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Zoo Highlights of 2014!

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by ThylacineAlive, 11 Dec 2014.

  1. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Well it's that time of year again and I noticed no one had made one of these threads yet so here I am!

    So what were your zoo/wild/animal-related highlights of 2014?

    ~Thylo:cool:
     
  2. cloudedleopard

    cloudedleopard Well-Known Member

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    Visiting new zoos!-
    CA
    Living Desert
    Orange County Zoo
    Santa Ana Zoo
    OH
    Stearns Homestead
    Lagoon Deer Park
    African Safari Wildlife Park
    Bringing my total of zoos from 21 to 27!
     
  3. Parrotsandrew

    Parrotsandrew Well-Known Member

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    I have visited only 5 collections this year (although that includes 175 days on which I have set foot inside Sewerby Zoo), so my choice is limited. My top three highlights would be:-

    The arrival of Raccoon Dogs at Sewerby.

    Seeing Chico the Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo perform in the bird show at Flamingo Land - the first time I have seen him in action since 2004 at Paignton. I attended all three bird shows on the day too.

    My visit to the Jungle Zoo at Cleethorpes - a very pleasant day out and lots of opportunities for photographing parrots.
     
  4. kiang

    kiang Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Spotted cuscus arriving at RSCC
     
  5. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I had a pretty ordinary zoo year. I only visited 23 collections, listed below in order of visitation.

    Yadanabon Zoo (Burma)
    Naypyitaw Zoo (Burma)
    Kandawgyi Fresh Water Fish Garden (Burma)
    Dusit Zoo (Thailand)
    Alipore Zoo (India)
    Assam State Zoo (India)
    Nameri Pigmy Hog Conservation Centre (India)
    Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand)
    Penang Bird Park (Malaysia)
    Singapore Night Safari (Singapore)
    Singapore River Safari (Singapore)
    S.E.A. Aquarium (Singapore)
    Jurong Bird Park (Singapore)
    Melaka Zoo (Malaysia)
    Melaka Bird Park (Malaysia)
    Melaka Crocodile Park (Malayasia)
    Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary (Malaysia)
    Lok Kawi Wildlife Park (Malaysia [Sabah])
    Melbourne Zoo (Australia)
    Melbourne SeaLife Aquarium (Australia)
    Melbourne Museum (Australia)
    Moonlit Sanctuary (Australia)
    Willowbank Wildlife Reserve (New Zealand)
     
  6. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I don't like your definition of "ordinary":p

    ~Thylo:cool:
     
  7. zooboy28

    zooboy28 Well-Known Member

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    So boring. :p
     
  8. zooboy28

    zooboy28 Well-Known Member

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    I had several zoo/wildlife highlights!

    -I went to the USA and Canada for the first time and visited a heap of zoos, and saw a heap of new species (both captive and wild). Captive highlights were Pangolin and Pronghorn, while wild species of particular note were Orca, Chipmunk and Hummingbird.
    -I visited the tropical Northern Territory and Queensland (Australia) and saw a lot of awesome native birds, as well as a couple of the local zoos.
    -I spent considerable time in Outback South Australia and Northern Territory, catching fish and seeing many wild birds, mammals and reptiles.
    -I visited my favourite zoo, Auckland Zoo (New Zealand) and saw the new Tasmanian Devil enclosure.
    -All in all I visited 13 new zoos, taking me to a total of 114 zoos.
    -And I met my first two ZooChatters!

    New Zealand zoos:
    -One new mammal species has been imported this year (Caracal), but none have been lost, so for the first time in a few years the number of mammals in NZ zoos has increased (since 2010 there have been 4 new species, but eight lost)!
    -Tiger cubs for Hamilton Zoo - extremely good news and it must have been very rewarding for the staff after having non-breeding animals for so many years.
     
  9. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    My year was pretty fun and eventful. I only visited four new collections this year and only had 8 collection visits and total but it was still a very nice year considering.

    New Collections:
    -Adventure Aquarium
    -Philadelphia Zoo
    -Ponce Inlet Marine Science Center
    -St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

    Existing Collections:
    -Bronx Zoo (2 visits)
    -Central Park Zoo
    -Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo

    Animal-wise I saw lots of great new species though my sightings were more impressive on the captive side than the wild side.

    Highlight Mammals:
    -Red-Shanked Douc Langur (Philly)
    -Feathertail Glider (Philly)
    -Striped Possum (Philly)
    -Red-Capped Mangabey (Philly)
    -Giant Otter (Philly)
    -Black-and-Rufous Elephant Shrew (Philly)
    -Short-Beaked Echidna (Philly)
    -Hoffmann's Two-Toed Sloth (Philly)
    -Javan Slow Loris (Bronx)
    -Eastern Bobcat (Wild)

    Highlight Birds:
    -Secretary Bird (Philly)
    -Javan Rhinoceros Hornbill (Philly)
    -Guam Rail (Philly)
    -Hawai'i 'Amakihi (Philly)
    -Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise (Bronx)
    -Sri Lankan Junglefowl (Central Park)
    -American Swallow-Tailed Kite (Ponce Inlet)
    -Piping Plover (Wild)

    Highlight Reptiles:
    -Australian Freshwater Crocodile (St. Augustine)
    -Australian Saltwater Crocodile (St. Augustine)
    -Mugger Crocodile (St. Augustine)
    -West African Slender-Snouted Crocodile (St. Augustine)
    -Smooth-Fronted Caiman (St. Augustine)
    -Scrub Python (St. Augustine)
    -Bog Turtle (Philly)
    -Malagasy Tree Boa (Philly)
    -Solomon Islands Tree Boa (Philly)
    -Central American River Turtle (Philly)

    Highlight Fishes:
    -Great Hammerhead (Adventure)
    -Mahi-Mahi (Adventure)
    -Atlantic Goliath Grouper (Adventure)

    I certainly look forward to seeing where *2015 takes me!:D

    *Wherever it does, I certainly hope it's on a hoverboard;)

    -Thylo:cool:
     
  10. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I met six Zoochatterers this year (three of them lifers), which brings my total to nine.

    Of the 23 collections I visited during the year, 15 of them were new for me.

    Main highlights of zoo animals seen would be Shortridge's langur in the Yadanabon Zoo (Burma), pigmy hogs at Nameri (India), Indian giant flying squirrel at Dusit Zoo (Thailand), drongo cuckoos at the Penang Bird Park (Malaysia), Sunda pangolins at Singapore Night Safari and at Lok Kawi (Sabah), cocks-of-the-rock at Jurong Bird Park (Singapore), and yellow-bellied gliders at Moonlit Sanctuary (Australia). Lots of others as well, but those I think stand out most in my mind.

    Main zoo highlights:

    Penang Bird Park
    Jurong Bird Park (always a highlight, no matter how many times one may visit!)
    Singapore River Safari
    Moonlit Sanctuary
     
  11. Hvedekorn

    Hvedekorn Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Leipzig Zoo was my highlight, I guess. I was very impressed with the zoo itself, but somewhat disappointed that I didn't manage to see a lot of the animals - especially the pangolins. I made a return trip to their exhibit several times, but no luck... Grr, I have to return some other time because I just have to see them. I didn't manage to see the giant otters, leopards, owl-faced monkeys, horseshoe crabs (both species), Thomson's gazelles, red kangaroos and tammar wallabies among others either. I guess it was because the zoo was completely crowded that day - some animals probably hid on purpose.

    Second would be Dresden Zoo - it's not a very big zoo but it's a very pleasant one despite that it isn't mentioned often on here. And the visiting circumstances were much better: It wasn't crowded at all, and I managed to see almost all the animals (the only ones I'm annoying on having missed were the Siberian weasels).

    Otherwise, I haven't visited too many zoos this year. I bought my first car in May and have used it for a couple of visits, but unfortunately, Danish zoo prices are very steep, and I'm not a rich man, so it's not something I can do every weekend.
     
  12. TheMightyOrca

    TheMightyOrca Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Haven't gone to any new zoos this year yet, but I'm going to the Audubon Zoo and Aquarium in New Orleans next week.
     
  13. AverageWalrus

    AverageWalrus Well-Known Member

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    When I went to adventure aquarium in early November, I kept trying to get a good shot of the hammerhead and mahi mahi, i never did, also, where in Shark Realm did you see the Grouper (I kept looking for 20+ minutes but never saw it)
     
  14. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Yeah I didn't do too well photo-wise there. I just happened to see it at the very last viewing window when I was leaving the exhibit. But here's the trick, it's a smaller one. So if you were searching for this big huge grouper that's probably why you didn't get anything.

    ~Thylo:cool:
     
  15. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    As I mentioned already in another threat ( http://www.zoochat.com/25/vogelcommandos-anniversary-348032/?highlight=vogelcommandos ) mine highlight of the year was visiting Mexico at the beginning of the year with my first wild Hummingbirds, Trogons and many other wildlife I had never seen before in the wild and in many cases even not in captivity.
    I visited 28 zoos, 15 of which were new to me :
    Crococun - Cancun, Mexico ( new )
    Xcaret - Mexico ( new )
    Aquarium Cancun - Mexico ( new )
    Aquatopia - Belgium ( new, 2 times )
    Antwerp Zoo - Belgium ( 2 times )
    Neeltje Jans - the Netherlands ( new )
    Gaia Zoo - the Netherlands ( new, 2 times )
    Mondo Verde - the Netherlands ( new )
    Aqua Zoo Leerdam - the Netherlands ( new )
    Passiflora hoeve - the Netherlands ( new )
    Apenheul - the Netherlands ( 2 times )
    Planckendael - Belgium
    Oliemeulen - the Netherlands ( 3 times )
    Kasteelpark Born - the Netherlands ( new )
    Faunapark Flakkee - the Netherlands
    Dierenrijk - the Netherlands ( new )
    De Bosruiter - the Netherlands ( new )
    Orchideeën hoeve - the Netherlands ( new )
    Aqua Zoo Leeuwarden - the Netherlands ( new )
    Berkenhof's Tropical Zoo - the Netherlands
    Zoo Veldhoven - the Netherlands
    Wisbroek Breeding Center - the Netherlands ( new )
    Best Zoo - the Netherlands
    Vogelopvang Breda - the Netherlands
    Rotterdam Zoo - the Netherlands
    Uilen- en Dierenpark De Paay - the Netherlands
    Zie-ZOO - the Netherlands
    Avifauna - the Netherlands
     
  16. AverageWalrus

    AverageWalrus Well-Known Member

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    Thats probably why I didnt see it, im used to seeing the Huge Atlantic Goliaths at Atlantis, Paradise Island
     
  17. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Oh well at least you'd seen the species before, and several times by the sound of it. My sighting was a lifetick for me. And it was made extra-special by the fact that the species died-out at the Newport Aquarium about a month before my visit in 2013.

    ~Thylo:cool:
     
  18. Maguari

    Maguari Never could get the hang of Thursdays. 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Ah, a lovely list thread. :)

    So far this year I've been to 36 zoos (43 visits total) - I'm hoping to add one or two more before the New Year, but these won't be 'lifer' zoos. Last two years were 53 and 54 zoos, so this is down (for reasons that will become clear when we examine the wildlife highlights!).

    The brand-new zoos for me this year were:

    Zoologico Simon Bolivar (San Jose, Costa Rica)
    Arenal Natura (La Fortuna, Costa Rica)
    Monteverde Bat Jungle (Monteverde, Costa Rica)
    SeaLife Manchester
    Pairi Daiza
    GaiaZoo Kerkrade
    Aachen Zoo
    Tierpark Hamm
    Solinger Tier- und Vogelpark (Solingen, Germany)
    Tierpark Fauna (Solingen, Germany)
    Olmense Zoo
    Parc Zoologique de Lille
    Sewerby Hall Zoo

    A bit of a mixed bunch - the three that made the biggest impression were the huge Pairi Daiza, the surprisingly diverse Olmense and the fascinating Bat Jungle (see my thoughts here: http://www.zoochat.com/2145/view-bat-jungle-building-21-04-a-366746/ )

    Zoo animal highlights (off the top of my head, so in no particular order, and I'll probably end up editing something in later):

    Balabac Chevrotain arriving at Chester
    Polar Bear arriving at YWP
    Continuing antelope influx at Whipsnade
    The swimming tapir at Pairi Daiza
    Five 'lifer' mammals (and one second sighting) in one enclosure at the Bat Jungle
    'Completing' peccaries with Chacoans in Berlin
    Seeing Fanaloka at RSCC
    Finally seeing Slender-horned Gazelles on European soil at the third attempt
    Five new shark species at Aquatopia



    It's been a very busy year for wildlife, with a conscious effort to see more UK wildlife and a county bat group membership combining with two big international trips meaning I've seen over 550 bird species, over 70 mammal species and around 40 herps so far. If you're desperate, they're all listed in the Big Year thread! Highlights split into 'Home' and 'Away' legs - 10 each:

    Home - UK Wildlife Highlights - no particular order:

    Harbour Porpoises at three separate locations
    European Otters at Leighton Moss
    Glossy Ibis at Frampton
    Myotis near Matlock - a chilly evening observing a trapping study yielding Natterer's, Daubenton's and Whiskered Bats
    Swarming Soprano Pipistrelles on an overnight bat watch
    Red-backed Shrike at Bempton
    Sooty Shearwaters off Bridlington
    Long-tailed Duck at Leighton Moss
    A hard-won Mountain Hare in the Dark Peak
    Leisler's Bat and Noctules in bat boxes

    Away - International Wildlife Highlights - alphabetical order:

    Beisa Oryx
    Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth
    Ethiopian Wolf
    Lammergeier
    Mantled Howler Monkey
    Mountain Nyala
    Neotropical River Otter
    Nile Crocodile
    Resplendent Quetzal
    Sungrebe

    Ask me again later and you'll probably get a different set, but was keeping it strictly to 10 each.

    There's time yet, of course, so I may be back with an update!
     
  19. carlos55

    carlos55 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I placed photos for 3 mexican animal collections new to zoochat; acuario inbursa, zoologico nezahualcoyotl and zoomat - zoologico miguel angel del toro. Also put photos on Chapultepec zoo, Los Coyotes zoo, San Juan de aragon zoo and Guadalajara zoo. I also added to the Houston zoo gallery and have some Brookfield zoo pictures that i will place later. It was a good year in general.
     
  20. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Year's best: writing and publishing my southwest zoo book.

    Year's worst: marketing and selling my southwest zoo book.