The American Southwest/Mexico is a region that you sometimes find great representation for in zoos, other times you won't. Most often, there are a couple of terrariums for animals such as gila monsters, rattlesnake species, etc. What are some of the best representations you have seen of this arid landscape? What rare species from this reigon have you seen at zoos?
The Sonora desert house in Plzen, although far from perfect and not necessarily good looking, has a nice collection. Species held according to LaughingDove in 2015 : Southern Flying Squirrel, Hispid Cotton Rat, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Gila Monster, Desert Spiny Lizard, Giant Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis), Great Plains Toad, San Lucan Rock Lizard, Chuckwalla, Green Toad, Blind Cave Tetra, Mexican Tetra, Mexican Redknee Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi), Giant Centipede (Scolopendrida sp.), Burrowing Owl, Collared Lizard, Mexican Mud Turtle, Western Hog-nosed Snake, Eastern Tiger Salamander (A. t. tigrinum), California King Snake. To this, I remember a Red-tailed hawk aviary outside and a Bighorn sheep enclosure close by. Picture by @LaughingDove The best representation in Europe is probably Burgers desert. The exhibit is very good looking and the species selection is very nice, with Bighorn sheep, many very well chosen bird species. Photos by @lintworm
I think the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is unrivaled here. I haven't visited yet but am hoping to change that this spring. I like the Sonoran-themed aviary in the Feathers and Scales building at Brookfield Zoo. It is small but nice and contains White-winged Dove, Gambel's Quail, Greater Roadrunner, and (formerly) Curve-billed Thrasher. This is the only time I've ever seen these species in a zoo (or in the wild, for that matter).
It is a pretty nice part of Feathers and Scales. San Diego Zoo formerly had some Southwest animals in Africa Rocks, but it may have been just the javelinas or peccaries.
Elmwood Park Zoo has a very nice Southwestern/Mexican collection. One exhibit there is Trail of the Jaguar, a indoor/outdoor complex focusing on wildlife of the Sonoran Desert, mainly carnivores. Here's a picture of the entrance sign. My photo There is a nice outdoor exhibit for Cougars and large outdoor exhibits with streams for Jaguars and an Ocelot. There is also viewing into the Jaguars' holding space. There's a large mixed-species exhibit for Montezuma Quails, a Burrowing Owl, Common Chuckwallas, and Desert Tortoises. They also have a few small reptile/small mammal exhibits which include White-throated Woodrats and Yarrow's Spiny Lizards. Here's an example of a big cat enclosure. This is the Jaguar exhibit. Here are some of the smaller exhibits. Above two photos were taken by @blospz
And of course I can't forget about ZooAmerica. Here's some of the animals their Great Southwest area has. Ocelot Common Vampire Bat Arizona Mountain Kingsnake Mexican Beaded Lizard Gila Monster Greater Roadrunner Thick-billed Parrot White-nosed Coatu Common Chuckwalla Burrowing Owl Blue Spiny Lizard Desert Tortoise Ringtail Nine-banded Armadillo Sidewinder Gambel's Quail Desert Box Turtle Pacific Gopher Snake Rosy Boa They have even more that are elsewhere in the park as well.
El Paso Zoo's Chihuahuan Desert exhibit benefits from being an interpretation of the local flora and fauna
There is a big part of the Desert Dome at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha that is dedicated to the American southwest. At least 1/3rd of the Dome features animals/plants from the Sonoran.
The Living Desert has their Eagle canyon section The section has Mexican wolves, kit foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, badgers, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle and peccaries. It does include Caracals for some reason and island foxes which are close the Sonoran desert but aren't technically a part of it because they live on the coast. Nearby there are also pronghorns, bighorn sheep, jaguars, coatis, coyotes, desert pupfish, a desert aviary, and desert tortoises.
Stone Zoo has a nice collection of southwestern animals in the Treasures of the Sierra Madre exhibit, as well as the mexican grey wolf habitat.
I found a link with photos of the exhibits right after it opened Photographing the El Paso Zoo Chihuahuan Desert Exhibits and Animals
That mountain is sensational, and the way that the jaguar exhibit overlooks the pronghorn is very nice.
