Species You Wish More Zoos Would Keep

What species do you wish more zoos in your home country would keep? For the United States, I wish more zoos would keep:
- The Lowland Anoa, fascinating and unique endangered species that doesn't get anywhere near the attention it deserves from zoos.
- Speke's and Soemmerring's Gazelles, two endangered gazelle species that I wish more places would keep.
- White-bellied Tree Pangolins, need I explain my reasoning?
- Bee-eaters, fascinating and colorful birds that very few places keep.
- Birds of Paradise, same as for bee-eaters.
- Sand Cats and Black-footed Cats, endangered, small, and utterly adorable cat species
- Caprids, a whole group of underrepresented ungulates that I wish was kept more frequently as a whole. I'd especially like to see more groups pick up urial, goral, or nubian ibex.
- Maleos, a rare and gorgeous bird species.
- Geladas, a fascinating and unique primate species that very few US zoos keep.
- Lion-tailed Macaques, another fascinating and underrepresented primate species, endangered.
- Eulemurs, endangered, fascinating, and active species- but less common in zoos than the ringtailed and ruffled lemurs.
- Freshwater chelonians, many are at risk of extinction and tangible conservation work can be done by zoos.
- Amphibians, same as the chelonians.

 

Bornean Bearded Pig: There cant be enough asian swines.

Gaur: They are so impressive but There are Not many left.

Proboscis monkey: they are so unique looking.

Harpy Eagle: Why are there Not more of one of the Worlds biggest Species of bird of Prey in Zoos?

 

For me, I would like to see more :

- Asiatic Black Bears
- Sea Otters
- Striped Hyenas
- Aardwolves
- African Buffaloes
- Gazelles (all species)
- Duikers (all species)
- Hartebeests
- Saigas
- Pronghorns
- Mooses
- Warthogs
- Andean and Baird's Tapirs
- Tree Kangaroos (all species)
- Wallabies (all species except Red-necked Wallaby that's very common in zoos)
- Sifakas (all species)
- Babakotos
- Drills
- Baboons (all species, except the Hamadryas that is widespread in zoos)
- Birds of Paradise
- Gharials

All these species are rare to very rare (if not inexistent) in European zoos, and a lot of them are threatened in the wild.

I could add the venomous snakes, that are nearly absent from the French collections (but more present in other European countries).

 

Well... If the American subspecies is that important, I guess.
However there should be plenty of european elk around

 

The Moose/Elk (Alces alces) is a special case : it isn't threatened (and its range is even increasing), but it's a quite rare species in zoos, out of Scandinavia.
In France only a handful of zoos keep them.

And my point of view is European (and especially French), thus not representative of other continents.

 

Pampas cat (all species), margay, golden cat (both species), tigrina (both species), black-footed cat, marbled cat, flat-headed cat, etc...
(Are you seeing a pattern? )

 

But they dont have the same pattern? Some of those are small spotted or large spotted, while some have no spot at all.

 

I too speak from a European pov.
There's 6 zoos in France with the European subspecies and 1 holder of the American subspecies. 7 holders is a lot more than my own country, the Netherlands, gets.

I don't think it's that rare outside of scandinavia.... Germany alone has 33 holders..
According to ZTL a total of 131 zoos keep this animal.

 

Smooth coated, Giant, and any african species of otter. I think this would be and easy change because many zoos have ASCO or NARO enclosures that would be suitable for more rare species.

 

I agree I would like to see this change, but I don't think it will be as easy as you think. NARO and ASCO can both handle colder temperatures than the spotted-necked and giant otters. For many northern zoos these animals would be out of reach unless they built indoor exhibits, as opposed to existing outdoor habitats.

 

Yes, same here.

 

Hyenas. Any species I'll be satisfied with

 

The buffy tufted marmoset, black lion tamarin, pied tamarin, golden bellied and kaapori capuchins I think are the first species that come to mind.

I would have once added the Northern and Southern muriqui and the Superagui lion tamarin too but as I learn more I have come to believe that these are species best conserved in-situ.

Beyond primates and off the top of my head I would say other mammal species such as the bush dog, giant otter, pampas cat, Brazilian three banded armadillo also strike me as needing more of an ex-situ presence in Brazilian zoos.

Then there are several reptile and bird species which either need a greater presence in zoo insurance populations or lack one all together such as the golden lancehead viper, Spix and Lear's macaws, blue-eyed ground dove, Araripe manakin, Brazilian merganser and the Pernambuco pygmy owl (probably far too late for that last one).

 

Arizona Docent covered most of my cat species but I think zoos (especially in North America) need more Asiatic Lions. Also more Leopard species (javan, sri lankan, Anatolian, and of course African). Nubian Ibexes which I don't need to explain.

 

Any kind of civet. I believe only one AZA zoo keeps covers (that being Nashville). Yet they don’t exhibit them, and a few private collections keep them, but they aren’t very well documented as far as I know.

 

These are the animals I wished more zoos kept:

-Geladas: I think Geladas are fascinating, amazing animals.
-Shoebills: Their big bills are amazing and they are rare.
-Clouded Leopard: They have beautiful fur patterns.
-Babirusa: Many people don’t like the babirusa, but I think they are really cool.
-Sun Bears and Sloth Bears: These are both incredible Bear species with so many special adaptations to help them survive.

 

Freshwater crustaceans, there are plenty of cool species, plus some like some crayfish species could really use the help of a breeding program. Even easily-obtained and hardy species like Yabby and Redclaw Crayfish just aren't kept much.

 

I'd say that the takin could make for a good zoo animal to become more common -
A large mammal that could provide educational value as guests try to decide on whether what they are looking at is a yak, a gnu, a bison or whatnot. Signs telling them that what they are seeing is neither could come as a surprise, but may influence their knowledge of animals in general.
Enrichment could also provide entertaining value to guests, as they see the large, muscular animals in a rather playful and charismatic manner.
To add, it could also help telling guests that as Takins inhabit a similar, if not same habitat to Pandas, that donating to help wild Takins could also influence wild Pandas.
An all-in-1 good zoo animal.

 

Another species that I forgot to mention in my comment above which I believe would really benefit from an ex-situ breeding programme in Brazilian zoos (and possibly zoos abroad too) would be Ortalis remota.

This is a newly described species of chachalaca (only described in 2017) which is endemic to SP state here in Brazil and is very threatened.