A Guide to the Rarities of Europe

Hello all,

As I was compiling my life lists in the past few days, I came across many lesser-known rarities that are not mentioned on here very often. And so having finished, I thought that perhaps a comprehensive overview of the rarities of each zoo in Europe might be of use to both European and outside visitors, to get a better idea of the species (and subspecies) that can be seen at the various institutions across the continent.

Since subspecies are very much relevant to the conversation, I will be mentioning and including them, particularly in the case of the more 'high-profile' species, but having said this I hope to list species from varied classes, not just mammals and birds. This will hopefully give a more complete overview of the zoo as a whole and include species not often mentioned on this website.

I will hopefully get started tomorrow, working my way alphabetically through the countries. I will be using a rather broad interpretation of Europe, including Turkey and Russia.

Thanks,

AL

 

INDEX​

• AUSTRIA - post 1, post 2
• BELARUS - post 1
• BELGIUM - post 1
• BULGARIA - post 1
• CROATIA - post 1
• CYPRUS - post 1
• CZECHIA - post 1, post 2, post 3
• DENMARK - post 1
• ESTONIA - post 1
• FINLAND - post 1
• FRANCE - post 1, post 2, post 3
• GERMANY - post 1. post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5, post 6
• GREECE - post 1
• HUNGARY - post 1
• ICELAND - post 1
• ITALY - post 1
• LATVIA - post 1
• LITHUANIA - post 1
• LUXEMBOURG - post 1
• MALTA - post 1
• MOLDOVA - post 1
• MONACO - post 1
• MONTENEGRO - post 1
• NETHERLANDS - post 1, post 2
• NORWAY - post 1
• POLAND - post 1,
• PORTUGAL - post 1
• ROMANIA - post 1
• SERBIA - post 1
• SLOVAKIA - post 1
• SLOVENIA - post 1
• SPAIN - post 1, post 2, post 3
• SWEDEN - post 1
• SWITZERLAND - post 1, post 2
• UKRAINE - post 1
• UNITED KINGDOM - post 1, post 2, post 3

 

What is a rarity for you? For me it's under 5 collections but I know it is a very subjective question

 

I think we have a similar view then, although I think I will probably have to adjust the definition depending on the different factors.

I know you made a similar, much more illustrative thread on it - I hope it isn’t too similar...

 

Is Zootierliste a reputable source? If so here's marsupials

(Also not using "subspecies" as the original may be prevalent in zoos)

Derby's Wooly Possum - BestZoo

Four Eyed Opossum - Crocus Oceanarium, Papiliorama

Linneaus's Mouse Opossum - Frankfurt Zoo

Virginia Opossum - Zoopark Vilnius Ogmios miestas, TexelZoo, Chew Valley Animal Park, All Things Wild Nature Centre, Rutland Zoo

Eastern Quoll - Frankfurt Zoo, Zoo Leipzig, Bristol Zoo (although it's closing)

Tiger Quoll - Hamerton Zoo

Bear Cuscus - Pairi Daiza, Usti Zoo, Wroclaw Zoo

Short Tailed Spotted Cuscus - Ouwehands Dierenpark

Common ringtail possum - Hamerton Zoo

Squirrel Glider - Hamerton Zoo

Common Wombat - Duisburg Zoo, Hamerton Zoo

Rufous Bettong - Eifel Zoo, Jihlava Zoo, Plzen Zoo, Hamerton Zoo, Berkshire College

Agile Wallaby - Magdeburg Zoo, Tierpark Hellabrunn, Bojnice Zoo

Brown Dorcopis - Plzen Zoo, Prague Zoo, BestZoo, Ekaterinburg Zoo, Zoo Limpopo

Eastern Wallaroo - Berlin Tierpark, Duisburg Zoo, Ostrava Zoo, Prague Zoo, BestZoo (Israel also has some, not sure if you count that)

Matchie's Tree Kangaroo - Koln Zoo, Beauval Zoo

 

The idea of this thread was actually to go through every zoo and individually list their rarities, not the other way around, but I like your enthusiasm .

As I see I have explained inadequately, the idea behind this is to make it easier for people planning various zoo trips around the continent to decide which collections to visit by consulting this thread upon completion, when it should have a fairly comprehensive list of the rarities at each collection.

 

This is a great idea, and will be a massive help

 

I apologize! I misinterpreted the post I suppose

 

For the rest of this thread, I will use the following key. If the species/subspecies is bolded, that zoo is the sole holder of the species in Europe. If the species is underlined, it is one of two holders in Europe. Hopefully this system emphasizes the particular rarities and gives an idea of the different 'levels'.

Here is the first half of Austria:

Tierpark Altenfelden

A small zoo with a limited collection, but a few nice subspecies and the yellow-billed chough, an alpine specialty:

Aleutian cackling goose, Lesser Canada goose, Malayan sambar, Yellow-billed chough.

Ebbs Raritätenzoo

Another small collection that I have never heard mentioned on this website, yet holds a few small gems:

Plush-crested jay, White-throated magpie-jay, White crowned hornbill.

Reptilienzoo Forchtenstein

Another unknown collection, mainly housing reptiles as the name suggests and holding some really nice rarities, particularly on the snake front for those interested in Squamata.

Balkan emerald lizard, Bismarck ringed python, Northern Pilbara rock monitor, Paulson's pacific boa, Peringuey's adder, Prairie rattlesnake, Rough greensnake.

Turtle Island - Graz

One of the most intriguing ones on this list - come to a whole host of rarities, almost entirely within the realm of the Testudines. The collection is located in Graz, a beautiful city in Southern Austria and given its collection I would say it is a must for those who are into turtles - it is simply unrivalled in Europe when it comes to Testudines. I get the impression that the project is heavily involved in conservation, so while this means that 27 out of the 50 most endangered turtle species are found there, the place doesn't seem to have any frills - the exhibits aren't terribly naturalistic, but the institution seems to be more functional and practically-oriented than most.

If anybody on Zoochat has visited, they are welcome to share their impression of the place - to me it seems very intriguing and I hope to visit some day. Here is the list of their rarities - it is very interesting to see just how many of them are unique in Europe:

(All Reptiles): Big-headed turtle, Alabama map turtle, Barbour's map turtle, Black-knobbed map turtle, Blanding's turtle, Bog turtle, Carolina diamondback terrapin, Eastern painted turtle, Escambia map turtle, Gulf Coast box turtle, North American wood turtle, Ringed map turtle, Sabine map turtle, Texas map turtle, Yellow-blotched map turtle, Arakan forest turtle, Assam roofed turtle, Beal's four eyed turtle, Brown roofed turtle, Cochin Forest cave turtle, Crowned river turtle, East Indian box turtle, Four-eyed turtle, Indian eyed turtle, Indian roofed turtle, Japanese pond turtle, Malayan flat-shelled turtle, Northern river terrapin, Red-crowned roof turtle, Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle, Southern Vietnamese box turtle, Sulawesi forest turtle, Three-striped roofed turtle, Yellow-bellied tent turtle, Desert tortoise, Kazakhstan steppe tortoise, Namaqualand tent tortoise, Angulate tortoise, Southeastern hingeback tortoise, Texas gopher tortoise, Central American mud turtle, Florida mud turtle, Mexican giant musk turtle, Narrow bridged musk turtle, Stripe-necked mud turtle, Aubry's flapshell turtle, Black soft-shelled turtle, Burmese peacock softshell turtle, Ganges softshell turtle, Indian flapshell turtle, Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle, Indian peacock softshell turtle, Northern Indian flapshell turtle, Black spiny-necked swamp turtle, Black line toadhead turtle, Brazilian radiolated swamp turtle, Brazilian snake-necked turtle, Chaco side-necked turtle, Giant snake-necked turtle, Mary River turtle, Murray River turtle, Orinoco matamata, Parker's snake-necked turtle, Reimann's snake-necked turtle, South American snake-necked turtle, Okavango mud turtle, Turkana mud turtle, Big-headed Amazon river turtle, Madagascan big-headed sideneck turtle, Iraqi spiny-tailed lizard.

Quite an impressive list. In summary, 70 rarities, 28 of which are unique in Europe and 18 more only found in a couple of zoos on the continent.

Alpenzoo Innsbruck

Much better publicised on these forums, and for good reason - one of the best collections of not only Alpine but European wildlife in the world, and possibly one of the best representations of native fauna to be seen anywhere. The variety and breadth to the collection, including everything from tiny loaches to bison makes it the complete Alpine experience.

Here are the rarities that can be found there:

Birds: Black woodpecker, Central European long-tailed tit, Central European nuthatch, Common kingfisher, Common rock thrush, Eurasian nutcracker, Eurasian penduline tit, Eurasian wryneck, Goldcrest, Northern little ringed plover, Northern wren, Rock ptarmigan, Spotted flycatcher, Wallcreeper, Western black redstart, Yellow-billed chough,

Fish: Alborella, Danube barbel, Danube bleak, Danube roach, Danube streber, Danube whitefin gudgeon, Freshwater blenny, Italian souffia, Italian spined loach, Lake chub, Padanian goby, Pearl roach, Pigo, Souffia, Zingel

In summary, 31 rarities, 8 of which are unique in Europe and 11 more only found in a couple of zoos in the continent.

And that is half of Austria done! The second half alphabetically includes some bigger names - Tiergarten Schoenbrunn, Tiergarten Wels, Zoo Schmiding, Zoo Salzburg along with Batto's Welt der Gifte. I'll get that up as soon as possible.

PS: As a small added bonus for those from North America in particular, if you ever find yourself in the area in question, Barenwald Arbesbach holds Syrian brown bears, Erlebnis Naturschau Dornbirn holds Bank voles and Tierpark Stadt Haag holds North Chinese leopards.

 

No it's totaly different, I was just photo-documenting a trip, you're taking this rarity thing to another level. If I may suggest something :

Put the underlined, italicised or boldletter rule in your first post in a way that it's clear for everyone as on your first post about Austria, it is quite hidden and not visible.
Also, I think you should bold the species for which the zoo is the sole holder and underline the species for which the zoo is one of two (or three?) holder. The difference between the "held at 1 place" and "held at 2 (or 3)" species will be far easier to see.

A really interesting thread that will be of great help for a project of mine, thank you!

 

No problem! I have a fair bit of time on my hands between classes so it's good to know that it will come in useful! Thanks a lot for the advice - I've edited the post and will ask for the first post to be edited to make the key more accessible - hopefully it is now easier to interpret

 

Here is the key again: If the species/subspecies is bolded, that zoo is the sole holder of the species in Europe. If the species is underlined, it is one of two holders in Europe. Hopefully this system emphasizes the particular rarities and gives an idea of the different 'levels'.

Second half of Austria:

Burgfalknerei Oberkampfenberg

A fairly small collection only housing birds of prey, but it has a couple of nice species and subspecies, including two Peregrine falcon subspecies rarely found on the continent.

Birds: Eleonora's falcon, Peale's falcon, Siberian goshawk, Tundra peregrine falcon.

Reptilienzoo Happ

Another small collection, this time housing reptiles. A couple of small rarities, both vipers.

Reptiles: Hungarian meadow viper, Russian blunt-nosed viper.

Zoo Schmiding

A larger collection, with some really interesting rarities. It is notably the sole holder of a species of marmoset and along with Walsrode the only place on the continent you can see a Horned screamer.

Mammals: Black and white tassel-ear marmoset

Birds: Abbott's sulphur crested cockatoo, Ambon red lory, Diademed amazon, Goliath heron, Horned screamer, Indian white-headed griffon vulture, Mallee ringneck, Martial eagle, Northern mealy amazon, Mount Goliath Papuan lory, Red-browed amazon, Red-winged parrot (NS), Silver-eared laughingthrush, Yellow-faced parrotlet.

Reptiles: Collared flat lizard, Common flat lizard, Splendid japalure, Tanimbar blue-tongued skink.

Fish: Black velvet angelfish, Caerulean damsel, Lesson's thicklip, Lubbock's wrasse, Magenta dottyback, Onespot demoiselle, Snowball pleco.

In summary, 26 rarities, 2 of which are unique in Europe and 5 more only found in a couple of collections on the continent.

Zoo Linz

Another fairly small collection, with a few nice rarities, particularly the bluebonnet.

Eastern bluebonnet, Eastern yellow-billed hornbill, Longnose leopard lizard.

Falknerei Burg Obernberg

Tiny collection, with only a single species, which just happens to be a rarity.

Southern Harris's hawk

Reptilienzoo Nockalm

A fairly large collection comprising 120 species of reptile - however, it holds a stunning 75 rarities, meaning over 60% of its collection is held in a very small number of zoos in Europe - quite an impressive figure. It thus appears to be well worth visiting for snake enthusiasts in particular.

Reptiles: African bush viper, Alpine viper, Arabian cobra, Ashy pitviper, Arizona black rattlesnake, Baja California rattlesnake, Balkan cross adder, Banded rock rattlesnake, Basilisk rattlesnake, Black-necked spitting cobra, Bourret's pitviper, Brown forest cobra, Cane brake rattlesnake, Cascabel rattlesnake, Caucasus viper, Central African forest cobra, Central Italian asp viper, Chaco lancehead, Chinese cobra, Chinese habu, Common water cobra, Coronado Island rattlensake, Cyclades viper, Djampea Island viper, Egyptian saw-scaled viper, Four-lined ratsnake (NS), Gade's viper, Godman's montane pitviper, Great Basin gopher snake, Gumprecht's green pitviper, Hopi rattlesnake, Indonesian cobra, Kramer's pitviper, Malayan pitviper, Mangrove pitviper, McGregor's pitviper, Mexican black-tailed rattlesnake, Mexican lance-headed rattlesnake, Mexican moccasin, Northern black-tailed rattlesnake, Northern copperhead, Moroccan cobra, Northern Pacific rattlesnake, Nubian spitting cobra, Palestine saw-scaled viper, Northwest Neotropical rattlesnake, Palestinian viper, Peters's cobra, Philippine habu, Philippine cobra, Prairie rattlesnake (NS), Red diamond rattlesnake (NS), Ring-necked spitting cobra, Rosario rattlesnake, Sahara rock viper, San Bernardino mountain kingsnake, San Pedro mountain kingsnake, Sicilian viper, Slender hognose viper, Sonoran gopher snake, Southern Pacific rattlesnake, Southwestern speckled rattlesnake, Spanish asp, Striped house snake, Sumatran spitting cobra, Tamaulipan rock rattlesnake, Terciopelo, Timber rattlesnake (NS), Trans Pecos copperhead, Transcaucasian long-nosed viper, Twin-spotted rattlesnake, Venezuela lancehead, Wagner's viper, West African carpet viper, Western barred spitting cobra.

In summary, 75 rarities, of which 19 are unique in Europe and 16 more only found in a couple of zoos on the continent.

Salzburg - Haus der Natur

Another reptile and fish collection with a several nice rarities, inside a museum housing taxidermies of many more species.

Reptiles: Flat-tailed gecko, Jameson's mamba (NSS), Sakishima green lizard.

Fish: Banded ctenopoma, Caneva's blenny, False puffer, Fuzzy filefish, Green's moon tetra, Lake chub, Pastel ringwrasse, Redspotted chalcous, Steinitz's goby.

Tiergarten Hellbrunn, Salzburg

Fairly few rarities for a zoo of decent size, but a few nice ones nonetheless.

Mammals: Kalahari lion.

Reptiles: Firethroat anolis

Amphibians: Ruby-eyed tree frog, Brongersma's toad

Fish: January tetra

Welt der Gifte, Salzburg

A fairly well-publicised collection on this website due to the obvious connections, this collection also has a very high rarity to species count ratio, with some really nice species.

Reptiles: Basilisk rattlesnake, Eastern black-tailed rattlesnake, Gumprecht's green pitviper, Palestine saw-scaled viper, Ruthven's kingsnake, Southwestern speckled rattlesnake.

Amphibians: African common toad, Algerian ribbed newt, Roughskin newt.

Fish: Least killifish, Spotted Congo puffer.

Museum Niederoesterreich

A small collection with a few small rarities, including the Danube salmon or Huchen.

Amphibians: Alpine crested newt, Danube crested newt

Fish: Huchen (Danube salmon).

Vogelpark Turnersee

A surprisingly intriguing collection, with a large number of rarities including the Coleto, the Cayenne jay and the Lineated barbet.

Birds: Ashy woodpigeon, Black-faced go-away bird, Black-throated magpie jay, Blue-headed wood dove, Brown lory, Brown-breasted barbet, Brush bronzewing, Cayenne jay, Coleto, Common bluebonnet, Cordilleran parakeet, Crimson-rumped toucanet, Diademed amazon, Curl-crested aracari, Dusky turtle-dove, Erckel's francolin, Flores lorikeet, Golden crested myna, Iris lorikeet, Lineated barbet, Luzon hornbill, Magpie shrike, Moluccan king-parrot, Mombasa speckled mousebird, Moskowski's king-parrot, Ornate lorikeet, Pale-headed lorikeet, Pink-headed imperial pigeon, Purple-bellied lory, Red-breasted toucan, Red-spectacled amazon, Red-throated parakeet, Scaly-breasted lorikeet, Scaly-naped pigeon, Silver-tipped imperial pigeon, Slender-billed parakeet, Splendid glossy starling, Southern pied hornbill, Stella's lorikeet, Tres Marias amazon, Wattled guan, Western black lory, Western bronze-naped pigeon, Western piping hornbill, White-thighed hornbill, Yellow-faced myna, Yellow-footed green-pigeon, Yellow-fronted parrot, Yellowish-streaked lory (NSS)

In summary, 49 species, of which 4 are unique in Europe and 9 more are only found in a couple of collection on the continent.

Tierwelt Herbenstein

A few nice rarities here at this fairly small place.

Mammals: Missouri cougar

Birds: African silverbill, Erckel's francolin.

Tiergarten Wels

A fairly large collection, but only a couple of rarities.

Birds: Eurasian nutcracker, Eastern yellow-billed hornbill, West African pied hornbill

Wien - Haus des Meeres

A very large collection with some really interesting species, particularly on the turtle and small fish front. It is worth noting that a number of goodeid and allotoca species are kept off-show currently, so will not be listed, but there are a number of unique species there as well. I also cannot guarantee that I have all the fish rarities in the list below, since there are so many species it would take a day to trawl through them. However I can pretty much guarantee all the unique species are in the list below, not including the off-show species as mentioned above.

Mammals: Northern narrow-striped mongoose, Spix's saddle-backed tamarin.

Birds: Eastern yellow-billed hornbill, Red-billed buffalo weaver, Slender-billed red-winged starling.

Reptiles: African dwarf mud turtle, Aruba island rattlesnake, Asian yellow pond turtle, Black-knobbed mud turtle, Branderhorst's snapping turtle, Central American river turtle, Common death adder, Common toadheaded turtle, Gariau forest dragon, Gibba toadhead turtle, Incised wood turtle, Indian black turtle, Ivory Coast mud turtle, Loggerhead musk turtle, Oldham's leaf turtle, Olive tree skink, Parson's chameleon, Red-cheeked mud turtle, Sakashima green lizard, Striped mud turtle, Sulawesi water skink.

Amphibians: Anatolian newt, Coronated treefrog, Lake Urmia newt, Riobamba marsupial frog, Solomon Islands eyelash frog, White-spotted reed frog, Yucatan casque-headed tree frog.

Fish: Ambon damsel, American white-spotted filefish, Atlantic chub mackerel, Banded mogurnda, Bannertail catfish, Black cardinalfish, Blue-barred parrotfish, Brichard's synodontis, Congo eyespot cichlid, Deccan mahseer, Dusky tilefish, Evers' ricefish, Feather-faced talking catfish, Filament finned prawn goby, Fingered dragonet, Geometric moray, Giant hawkfish, Gold ring danio, Golden Congo tetra, Golden sweeper, Guyana flag cichlid, Grey grunt, Honeycomb filefish, Horseman's corydoras, Indian ricefish, Indigo barb, Indigo hamlet, Italian chub, Japanese prickleback, Lake Candidius chub, Lake Inle danio, Lattamonni, Lipstick tetra, Marbled spinefoot, Marbled swordtail, Marbled talking catfish, Matana medaka, Melon barb, Monterrey platyfish, Oriental flying gurnard, Pacific creole-fish, Painted rainbowfish, Panamic soldierfish, Red stripe barb, Redband parrotfish, Sakarya toothcarp, Sargassum trigger, Sharptooth tetra, Short-lined pyrrhulina, Slippery dick, Silver distichodus, Spotted onesided livebearer, Starry grouper, Stymphalia minnow, Swellshark, Taiwan goby, Tope shark, Xingu Krobia cichlid, Zodiac loach.

In summary, 92 species, of which 26 are unique in Europe and 19 more can only be found in a couple of colllections on the continent.

Zoologischer Garten in den Blumengarten - Wien

Only a single rarity:

Oriental white-eye

Tiergarten Schoenbrunn - Wien

Famed as one of the greatest European zoos and the world's oldest zoo, the collection in fact has surprisingly few mammalian rarities in particular. While researching and compiling the lists, I found that many of the species held by Schoenbrunn were held by 8-12 collections in Europe and thus were not eligible for rarity 'status'. This meant that they had a surprisingly low total in the end despite the quality of the zoo and its collection. Please note that, again, due to the high numbers of fish species held, the list is not entirely complete in that class. Another interesting PS is that much of the reptile collection either disappeared or went off-show in 2013, meaning that the list of reptile rarities is greatly reduced unfortunately - the same situation goes for the fish and amphibians. Finally, this year, officials at Vienna's airport confiscated a large number of chameleons from montane Kenya, so a number of small chameleon species are present on the list. However, please note that it is not certain these will be on-show or even stay at the collection so their place on the list is dubious.

Mammals: Egypt hedgehog

Birds: Bananaquit, Black-billed amazon, Blue-backed manakin, Blue-winged pitta, Eastern paradise-whydah, Green-mantled tanager, Grey-headed oliveback, Long-tailed broadbill, Orange-bellied leafbird, Mexican white-fronted amazon, Northern rockhopper penguin, Oriental white-eye, Ruby-throated bulbul, Violaceous euphonia, White-breasted woodswallow, White-fronted bee-eater.

Reptiles: Armadillo lizard, Carter's rock gecko, Common ameiva, Green pygmy chameleon, Kenya stumptail chameleon, Matschie's two horned chameleon, Nguru pygmy chameleon, Northern river terrapin, Spiny-sided chameleon, West Indian iguana, Wavy chameleon, Yellow fan-fingered gecko.

Amphibians: Black spotted rock frog, Little rock frog.

Fish: Cape kurper, Checkered pupfish, Mudminnow, San Ignacio pupfish, Shukoray cichlid, Six-banded tiger barb, Smallscale archerfish, White-spotted boxfish.

In summary, 40 rarities, of which 8 are unique in Europe and a further 11 can only be seen at a couple of institutions on the continent.

And that is Austria completed.

Below is a bubble diagram to show to location and magnitude of each collection in terms of rarities.



Next up will be Belarus, Croatia and Cyprus.

 

First of all, thanks for the work your put in.
You did not mention the unique in Europe West African pied hornbill(s?) in Wels and
the Slender-billed red-winged starling is unique to Haus des Meres as far as I know.

 

Thank you for the corrections! Both copying errors - I'm afraid there is a degree of human error to any such project but I hope I can minimise it by being more rigourous in the future. Thanks again

 

Next group of countries - Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus. You may notice that I have skipped Belgium, since it will come in its own post subsequently as it is a substantially larger zoo nation than any of the three dealt with in this post. As always, if the species/subspecies is bolded, that zoo is the sole holder of the species in Europe. If the species is underlined, it is one of two holders in Europe. Hopefully this system emphasizes the particular rarities and gives an idea of the different 'levels'.

Belarus

Minsk Zoo

A fairly large zoo, especially when you take into account just how few zoos there are in Belarus currently. Some really nice species, though only one unique species.

Mammals: Greenish acouchi, Natal multimammate mouse.

Birds: Blue-eyed cockatoo, Crimson-fronted parakeet.

Reptiles: Arizona black rattlesnake, Baird's ratsnake, Baracoa anole, Brown tree snake, Caucasian viper, Caucasus viper, Central Stimson's python, Chinese cobra, Chinese tree viper, Dumeril's monitor, Fan-Si-Pan horned pitviper, Hagen's pitviper, Huachuca mountain kingsnake, Long-nosed tree snake, Norther blue-tongued skink, Prairie rattlesnake (NSS), Ruschenberger tree boa, Russel's viper, Smallwood's anole, Stuart's milk snake, Thayer's kingsnake, Trinket ratsnake, Crossed pitviper, Yunnan bamboo snake.

Fish: Fourspine cichlid

In summary, 29 rarities, of which 1 is unique in Europe and 5 more are only found in a couple of collections on the continent.

Grodno Zoo

The other one of Belarus's two reasonably big collections, and with a fair few rarities of its own.

Mammals: Central Russian hare, Natal multimammate mouse, North African gerbil, Sichuan takin.

Birds: Bohemian waxwing, Brambling, Fiedfare.

Reptiles: Baird's ratsnake, Central Asian grey monitor, Eastern slowworm, Oriental ratsnake.

Amphibians: Moor frog

Fish: Stinging catfish

PS: for NA zoochatters, there are also Persian leopards at the zoo.

In summary, 13 rarities, of which 2 are only found in a couple of European zoos.

Bulgaria

Mostly made up of small zoos, so I will not do a full-blown format as it just makes the post longer.

Zoo Blagoevgrad: Anatolian wild boar

Zoopark Gonica: Mongolian ring-necked pheasant

Zoo Pavlikeni: Anatolian wild boar

Zoopark Plovdiv: Tantalus monkey

Sofia Zoo

A fairly large zoo with a single (pretty major) unique species but not much else.

Mammals: Philippine palm civet, White-tailed mongoose.

PS: Again for NA zoochatters, also has Persian leopards.

Croatia

Following a similar format to the Bulgarian zoos other than when the collection is major enough to warrant full format:

Baska Akvarij: Atlantic stargazer, Giant goby, Starry weever, Streaked gurnard.

Aquatika Karlovac

Actually quite a nice collection, with a few really nice rarities. I particularly like how they place an emphasis on endangered European freshwater, an area I have personally felt quite strongly about for a while. Might well be worth checking out for anybody nearby who keeps a fish life list or is interested.

Fish: Alborella, Arctic char, Cikola riffle dace, Danube roach, Italian barbel, Italian chub, Many-scaled dace, Mudminnow, Neretva bleak, Neretva chub, Padanian goby, Pearl roach, Spring pijor.

Aquarium Fort Verudela: Bighead carp

Akvarij na otvorenom: Brown ray, Piked dogfish

Aquarium Split: Sicklefin lemon shark

Zoo Zagreb

The largest and most interesting collection in Croatia located in the capital. It notably holds Olms, but in fact houses far more, including multiple unique mammal species and a large reptile collection.

Mammals: Bangka prevost's squirrel, Balkan snow vole, Cactus deermouse, Hispid cotton rat, Long-tailed field mouse, (North Chinese leopard), Shaw's jird, Typical striped grass mouse.

Reptiles: African bush viper, Balkan whip snake, Balkans meadow viper, Black pine snake, Black whip snake, Black-lined toadhead turtle, Caspian whip snake, Central Turkish mountain viper, Common variable skink, Cyclades viper, Dahl's whipsnake, Eastern kingsnake, Fiji short-crested iguana, Eyespot gecko, Gray's monitor, Horned adder, Jamaican giant anole, Karaganda pitviper, Kim Howell's dwarf gecko, Madagascan big-headed side-necked turtle, Mangrove pitviper, March's palm pitviper, Mexican black-tailed rattlesnake, Mexican giant musk turtle, Negros water monitor, Rough-scaled death adder, South American bushmaster, Yellow-throated plated lizard.

Amphibians: Chapa bug-eyed frog, Olm, Treasury Island tree frog

Fish: Least snakehead.

Cyprus

Kouklia Snake Park: Asian racer, Eastern Montpellier snake, Large whip snake, Levantine viper (NS)

Limassol Municipal Zoo: Asian racer, Common slender mongoose, Cyprian mouflon, Large whip snake.

Melios Pet Centre, Nicosia: Greater Upland Goose

Pafos Zoo

The best zoo in Cyprus by quite some margin (which isn't really saying much unfortunately), Pafos zoo used to just be a bird park. As a result, it holds some really interesting bird species, as well as some nice reptile rarities as well. While the birds are predominantly held in nondescript cages, the collection at times makes up for its husbandry shortcomings.

Mammals: Cyprian mouflon (not listed on ZTL but 90% sure these are still on display)

Birds: Adelaide rosella, Ambon king parrot, Arabian barn owl, Ashy starling, Barbary partridge, Black francolin, Bobwhite quail (cubanensis), Bronze-winged parrot, Cream-bellied fruit dove, Cyprian jay, Cypriot chukar partridge, Erckel's francolin, Gang-gang cockatoo, Glossy black cockatoo, Goliath palm cockatoo, Great spotted cuckoo, Greater Bornean crested fireback, Grey-breasted francolin, Hispaniolan amazon, Javan moustached parakeet, Koklass pheasant (NSS), Long-billed black cockatoo, Mindanao wrinkled hornbill, Painted parakeet, Peaceful dove, Philby's partridge, Rose-fronted parakeet, Short-billed black cockatoo, South-Eastern European goldfinch, Thick-billed parrot, White-eared parakeet, Yellow-fronted parrot, Yellow-tailed black cockatoo.

Reptiles: Asian racer, Black spitting cobra, Black-necked spitting cobra, Cane-brake rattlesnake, Coastal carpet python, Cyprus whip snake, Dahl's whip snake, Levantine viper, Long-nosed tree snake, Mozambique spitting cobra, Peach-throated monitor, Peters's cobra.

Stavros dis Psokas: Cyprian mouflon

Not doing maps for any of these, or at least not yet. Next will be Belgium, and then beyond that lies Czechia (Prague and Plzen )

 

This is awesome, great stuff Amur leopard! Keep up the good work. By the way, is everything in plzen considered a rarity?

 

Thank you, I hope to keep going but then I see how many zoos there are in Germany...

Plzen is quite an incredible place in the sense that it has such a ridiculous number of rarities (particularly in the rodent department) that virtually no source of information can ever be 100% accurate. Furthermore, a good deal of the collection is behind the scenes, so that adds a further dimension of complication to the whole endeavour. Prague doesn't have the same number of species, but is also well known for its large and unique collection, as are both Berlins and places like Walsrode, Moscow and even Pairi Daiza to an extent.

 

Are you just using ZooTierListe or any other sources?

 

If Plzen had Bryozoans I would be off there in a jiffy, sounds like a place that I would find interesting!

 

Mainly Zootierliste, but also a few other sources, namely occasionally checking up threads on here, my own knowledge of the place (where applicable) and consulting the zoo's own website and social media platforms for more info. However, generally, Zootierliste is enough, although I still do check if the species is on or off show or whether it has been seen in a while.