Nocturnal exhibits yes or no ??

Heya, I’m thinking of planning a nocturnal exhibit at my work place. It shocks me that they’re not everywhere Cos I love them! But there must be a reason so nocturnal exhibit yay or nay? And what animals do you like to see in them? Thanks ☺️

 

Nocturnal exhibits are generally hard to maintain, which is why they are not seen more often.

I personally like to see small mammals in nocturnal houses, especially small rodents (like mice and small flying squirrels) and of course bats. Small carnivores can be nice, too.

 

I’m looking at getting some sugar gliders who’d have to be on a normal day/night cycle but then slowly be converted to reversed and bats and a tenrec are on the cards too. We’ve not got masses of room so it would have be small animals, kinkajou size is probably the biggest I could go if I wanted a few species with a fair amount of room but I feel I could make it pretty interesting with small stuff.

Hard to maintain in terms of cost? I’ve definitely got a lot more to look into before it’s confirmed I’m just full of ideas haha thank you

 

Are any interesting mouse species easily obtainable in the UK? Mice are quite rare in zoos, which is a shame, because they are very interesting.

 

I’m not sure what mice are easily available but I can definitely get acacia rats and short tailed opossums

 

No. They're not. Actual maintenance is no more difficult than any other diurnal exhibit, and often times easier since they frequently lack substrate, which makes cleaning easier. I'm genuinely curious why you would think that?

Anyway, to add to some more relevant conversation, you can do a lot in a limited amount of space with nocturnal stuff! Jamaican Fruit Bats (JFB's) are quite enchanting, and can get both maintained in limited space, and housed in mixed exhibits. My recommendation would be to seek a single sex group or make sure all your males are castrated, though, as they breed like flies, and unless your facility is willing to euthanize or has another facility to send them to, they will quickly overpopulate.

Sugar Gliders are excellent. When maintained on a reverse light cycle, they are often very active, and can also be maintained in large social groups, which is always exciting. Not good for mixed exhibits though, they're quite predatory.

Another fun one is Three Banded Armadillos. Once again, when housed on a reverse light cycle, they're often very active and fun to watch. They can be housed with JFB's, and actually make for an ideal mix, since they utilize completely different parts of the exhibit.

Kinkajous are fine, generally active and friendly with keepers. Need lots of space though, and they're prone to stereotyping, especially when their social needs aren't met. Not the best with mixed exhibits, but can be done, but make sure everything is larger.

 

Rodent's are good additions as well! Spiny Mice, Degu's, other animals that live in large social groups can make for fun and dynamic exhibits. The issue with solitary critters is that they can be a bit bland to exhibit, especially if they're not in a mixed exhibit, since they often enter bursts of activity every now and again, but spend lots of time just sitting there, grooming or whatnot, which can be a bit bland for guests.

 

Because that's what I am (often) told on this very site!

 

I would actually like some zoos to re-consider whether some species need to be maintained in nocturnal houses at all - both from the point of view of visitors and the animals. For example, in at least two collections in Australia, Eastern quolls are maintained in outdoor enclosures where they have the opportunity to go off display whenever they want to and they spend a surprising amount of time outdoors in daylight. Perhaps I'm just being selfish in that getting photos in nocturnal houses can be so problematic.

 

The problem I have with nocturnal houses is that they are normally too cramped, both for the animals and for people.

The animal enclosures are often not more than cells and would not be acceptable for diurnal animals. Visitor areas are usually narrow corridors that become noisy with children running up and down. Having said that there are good ones - the nocturnal house at the Alice Springs Desert Park stands out.

 

I love the idea of nocturnal houses, although I also think they are something that should be done on a case-by-case basis.

I remember Worlds of Darkness in the Bronx, which was cool and one of my favorite parts of the Bronx as a kid, and the Primate Discovery Center in SF used to have things like galago, aye-aye, slow loris, and night monkey in a nocturnal room, which was neat, so I have some fond memories of nocturnal houses.

I can also see a compromise when it comes to nocturnal species. Take the post WoD Bronx as an example. Jungle World has plenty of well lit sections with birds, leaf monkeys, gibbons, gharials, otters, and others, but it also has a nocturnal exhibit with lorises and mouse deer. The Mouse House has well lit sections, but it also has darker habitats for things like jerboas, galago, and Luzon cloud rat. Madagascar has diurnal sections for most of its lemurs, birds, and tortoises, but it also has a nocturnal habitat for mouse lemurs. The fossa exhibit in Madagascar was much more dim than most of the other exhibits when I visited, but it wasn't a full on nocturnal house exhibit either, so I think perhaps something like that would be a nice compromise between the two.

The main thing, of course, is whether the habitats and husbandry are sufficient for their inhabitants, and as long as that's the case, then I am fine with or without nocturnal exhibits. If they are cramped, as MRJ points out above, then I'd rather not see them in a nocturnal house, but if they can be spacious enough, then I am fine with. As much as I love the Bronx, I think an animal like a mouse deer should be kept in a larger exhibit than their Jungle World home, although some nocturnal exhibits there are better, like the moholi galago, which were very active and entertaining.

 

The nocturnal house at Bristol has had some good species over the years that might suit your situation:

Turkish Spiny Mice
Grey Mouse Lemur
Sugar Gliders
Pallas' Long-tongued Bat
Leaf-Tailed Gecko
Blind Cave Tetra
Gila Monster
Ground Cuscus
Mouse Deer

I have never seen them shown but I think In a suitable enclosure Fire Salamander and other nocturnal amphibians might work too. They had Rodrigues Fruit Bat in the nocturnal section as well, but I think these tree-roosting bats are better exhibited where they have access to an outside aviary. Fennec Fox might make a good exhibit as well - I have seen them in some collections and like many desert mammals they are almost entirely nocturnal.

 

For me, mouse lemur is one probably easily obtained species, kinkajou another relatively common one which does well. Potto are probably one of the rarer ones which you can't get. Bushbaby (any species) probably easier or Pygmy slow loris

 

I have been to over 100 zoos and I have hated every single nocturnal house I have seen. It is so hard to see the animals that it defeats the purpose. Plus the enclosures are usually disgustingly small.

 

I love Nocturnal Houses and it's just a shame that there are so few of them in North American zoos these days. Here is what I wrote about the Nocturnal House at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo on my Snowleopard's 2018 Road Trip thread:

Kingdoms of the Night – This is the biggest and best Nocturnal House to be found at any American zoo and the largest Nocturnal House on the planet. The zoo is proud of the size of its buildings and there are numerous signs and online comments on the zoo's website extolling the virtues of many of the 'biggest' zoo structures. I'm quite partial to these type of buildings and beneath the Desert Dome and completely underground is what I would declare as my all-time favourite zoo exhibit. Yes, better than Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo and I adore Kingdoms of the Night. Other than the Aardvarks not being accommodated for in terms of being able to dig, and the fact that some of the exhibits are not enormous, there is very little to nitpick here in terms of exhibits or animal husbandry and the adventure never seems to end. The experience is magnificent.

It begins with a cool Exploration Cave area that gets visitors ready for the night-time views, and then after seeing some Naked Mole Rats and Fossas the first mixed-species habitat contains Greater Bushbaby and Springhaas. There are Bushy-tailed Jirds, Puerto Rican Crested Toads, Satanic Leaf-tailed Geckos and Haitian Boas before visitors come across a spacious, glass-fronted exhibit for Potto, Brushtail Porcupine, Aardvark, Greater Bushbaby, Springhaas and Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth. Great stuff! Next up is the famous 16-foot deep pool with Blind Cave Fish and zero barriers to the public, then what seems like thousands of Short-tailed Fruit Bats and everything is set inside a mock-rock cave that is highly convincing. There are St. Vincent Agoutis, Douroucoulis, Tammar Wallabies, Short-beaked Echidnas and plenty of reptiles and amphibians before visitors see a phenomenal Australian exhibit with vast underwater viewing windows for Johnson's Freshwater Crocodile, Krefft's River Turtle, Pink-bellied Side-necked Turtle, Fly River Turtle and Northern Australian Snake-necked Turtle.

After that area, the path emerges into a vast cavern, with a multi-story hall where visitors can peer upwards at glimmers of light. Even Disney couldn't recreate this excellence and one can look 70 feet into the air to see daylight. This is the 'Bat Zone' and species such as Vampire Bat, Ruwenzori Long-haired Fruit Bat, Spear-nosed Bat, Greater Bulldog Bat, Little Golden-mantled Fruit Bat, Egyptian Fruit Bat and Giant Indian Fruit Bat are present. How many zoos in the world can boast such an impressive lineup? The last section is The Swamp and it focuses on American nocturnal creatures and is a quarter-of-an-acre in size. There are 8-10 American Alligators (including the obligatory white one), 3-4 American Beavers, 6-7 Nutrias, a huge terrarium for Eastern Indigo Snakes and a half-dozen Spectacled Caimans amidst other species. All of those animals were active on my visit and even the beavers were swimming around and showing off their aquatic skills. Heading out the door is yet another huge exhibit with underwater viewing, this time for American Crocodiles, Alligator Snapping Turtles and Common Snapping Turtles. Kingdoms of the Night is an immersive, awesome journey and after literally seeing thousands of zoo exhibits I feel confident in saying this particular one is my favourite. The whole thing is 42,000 square feet in size and apparently has 2,400 stalactites. There is surely not a better Nocturnal House experience anywhere in the world.

 

I sympathise with your views.

Whilst I wouldn't agree with you that I've hated every nocturnal house I've seen, I do have reservations about them.

There are, of course, exceptions but, as a general rule, the exhibits normally appear too small and too sterile to me.

Nocturnal houses might be alright for, say, small rodents but I think bulkier animals such as aardvarks, fossas and Tasmanian devils always look very cramped in them. And since, in my experience, these three species show themselves very well, in daylight, when given access to outdoor enclosures there is really no need to keep them permanently indoors in a nocturnal house.

 

Thanks @Tim May for your input (I haven't seen you on this site for a while, though maybe we visit different threads). The worst offender was Memphis Zoo (not sure if their nocturnal house is still there). The exhibits in dim red light were so small that they put full size mirrors on one wall of many of the exhibits to try to make them look bigger!

 

Sorry for the delay in reading replies. They’re all so helpful thankyou! It’s definitely food for thought going to look into all the suggestions and advice and will keep you updated! ☺️