What, in your experience, have been the most elusive animals to see at the zoo? I'm referring to animals that the zoo has, but you've either never seen or have never seen being active. Lincoln Park Zoo has two of them; the beavers and the aardvark. I have literally never seen the beavers. There are some wild ducks that also call the beaver exhibit home, but the beavers are always no-shows. And while I've seen the aardvark, I've never seen her active. Every time I go to the zoo, she's asleep. Most of the time she's sleeping in her den but the last time I went she was actually out in the open...but still asleep.
I actually came into this thread intending to mention beavers and Aardvark. Wolves are another animals that are often a no-show.
I've been a keeper for both beavers and an aardvark (different zoos). I've had plenty of visitors at both facilities refuse to believe that either animal was actually present and that the exhibits were really empty. It's a shame, because both are really cool animals with lots of awesome adaptions and important ecosystem roles, and when they are active, they can be quite a draw. As to your question, I'd say a lot of the small carnivores. They are either 100% on and very engaging, or completely invisible. For example, I've been to Bronx three times, never got to see the ring-tailed mongoose.
Civets in general for me, have been to a couple of zoos especially to see their civets (Owston's Palm and Banded in particular), only for the first to be a no-show, and the second just a very brief glimpse as it jumped back into it's nest box.
Despite trying a few times on a couple of visits, I never saw the hairy-eared dwarf lemur at Paris Vincennes.
Siberian flying squirrel - missed at Plzen and Schonebeck and the Red and White Giant Flying Squirrel at Wroclaw .
The Aardwolf gave me really hard time at Halle zoo ! I change my schedule, slept at Halle and visited the zoo second day. Luckily he showed up on the morning.
Funny, I've seen beavers 100% of the time, and usually see aardvarks, depending on the zoo. Maned wolves especially. I've had really good luck with them and will time visits around seeing them, but I've never seen Philly's, for example, and that's the zoo my membership is with. Cheetahs can be pretty elusive. I rarely see giant anteaters Nocturnal exhibit animals tend to be a miss for me, between having trouble seeing in the light and the animals often sleeping. The elephant seal at Pittsburgh. I've decided I'm done doing the 5 hour drive (each way) to try and see her, she's never out and the employees are always super rude when I try to ask if she might be out at all that day.
For me, Bettongs, Sugar Gliders, Tupaias and Civets are the best candidates for the place of the most elusive animals, especially in daylight exhibits (I've no experience of them in nocturamas). I could add Beavers, Armadillos and Clouded Leopards. I'm much more surprised with a large animal as the Elephant Seal!
They rotate her with a pair of California sea lions. I love sea lions, but I get so grumpy when I see that pair I've tried finding out if she might be out later or something, I'd gladly stay a few more hours to see her vs doing another 10+ hour round trip!, but the staff have been awful.
Some frequent no-shows I've experienced are: - Nocturnal Primates - Sloths, especially if they are in large aviaries - Brush-tailed Bettong, in diurnal settings - Smaller Birds in mixed species aviaries - Wolves, of all species - Kiwis Normally, I believe that no-shows has as much or even more to do with exhibit design than the animal's natural behavior. Some zoos can design a habitat for a species and have it be super visible all the time, while others can have the same animal and be hard to spot due to differences in exhibit design.
Despite living in Illinois, I've only seen Brookfield's Pangolin once in my lifetime. (Of course now its off exhibit)
The most elusive animal in my experience would be the Black Crake. This small bird was a no-show for me at 3 different zoological establishments having missed it at San Diego, then twice at Kansas City, and then at Omaha. It was probably the animal that has evaded me for the longest, until I visited Sylvan Heights and I finally found it in one of their small aviaries. Even then, I would’ve missed it for a 5th time, if I hadn’t seen it through the bush it was hiding in.
