The Zoochat Photographic Index of Mammalian Families

MACROPODIDAE



From a family exhibiting only a small degree of morphological and ecological variation, within a relatively limited number of species, to one which is quite the reverse! Having spent quite some time mulling over how best to tackle this family, I decided the best way would be to select a member of the most morphologically-distinct lineages, the tree kangaroos, followed by (not to put too fine a point on it) a small species, a mid-range species and a large species from within the various species of more "traditional" wallabies, kangaroos and allied species

So, to begin with - which species of tree kangaroo should we select to represent the group? I was somewhat tempted to pick the Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo, given the fact that it is one of only two species within this lineage to be found in Australia, but truth be told I do not find it particularly appealing in visual terms, and there are few images of the species to choose from within the gallery. The most obvious answer would be to select from one of the two species most commonly found in captive collections - and hence the Zoochat gallery - but which one? I considered picking the Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo given the fact that this was the first member of the family I saw, but firstly I do not wish to "overdo" personal experience as a motive of selection, and secondly I don't actually think this is the most attractive of the two species under consideration. As such, I have selected Matschie's Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei). The question of which photograph to use was a shade trickier, given how many excellent images we have of the species within the gallery, but I ultimately decided to pick the following photograph taken by @Tomek of the last individual at Zoo Koln:



As for the question of which three species to select to represent the range of variation within the more "traditional" macropods, I found one or two of the choices relatively easy, but the issue of which small species to select was rather trickier. I could have picked one of the Dorcopsis or Thylogale species, given the fact that these look a little unusual compared to some of their sister species, but somehow it didn't quite feel like any of these taxa "fit" in this post comfortably. Selecting the Parma Wallaby would make for a good conservation story, and the Tammar Wallaby would be tempting given the fact this is - much like the Feather-tailed Glider - a species which eluded me across many collections before I ultimately saw it for the first time at Dierenpark Amersfoort...... but given the fact that both species belong within a genus I intend to highlight anon, I decided that neither would be quite right. Eventually, I was torn between selecting one of the smaller of the Petrogale rock-wallabies, or the species which I did eventually plump for, Quokka (Setonix brachyurus). The factor which swung the matter in the end was one of photograph quality and supply; the latter taxon is well-represented within the gallery with many high-quality images available to choose from. Moreover, this is a species which is rather popular online due to its endearing appearance, yet is currently in something of a precarious position in the wild; although faring well on the famed Rottnest Island, the few remaining mainland populations balance on a knife-edge. As such, I have chosen the following image of a wild individual taken by @LaughingDove on Rottnest Island to represent the taxon:



The final two options, as noted above, are a shade easier; as soon as I started mulling over the subject, I know immediately which two species should be selected. The Red Kangaroo (Osphranter rufus) is not only the largest macropod, but also the largest extant marsupial of all - perhaps the only remaining marsupial which could be justifiably classified as a member of the once-rich megafauna of Australia. To represent this species, I have selected a photograph taken by @ThylacineAlive at Linton Zoo, depicting an individual which I am told was one of the very largest members of the species known, but which has since passed away:



To represent a mid-range macropod species, I knew straight away that I wanted to use an image of Papuan Agile Wallaby (Notamacropus agilis papuanus), one of the most attractive-looking macropod taxa I have seen, and one which (at species level) came extremely close to being lost from European collections entirely in the not-so-distant past; during the dark times when the majority of European macropod studbooks were held by the infamous David Gill, this species in particular fared badly as a result and came incredibly close to dying out. It was only when Rotterdam and Munich refused to send the last of their stock to South Lakes at Gill's demand, and started working together to build captive numbers up once again, that the tide turned. The species is now, as a result, in stable and slowly-increasing numbers once again. The photograph I have selected, which depicts the Papuan race as noted, was taken by @ThylacineAlive at Magdeburg Zoo; not only a rather good image, but a record of a very pleasant trip around a number of German zoos which he embarked upon with @ShonenJake13 in 2018 and which myself and Helly were fortunate-enough to join them on for the Magdeburg and Berlin stretch

 

MICROBIOTHERIIDAE



This unusual family - comprising as it does the only New World representative of the Australasian lineage of marsupials - contains a single species, the Monito del Monte (Dromiciops gliroides) of the Argentine and Chilean highlands. Given the limited and inaccessible range of the species, it is both impressive and yet unsurprising that the following photograph was taken by @Giant Eland :


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CAENOLESTIDAE



Similarly, the Shrew-opossums of the Caenolestidae are unrepresented within the gallery, sad to say.
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DIDELPHIDAE



For the final marsupial family we will cover in this thread, the opossums, it seems fairly obvious that the most sensible course of action would be to use an image apiece for each of the three main "types" of opossum; the mouse opossums, the woolly opossums and the "true" opossums. We have a fairly decent selection of images in the gallery depicting members of the first and last of these groups, so the question in these cases will be one of determining the precise taxon which would best represent their categories rather than seeking out images good enough for use.

When looking through the gallery for images of mouse opossums and other species fitting this general ecological and morphological niche, judging them on the criteria of showing as much of the body plan and appearance of the species in question as possible in order to provide better comparison to the other species selected to represent this family, I ultimately decided that the following image of Linnaeus's Mouse Opossum (Marmosa murina) taken by @Giant Eland at Zoo Frankfurt suited our purposes rather well:



Moving onto the question of which species of woolly opossum would best represent this particular branch of the opossum radiation, the choice was a little more sparse - as such, I relatively quickly decided that the following photograph of Brown-eared Woolly Opossum (Caluromys lanatus) taken at Parque de Las Leyendas by @devilfish would probably be the most suitable option:



When considering the issue of which "classical" opossum would be the best choice, on a surface level there are many notable options available to us - an image of Yapok would allow us to highlight the fact that this is the only extant marsupial which possesses a pouch in both sexes, whilst we have many excellent images of South American Didelphis species; however, perhaps the most appropriate species to illustrate this group of opossums, and the opossum family as a whole, is the Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana). This is, after all, the archetypical opossum, and the species which perhaps the most Zoochatters are familiar with. Funnily enough, however, this species is remarkably unrepresented in the gallery - it is only sporadically seen in captive collections due to its short lifespan and (in the USA) the fact it is a ubiquitous vermin species and as such not exactly the most popular species for a captive display, and similar reasons influence the lack of images depicting wild individuals. However, there are a handful of good photographs of the species in the gallery nonetheless, including this rather nice image taken at Cedar's Nature Centre by @Tomek :



This individual, which has since passed away, was the first and (to date) only opossum which I have seen, having missed other species either through timing, inability to view them off-display or sheer bad luck on a number of occasions - as such it is quite an appropriate individual to represent the opossum family for the purposes of this thread, methinks!

 

TENRECIDAE



The tenrecs are a rather varied and speciose family on the whole; however, of the various subgroups within the family, all are unrepresented in the gallery barring the five species of "hedgehog/moonrat mimic". As such, although it would be more appropriate to illustrate this family with two images - one showing a shrew mimic and the other a hedgehog mimic - we are able only to provide the latter of these. So the question is, which of the species would be the most appropriate to use for this purpose? The Greater and Lesser Hedgehog Tenrecs are certainly the most well-represented within the gallery, with the Tailless Tenrec not far behind, and the images of these species include several very high-quality photographs. However, I think that in terms of displaying how downright unusual the family can be - and due to the unique biological and behavioural traits that the genus displays, such as stridulation - the most interesting selection would be one of the streaked tenrec species.

Given the quality of this particular image, both in terms of image clarity and the anatomical features visible, I have therefore selected the following image of a privately-held Lowland Streaked Tenrec (Hemicentetes semispinosus) taken by @Newzooboy in the UK:

 

POTAMOGALIDIDAE



The Otter-shrews are a very small but biologically-unique family, and one which is almost as unrepresented in the gallery as the Shrew-opossums and Monito del Monte are; however, we are fortunate enough to have a limited number of photographs depicting museum specimens of Giant Otter Shrew (Potamogale velox) in the gallery, albeit severely-faded and as such not representing the living form of the taxon terribly well. Nonetheless, this means that we are able to represent the family for the purposes of this thread using the following photograph taken at the Natural History Museum in London by @LaughingDove

 

CHRYSOCHLORIDAE



Much as is the case with the preceding family, this is another group which very few - if any - of our membership have seen alive and which, as a result, would be entirely unrepresented for the purposes of this thread were it not for a handful of low-quality and ageing museum specimens which have been photographed by our members from time to time. As such, the following is an image of Cape Golden Mole (Chrysochloris asiatica) taken at the Iziko South African Museum by @Kudu21 :

 

MACROSCELIDIDAE



Fortunately, the next family under consideration is rather more well-represented within the Zoochat gallery, with several species having been seen and photographed in captivity by our membership. As such, the first question we must ask ourselves is how many photographs would be appropriate to illustrate this family for the purposes of this thread? Having considered the matter somewhat, it seems most fitting to select an image of one of the "giant" species of sengi, along with one of the more "classical" species, in order to demonstrate the range in size and shape present within the family as a whole.

As such, the following images have been selected not only for their quality as stand-alone images, but also for how well they illustrate the physical traits of the species they represent and the ease of direct comparison between the two photographs due to similar photographic angle and posture of the subject. The first species we shall highlight, then, is the Rufous Elephant Shrew (Elephantulus rufescens), with a photograph taken by @Tomek at Allwetterzoo Munster:



The second image we shall highlight is the rather-similarly named - but very different in both size and physical appearance - Black-and-rufous Elephant Shrew (Rhynchocyon petersi), in this case an individual photographed at Bronx Zoo by @Ding Lingwei :



It is worth mentioning, incidentally, that this family represents the first of three orders of placental mammals which I had never been fortunate enough to see before my first ever visit to Europe in April 2014 - having been long-absent from UK collections at the time I saw Round-eared Elephant Shrew for the first time at Tierpark Berlin. As such, even though I have subsequently seen this species - along with the two illustrated in this post - on a number of occasions, and the group is once again present in UK collections, I have to admit to a soft spot for sengis.

 

ORYCTEROPODIDAE



As has been the case for a few families now, the issue at hand for the Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) is not one of selecting which species should illustrate the group - for the family is monotypic - and rather one of working out which of the many excellent images depicting the species would be best suited to our purposes. Having thought over the various factors at play, I decided that an image showing the species in daylight would be most interesting, and also allow more of the appearance of the taxon in question to be clearly visible.

As such, I have ultimately selected the following photograph taken at Chester Zoo by @SHAVINGTONZOO :

 

PROCAVIIDAE



As far as the hyraxes go, it seems to me that it would make the most sense to use two photographs to represent the family as a whole; an image of one of the rock or bush hyraxes, and an image of one of the tree hyraxes, given the fact that these represent the two main morphological varieties visible within the group. The question, then, is which precise taxa should be selected?

Certainly there is no shortage of decent photographs in the gallery depicting the various races of rock hyrax and bush hyrax, so perhaps the best way to look at the matter is to select an image which best shows a contrast between these species and the tree hyraxes. Therefore, it makes sense for us to first choose the photograph representing the latter lineage. After some consideration, I ultimately decided that both in terms of image clarity and the morphological features visible within, the following photograph of Southern Tree Hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) taken at Prague Zoo by @Maguari would suit our purposes best:



Having selected this photograph, we can start to consider which image of a bush/rock hyrax provides the best comparison to the aforementioned species, whilst also serving as a good representation of the taxon at hand. As such, I eventually decided that the following image of Arabian Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis jayakari) taken at Cotswold Wildlife Park by Maguari was the best option, given how clearly the colouration, shape and general "feel" of the species is conveyed:

 

ELEPHANTIDAE



When selecting photographs to represent the elephant family, it seems fairly obvious that this is a case where the most appropriate option would be to depict both extant lineages, allowing direct comparison between Asian and African Elephants. As one can imagine, we have a vast number of excellent photographs within the Zoochat gallery depicting both the African Bush Elephant and the various subspecies of Asian Elephant; as such, selecting the best images for the purpose is theoretically a matter of photograph quality and ease of comparison rather than taxonomy. However, as regards the African lineage I feel it is worth highlighting a recently-uploaded and rather excellent photograph of African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) taken at Asa Zoo by @RatioTile rather than defaulting to the more-obvious and significantly more widely-represented African Bush Elephant, given the quality of the image and how well it displays the unique characteristics of the species in question, along with the fact that it is likely many members of the forum are as-yet unaware that the photograph is present within the gallery:



In terms of the counterpart photograph for Asian Elephant, after much consideration I eventually decided to select the following image of a wild Sri Lankan Elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) taken by @ralph , due to the quality of the image, how well it demonstrates the morphology and "feel" of the species, and the fact that it is one of the best images we have in the gallery of a wild elephant full stop:

 

DUGONGIDAE



Given the fact that this family is now represented by a single monotypic extant species, the selection of a photograph to represent Dugong (Dugong dugon) is purely a matter of image availability and quality rather than one of taxonomic choice. We have more images of the species within the gallery than one might expect, but given the difficulty of photographing aquatic species many are lower in quality than would be preferred for the purposes of this thread. Nonetheless, I feel the following photograph taken by @Giant Eland at Toba Aquarium does a pretty good job of depicting the morphology of the species in a clear and high-quality fashion:

 

TRICHECHIDAE



The manatees are slightly more speciose than are the dugongs, but many of the same issues which affected the choice of photograph for the latter family are also factors when selecting an image for the former; both the Amazonian and African species are poorly-represented in the gallery, and those images which do exist tend to be lower-quality, whilst there are rather more images available for the two races of West Indian Manatee but precious few high-quality photographs. However, there are a number of good photographs to be found if one searches carefully enough. As such, I have selected the following image of Caribbean Manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) taken at Burger's Zoo by @KevinB to represent the family for the purposes of this thread:

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APLODONTIIDAE



This family contains but a single monotypic species, the so-called Mountain Beaver or Sewellel (Aplodontia rufa), which contrary to the implication within their common name are only very-distantly related to the true beavers; in point of fact, they seem to be the sister group to the squirrels. Either way, the species is almost-entirely unrepresented within the Zoochat gallery, with only a single photograph of a museum specimen taken by @Ituri at Washington State
University's Conner Museum :

 

SCIURIDAE



Quite the opposite from the preceding family, the squirrels are an extremely speciose and varied group, and as such I believe they merit a relatively substantial number of photographs in order to effectively represent them for the purposes of this thread.

The question, of course, is how many photographs should be selected and which taxa would be the best to represent the group as a whole? The Sciuridae comprises several subfamilies, but not only do many of the taxa across distinct lineages look superficially similar, but in some cases the members of a single lineage can vary in appearance and morphology quite strongly; as such merely selecting a member from each group would probably not suit our purposes all that well, as it would likely fail to truly represent the amount of variation in size, shape and pelage throughout the group. It is for this reason that I have disregarded the boundaries between specific lineages and tried to select species on the basis of visual distinctiveness, variety in colour and form, and how interesting it is to compare them to one another.

The first such image I have selected is a photograph taken by myself of Grizzled Giant Squirrel (Ratufa macroura dandolena) at Exmoor Zoo; this is one of the largest and most robust species of arboreal squirrel, and rather attractive to look at; unfortunately, it is also a species which is on the brink of disappearing from captive collections.



To provide a useful comparison demonstrating how different lineages of squirrel have developed large size, the second image I have selected is a photograph of a wild Gray-headed Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista caniceps) taken by @baboon



The final image I have selected for the purpose of demonstrating the variety found within the largest members of the squirrel family is a photograph of Bobak Marmot (Marmota bobak) taken by @MagpieGoose at Zoo Magdeburg, representing the way in which large size has developed within those squirrels which have adopted a more terrestrial mode of living:



The next two images I have selected are intended to serve as direct comparison to the preceding two, demonstrating smaller members of the groups from which the Grey-headed Giant Flying Squirrel and Bobak Marmot emerged; firstly, the following photograph of Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel (Pteromys momonga) taken at Ueno Zoo by @Giant Eland provides some insight into the basal stock from which the former species originally emerged:



Similarly, the following photograph of European Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) taken by @gentle lemur at Bristol Zoo represents the basic body plan and appearance common to many of the smaller ground squirrels:



This taxon is worth highlighting for another reason; it is a European native species which is in a state of some decline, with captive breeding and reintroduction projects underway throughout many Central European collections with a view to halting this downwards trend. The next taxon which I intend to highlight is in a similar - but rather more precarious - position on a local level, with rapid and alarming population losses throughout the bulk of its former range in the United Kingdom, even whilst it remains numerous elsewhere in Europe and Asia. I am, of course, talking about the Eurasian Red Squirrel, which over the course of the 20th century and into the early decades of the current century has experienced a dramatic reduction in range and numbers in the UK, going from a commonplace species throughout the country to a taxon more or less restricted to Scotland and a tiny handful of bastions scattered across England. This is a species which I would have selected for the purposes of this thread in any case, given the fact that it represents the "classic" squirrel rather nicely, but the local conservation status of the taxon provides me with a very good excuse to select the following photograph taken by myself of a wild British Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris leucourus) in the garden of Helly's parents some years ago:



Sadly, in the last four or five years, this particular population of Red Squirrel has been extirpated from the area, victim to the expanding range of the invasive Eastern Grey Squirrel.

The final two taxa I have selected are intended to provide an interesting contrast to the Eurasian Red Squirrel, demonstrating the range in size and pelage present within the various lineages of tree squirrel beyond that already presented by the aforementioned taxon and - earlier in this post - the Grizzled Giant Squirrel. As such, the first of these taxa I intend to cite is the Himalayan Striped Squirrel (Tamiops mcclellandii), one of the smaller species of tree squirrel and moreover rather attractively-marked. The following photograph was taken by myself at Tierpark Berlin:



The final species I will cite in this photographic summary of the variation present within the Sciuridae is the Sumatran Prevost's Squirrel (Callosciurus prevostii rafflesi), one of the most vibrantly-coloured species of squirrel and as such rather commonplace in captive collections both at a subspecific and species level. This particular photograph was taken by @ro6ca66 at Cotswold Wildlife Park, and shows the attractive and eye-catching colour and pattern typical to this species:

 

GLIRIDAE



(justifying text to follow)

Photograph of Asian Desert Dormouse (Eliomys melanurus) taken at Five Sisters Zoo Park by @Maguari



Photograph of Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) taken at Tierpark Schönebeck by @Giant Eland

 

ANOMALURIDAE



Photograph of a wild Lord Derby's Anomalure (Anomalurus derbianus) taken in Semuliki National Park, Uganda by @Giant Eland :


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PEDETIDAE



The Springhares are a rather small family of rodents comprising two near-identical taxa, both of which are represented in the Zoochat gallery by a number of rather good photographs. Given how similar the two species are, it hardly seems to matter which is selected for the purposes of this thread. As such, this provides a good excuse for me to post the following photograph taken by myself at Five Sisters Zoo Park of the final Southern Springhare (Pedetes capensis) to have been displayed within a UK collection to the present day; unfortunately not long after this photograph was taken, the combined reptile house and nocturnal house at the zoo suffered a catastrophic fire which killed almost every single species held within - the only survivors being a single meerkat and a pair of crocodiles, to the best of my recollection - including this individual.

 

CASTORIDAE



The beavers, much like the springhares, are a small and morphologically-homogenous family, and as such it probably does not particularly matter which of the two extant species is selected for the purposes of this thread. As such, I have looked through the gallery for the most appropriate photograph to use, on the basis of clarity, detail and how well it demonstrates the physical morphology of the family overall, and ultimately decided to use the following image of North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) taken by @MagpieGoose at All Things Wild:

 

GEOMYIDAE



The pocket-gophers are a relatively speciose family, but one which is fairly homogenous in morphology and - more to the point - only patchily represented within the Zoochat gallery. As such, it seems most appropriate to select a single species to represent this species. After consideration of the various options available, I eventually decided that the most interesting image to highlight for the purposes of this thread was the following photograph of a wild Northern Pocket Gopher (Thomomys talpoides fuscus) taken by @Ituri