Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
Both are equally bad, I’d say.
Worst Mixed-Species Combinations?
- Thread starter Emanuel Theodorus
- Start date
You don't need to water down racism by calling it "cringeworthy". I'm not sure they're all in the same exhibit together, all of the shots are more close up and only show one species at a time.
By that logic, I suppose all exhibits are mixed exhibits with native birds, invertebrates and the inevitable zoo rodents...
Van Beal
Well-Known Member
Toronto has a successful mix of Marabou storks, white-headed vultures and giant elands so there's an example of a successful mixing of hoofstock and cranes/storks
Do they breed
None of them breed except for a couple hornbills in the kudu exhibit. The elands are all males and the marabou storks are quite old, as well the white+headed vulture is the only one of its species in Canada, maybe even North America but I’m not 100% sure.
Though IIRC, this had been changed the last time I visited, for a long time the Saint Louis Zoo had red river hogs sharing an exhibit with bat-eared foxes, and while I never saw any actual conflict between the species, you hardly ever caught so much as a glimpse of the foxes due to them spending almost all the time behind the scenes, and I suspect that this was because the larger more boisterous red river hogs made them nervous. Also, Egyptian geese were added to the mix for a time, and while again I never saw any conflict myself, based on the fact the geese were removed from that exhibit within like a year, I think it probably ended badly.
Montgomery Zoo has a mixed savanna with pigmy hippo, grants zebra, ostrich, and maybe giraffe (I can't confirm the last animal).
equidae
Well-Known Member
Zebra, ostriches, and giraffes are a pretty standard mix. I can't imagine a pygmy hippo causing too much trouble on top of that mix.
How is this one of the worst mixed-species combinations?
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
It just… doesn’t fit. You’ve got three standard savanna animals, and then a rainforest species? It feels wrong.
@SwampDonkey Do the zebras and hippos interact much? Out of the three “normal” animals, I think they’d be the most problematic around the hippos.
(Also Montgomery has like 2 other Pygmy hippo exhibits, so why mix them here?)
Well, worst is wildly subjective. IMO it is terrible due to it being so strange. It just is odd, the other animals are all general savanna species and then you have this one off rainforest creature that just doesn't fit at all.
I really am not sure. I can only think that the reason is space, they breed them a lot and have been looking for places to put them from what I have been told.
that mix sounds terrible from a naturalistic perspective, but it also sounds really intriguing from a visitor perspective and I’d definitely be interested in seeing that exhibit someday— even if it is just for the novelty.
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
I'll be honest, this pygmy hippo mix bothers me exactly 0%. Sure, they naturally inhabit rainforests, but how many zoos mix desert, savannah, and rainforest species, be it in hoofstock exhibits or aviaries? Besides which, how many pygmy hippo exhibits actually resemble a rainforest in the slightest bit? An outdoor grassy veldt habitat in some ways is a more natural exhibit for this species than the usual concrete grotto in an indoor rainforest building that we see them in. The educational value may be lacking, but I'd say this is very, very far from the "worst" mix I've seen, either from an animal welfare or visitor perspective.
San Diego Wild Animal Park used to keep pygmy hippos in their big savannah habitat as well.
San Diego Wild Animal Park used to keep pygmy hippos in their big savannah habitat as well.
Really not a problem - Gemsbok are put in savanna exhibits on a regular basis, but they're desert dwellers.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
I can’t think of any examples of that off the top of my head (or even any places that keep Gemsbok, for that matter).
I think that one’s more excusable since Gemsbok do live alongside zebras, giraffes, and the like in the Kalahari. Meanwhile, Pygmy Hippos and Zebras don’t even live on the same side of Africa.
I agree, that seems more off. That being said, I've seen scimitar oryx in savanna exhibits and they aren't in the same environment with giraffes or zebras. Those mixings are a bit odd as are bongos in mixed exhibits.
As I understand Egyptian geese are pretty aggressive.
I really don't see the problem here. If the species are compatible and all needs can be met then why not. Now obviously zoogeographically correct exhibits are nice, but zoos have limited space. If a mix works and is acceptable for all species involved, I'm not going to criticize them for it. Especially if it means more holders for species as the AZA increasingly moves to phase out numerous species.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that’s fair. So long as the hippo babies are in a different exhibit (and I’m pretty sure they are), then the zebras shouldn’t be a problem.
Still doesn’t sit right with me, though.