A surprisingly frequent no-show is the Malayan sun bear at Wellington Zoo. The new exhibit contains a cave she can retreat to during the day (and she does). I’ve seen her once on my last four visits (and even then only for a few seconds) vs the old exhibit where you got a decent sighting close to 100% of the time.
Australian Tarantula. Over several visits to the Cairns Aquarium I have never seen it once. But tarantulas are just like that. One of the semi-aquatic snakes (I don't recall the name) also at Cairns Aquarium is much the same. In it's old exhibit I saw it only once. It has since been moved to a new exhibit, in which it is much more visible.
The sloth bears at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Could be due to their exhibit that had you look up to see them.
Pretoria Zoo keeps a single hedgehog in a 6 meter by 2 meter, It's near impossible to see them and I never have.(This is an old photo form when the exhibit use to be empty)
That seems like one of the most ridiculous uses of a zoo exhibit I've ever seen. Why did they decide to put a Hedgehog in it?
Dholes and and the regularly switched animals in the nocturnal area in Minnesota trails at the Minnesota zoo. Granted, I have seen both of these animals at the zoo, just never very often.
Yeah more recently because of the Covid barriers Dholes have been a little harder to see, and Even before Covid I usually saw them sleeping on a rock or not seen at all.
I usually spend a couple of minutes in the viewing hut. If you look long enough, you’ll usually find them sleeping somewhere. The last time I saw them active was at least 6 months ago.
At Toronto there are several I have been very unlucky with. Never could find the tawny frogmouth despite having an idea where to look. Sadly he passed this summer. Luckily I have faint memories of him from my childhood when they had their Edge of the Night exhibit which solved a lot of the issues I have finding nocturnal animals. I just haven't seen the bettongs since they became roomies with the kookaburra. I think that one is just bad luck. The echidna is another I will likely never see. She only comes out late close to closing and I can never afford to stay that long because I have a very long drive home. Though she's and the bettong I also remember from Edge of the Night. Man I miss that exhibit. I think those are the ones that drive me craziest.
For me it's giant anteaters. For one thing I've never seen one awake, they're always huddled up asleep in the far corner of their enclosure. But the last few times I've been to zoos that have giant anteaters, I wasn't able to spot them anywhere. Wherever they were hiding they do a very good job at it.
Pretty much any nocturnal mammal that is kept in an outdoor exhibit. Aye-ayes for example are very likely to be no-show. Foxes often too, or small marsupials. Subterranean animals are obviously also no-shows, that's the reason of zoos displaying only aquatic caecilians instead terrestrial ones. On a side note, I pass much time everyday in front of my aquarium, but most days I don't have ever a small glimpse on one of my fishes, the spotted talking catfish (Agamyxis pectinifrons). I have another nocturnal catfish too, a banjo catfish (Bunocephalus coracoideus) but it show itself much more often than the spotted one during day!
Species that have eluded me many times: Pudus, never seen one in the flesh Giant anteaters, seen two individuals but I still haven't managed to get a decent photo of the species Great hornbill, never seen nor photographed the two at Chester but heard them plenty of times Red duiker, despite waiting to see them for a good while they still never made an appearance Most aviary birds can be very hard to spot amongst plants (the ones at Chester are notoriously difficult) Rio Cauca caecilian, still yet to see the one at Chester
At Stone Zoo, I went about a few years without seeing the ringtail. Only on a visit recently I did end up seeing it. At Franklin Park Zoo, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Hyenas active. While I’ve seen the hyenas on almost every visit, (until now because they are temporarily off exhibit due to the construction of “Gorilla Grove”) they never seem to be up to much.
In February 2020, a Three-Banded Armadillo arrived at Paignton from Copenhagen. I was lucky enough to be at the zoo when she went into the exhibit and got some photos as she explored. I haven't seen any sign of her since.
