ABQ BioPark Zoo ABQ BioPark Zoo (aka Rio Grande Zoo) Species List - Nov 2021

Rio Grande Zoo Species

Each line indicates one enclosure, unless preceded by a colon (in which case they are separated by / ). Species that were seen are marked in regular text, species that were unseen are marked in italics. Domestic species are listed but not counted in the total.

Visited November 2021

Outdoor Habitats (not associated with any larger complex)
Caribbean Flamingo, Scarlet Ibis
Birds of the Americas Aviary: Greater Roadrunner, Burrowing Owl, Sun Conure, Gambel’s Quail, Hyacinth Macaw
Mexican Gray Wolf
Red-and-green Macaw, Blue-and-gold Macaw
Aldabra Tortoise
Asian Elephant

Penguin Chill (3 spp)
King Penguin, Gentoo Penguin, Macaroni Penguin

Raptor Aviaries (5 spp)
Andean Condor
White-necked Raven
Great Horned Owl
Golden Eagle
Steller’s Sea Eagle

Small Primates Area – Closed for Renov

Birds of the Islands Aviary (12 spp)
Wrinkled Hornbill
Bali Myna, Superb Starling
Cuban Amazon, Red Lory, (unsigned) Rainbow Lorikeet
Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Nicobar Pigeon
Australian King Parrot, Princess of Wales Parakeet, Socorro Dove

Reptile Complex (Outside)
(all unsigned) Red-legged Seriema, Hyacinth Macaw, Blue-and-gold Macaw, Scarlet Macaw
American Alligator, Saltwater Crocodile

Reptile Complex (Inside) (47 spp)

Spoiler: Reptile House Species

Grand Cayman Blue Iguana (x2)
Komodo Dragon
Bismarck Ringed Python
Cuban Knight Anole
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
Timor Python
Asian Water Monitor
Quince Monitor
Taylor’s Cantil
Cottonmouth
Matamata
Plumed Basilisk
McGregor’s Pitviper
Black-necked Garter Snake (Thamnophis cyrtopsis)
Pan’s Box Turtle
Eastern Green Mamba
Red Spitting Cobra
Spotted Turtle
Gray-banded Kingsnake
New Mexican Milk Snake (L. t. celaenops)
White-lipped Pitviper
Green Anaconda
Black-tailed Rattlesnake
Central American Jumping Pitviper
Mangshan Pitviper
King Cobra
Chuckwalla
Crested Gecko
Wheeler’s Knob-tailed Gecko
Black Mamba
Woma Python
Forest Cobra
Krefft’s River Turtle
Texas Horned Lizard
Tentacled Snake
Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Green Tree Python
Tamaulipan Rock Rattlesnake (Crotalus morulus)
Gila Monster
Western/Ornate Box Turtle
Standing’s Day Gecko
Chinese Alligator
Eyelash Pitviper
Northern Mexican Garter Snake (Thamnophis eques megalops)
Rio Grande Cooter
Red-footed Tortoise

Crocodile House (Closed?)
Can't recall if I couldn't get access or if I just forgot to go in. Species last recorded were Saltwater Crocodile and African Slender-snouted Crocodile.

Apes Area
Gorilla
Sumatran Orangutan
Siamang
Golden Lion Tamarin (cage off path attached to staff-only building, but signage was present along path)

Australian Area – Closed for Renov

Africa
Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur
Capybara
Klipspringer
Warthog
River Hippo
African Aviary Complex: Saddle-billed Stork / Cape Griffon Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, Marabou Stork, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill / Wattled Crane
Spotted Hyena
Painted Dog
Cheetah
Chimpanzee
White Rhino
Emu
Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra
Giraffe (didn't note type)

Carnivores (12 spp)
Malayan Tiger
Puma
Serval
Ocelot
Snow Leopard
Meerkat
Binturong
Bobcat
Red Kangaroo
Lion
Jaguar
Polar Bear

Life on a Limb (15 spp)
Hellbender
Magnificent Tree Frog
Dyeing Poison Dart Frog, (unsigned) Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog
Fuding Fire Belly Newt
Tomato Frog
African Bullfrog
Two-toed Amphiuma
Sharp-ribbed Newt
Barred Tiger Salamander
Orange-eyed Tree Frog
Panamanian Golden Frog
Golden Mantella
Colorado River Toad
Amazon Milk Frog
(unsigned) Green-and-black Poison Dart Frog (again)

Mammals: 30
Birds: 38
Reptiles: 50 (maybe 51)
Amphibians: 15
Total (excluding domestics): 133 species


Link for Review: Slender Lorises, Duct Tape, and Whataburger: A Fish on Dry Land

 

I'm surprised they would keep roadrunners with Gambel's Quail - roadrunners eat small birds. Perhaps the quail are a bit too big?

 

This is an interesting roadrunner trait, and definitely true - plenty of confirmed reports of roadrunner predation - but doesn't seem to be super common. I've heard they typically leave quail alone, although quail chicks is another matter. Many zoos keep them successfully with other birds, including fairly small ones, with predation seemingly very low.

 

ZooAmerica also keeps roadrunner and gambel's quail together (along with burrowing owl and desert tortoise), they've had the mix for years.

The snake list is a bit disappointing, I was hoping for more rattlesnake species, especially. Some other rare species, though.

 

The zoo's list of species isn't very impressive, but if one were to include the other two zoological attractions under the ABQ BioPark umbrella (aquarium and BUGarium) then it would be interesting to find out a total species count.

 

I've kept roadrunners and burrowing owls in an enclosure together. The burrowing owls bred in there; the newly hatched owlets would be perfect prey size for roadrunners, but they don't emerge from the burrow until their almost adult size, so we never had problems on that front. I imagine you could keep roadrunners with quails without problems, as long as you weren't trying to breed the quail.

 

I hadn't realized the zoo demolished their tropical hall, which must have really cut into their small mammal and bird holdings; for example I remember seeing Andean tinamou in there. Of course neither of those groups is particularly popular and the building was ridiculously hot and humid, so I'm sure locals don't miss it much.

Worth noting that the Rattlesnake Museum is also in Albuquerque so it's understandable that they'd focus on other snakes instead.

 

Yes, it was demolished to make way for Penguin Chill. I never saw the tropical hall myself, but the penguin exhibit is great so I could see it having been a worthwhile trade for the zoo.

 

I saw the Tropical Hall just over a decade ago and here is an excerpt from my Snowleopard's 2010 Road Trip thread:

Tropical America – An indoor rainforest with prehensile-tailed porcupines, golden lion tamarins, cotton-top tamarins, stingrays, spider monkeys and many species of birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. This pales in comparison to the mega-jungles in other American zoos, but taken on its own is of decent quality. There is an average-sized capybara enclosure directly outside the building, and an excellent Aldabra tortoise exhibit around the corner.

Here are some photos (from 2010) of Tropical America:

Cotton-top Tamarin/Sun Conure exhibit:



Visitor pathway:



Variegated Spider Monkey exhibit:



On a side note, back in 2010 the zoo had a pinniped pool with 3 species (California Sea Lion/Harbour Seal/Grey Seal) and the pool is still shown on the zoo's current map even though the pinnipeds are long gone.

 

Why were the elephants off exhibit when you visited?

 

The former pinniped pools are part of the Australia construction zone; the master plan renditions indicates it will be redone to house little blue penguins. It was not accessible when I passed it.

Either because I didn't find them or because they had been shifted off-exhibit for the evening. I was in a rush to finish the place and only got to the elephant exhibit 30 minutes before close. There were keepers cleaning the enclosure I saw so I moved on; I only realized yesterday that there's a second viewing area I missed that looks into a separate enclosure, so maybe they were in there. There wasn't any indication that they weren't visible at some point in the day.

 

No Reeve's muntjac?

 

Didn't note any.