Your Best Lifeticks of 2024

[Kalaw]

Lifeticks, lifers, whatever you want to call them - for us zoo enthusiasts, the desire to see new species is one of the key motives behind visiting a new collection.

I was curious to see what people's favourite lifeticks of the year was. Do not rank this purely by how rare the species are - that would be boring -, but instead by how valuable and exciting seeing the species felt to you. Of course, rarity of the species could be a big factor in that, but equally, common species that had somehow evaded you for a long time could be just as satisfying. If you wish, you can also take into account the quality of the encounter, i.e. how active the animal is.

I decided to provide a top ten, but you can format your own lists how you want, and make them as long or as short as you want.

1. Pangolin - Prague Zoo
2. Bird-of-paradise - Prague Zoo
3. Sea Otter - Océanopolis Brest
4. Gharial - Prague Zoo
5. Bearded Seal - Océanopolis Brest
6. Mantis Shrimp - Sea Life Weymouth
7. Brown Hyena - Prague Zoo
8. Ringed Seal - Océanopolis Brest
9. Asiatic Black Bear - Tierpark Dessau
10. Brazilian Merganser - Prague Zoo

As you can tell, I was intentionally vague with certain species, for example labelling my number one as 'pangolin' rather than 'Chinese Pangolin,' simply because had I used the full species name, it distracts from the reason that this encounter was so exciting to me - that being I had never seen any pangolin of any species before.

I tried to take quality of the encounter into account too, but made one exception, that being the bear at Dessau. Nothing more than a large black mass with their signature yellowish white chest visible through a distant doorway, but it was the encounter that finally brought me up to 8/8 bear species seen!

Would be very curious to see your lists!

 

[Austin the Sengi]

This will be a fun thread to follow, but anyways, here is my list. Not only did my recent visit to Jardin des Plantes cover the majority of my listed rarities, but it was very satisfying to cap off an otherwise unimpressive list with such a fantastic collection only certain zoos in Europe can successfully pull off:

(1.) Giant Panda / Ailuropoda melanoleuca - Zoo Atlanta

(2.) Drill / Mandrillus leucophaeus - Zoo Atlanta

(3.) Arabian Oryx / Oryx leucoryx - Zoo Miami

(4.) Yellow-Throated Marten* - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes
*Siberian / M. f. aterrima or borealis

(5.) Commerson’s Dolphin* / Cephalorhynchus commersonii - Aquatica Orlando
*note that at the time, it had been over a decade since I last saw the species.

(6.) Little Bustard / Tetrax tetrax - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes

(7.) Vicuña* / Lama vicugna - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes
*other than the Wild Camel / Camelus ferus, this sighting marked the moment I had seen every living species of camelid.

(8.) Dusky Pademelon / Thylogale brunii - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes

(9.) Bharal aka, Blue Sheep / Pseudois nayaur - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes

(10.) Corsac Fox / Vulpes corsac - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes

(11.) Sheltopusik / Pseudopus apodus - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes*
*originally, this sighting would’ve been covered by the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo in Gainesville, Florida; but since their specimen was an unfortunate no-show, my visit to the Menagerie helped me tick off this species for good.

(12.) Sichuan Takin / Budorcas taxicolor tibetana - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes

(13.) Western Plantain-Eater / Crinifer piscator - Zoo Atlanta

(14.) Central Chinese Goral / N. g. arnouxianus - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes

(15.) Blue Duiker* / Philantomba monticola ssp. - Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens
*beginning in September when I started to volunteer at the Central Florida Zoo, my initial chances of seeing this duiker increased significantly, and I have almost taken every new sighting for granted ever since

 

[Toki]

Thank you for an interesting thread!

Here's mine, all from Malaysian zoos.

1. Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) - Lost World of Tambun
2. Bat Eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis) - G2G Animal Garden
3. Javan ferret-badger (Melogale orientalis) - Machinchang Pet Land Langkawi
4. Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) - Langkawi Nature Park
5. Berdmore's squirrel (Menetes berdmorei) - Kulim Bird Park
6. Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) - Zoo Taiping
7. Northern cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus) - G2G Animal Garden
8. Greater mouse-deer (Tragulus napu) - Zoo Taiping
9. Gursky's spectral tarsier (Tarsius spectrumgurskyae) - Zoo Taiping
10. Lesser bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea minor) - Zoo Melaka
11. Common Genet (Genetta genetta) - Machinchang Pet Land Langkawi
12. Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) - Zoo Taiping

 

[Yoshistar888]

I had very few zoo lifers last year, mostly due to the fact that I visited no new zoos, the vast majority of my overall lifers were either wild animals or in private collections, just the eight zoo lifers.


8. Cowboy Beetle (Chondropyga dorsalis) Melbourne Museum
7. Cape Tribulation Tree Snail (Noctepuna mayana) Melbourne Museum
6. Jade-legged Katydid (Nicsara bifasciata) Melbourne Museum
5. Striped Sweetlips (Plectorhincus diagrammus) SEALIFE Melbourne Aquarium
4. Murray Spiny Crayfish (Euastacus armatus) SEALIFE Melbourne Aquarium
3. Smoky Mouse (Pseudomys fumeus) Healesville Sanctuary
2. King Cobra (Ophiophagus sp) Melbourne Zoo
1. Victorian Grassland Earless Dragon (Tympanocryptis pingucolia) Melbourne Zoo

 

[Chlidonias]

This was mine:

Nujiang or Mynamar Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) - ZooChat

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Here are my top 10 for the zoo list.

1. Tuatara - Auckland Zoo and Orana Wildlife Park

2. South Island Takahe - Auckland Zoo

3. Illiger’s Macaw - Adelaide Zoo

4. Ornate Lory - Maleny Bird World

5. Dusky Langur - Adelaide Zoo

6. Barramundi Cod - Sea Life Sunshine Coast

7. Springbok - Orana Wildlife Park

8. Aruba Island Rattlesnake - Adelaide Zoo

9. Olive Sea Snake - Cairns Aquarium

10. Malayan Tapir - Adelaide Zoo

 

[PossumRoach]

In no particular order

Spotted Fanaloka (Wilhelma)

Malamakibo Day Gecko (Zoo Wasserstern)

North Island Kaka (Wilhelma)

Saharan Zorilla/Striped Polecat (Nürnberg)

Bonnet Macaque (Zoo Wasserstern)

Fraser’s Eagle Owl (Vogelpark Olching)

California Sheepbead (Wilhelma)

East Caucasian Tur (Augsburg)

Spinifex Hopping Mouse (Augsburg)

Pygmy Cormorant (Vogelpark Olching)

 

[Skukuza]

In no particular order;

- Lear's Macaw at Loro Parque
- Tuatara at Chester Zoo having missed them going on and off exhibit previously.
- Zorilla at Cedars Nature Centre having missed it a number of times at Hoo Farm. Big thank you to the collection director Stu for enticing the pair out!
- James Flamingo at WWT Slimbridge I had likely seen Mr James previously but just as a bird mixed in a flamingo flock but in the first week of January i deliberately sought him out and got some snaps of him with his ring ID etc shortly before he sadly passed away in early Feb.
- Fairy Penguins at SeaLife Weymouth

 

[twilighter]

South-East Asia was very generous on Lifeticks this year:

Flat-headed Cat
Marbled Cat
Bornean Sunda Clouded Leopard
Sumatran Sunda Clouded Leopard
Indochinese Leopard
Indochinese Tiger
Sunda Leopard Cat
Sumatran Dhole
Javan Fishing Cat
Stian's Red Panda
Golden Moon Bear
Banded palm civet
Large Indian Civet
Small Indian Civet
Small-toothed Palm Civet
Javan Mongoose
Indonesian Mountain Weasel
Sumatran Hog Badger
Greater Hog Badger
Javan Yellow-throated Marten


Southeast Asian Gaur
Burmese Banteng
Javan Warty Pig
Bawean Warty Pig
Thai Eld's Deer
Fea's Muntjac
Northern Red Muntjac
Southern Red Muntjac
Burmese Goral
Sumatran Serow
Indochinese Serow


Stump-tailed Macaque
Assam Macaque
Moor Macaque
Tonkean Macaque
Northern Pig-tailed Macaque
Siberut Macaque
Gorontalo Macaque
Bornean White-bearded Gibbon
Kloss's Gibbon
Dian's tarsier
Western tarsier
Gursky's Spectral Tarsier
Proboscis Monkey
Black-shanked Douc Langur
Laotian Langur
Indochinese Silvered Langur
Javan Surili
Mitered Surili
Natuna Island Surili
White-thighed Surili


West African Manatee
Sunda Pangolin
Sumatran Striped Rabbit
Greater Cane Rat
Laotian Rock Rat
Javan Red Giant Flying Squirrel
Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel
Black Giant Squirrel
Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine
Sunda Porcupine
Grizzled Tree Kangaroo


Honorable mention:
Flame bowerbird
Asian Black-necked stork
Greater adjutant

 

[Aardwolf]

For zoo animals, highlights of the year for me were culpeo, vicuna, bear cuscus, and ring-tailed vontsira (the last one was a nemesis species - I'd been to Bronx three previous times and hadn't seen it once, which, from what I read from other members of the forum, seemed to be uniquely bad luck on my part).

Wild highlights for me were hoatzin, torrent duck, and most of the iconic Galapagos endemics - land and marine iguanas, flightless cormorant, hawk, penguin, seal, fur seal, finches, mockingbird - pretty much everything except waved albatross, as we didn't go to their particular island. I was also lucky to see in the wild several species that I'd previously only seen in zoos - Galapagos tortoise, capybara, black caiman, green-winged and blue-and-gold macaw

 

[Brum]

Off the top if my head there were only a few big ones -

Small Indian Mongoose at London
Prehensile-tailed Porcupine at Battersea
White-bellied Sea Eagle at Hagley Falconry
Darwin's Frog at London
Brown Hyaena at Hamerton (finally)
Mangshan Mountain Viper at London
Barbary Partridge at Hamerton
Chacoan Mara at Beale (My bogey species for ages, everywhere I went that had them went out of them almost immediately before my visit.)

I think that's about it for major species, think there's a few amphibians I may be forgetting, and a passerine or two but the above were the big ones. Species I missed out on were Hazel Dormouse at Hanwell, and (yet again) the Ring-tailed Possum at Hamerton.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Roughly in order. I saw quite a few very rare or perhaps even unique-in-captivity (or at least the US) species last year.

1. Bornean Bearded Pig - Capitol of Texas Zoo, 7/3/24
2. White-Lipped Tamarin - Metro Richmond Zoo, 10/2/24
3. Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloth - Dallas World Aquarium, 6/30/24
4. Harnessed Bushbuck - Gladys Porter Zoo, 7/2/24
5. Secretarybird - Fort Worth Zoo, 7/5/24
6. African Clawless Otter - Metro Richmond Zoo, 10/2/24
7. Common Kusimanse - Rainforest Adventures Zoo, 11/30/24
8. Gaur - Gladys Porter Zoo, 7/2/24
9. Tuatara - Dallas Zoo, 6/30/24
10. Klipspringer - Metro Richmond Zoo, 10/2/24 (had to visit 5 zoos that keep them spread across the country before finally catching a glimpse)

Honorable mention: Parakeet Auklet - North Carolina Zoo, 4/6/24; Black-Tailed Hairy Dwarf Porcupine - North Georgia Safari, 12/23/24

Another take on this list might feature a lot more carnivorans and primates, as they're the animals that typically excite me most (ungulates and marsupials too, I just didn't see as many new showstoppers last year). So I could also imagine a version of this list full of relatively more common/mundane species that I saw for the first time last year, including Pallas's cat, striped hyena, honey badger, ringtail, black-footed ferret, and swift fox, but I think the one I posted hits the highlights a bit better.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

I had a pretty good year in 2024. While not my busiest both zoo and wildlife watching wise, I still managed some real good trips including a long-weekend in Turks and Caicos, a return to the Rio Grande Valley, a pelagic whale watch out of Cape May, and, of course, my first visit to Australia being the biggest highlight of all. This list could easily be 2-3 times as long, especially with all the wonderful animals I saw in Australia, but I tried my best to narrow myself down to the best of the best. I ended up with a Top 30, though some of these could probably change if you asked again tomorrow! Captive animals with a double asterisk**:

-Red-Flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus -- a vagrant to a small NJ suburban backyard (thankfully the homeowner's were birders) seen the second week of January
-Caribbean Reef Shark Carcharhinus perezi
-Green Sea Turtle Chelonia mydas -- wild lifer, my first wild sea turtle
-Golden-Cheeked Warbler Setophaga chrysoparia
-Handsome Fruiteater Pipreola formosa**
-Lehmann's Poison Dart Frog Oophaga lehmanni**
-Giant Girdled Lizard Smaug giganteus**
-Mexican Mantled Howler Alouatta palliata mexicana**
-Blue-Winged Warbler Vermivora cyanoptera -- previously a nemesis bird
-Chihuahuan Meadowlark Sturnella lilianae -- early Spring vagrant to CT, there is still some debate as to whether this was truly a Chihuahuan or a particularly pale Eastern. No official consensus was ever made and it remains off the State list, however all the markers matched so I feel confident enough to count it.
-Prothonotary Warbler Protonotaria citrea
-Sperm Whale Physeter macrocephalus
-Cuvier's Beaked-Whale Ziphius cavirostris
-Atlantic Blue Marlin Makaira nigricans
-Tiger Shark Galeocerdo cuvier
-Hooded Seal Cystophora cristata**
-Grey-Headed Flying Fox Pteropus poliocephalus
-Eastern Long-Beaked Echidna Zaglossus bartoni**
-Quokka Setonix brachyurus**
-Greater Bilby Macrotis lagotis**
-corroboree frog Pseudophryne sp.** -- both Southern and Northern
-Regent Bowerbird Sericulus chrysocephalus**
-Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus
-Superb Fairy-Wren Malurus cyaneus
-Dugong Dugong dugon**
-Burrunan Dolphin Tursiops (aduncus) australis
-Little Blue Penguin Eudyptula minor -- wild lifer, first wild penguin
-Eastern Barred Bandicoot Perameles gunnii
-Mountain Pygmy-Possum Burramys parvus**
-Leadbeater's Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri

~Thylo

 

[birdsandbats]

I just tried to list some, but I had trouble limiting myself to even 30. I had an incredible year filled with wild lifers, especially in Costa Rica, but also some chased here in the Midwest.

 

[Enzo]

Lifeticks, lifers, whatever you want to call them - for us zoo enthusiasts, the desire to see new species is one of the key motives behind visiting a new collection.

I was curious to see what people's favourite lifeticks of the year was. Do not rank this purely by how rare the species are - that would be boring -, but instead by how valuable and exciting seeing the species felt to you. Of course, rarity of the species could be a big factor in that, but equally, common species that had somehow evaded you for a long time could be just as satisfying. If you wish, you can also take into account the quality of the encounter, i.e. how active the animal is.

I decided to provide a top ten, but you can format your own lists how you want, and make them as long or as short as you want.

1. Pangolin - Prague Zoo
2. Bird-of-paradise - Prague Zoo
3. Sea Otter - Océanopolis Brest
4. Gharial - Prague Zoo
5. Bearded Seal - Océanopolis Brest
6. Mantis Shrimp - Sea Life Weymouth
7. Brown Hyena - Prague Zoo
8. Ringed Seal - Océanopolis Brest
9. Asiatic Black Bear - Tierpark Dessau
10. Brazilian Merganser - Prague Zoo

As you can tell, I was intentionally vague with certain species, for example labelling my number one as 'pangolin' rather than 'Chinese Pangolin,' simply because had I used the full species name, it distracts from the reason that this encounter was so exciting to me - that being I had never seen any pangolin of any species before.

I tried to take quality of the encounter into account too, but made one exception, that being the bear at Dessau. Nothing more than a large black mass with their signature yellowish white chest visible through a distant doorway, but it was the encounter that finally brought me up to 8/8 bear species seen!

Would be very curious to see your lists!

Hello.

My local zoo granted me a lifer via backstage tour: yellow baboon. Before anyone frowns upon this tour, it can be booked for free, so no additional expenses and no further encouragement to keep their elderly female off display.

My first visit to Animália Park had nine lifers:

1. Nile lechwe
2. Blue-billed curassow
3. Blue-throated piping guan
4. Wattled guan
5. Masked booby
6. Argentine snake-necked turtle
7. Schalow's turaco
8. Black lemur
9. South African fur seal

My last visit to São Paulo had a slightly bigger number of lifers:

1. Radiated tortoise*
2. Spix's macaw
3. White-edged tree frog
4. Greening's frog
5. Bahia broad-snout casque-headed tree frog
6. Bruno's casque-headed tree frog
7. Sinimbú casque-headed tree frog
8. Hoffmann's two-toed sloth
9. Eurasian eagle-owl
10. Snowy owl

*This one in specific was a nemesis of mine. I didn't see the tortoise on my 2022 visits, the year after I began keeping track of the taxa I'd seen.

Some wild lifers included:

1. Blue-billed black tyrant
2. Chestnut-backed antshrike
3. Cobalt-rumped parrotlet
4. Common tody-flycatcher
5. Giant ameiva
6. Rufous gnateater
7. Streaked flycatcher

I was able to readd a few species to my current list.

1. White-tailed wildebeest at Animália Park
2. Spotted hyena at Animália Park
3. Indian rhinoceros at Animália Park
4. Alpaca in São Paulo
5. Bushdog in São Paulo

@Kalaw I'm glad to know you saw the Brazilian mergansers in Prague! I saw the species for the first time in almost a decade after my 2023 visit to Itatiba.

 

[lintworm]

I didn't see too many new species this year, but some highlights:

- Collared falconet in Paradise Park, they are really tiny!
- Long-tailed broadbill in Schönbrunn, always had been high on the wishlist and wasn't expecting to see them, so that was a nice surprise.
- Spider-tailed viper in Plzen. Fascinating snakes, even though their origin is somewhat shady...
- Black-legged seriema in Zlin. Good to see the final individual of this species, after missing it at my previous visit. But like the previous visit, the weather was horrendous...
-American goldfinch at Burgers' Zoo. Not a special species, but it is always exciting to have a species added to your local zoo that no other zoo on the continent keeps.
- Brazilian merganser & Pel's fishing owl at Prague. Not exactly the species you expect to pop up in a European zoo, but glad they did.

My favourite wild lifer was a wolf. I was bound to see one sooner or later at work, but still a fascinating experience.

Biggest miss of the year is probably Owston's civet at Newquay, but that wasn't unexpected...

 

[Baringogiraffe12]

I didn't see too many new species this year myself having revisited a lot of collections I'd visited in previous years (Dudley, Filey, Sea Life Scarborough, Yorkshire Wildlife Park etc), however, one species I was particularly glad to pick up (finally) was the African civets at Hoo Farm, I'd probably be changing my answer to their zorilla had they appeared but nonetheless, another reason to return to Hoo Farm.

Reptile wise, my standout would be the gray ratsnake (Pantherophis spiloides) - a species which I *believe* is only held at two collections (on-show) in the UK.

 

[Jambi]

My big ones are:

1. Common Hippopotamus - Flamingo Land
2. Scimitar-horned Oryx - Flamingo Land
3. Addax - Flamingo Land
4. White-naped Mangabey - Flamingo Land
5. Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby - Flamingo Land
6. Naked Mole Rat - Dudley Zoo
7. Markhor - Edinburgh Zoo
8. Japanese Macaque - Edinburgh Zoo
9. Cinnamon Ground Dove - Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
10. Borneo Eared Tree Frog - Deep Sea World

I was hoping to add Pallas's Cat to this list when I visited Edinburgh Zoo this year, but alas, I didn't manage to see it.

 

[Enzo]

I didn't see too many new species this year, but some highlights:

- Collared falconet in Paradise Park, they are really tiny!
- Long-tailed broadbill in Schönbrunn, always had been high on the wishlist and wasn't expecting to see them, so that was a nice surprise.
- Spider-tailed viper in Plzen. Fascinating snakes, even though their origin is somewhat shady...
- Black-legged seriema in Zlin. Good to see the final individual of this species, after missing it at my previous visit. But like the previous visit, the weather was horrendous...
-American goldfinch at Burgers' Zoo. Not a special species, but it is always exciting to have a species added to your local zoo that no other zoo on the continent keeps.
- Brazilian merganser & Pel's fishing owl at Prague. Not exactly the species you expect to pop up in a European zoo, but glad they did.

My favourite wild lifer was a wolf. I was bound to see one sooner or later at work, but still a fascinating experience.

Biggest miss of the year is probably Owston's civet at Newquay, but that wasn't unexpected...

Wait, are black-legged seriemas also rare in Europe? Hmmm...

To my knowledge, most Brazilian ZooChatters have only seen the indidual in São Paulo. Otherwise we know no other seriema of said species in the country.

 

[Iguana_Cabana]

1. Koala - ZooTampa at Lowry Park
2. Bornean orangutan - ZooTampa at Lowry Park
3. Arrau turtle - ZooTampa at Lowry Park
4. Indian rhinoceros - ZooTampa at Lowry Park
5. Trumpeter hornbill - ZooTampa at Lowry Park

I was also hoping to see their Fijian banded iguana(s?), but I was told by a staff member that all the reptiles were moved to "other facilities" while the Manatee Rescue renovation was taking place.