The National Zoo in Rabat is very dear to me as it is the first zoo I have ever visited. Back then it was very bad, with enclosures dating back to its opening in 1973, but I was too young to care. They closed it somewhere between 2007 and 2010 to completely rebuild one at a different location, aiming to provide animals adequate exhibits. While not every single exhibit matches with modern husbandry standards, many of them are average to good and it is now a decent zoo. I'll happily write down an extensive review if anyone is interested, but in the mean time, I'll just post a full species list. I visited in 2012, 2018, 2019 and in september of 2022. A few interesting species have been lost over the years : - African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) - Ayesha Double-spurred spurfowl (Pternistis bicalcaratus ayesha) - one rescued bird - Beisa oryx (Oryx beisa) - Maybe they still have some but it wasn't signed and I didn't see any - North African common genet (Genetta genetta afra) - Campbell's guenon (Cercopithecus campbelli) - Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) And probably a few other species I didn't notice on my first visit. Mammals Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) Atlas Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia lervia) - subspecies not specified, but it wouldn't make sense to source these sheep out of Morocco Barbary ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) - Nice breeding group, 15+ individuals Meerkat (Suricata suricatta) Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas) - I was told a few years back that these were NOT Moroccan dorcas but Egyptian ones. They keep two groups in two multi-species enclosures. Maybe they have both subspecies, maybe not. Addra gazelle (Nanger dama ruficollis) - Signed both on website and in the zoo as Mhorr gazelles, but looked like Addra gazelles with a bit more markings on the back leg than the Addra gazelles I had seen before. One could hope they are Nanger dama dama but it's highly unlikely so I would consider them Nanger dama ruficollis Cuvier's gazelle (Gazella cuvieri) - One small group with a younger individual and a very impressive male Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii) - Only saw one individuals with the Giraffes Dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) - Only saw two individuals Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) Crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata) - Two groups in different enclosures, one group is albino Fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) - Probably of the barbara subspecies White lion (Panthera leo) - Replaced the cheetahs Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo) Southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) Cape eland (Taurotragus oryx oryx) - With a really impressive blue stripeless bull Grant's zebra (Equus quagga bohemi) Watussi cattle Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) - I'm lost in the Giraffe taxonomy debate, the animals were signed as non-subspecific anyway African elephant (Loxodonta africana) - One young individual. They used to have more but after an incident where a child died, it seems like they removed the bigger group Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) - In with the African elephant, wasn't there on my previous visits Tiger (Panthera tigris) - Mentionned as Siberian in local news, it was massive and certainly hairy but I'm not sure that's enough to be sure it's a Siberian one. Signed as P. Tigris. Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) - Signed as Papio hamadryas mandrillus... Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) - Replaced the African wild dogs Caracal (Caracal caracal) Olive baboon (Papio anubis) - Not sure about these ones, signed as Doguera Baboons Red lechwe (Kobus leche leche) - Huge groups, 40+ individuals European otter (Lutra lutra) Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) - Not on-show at the moment African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) Patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas) Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Serval (Leptailurus serval) Ichneumon (Herpestes ichneumon) Red ruffed lemur (Varecia rubra) - Signed as Varecia variegata Black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) - Signed as Varecia variegata variegata Atlas deer (Cervus elaphus barbarus) - There used to be 10+ individuals, this time I only saw 2.1 Bennett's wallaby (Notamacropus rufogriseus) Patagonian mara (Dolichotis patagonum) Alpaca (Lama pacos) Common squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciuereus) Tufted capuchin (Sapajus apella) Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) That's all for the mammals. A very nice ingulate selection, with 4 gazelle species. They used to have 3 oryx species, now down to 2 sadly. Next will be the birds
Birds North African ostrich (Struthio camelus camelus) - At least 4 individuals in separate enclosures, with one huge male White stork (Ciconia ciconia) - Signed but looked like wild individuals with complete set of wing feathers, too many of them to count, wild individuals breed over zoo aviaries Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata) - 1 individual Royal eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) - 2 individuals Short-toed snake eagle* (Circaetus gallicus) - Signed, seen on previous visits but not on this one, probably not there anymore Long-legged buzzard* (Buteo rufinus) - Signed but not seen Lanner falcon (Falco biarmicus) Black kite (Milvus migrans migrans) Yellow-billed kite (Milvus aegyptius) - In with the two eagle species, not signed and was not there on previous visits. Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus fulvus) Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo bubo) Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) - Free roaming in the zoo + white breeding female with chicks in a multi species aviary Silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera) - 1.1 + 8 chicks Golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) Black swan (Cygnus atratus) Black-necked swan* (Cygnus melancoryphus) - Signed but not seen Swan goose (Anser cygnoides domesticus) Mute swan (Cygnus olor) Ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) Great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) - Eating wild pigeons very casually Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) - Breeding Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) - 30+ individuals if not much more Grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) - Not signed Speckled pigeon (Columba guinea) - Not signed, new addition to the multi species aviary African houbara (Chlamydotis undulata) - The only rarity when it comes to birds. One old individuals, probably the same as in 2018 and 2019. Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto) - Many of them in the multi-species walkthrough aviary Red-lored amazon (Amazona autumnalis) - Two individuals Timneh parrot (Psittacus timneh) - Breeding African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) - 20+ birds Military macaw (Ara militaris) Buffon's macaw (Ara ambiguus) Green-winged macaw (Ara chloropterus) Scarlet macaw (Ara macao) Ararauna macaw (Ara ararauna) Jendaya conure (Aratinga jandaya) Nanday conure (Aratinga nenday) Ochre-marked parakeet (Pyrrhura cruentata) Green-cheeked parakeet (Pyrrhura molinae) Monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) Patagonian conure (Cyanoliseus patagonus) Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) Alexandre parrot (Psittacula eupatria) White cockatoo (Cacatua alba) Salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) Sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) Fisher's lovebird (Agapornis fischeri) Rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus) Java sparrow (Padda oryzivora) Gould's finch (Chloebia gouldiae)
As I looked back at my pictures, it seems like the zoo never kept Campbell's mona monkeys but Common mona monkeys instead (even though they were signed as Campbell's).