Brown hyaena (Hyaena brunnea)

Good photo.

@TeaLovingDave Are the hyenas no longer on public display?

@TeaLovingDave I think that @Giant Eland is beginning to put some of my famous, multi-zoo days to shame! He and I should team up one day and visit zoos, fight crime and hang out.

@TeaLovingDave Hang on. Ostrava, Zlin, Brno, Jihlava and Prague on the same day? Why?

@TeaLovingDave And the fact that he used this approach throughout his entire European trip means @Giant Eland must be the luckiest man in the Northern Hemisphere to have actually seen every single possible species at every collection! Impressive work

~Thylo

@TeaLovingDave Is partially right.

My goal is photograph as many different possible mammal species as possible. The Zooing part of my European trip was limited to 15 days, so I crammed in as many species as possible. I pretty much conquered all of Europe aside from the occasional rodent or bat too far out of the way of my path. I only sought out past seen carnivores when I happened to have a little extra time. Most of the carnivore focus was for species I had never seen before anyways.

Ostrava was for Hyraxes and Jihlava was for primate species. But Zlin, Brno and Prague all had special carnivores for me! It was also just a fun challenge to myself and the only way I could begin the following day in Plzen at 7am, spend a decent chunk of time there (one of my all time favorite zoos) and still have time (barely!!!) to drive to Schmiding Zoo in Austria and then to Erlangen, Germany to visit a friend.

@ThylacineAlive I was indeed extremely lucky to not have any of my new targets end up as no-shows (often thanks to the help of zoo staff) or any behind the scenes species refused (entirely thanks to the help of very gracious zoo staff). This even includes 3 close calls where I arrived at zoos right after closing and still was allowed in.

@Giant Eland What were the three zoos that allowed you in after closing out of curiosity?

~Thylo