I like nocturnal houses, mainly because of the small mammals that are kept in these places. In Europe, or at least in the Netherlands, nocturnal houses become more and more rare. However, in Australia almost every zoo or larger wildlife park seems to have one, what is great. Earlier, I visited the fantastic nocturnal houses of Alice Springs Desert Park and Territory Wildlife. Below I'll put lists of the set-up of the different nocturnal houses I visited during my last trip. Perth Zoo numbers corresponding to the enclosures 1. Western Ringtail, Red-tailed Phascogale 2. Fat-tailed Dunnart 3. Southern Boobook, Long-nosed Potoroo, Common Brushtail Possum 4. Dibbler 5. Tawny Frogmouth 6. Ghost Bat 7. Olive Python 8. Cane Toad 9. Jungle Python 10. Rough-scaled Python 11. Northern Quoll 12. Spinifex Hopping Mouse, Owlet-Nightjar 13. Greater Bilby, Ghost Bat 14. Northern Sugar Glider 15. Green Tree Frog 16. Western Quoll 17. Giant Prickly Stick Insect 18. Scorpion 19. Australian Tarantula 20. Banded Knobtail Gecko 21. Stimson’s Python 22. Feathertail Glider, Leaftail Gecko 23. Golden-bellied Water Rat
They are getting rare in Europe and I do not know why. Chester's nocturnal house (Fruit bats of the forest) has Rodrigues Fruit Bat Seba's short-tailed bat Omani blind cave fish Pygmy hedgehog tenrec the bats are housed together in the free flight area, the cave fish are exhibited in a cave inside this building. The tenrecs are housed in the foyer.
Trying to remember what is in Bristol's nocturnal house, as I was there today: Eastern quoll Kowari Turkish spiny mice Linne's two-toed sloth Aye-aye Mouse deer (I don't think it's a Philippine one, but can't remember) Pygmy slow loris Grey mouse lemur Naked mole rats Yellow mongoose Malagasy jumping rats Ground cuscus Were the blind cave fish in there as well? There was some kind of cockroach, too. I am sure I have missed a few things there and others can fill them in. At the end there are rats and mice, but I am not sure if that bit counts as being part of the nocturnal house.
Should have black and brown rat, house mouse, a tree frog (species I can't remember), Aruba Island rattlesnake. The mouse deer are the "javanicus" or "kanchil" species
Faunia in Madrid have (more or less in order of appareance within the exhibit) Striped skunk Springhare and Senegal bushbaby Three-striped night monkey Aardvark and Kirk's dik-dik Eastern quoll Binturong Reticulated python Egyptian fruit bat Fennec fox Hoffmann's two-toed sloth and Moholi bushbaby Seba's short-tailed bat Desmares't hutia Nancy Maa's night monkey and thre-banded armadillo Amano shrimp Long-snouted seahorse, Fire dart goby and Chocolate chip starfish Brazilian porcupine and three-striped night monkey Ocelot Northern raccoon Brown-nosed coati Common genet Small-clawed otter Electric eel Lesser hegdehog tenrec (supposedly also a Potto in same enclosure, but absolutely unable to find it) Burmese python and green anaconda
This may not be the place for this question, but I am intrigued as to why some zoos put certain animals in nocturnal houses, and others don't. Chester's sloths are not in a nocturnal house, but other places do - Bristol even moved theirs from being in with some primates, to now being in the old quoll enclosure, as the quolls have moved to the old sand cat enclosure. Chester's sloths certainly seem content. And talking of sand cats, Bristol's was in the nocturnal house, yet Exmoor's are not - and were very active when I saw them a couple of years ago. On the other hand, I am sure I have read people mentioning aardvarks being more active in a nocturnal house somewhere, whereas Chester's are asleep every time I see them (though they do let it all hang out and sleep in full view of the window!)
I’ve never seen aardvarks more active than the ones at Berlin Zoo. Therefore, I feel nocturnal houses are very valuable, as they provide a viewing experience that may not be possible otherwise.
chester's sloths are very active during the day, in the 1980s Bristol held sloths in an outdoor exhibit with natural lighting
London Zoo has: Moholi bushbaby Cave cricket Madagascar hissing cockroach Giant African land snail (unsure if still there) Panay bushy-tailed cloud rat Malagasy jumping rat, Moholi bushbaby Australian water rat Naked mole rat Potto Mexican blind cave fish Seba's short-tailed bat Grey slender loris Grey slender loris Frankfurt Zoo (best nocturnal house I've ever been to) has: Pale golden spiny mouse Tibesti spiny mouse Golden lion tamarin, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth Kowari Eastern quoll Large hairy armadillo, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth, Grey legged night monkey Northern Luzon giant cloud rat Fat tailed dwarf lemur, Grey mouse lemur, Lesser hedgehog tenrec Asian garden dormouse Grey slender loris Seba’s short tailed bat Brazilian porcupine Southern springhare, Senegal bushbaby, Aardvark Aye-aye, Grey mouse lemur Aye-aye, Grey mouse lemur Aye-aye, Grey mouse lemur Grey slender loris Aye-aye Tibesti spiny mouse Feathertail glider Australian water rat Short-beaked echidna, Tawny frogmouth Kowari Belanger’s tree shrew Black-and-rufous elephant shrew Asian small-clawed otter Short-eared elephant shrew White-faced saki, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth, Greater guinea pig Javan mouse deer Goeldi’s monkey, Green acouchi Komodo dragon Barbary striped grass mouse Gundi Paraguayan tamandua, Bearded emperor tamarin Cape ground squirrel, Sociable weaver Pygmy marmoset Dwarf mongoose, Yellow-spotted rock hyrax Golden lion tamarin, Linnaeus' two-toed sloth It should be noted that, in Frankfurt's case, the pale golden spiny mouse and tamarin/sloth enclosures at the beginning, plus every enclosure past the echidnas and frogmouths, are diurnally lit.
Antwerp: Gambian pouched rat (formerly, though I expect them to return soon) Balabac mouse-deer, Grey slender loris Aardvark, Southern springhare Aardvark, Southern springhare Australian water rat Javan mouse-deer, Grey slender loris Southern tamandua Linneaus' two-toed sloth, Hoffmann's night monkey, Southern three-banded armadillo, Egyptian fruit bat Egyptian fruit bat Batu Secret Zoo: (not quite comparable to Frankfurt, but perhaps an equally mouth-watering species list!) Sugar glider Sunda pangolin Sunda pangolin Javan slow loris Sulawesi dwarf cuscus Small Asian mongoose Malayan civet Spectral tarsier, Turtle (unsure which) Kinkajou Common spotted cuscus Great hairy armadillo (and apparently, according to their website, Western long-beaked echidna as well, though I didn't see those in 2016.) Oh, and they also have Bear cuscus elsewhere in the zoo. 3 Cuscus species in one zoo!
Wow, I didn't expect this. My intention was just to share the set-up of the Australian nocturnal houses that I visited recently. No worries, I like this general discussion! For the other lists, see:
In the Netherlands, we just have the nocturnal house of Amersfoort (well, and some nocturnal parts in the Desert of Burgers Zoo and since last year the miniature one in Ouwehands). The Henri Martin House of Blijdorp with its diverse collection of nocturnal animals and small mammals, the Jungle by Night of Artis, the nocturnal section of the AmeriCasa in Emmen... all gone since the turn of the century. For Europe, the Grzimek-Haus of Frankfurt is the best. I give Berlin and Antwerp a shared second place. Zoo Praha and Zoo Plžen have some nice nocturnal sections as well.
Nocturnal Houses are sadly also becoming rare in the US. The only one I have managed to see for myself is Milwaukee's, which has a very nice collection: 1. Straw-Colored Fruit Bat, Ruwenzori Long-Haired Fruit Bat 2. Common Vampire Bat 3. Southern Three-Banded Armadillo 4. Straw-Colored Fruit Bat, Ruwenzori Long-Haired Fruit Bat 5. Sugar Glider 6. Springhaas, Moholi Bushbaby, Potto 7. Fennec Fox
As someone who visited both collections in recent weeks, I would be interested to hear what species were displayed in these exhibits in their latter years.
I have a map of the Henri Martin House with the set-up around 2000 and several guides of Artis, I will look them up and make a list.
Would the nocturnal section of koala house in Tama count? Sugar glider Tawny frog mouth Common brush-tail possum
The Henri Martin-huis of Blijdorp, nowadays the location of the veterinary department, had the following exhibits in 2000: day light section 1. Alaotra bamboo lemur 2. François' langur 3. Eastern black-and-white colobus 4. Crab-eating macaque 5. Cuban hutia 6. Votsotsa main nocturnal section 7. Slender loris, lesser mouse-deer 8. Slender loris 9. Gray mouse lemur 10. Tokeh 11. Night Monkey 12. Viscacha 13. African pygmy dormouse 14. Nine-banded armadillo, two-toed sloth 15. Kinkajou 16. Northern sugar glider 17. Potto Australian nocturnal section 18. Ground cuscus 19. Northern sugar glider 20. Ground cuscus 21. Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo, common brushtail possum, brush-tailed bettong, tawny frogmouth (interesting to know: in the early days of the Henri Martin-huis the Australian collection was even more diverse with quolls, bandicoots (with breeding success!) and hairy-nosed wombats, but these species were already gone when I first visited the zoo as a child in the early nineties) The Jungle by Night (1995-2011) of Artis was located in the building that borders the vulture aviary. It replaced the Wereld der Duisternis (World of Darkness) that closed in 1989 and that was located near the current Pampa exhibits. I may have visited the Wereld der Duisternis when I was very young, but can't remember anything of it. At first the Jungle by Night was a nocturnal South American rainforest exhibit. In the last years several non-American mammals were kept as well, some coming from the closed Henri Martin-huis. It consisted of a kind of riverine enclosure with fish and caiman, three large enclosures for mammals and a couple of smaller enclosures for mice and arthropods. In 2011, most species moved to or the Kleine Zoogdierenhuis (Small Mammal House) or the renovated Apenhuis (Monkey House) and some of them are still on display. The following species were kept in the Jungle by Night: mammals - first years: night monkey, Seba's short-tailed bat, Darwin's leaf-eared mouse, mountain paca, Brazilian agouti and nine-banded armadillo mammals - last years: night monkey, Seba's short-tailed bat, African pygmy mouse, large hairy armadillo, short-eared elephant-shrew, northern sugar glider, ground cuscus and potto reptiles: spectacled caiman, freshwater turtle amphibians: cane toad, splendid leaf frog (first years) fish: Midas cichlid, blind cave fish arthropods: red-knee tarantula, death's head cockroach, thorny devil stick insect
Even in the final years I still remember seeing nine-banded armadillo + big hairy armadillo. I don't remember ever seeing elephant shrew in there, but I have memories of a tree boa. If I remember correctly the turtle was some kind of softshell turtle, but I am not sure about that...
