If you had a zoo, what 5 species would yo definitely have?

This is SO difficult, because I have about two hundred favourite species of birds alone.
1/ Blackbuck -- need a nice big herd, very pretty and not many around in UK currently
2/ Sumatran Orangutan -- deep thinkers, endangered
3/ Sumatran Tiger -- endangered, visually stunning
4/ Pere David Deer -- conservation success story
5/ Any Sengi species -- love those noses

As for birds, I couldn't even begin!

Herps, I don't know much about, let's try
1/ Black Tree Monitor
2/ Electric Blue Day Gecko
3/ Eyelash Viper (lovely to look at, can keep it with dart frogs
4/ Any colourful dart frog species
5/ Any colourful aquatic Chelonian

 

Don't know much about caecilians
Don't know much herpetology
Don't know much about tortoises,
Don't know what a third eye is for
But I do know that one and one is two,
And I chose animals for my zoo,
What a wonderful zoo this would be
Now, I don't claim to be a bright dart frog,
I'm not tryin' to be
But my eyelashes are like a viper's,
As I monitor your tree

 

Is this from a poem? It certainly is interesting...

 

Hello TZDugong.

I changed the words to 'Wonderful World' by Sam Cooke: Sam Cooke – Wonderful World Lyrics | Genius Lyrics.

 

If it weren’t for the 5-species limit, this list would be massive.

Southern cassowary
Tuatara
Shoebill
White-bellied tree pangolin
Komodo dragon

 

Okay, that makes sense. I’ve never heard this song, so I was a bit confused. It was very unique.

 

My passion is birds so I would choose the following.

Bulwer's Pheasant (Lophura bulweri)
Wilson's Bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus respublica)
Gurney's Pitta (Hydrornis gurneyi)
Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi)
Congo Peafowl (Afropavo congensis)

 

Okaj lets do this:
1) Asian small clawed otter
2) Giant Otter
3) Okapi
4) African wild dog
5) Crab eating Raccoon

 

You've got more focus and maybe self-discipline that me. I'm torn between personal favourite species, and ones that I think make good exhibits. Maybe I'll try....
1/ Lady Amherst's Pheasant
2/ Demoiselle Crane
3/ Red-breasted Goose
4/ Red-billed Blue Magpie
5/ Crowned Pigeon (any of the three species, I'm not fussy!)

Goodness, that hurt. Had to leave out many common but stunning pheasant and waterfowl species, all the lovely owls, parrots and flamingos, waders, starlings.......

 

First of all there are so many different concepts that would change the list within less than a second, but I am going for five species that may work the best to fill a whole afternoon

five vertebrate groups, five species

Ring tailed lemur
They aeemed more active than the chimpanzees and gorillas

Atlantic puffin
Flying penguins, swim for two hours straight against the artifical stream along the glass, cute while walking

Giant tortoise
They move more than crocodiles and lizards and adorable when they interact in slowmotion, drop thwre food pick it up, drop their once again, think it is time to mate, chasing in slow motion, take a bath sounding like they have the time of their life

Dyeing poison dart frog
They move more than most of the other amphibians and this (beside some other) species of poison dart frogs differs in colour within a single species

Ocean sunfish
I could and probably somehow did watched them for hours

 

This is so hard!
1. Ethiopian wolf
2. Cheetah
3. Bush dog
4. Brazilian tapir
5. Coati

 

5 you say?
I would want any Bryozoa.
I would want any Tanaid.
I would want any Tunicate.
I would want a Moonrat, Angwantibo, Anomalure, Tibetan antelope, and a plethora of Rodents.
An extensive wasp collection.
Eudemonia argus,
More Jumping spiders.
Any Myzomela
King-of-the-salmon.
More Amphipods.
Even more amphipods.
A Brookesia chameleon and A Sunbeam snake, A Xenodermus, a Tukutuku, and a San fransisco garter snake.
Tana river Mangabey or Red colobus
More Viverridae.
Even more Viverridae.
More Caecilians
Pretty much any deep sea organism to ever lived.
And an Ariakehimeshirauo
Plus 50'000 more species.

 

What to pick... here's my list:

• Aye-Aye (clearly the most excellent animal in existence!)
• Short-Beaked Echidna (I'm a massive monotreme fan!)
• Maned Wolf (just a very cool canid!)
• Sumatran Rhinoceros (such a great species!)
• Giant Pangolin (I love all weird creatures!)

And if I could squeeze in a few more (cause 5 wouldn't make a good enough zoo, unless it was 5 rhino species!):

Mammals:

• Aardwolf
• African Civet
• Clouded Leopard
• Coquerel's Sifaka
• Ethiopian Wolf
• Fossa
• Giant Anteater
• Giant Armadillo
• Giant Otter
• Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo
• Grey Slender Loris
• Indri
• Large Hairy Armadillo
• Lowland Streaked Tenrec
• Marsupial Mole
• Naked Mole-Rat
• Numbat
• Okapi
• Palawan Binturong
• Pink Fairy Armadillo
• Platypus
• Proboscis Monkey
• Pygmy Hog
• Saiga Antelope
• Saola
• Short-Eared Elephant Shrew
• Sloth Bear
• Southern Tamandua
• Sulawesi Tarsier
• Vaquita
• West Indian Manatee

Birds:

• Andean Condor
• Harpy Eagle
• Hoatzin
• Kakapo
• King Vulture
• Raggiana Bird of Paradise
• Secretary Bird
• Southern Cassowary

Reptiles:

• Emerald Tree Monitor
• False Gharial
• Indian Star Tortoise
• Mangrove Snake
• Plumed Basilisk
• Thorny Devil
• Tuatara

Amphibians:

• Chinese Giant Salamander

Fish:

• Ocean Sunfish
• West Indian Coelacanth

Invertebrates:

• Giraffe-Necked Weevil

 

- Chinese Pangolin
- Southern Cassowary
- Indian Peafowl
- Nicobar Pigeon
- Red-Eyed Tree Frog

 

-European mink
-Borneo earless monitor
-A species of hummingbird
-Coconut crab
-Alligator gar

 

If I was to talk realistically with animals I could actually acquire, my top 5 would be-
1. Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
2. Turaco sp.
3. Crested Wood Partridge
4. Red-footed Tortoise
5. Amazon Milk Frogs

 

- Okapi
- Great blue turaco
- Zebra and/or Jentink’s and/or Blue duiker
- Hamlyn’s monkey
- Congo peacock but it could be just any colorful tropical african bird

 

1. Crowned Lemur
2. Dingiso
3. Axolotl
4. African Pygmy Hedgehog
5. European Otter

 

My 5 - this is so hard though
Giant otters
Nile Hippos
Shoebill
Amur Tiger
Ground Pangolin

I do not believe there are ground pangolins in any zoo today though so this one is questionable.