed snake which are both being tracked, as well as rosy boas, fence lizards and other herps including 16 species of snake. Mountain lions and bobcats as well as mentioned by @Jurek7 . The coastal cactus wren which is threatened can also be found in the area along with many of the expected birds.
Observations · iNaturalist

The Safari Park is also a nesting site for white faced ibis, cattle egret, common gallinule and a few other water birds. It is also a favored site for a wood stork, which may be one of the only ones of its species in California at any given time.
In 2022 an extremely lost Stejneger's Petrel usually pelagic in the pacific ocean, breeding in Chile was found at the park and was the San Diego county record.
Currently a zone tailed hawk is residing around the park, and quite a few other rarer birds have been seen over the years such as warblers like the American redstart and neotropic cormorants.

The San Diego Zoo has some of the common mammals seen in the area, such as house mice which can sometimes be seen in some of the aviaries, fox squirrels, desert cottontails which I have seen around the hippo exhibit, brush rabbits, Botta's pocket gopher, raccoons and black rats. Green anoles and fence lizards can be pretty easily seen, house geckos or mourning geckos, not sure on the species as flat tail and Mediterranean have been reported, can be seen around the zoo and inside reptile house enclosures. Some other reptile species like california king snakes and southern alligator lizards have been reported on inaturalist as well. Many of the common birds in San Diego such as yellow warblers, rufous, Allen's, and Anna's hummingbirds, lesser goldfinch, song sparrows and many others can be seen. Introduced red-crowned amazons, Swinhoe's white-eye and scaly breasted munia can sometimes be seen.
Quite a few rare birds have been seen in the zoo, earlier this January and February 5 oriole species were seen at once in the entrance trees, orchard, hooded, Bullock's, Scott's, and Baltimore, 5 out of 6 species which have been spotted in California. Over the years worm-eating warbler, indigo bunting, rose breasted grosbeak, scarlet tanager, american redstart, blackpoll warbler and quite a few other rarities have been seen.
 
splendens said:
Mountain lions and bobcats as well as mentioned by @Jurek7
Click to expand...

Indeed, although they aren't necessarily as restricted to the farther reaches of the land! The park has had issues with them coming into the developed area before.

splendens said:
It is also a favored site for a wood stork, which may be one of the only ones of its species in California at any given time.
Click to expand...

This is a new one to me, normally they're only over at the Salton Sea! I'll have to look into it.

splendens said:
Currently a zone tailed hawk is residing around the park,
Click to expand...

The park has had a resident Zone-tail or two for many years now, one of many reasons birders have put the park on their visit list.
 
In a lot of Belgian zoos such as Pairi Daiza and Planckendael, large colonies of white storks can be seen on zoo grounds. Zoos sometimes even construct special poles so storks can nest there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top