Thought I may as well introduce myself formally, as I haven't yet done so... I'm Mo, and I'm a zoo-o-holic... I live in London. I regularly visit collections in the UK and further afield whenever I get the chance, and document most of what I see with photographs. I like to use my photographs to help me understand taxonomic relationships between species and subspecies, and to create my distinctive artwork (like the moco in my avatar, from an individual seen at Artis Zoo, Amsterdam). Favourite UK collections would be: Colchester, Chester, Highland Wildlife Park, Paradise Wildlife Park, and any WWT reserve with an actual collection. Also visited some zoos in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Greece. I am visiting Hamerton in Cambridgeshire this weekend, and will be at Edinburgh Zoo on 19th September (my birthday!). Favourite animals: Carnivora, especially small and rarely seen species. Probably favourite of all time would be the grison - I have been lucky enough to see them twice at both German institutions that currently have them. But I also love pretty much all vertebrates, and aim to see as many species as I can in my time on Earth. Other than zoos and illustration, my zoological interests stretch to taxonomy and systematics, birdwatching, and vertebrate palaeontology. I have tried to pursue a career in the latter, but have mostly given up, but remain closely involved with wildlife wherever I go. I am writing a dictionary on the etymology of mammalian scientific names. If any of the above sound like something you want to know more about, please ask! I'm eager to contribute to this community as it has already helped me greatly in choosing institutions to visit.
Small and rarely seen carnivorans are the best! I've been lucky enough to see honey badgers (India's answer to the grison? ) twice myself, but haven't even seen any of the South American species in a zoo. Tayra would be the dream!
Hello You should like Hamerton Zoo. It's a pity that Kilverstone Zoo closed down - it had a nice collection of South American mammals, including tayras, grisons and olingos.
Yes, honey badgers are awesome too! Grison and tayra seem to be becoming more widespread (in Europe, not sure about elsewhere). I first saw a tayra in San Diego in 1999, but it took me until 2 years ago to see them again in Berlin. They are totally awesome in the flesh, like a big friendly marten
Olingos would have been amazing! I dream of seeing them in the wild too, I suppose they're among the more accessible small carnivores to watch.
I remember seeing videos of a rescue tayra playing with guests when researching Tiputini Station in Ecuador. They really do seem friendly, and my first thought was also "hey, what's that scrawny yellow-throated marten doing in South America" Since you mentioned olingos after, do you follow mammalwatching.com? The dude there had a whole trip report about olinguitos. His trips are impossible for me to undertake at this stage in my life (and maybe ever), but the reports are definitely a fun procrastination read for any lover of the fine order of Carnivora! And I guess a good resource to use if you can travel to these places.
Yes! Which is why the recently discovered relatedness of martens, wolverines, and tayras makes complete sense. I've always seen tayras as an odd marten, and the same with wolverines. Yes I get intense feelings of jealousy reading that site, but I can dream
I saw a tayra running across the runway of a small airport in Costa Rica. Which means always keep your eyes open for wildlife no matter where you are.