Animals You Wish Your Local Zoos Would Acquire

For this thread, you can list animals you wish your local zoo would acquire and where they would go in the zoo or which animal you would replace them with. For my local zoo, the Franklin Park Zoo, I wish they would acquire okapis and yellow backed duikers to put in the red river hog exhibit. (I wouldn’t want to get rid of the Red River Hogs though because I love when they come up to the fence to say hi )

 

For my local zoo (Beauval, the biggest in France), I hope they would acquire Sand Cats and Hoopoes.
They aren't really rare but I love these species.

 

I wish Jacksonville would bring back African Buffalo now that the single Okapi Kimacho just passed away. They have a herd at White Oak that they could a pair or trio from. Also, with their Amur Leopard Nicolai passing away as well earlier this year it'd be nice to get a pair of Africans to refill that exhibit space. Then the zoo could go back to having all of the Big 5 like in the early-mid 2000's.

 

I hope Beale Wildlife Park bring in pygmy hippos. I do see these animals fairly regularly as there are a few zoos near me with them, but they have an empty exhibit that would be perfect for them or tapirs, though the latter is more likely.

 

I'm not going to do Omaha, because most everything I'd like to see them obtain have been held in the past, and I already made a list on another thread. However, I most certainly want to do a list for Blank Park. It's a nice little zoo, but with Omaha about the same distance away, I usually go there. I feel like the following animals would gain my attention and give me more reasons to visit.

Dholes - As they become more common in zoos, I feel like Blank Park could obtain a few.
Cheetahs - There's plenty of space in the African complex, they could most certainly fit in
Chimpanzees - Maybe a bit of a stretch, but there is some room behind the African complex that is unused. If the zoo could get the money, chimpanzees would be a great addition to the zoo. They are not at Omaha and would give reason to travel to Des Moines. (plus there are statues of them by the eagles)
Dingos - An easily obtainable species that would add more interest to the Australian walkabout
Koalas - I'd like to clarify these wouldn't start out permanent, but as a seasonal attraction. Omaha doesn't have this species, and people love koalas, it would definitely bring more people to the zoo. In the very far out case that the zoo could get these permanently, they would bring so much attention to the zoo.
Wolves, Bears, Bison, ect) - Exterminated animals from the state would not only provide conservation value, but would be great for Iowa's winters, that is if they zoo can find the space to fit them in.
Honey badgers - Despite being on the zoo's entrance sign, they are not in the zoo. They'd be a cool species to have the zoo acquire.

 

Any parrot species. My zoo previously had Hyacinth macaws however they are no longer on display. Now there are none.

 

Based upon Denver’s possibly outdated Master Plan, it would be great It Denver acquired some Asian large carnivores such as Amur Leopards, Snow Leopards, and Dholes. More marsupial variety, and species from Oceania would be great to see as well!

 

I agree with you on this one. For Franklin Park zoo (my "4th home zoo"), I'd like to see them get:
- Okapi
- Yellow-backed Duiker
- Nyala or other African Antelope (for savanna habitat)
- An otter species (a new habitat behind the children's zoo)
- More high quality exhibit birds (the bird's world collection has become lackluster, and Tropical Forest could use some more freeflight birds as well, birds such as birds of paradise, beeaters, blue bellied rollers, green woodhoopoe, buffalo weavers, maleos, pheasant pigeons, etc. would be good choices)
- Maned Wolves or Dholes would be better replacements than the hyenas.
- Southern Cassowary (the Australia section could use some more animals)
- Koala (another new animal for the Australia section)
- Polar Bear or another bear species (A new habitat behind the bird's world would be a welcome addition, and I think this would be a good choice)
- Southern White Rhino (reinstate them to the giraffe exhibit plan)
- Any cold tolerant hoofstock, such as goral, urial, guanaco, przewalski's horse, etc. (revamping the old hoofstock paddocks would be a welcome addition and a good use of unused space)
- Any other species that could have relatively cheap exhibits, the zoo needs more ways to fill up the plethora of wasted space.

 

Not my home aquarium but it would be nice if Cairns Aquarium got back in a Largetooth Sawfish and Scalloped Hammerhead, they were all released because they outgrew their exhibit. I don't see it happening though, it was incredibly difficult for them to get the sawfish they had in the first place, and they've replaced the sawfish with more Freshwater Whiptail Rays (to a total of 3), and the hammerheads are a tricky species to house. Would be nice if they got some Pug-Headed Mudskippers or another mudskipper species, they would fit in nicely in their mangrove exhibit. Another Amethystine Python would be nice, since they got rid of it (don't know why) and replaced it with Blue-Tongued Skinks and Frillneck Lizard, the enclosure seems pretty empty. Don't think it would get along with the enclosure's current inhabitants though, so it seems unlikely to me. They previously had Mouth Almighty and Giant Jungle Prawn and I kind of miss them, and some more rainbowfish species would be appreciated (a lot of tanks have Eastern Rainbowfish and it gets a little repetitive). Black-Headed Python would be a nice addition but not sure if it would work in any of their pre-existing exhibits. Some more non-coral/anemone marine invertebrates would be appreciated, the reef exhibits are a little lacking in them.

 

Do you have a link to this thread? As I'm working on a speculative future for Omaha Zoo it'd be interesting to see other people's thoughts

 

That was so long ago I don't remember, sorry.

 

i agree with most of them but the hyenas should also be moved to a more nocturnal place, so the people can actually see them, maybe expand the mini nocturnal section with the bats and potto

 

Keeping hyenas in an entirely indoor exhibit isn't a great idea, plus I'm not sure what you'd have to give up in Tropical Forest to make room for an indoor hyena exhibit to begin with. Plus, I've never had any problem seeing the hyenas outdoors, I just would've preferred seeing that space go to a large canid. Also- if I went back and did this now, I'd make some different suggestions, the post you quoted was from a while ago. Maybe later today I'll make an updated list for some of the New England Zoos.

 

No, its fine...any other thoughts on Omaha Zoo's future? Sorry, I'm just collecting ideas to improve my ideas

 

Assuming that they could be kept well, I'd like London Zoo to acquire some colugos, marsupial moles, monitor de montes and shrew opossums

 

i know about the indoor problem, i forgot that the mini nocturnal section was in the middle of it. i really miss the african wild dogs in new england, and i think it would be a good species for that area, iirc its the african section

 

I'd definitely be interested to hear your new ideas, Neil

Yeah, moving Hyenas into the Tropical Forest probably wouldn't work for a few reasons. It definitely wouldn't work to put them in the central Potto noctural area, because that space is full of smaller exhibits and would be way too cramped. And since there isn't that much open room in the TF, I don't think it would be worthwhile to spend money on a new interior Hyena exhibit if it would mean phasing out other less-cold tolerant species that occupy the precious heated indoor space already. If I were to renovate the TF, I think money would be better spent on making the area with the ocelot and hippo exhibits into a nicer, more cohesive African rainforest-wetlands zone-- but that is an idea for another thread.

If the zoo did bring back painted dogs or wanted to make a new hyena exhibit somewhere else, I think it would make the most sense to do so in the old hoofstock area by the Lions and Serengetti Crossing.

Also, if the current Hyena exhibit were to be used for another species, I wouldn't limit the potential options to just canids. Before Hyenas and Painted Dogs were at FPZ, the exhibit held cheetahs. It also has held some hoofstock species in the past. I forget exactly which, but it probably would have been yellow-backed duikers or bongos, from back when the TF was used for African rainforest animals only.

 

I agree. Really, for me it's less there are species I want a specific zoo to keep, and more just species I wish were present in the region. The following list is species I wish were present in New England Zoos. Whether it's one of the Zoo New England facilities, Roger Williams, Mystic, or one of the smaller zoos, I don't really care, but there're a lot of awesome species nobody in the region keeps.
- Orangutans, it's a shame that there are only two great apes in the region, with one of the two being a few elderly chimps at Southwicks. It'd be great to see all three genus of great apes represented by someone taking on either orangutan species.
- Maned Wolves, African Wild Dogs, Dhole- no, I do not expect all three of these. However, there isn't much for large canid representation in New England, with just Roger Williams' red wolves and Stone's mexican greys. Ideally, there would be a third species present somewhere in the region.
- Langurs, these are fascinating primates and some of the only Asian monkeys prevalent in the AZA. I don't care if it's francois' or silvery leaf, but it would be nice to be able to see one of these species in New England.
- Japanese Macaque, Gelada- both of these primates are large, attractive, and cold tolerant. It's a shame they aren't present in New England, since they are some of the few primates that can be kept outside year round.
- Klipspringer, adorable little antelopes that should be way more common than they are.
- Generally more ungulate representation- we do have some ungulates in New England, but as a whole this group is not well represented. Southwicks is probably the best place to go for ungulates, followed by Roger Williams, but the ungulates present in New England are primarily just the common species that can be seen at plenty of places. I'd love to see a New England zoo take on Roan Antelope, Nyala, Kudu, Transcapian Urial, Chinese Goral, Duikers, Impala, Springbok, I could keep listing, but the point is just more ungulates- of any species!
- Okapi, yes, an ungulate, but one I felt was worthy of extra recognition since they are so unique, and a species was the potential to be popular if marketed properly.
- Clouded Leopards, Pallas' Cat, Sand Cat, Black-footed Cat, in general just more feline representation. Plenty of places have lions, servals, snow leopards generic tigers, the three native cat species, but it'd be nice to see some other species become present in New England. Especially these four since cloudeds are absolutely gorgeous, pallas' are cold tolerant, and the other two are utterly adorable.
- More Penguin representation, only two penguin species present in the region. It'd be nice to see one or two other penguin species be present as well, this one very well may happen relatively soon depending on which species Roger Williams chooses to get.
- More bird representation in general, species doesn't matter to me as much as birds getting more prominently featured does. Franklin Park and Buttonwood Park Zoos are excellent bird-wise, and Roger Williams holds its own as well, but it'd be nice for some other zoos to step up their bird game, and even for the three zoos I mentioned above to look into some new species when possible. Especially zoos like Capron, Roger Williams, Franklin Park, that have rainforest exhibits that don't seem at capacity, it'd be nice for them to consider what options there are for increasing the bird collection.
- More cold tolerant small birds, more specifically it'd be nice to see some bird species that can be kept outside year-round as well. We do have some in New England (bald eagles, asian crane species, etc.) but it would be nice to see some zoos add some more supplemental aviaries with red-billed blue magpies, himalayan monal, cabot's tragopan, and other more weather-tolerant birds.
- More reptiles, just in general it'd be nice to see some zoos step up their reptile game, pretty much only some of the most common species are present in New England zoos, and it'd be great to see some more zoos exhibit a greater diversity of reptiles.

I could probably go on with more species as well, but those are some of the big groups I'd like to see represented in New England.

 

FPZ already has cabot's tragopan in the children's zoo aviary

 

Do they? I know it's signed, but I haven't seen it on either my 2020 visit or my 2022 visit. Irregardless, that point has less to do with specific birds and more just my desire for my aviaries that can be viewed year-round.