Zoo "Confessions"

[NMM]

Ueno Zoo, which was my local zoo, had these these species. So I thought they were pretty common in zoos. But after looking at information from a lot of zoos and Zootierliste, I now realize they are quite rare.

Chinese Pangolin
Spectral Tarsier
Lesser Mouse Deer
Aye-Aye
Galapagos Giant Tortoise
Komodo Dragon
Giant Panda
Okapi
Pygmy Hippopotamus
Indian Lion

It is good to be aware of the rarities in your local zoo(s) and not take them for granted because you regularly see them. If your local zoo was to go out of an uncommon species it might be a while before you see it again.

 

[Enzo]

Komodo dragons, and Pygmy hippos aren’t that rare worldwide. Indian lions are common in Eurasia.

He is most likely referring to East Asia and the Pacific.

Okapi now are only at two Japanese zoos (+ Jamnagar in India and Singapore). Iirc, aye-aye are only at Ueno and Taipei (maybe Singapore too?)

 

[decat]

Aquariums annoy me, they're always so crowded and busy, and it's hard to take good photos. aquarium tickets cost as much as zoo tickets, but many aquariums take much less time to see. And while Zoos can be busy, you can always find a quiet spot somewhere.

 

[EliasNys]

I've never ever visited a nocturnal exhibit, for different reasons, a few examples:

• The one at Berlin was closed for renovations when I went
• There are only 2 nocturnal exhibits in my country (Belgium) and the one at Antwerp is closed since 2019..

Luckily, I am going to finally visit a nocturnal exhibit tomorrow when I am going to visit Pairi Daiza's Crypt

 

[Frankie_number_1_fan]

Unless a zoo is considered very high quality/is semi-closeby, I usually will not visit unless they have elephants. I'm a Columbus native so all of the zoos around me are holders minus Akron (Which I have never visited), but I just find I have little interest in planning trips to facilities that don't have them. They're just a bucket list animal for me and one of the species I keep track of population-wise.

 

[CarnotaurusSastrei]

There's a part of me that's honestly rather annoyed that, as much as I try, I won't really be able to create a comprehensive life list on account of not really keeping detailed lists of the species I saw at a given institution until January of last year. For anything older than that, I kinda just have to try and rely on anywhere from a handful to a few dozen old photos (mostly from family trips), though there are a couple places that I know for a fact I've visited yet I have no photos from to analyze (namely the New England Aquarium, though in that case I don't even know what year I visited)

Not really sure if this one really counts as a confession per se, but I also doubt I'll really have the opportunity to see the vast majority of the zoos on my bucket list.

 

[Chess]

I feel like we should focus more on the endangered, critically endangered, and extinct in the wild animals rather than the least concern ones.

 

[peruvianbirdie]

Unless a zoo is considered very high quality/is semi-closeby, I usually will not visit unless they have elephants. I'm a Columbus native so all of the zoos around me are holders minus Akron (Which I have never visited), but I just find I have little interest in planning trips to facilities that don't have them. They're just a bucket list animal for me and one of the species I keep track of population-wise.

I relate to this as well. Back then, I wouldn't be interested in a zoo and even zoo video games if they didn't have penguins. Felt that Planet Zoo increased my interest in zoos as I was getting more tempted to buy the game watching many PZ creators even prior to the Aquatic Pack release which of course made my final decision . I feel nowadays, I am more open and interested to much more wildlife especially the rarer species uncommon in zoological facilities, and I thank this site for increasing that desire.

 

[Brayden Delashmutt]

Unless a zoo is considered very high quality/is semi-closeby, I usually will not visit unless they have elephants. I'm a Columbus native so all of the zoos around me are holders minus Akron (Which I have never visited), but I just find I have little interest in planning trips to facilities that don't have them. They're just a bucket list animal for me and one of the species I keep track of population-wise.

Unfortunately this is the same for me…any zoo that doesn’t have canids/hyaenids just isn’t too interesting to me unless it’s truly phenomenal or has a few rarities. I get that zoos like Jacksonville, Philly, etc are good facilities but I just don’t have much interest in actually making the trip tbh

 

[PossumRoach]

I like animal photos portraits when there are bars or mesh in the way. Sure such pictures can be used as ammunition for zoo but for some reason I like the contrast between the ugly bars and the subject of the photo.

 

[steveroberts]

When I was six at Taronga Zoo’s Discovery Farm in 1995, a terrarium exhibit that until recently housed an eastern bearded dragon had been replaced with a diamond python. The zoo had blu-tacked a printed paper diamond python info sign over the original metal sign which had info about the bearded dragon. I peeled off the paper, leaving the undernath metallic info sign about beard dragons visible again next to the python’s exhibit. Sorry Taronga. Some poor staff members would of had to reprint the diamond python paper info sign and restick over the metal info sign again cos I did that.

 

[Enzo]

I have seen an Amazonian manatee, a bald uakari, a Brazilian merganser, a chimango caracara, a silky anteater, black lion tamarins, blond capuchins, buffy-tufted marmosets, Lear's macaws, neotropical river otters, short-tailed parrots and Southern muriquis, as well as Gray's bald-faced and Uta Hick's bearded sakis.

However, I have never seen a black rhinoceros, a Canada goose, a coyote, an Eastern gray kangaroo, a greater kudu, a red river hog, a reindeer, a wild turkey, a white-tailed deer or a yak.

Ok, I have seen Eastern grey kangaroos and red river hogs, but the rest remains unseen.

I have also seen an Egyptian vulture, a roseate tern, a white-naped crane, a blue sheep, a Central chinese goral, a gaur, a Kirk's dik-dik, a lowland anoa, a markhor, a Sichuan takin, a West caucasian tur, a North Chinese leopard, a yellow-throated marten, a Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo, three species of mangabey (black-crested, white-cheeked and white-naped), L'Hoest's and Roloway monkeys since then.

 

[DaLilFishie]

I've only ever seen a lion once, and never a leopard or jaguar

 

[RatioTile]

More of a wild mammalwatching confession, but I still haven't seen any bovid species in the wild (possibly feral domestic cattle and goats don't count). I even have Tragulidae wild before Bovidae! Hopefully I'll find bighorn sheep soon and make it my first!

Also, I still don't have any decent photos of a male Greater Kudu - at zoos I keep running into either Lesser Kudu, or only female Greater Kudu!

 

[merlin]

Everytime there are two or more species in the exhibit and one of the species is more popular than others amongst people, I always feel like the nicest person alive when I actually pay attention and take photos of those less popular ones. Even though it's really stupid and the animals don't care if there are pictures being taken of them. My head goes "don't worry guys, I'm here so you don't feel overshadowed as much!" Some examples I can think of right now are the penguin exhibits in Prague and Dvůr; Prague has Fuegian steamer ducks, meanwhile Dvůr mixes their African penguins with South African shelducks.

 

[EliasNys]

Everytime there are two or more species in the exhibit and one of the species is more popular than others amongst people, I always feel like the nicest person alive when I actually pay attention and take photos of those less popular ones. Even though it's really stupid and the animals don't care if there are pictures being taken of them. My head goes "don't worry guys, I'm here so you don't feel overshadowed as much!" Some examples I can think of right now are the penguin exhibits in Prague and Dvůr; Prague has Fuegian steamer ducks, meanwhile Dvůr mixes their African penguins with South African shelducks.

I get this in a sense. I always feel a bit "privileged with knowledge" when everyone skips an animal or exhibit the general public finds boring. For example, I went to planckendael today and spent a long time at each aviary. At the Africa aviary every one walked past the purple Heron, because they took only a glance at the exhibit. I myself stared at the stunning animal for like 5 minutes straight. I even felt a bit sorry for the other people that they couldn't appreciate the beauty of this animal.

 

[merlin]

I get this in a sense. I always feel a bit "privileged with knowledge" when everyone skips an animal or exhibit the general public finds boring. For example, I went to planckendael today and spent a long time at each aviary. At the Africa aviary every one walked past the purple Heron, because they took only a glance at the exhibit. I myself stared at the stunning animal for like 5 minutes straight. I even felt a bit sorry for the other people that they couldn't appreciate the beauty of this animal.

Now I'm feeling sorry too, since purple herons are my second favorite birds!

 

[TNT]

Generally speaking, I visit zoos to look at exhibits, less so the animals.

 

[Strathmorezoo]

Generally speaking, I visit zoos to look at exhibits, less so the animals.

I have to admit, I probably spend as much time checking out the exhibit as I do observing the animals. I think it's probably a zookeeper thing !

 

[Austin the Sengi]

Generally speaking, I visit zoos to look at exhibits, less so the animals.

I also tend to do this, especially with more recent visits to zoos and aquariums.

Whether I am inspired by their general design, or if an animal designated to that enclosure is not in direct view; the chances of viewing the exhibit as it is are all the more likely!