Zoos That Have Had All Species of a Type of Animal

MonkeyBat

MonkeyBat

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I was thinking today and wondered if there was ever a time period where a zoo had every species of a certain type of animal. For example, was there ever a time when a zoo held all three species of elephants? How about all eight species of bear? Or maybe every species of equid?

I know that St. Augustine's Alligator Farm held all the species of crocodilians, I'm not sure if they still do or not.

Around ten years ago or so, Fort Worth held all four species of great apes (besides humans of course)
 
MonkeyBat said:
Around ten years ago or so, Fort Worth held all four species of great apes (besides humans of course)
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Interesting point of view, then the only pongid genera that you don't considere monotypic is Pan, I assume. I'm every time more and more convinced about the need of merging all orangutans in a single species (overall since the discovery of Tapanuli one), but from your comment I deduce that you consider gorillas too as a single species. It's a refreshing opinion fighting against a world where antitaxonomists spilt things to the infinite with tremendous exaggeration.
 
Kakapo said:
It's a refreshing opinion fighting against a world where antitaxonomists spilt things to the infinite with tremendous exaggeration.
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Your love of old taxonomy is well-known, but here are you actually suggesting that scientists who update their knowledge with new information are anti taxonomy? That viewpoint makes zero sense.
 
MonkeyBat said:
....was there ever a time when a zoo held all three species of elephants?
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I recall when Whipsnade Zoo had African forest elephant, African bush elephant and Asiatic elephant.
MonkeyBat said:
......How about all eight species of bear?
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I also remember when both Berlin Zoo and Vincennes (Paris) had all eight species of bear.
MonkeyBat said:
....Or maybe every species of equid?
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And I remember when Berlin Tierpark had every species of equid.
 
Chlidonias said:
Your love of old taxonomy is well-known, but here are you actually suggesting that scientists who update their knowledge with new information are anti taxonomy? That viewpoint makes zero sense.
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Once again it amuses me that someone born in the late 1980s like myself is so vociferous in their belief that any taxonomic advance beyond the late 1940s is entirely wrong :p except for the cutting-edge modern taxonomic positions on Red Wolves, which he embraces!

Tim May said:
And I remember when Berlin Tierpark had every species of equid.
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Depending on how one splits Equus, those days only passed in the last year or so, when they ceased to keep E. quagga.
 
Not all, but respectful four species of Rhino: Southern White, Black, Greater One-horned and Sumatran, been kept at White Oak Conservation Center in 2008. Wouldn't be surprised, if San Diego Safari Park had 5 taxa at certain point: the aforementioned four and Northern White Rhino.
 
Tim May said:
And I remember when Berlin Tierpark had every species of equid.
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TeaLovingDave said:
Depending on how one splits Equus, those days only passed in the last year or so, when they ceased to keep E. quagga.
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Indeed. I hope plains zebra return to Berlin Tierpark sometime.

Of course, all these comments depend on the taxonomy adopted. If you follow Colin Groves and consider there are two separate species of mountain zebra and consider the Indian wild ass a distinct species, then my earlier comment about equids in Berlin Tierpark does not apply.
 
Tim May said:
And there was a time when London Zoo held four species of rhinoceros simultaneously: Indian, Javan, Sumatran and black.
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From memory, the particular subspecies of the latter three which were held simultaneously are all now extinct, at that!
 
MonkeyBat said:
I know that St. Augustine's Alligator Farm held all the species of crocodilians, I'm not sure if they still do or not.
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If you choose not to believe species splits then yes they do keep all crocodiles. Otherwise they don't. Also, iirc the crocodile zoo in Falster Denmark also keeps all species (again, if you still don^t believe in the splits)
 
Kakapo said:
Interesting point of view, then the only pongid genera that you don't considere monotypic is Pan, I assume. I'm every time more and more convinced about the need of merging all orangutans in a single species (overall since the discovery of Tapanuli one), but from your comment I deduce that you consider gorillas too as a single species. It's a refreshing opinion fighting against a world where antitaxonomists spilt things to the infinite with tremendous exaggeration.
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Oh whoops. I literally forgot that there were more species of great ape. So sorry.
 
Zoo Antwerpen had all 8 bear species in its history.
The first bear species that the Antwerp Zoo had were American black bears and European brown bears (1848) (although a bear of an unknown species may have arrived in 1844). The last species that Antwerp Zoo had was the spectacled bear, which is now temporarily living in sister park Planckendael because of renovations to the building where the bears live. Antwerp Zoo had many subspecies of the brown bear in its collection throughout the years, such as European brown bears, Syrian brown bears, Kamchatka brown bears and Kodiak bears. Even giant pandas have once been in the collection of Antwerp Zoo.
Antwerp Zoo is also known for its large giraffe collection throughout history, they had no less than 6, with currently still 3 species in the collection: okapis, reticulated giraffes and rothschild's giraffe, although these last 2 species have been crossed with another subspecies. Zoo Antwerpen was also the last zoo with Masai giraffes in its collection.
 
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