I was wondering what are they most unusual rodent species kept in zoos? with such a diverse family i'd like to see alot more species in zoos! does anyone know of any zoos that keep or have kept crested rats?
Yes, I have seen one-though, actually, just the tail of it, as it was sleeping in its box and I didn't want to wake it up. Will try to take a closer look at it next time.... About Your question of zoos keeping interesting (more or less) exotic rodents: -Zurich -Rheine -Bronx Zoo -Poznan -Praha -Munich or rather, Stuttgart -Berlin (especially the Tierpark) -Münster -Plzen -Halle -Frankfurt -in former times: Hannover ...are some zoos that cross my mind. There was one of the major Dutch zoos (Emmen, I think) that also had a very interesting "Rat Canal".
Would love to see pacarana back in a British zoo, there are a few in America and a large captive colony in Cali zoo in Colombia, there was a zoo in Japan that bred well with them too Izo or something like that. Newquay zoo i believe are involved with a collection in Colombia could be Cali, in supporting a breeding programme. Marwell in the last few years have built up a splendid collection of rodent, starting to rival London now.
The pacarana captive population, also at Cali, has quite decreased due to various reasons and the future of keeping it up looks pretty grim, according to a recent ZGAP article. Hopefully, this will change for the better...
I would love to see Ratufa giant squirrels in Europe. And to see one of flying squirrels glide. There is European flying squirrel in Leipzig, but in smallish cage full of branches, so doesn't have a chance to glide at all. Prague has "Out to Africa" house full of various African rodents. Strangely, it is ignored by children, for whom it is meant.
Leipzig & Brno have Ratufa macroura-just to let You know... About children not interested: it depends on the presentation; house mice in various colours in a kitchen imitation are usually very popular among young and old visitors.
Prague house is very unusual. It is full of varied enclosures. One wall are loose stones with little holes to peek into terraria. Animals are rodents, insects, lizards and other small animals (up to bat-eared fox and honey badger). So definitely encouraging for children - but they ignore it. BTW, building a house for a set of non-endargered animals seemed waste for me.
Then many if not most of the buildings in zoos (meerkats, African elephants, Nuremberg's dolphin lagoon...) could be interpreted as a "waste of money"... Let me specify: if the building serves an apt purpose, like entertainment and maybe even(!) education of the public and doesn't cost too much, I see no problem in building a "Mouse House", a "Rat Shack" or a "Meerkat Mansion" in a zoo. If it draws the visitors in, and thus gives the zoo more money to spend on endangered animals-why not? About the children and their lack of interest in rodents-depends, among other, on the presentation. And even though I like Prague Zoo, I do have to say that said rodent enclosures are sometimes a little bit too much on the small side... Present house mice in a "kitchen", Black rats in a "roof tross" and Brown Rats in a "Canal"-children usually love that, just like they enjoy watching the tiny Harvest Mouse in a nice terrarium or the Mole-rats.
Has anyone ever seen them. I've been to London several times and still had no luck with these animals.
Yes, but there are really too many. I feel ambiguous to keep a common animal especially for education - you can teach the same things just as well on common and rare animals. Yes, you may be right. It is size of enclosure which counts. Emmen zoo has astonishingly interesting exhibits of well known animals, perhaps because they are very big. Freshwater aquariums floor-to-roof, several m2 for a common snake, whole room for mole rats, another for monitor lizards etc.
In the nocturnal section of the Clore. I've been early in the day and late afternoon, and all times in between. I've been when the building has been busy and noisy and also when it has been empty and quiet. I guess I'm destined never to see a Panay cloud rat.
"you can teach the same things just as well on common and rare animals." Unfortunately, this is not always true-at least in many, many cases. The elusive London Panay cloud rat mentioned above is a good example for that, especially if You compare it to a more active and for the majority more visible, yet common species. In the case of rodents, this could be porcupines, capybaras or even domesticated guinea pigs-they're more "visible" fo the common visitors, which gives You as a zoo a better ground to base education on than an animal that is always hiding-and doesn't have many "crowd-attractive features", such as being colourful, cuddly, dangerous etc.
And of course any interactive experience for children etc. are probably much safer with common animals! I don't suppose they happen often, but there's always the chance of accidents.
I must have been lucky - I've only been once since they went on show and had a great view - here's a photo: http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1992&cat=540
