I had forgotten how many tigers were held both in AZA zoos and non-accredited facilities; I'm used to thinking of them at the subspecies level, and I usually can't conceptualize populations in non-accredited facilities because they are hard to estimate. I suspect that, on the whole, you may be right; tigers could be more common in captivity than NA river otters. Lions might be up there as well, although they are a bit less common than tigers in both accredited and non-accredited zoos. If we count sanctuaries in the mix, then they definitely would surpass river otters. A few population caveats, though. The number actually *has* changed from the late 2000's, in that the number of tiger holders have gone down; it's probably dropped closer to ~100 (not sure why, might be the massive phaseout of the generic pop). That document also counts facilities that shouldn't really count in this discussion, like private breeding facilities. Also (despite the nevertheless impressive and valiant efforts of @birdsandbats), I doubt our holding list for river otters is comprehensive... especially with the recent spike in new aquariums, many of whom immediately acquired river otters upon opening.
I think it's hands down river otters. The vast majority of facilities have them. They are common in every size facility, from major places to tiny town zoos and local/American species only. They are common not just in zoos, but aquariums, where they are a major pull and a great mammal draw for places that can't handle seals. They are small, easy to hold, fairly cheap to feed, and active throughout the day. There are also a lot of museums that hold the species, as a big draw to bring in people who ordinarily wouldn't stop in a boring town museum, but will once they see that they have otters (and their kids want to see the otters). On a different subject, where is the pine marten kept at Turtle Back? I didn't see anything for it there.
Are you sure? @Julio C Castro posted an excellent photo of an American Badger from LA zoo just a couple days ago.
Not 100% sure; my last visit was several months ago. But I don't remember ever seeing a badger exhibit prior to that or seeing anything posted in the news thread about it since then. The most logical place I could think it might be is the biggest Southwest cage in the Children's Zoo, which cycled through two non-visible species during the years I visited (bobcat and porcupine). Edit: I looked at Julio's photos and I suspect that is the case, as he mentions it being on the Southwest Trail.
You’re right @Great Argus, it is a current photo of the badger currently housed there and it was uploaded that day I took it The badger does like to make its appearance when it feels like it and sometimes hiders up against the fencing which blends in well with certain shadows, but trust me the badger resides there!
Giraffe Ranch in Florida has African Clawless Otter. They also have Spotted-neck Otter Asian/Oriental small-clawed.
I would agree Thylo, without a photo it really could be any otter. Especially given the very low known number of the species in question still around, I wouldn't count it likely to be what they say it is.
On the Twitter feed for Giraffe Ranch there is a video of the otters on February 22. The quality isn't good enough for me to get a proper look at them but they are with a keeper for scale - however I've never seen a Cape Clawless Otter so I have no idea how big they are in relation to a person. Side-note: while looking this up I found a tweet from last month with a photo saying "check out this flock of white pelicans walking from the rhino pond to the lake" - the photo is of Roseate Spoonbills!
There's photos and videos on their social media. You and Thylo are welcome to look for yourselves, or ask them for proof. I don't know how to tell an african clawless from an asian small-clawed.
African Clawless are pretty huge otters, closer to Giant Otter size than anything else common. I found a 2015 video that showed ASCO but the description said they keep three species of otter from Asia and Africa. ~Thylo
Pity there's not more upclose footage, definitely good sized otters though. Interested to hear other's thoughts!
Looking (again) for photos of Rainforest Adventures' supposed zorilla, I found this one, taken in Oct 2019. Zorilla?
