Hmmm.... I am scared of the emus, because I find that they can be a bit aggressive when trying to get food from you. They are quite large birds! The macropods seem to get aggressive when visitors try to give them a bear-hug or if they try to provoke them. Otherwise, I have found that they are quite gentle and will gladly let you stroke/pat them like a dog if you are gentle with them. The emus however, will try to grab food out of your hand and are not concerned if they accidentally grab your fingers too!
there's a zoo in New Zealand (Willowbank) where the baby capuchins used to leave the cage through the large mesh and climb around outside. They never went far of course, because their parents were still inside. Now the capuchins are on an island so can't do that any more. I guess the most well-known (intentionally) free-range primate zoos are Apenheul and Singapore.
I always enjoy watching the free-ranging Bennett’s wallabies, Chinese water deer, Reeves’ muntjac and mara on my visits to Whipsnade. (Better still is seeing a wild hare there but, unfortunately, it is several years since I last saw one at Whipsnade.) However, without doubt, my favourite experience of free-ranging animals in a zoo was seeing the numerous armadillos running round Central Florida Zoo on my only visit there.
I really think people need to make a distinction between free-range animals and genuine wild animals. They are quite different elements in a zoo.
Minnesota has quite a few wild birds that are attracted to the zoo. I have seen multiple Trumpeter Swans & Turkeys Also the very rare Canadian Goose
How would you classify between free range and wild? If they feed the animals does that change the classification?
its a fairly straight-forward distinction. If they are zoo animals released to roam free in the grounds then they are free-range (i.e. peafowl, tamarins, etc). If they are wild animals -either native or naturalised to the area - then they are wild. Feeding wild animals doesn't make them free-range, it just makes them wild animals that are fed. You wouldn't call the sparrows at your bird table free-range, they are wild birds coming for a free hand-out. The only real issue with terminology would be in cases like Whipsnade, Woburn etc where they released species like water deer and muntjac which then went on to become naturalised in the wild state from those releases.
Cleland Wildlife Park outside of Adelaide has some Potoroos they have released into the park. They spend their time around the food outlet hoping to get some scraps from the public. Hix
When I wrote this I meant animals that are not native to the area but are roaming free. Peafowl are not native anywhere in the US for example. The turkeys I've seen are likely not to be in Salt Lake City, but it is possible the ones in Omaha are wild birds attracted to the free food. The prairie dogs in Omaha are another example of a non-native species roaming the zoo. I have seen rabbits, squirrels, and numerous songbirds and waterfowl in zoos that are definitely wild.
At Toronto Zoo, there's the free ranging peafowl but also the wild geese, ducks, gulls, birds of prey, frogs, turtles, various songbirds, likely turkeys and various other birds, raccoons (one that the lions went into hunting mode when it ran along the barrier of the enclosure), deer and though I haven't seen them, coyotes and foxes. There was even a black bear on the zoo property; the zoo vet tranq'd and took him back to the Rouge Valley.
Correction. Lisbon Zoo deosn´t have any on show mandrill´s. The hamadrya baboon cage is like 120 years old and i think it had some kind of feline. Now, all the small monkeys (babies) can get out, steal something (I have seen one stealing a phone) and get back. It´s really weird and bad. Also, Lisbon Zoo as lots of free roaming animals, mostly common birds. It also has a pot bellied pig in the kid´s farm that doesn´t have an exhbit. It can easily roam trough the zoo. But he´s always sleeping. Parque Biológico de Gaia, near Porto, is builld around a "pit" (it´s just some dirt that was taken xD) where lots of species live. When i was at the Wisent exhibit a fallow deer jumped for their exhbit! Also, Zoo Santo Inácio, near Porto, has free roaming prairie dogs (one scared me) and meerkats that can get out of their enclousure.
Bristol used to have a family of free-ranging Geoffroys marmosets but they had to be shut in when they went over the wall one summer evening (they came back). I believe Marwell has free ranging Golden Lion Tamarins but they stay close to their inside quaerters. Durrell has several callitrichid species free ranging I believe as well. Because callitrichids are so territorial a family especially will almost invariably stay close to their nestboxes, so the major risk would be exposure to predators, especially birds of prey.
Tracy Aviary had quite the collection of roamers including Indian Peafowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Golden Pheasant, and Silver Pheasant. Currently we just have Indian Peafowl and Andean Geese roaming grounds...and our Andean Condor when they take him out for walks
