Just visited Tropical World in Letterkenny, Donegal today. A lot of work had been done since I last visited in 2015. It only opened in 2011 as a tropical butterfly house, and overtime has turned into a very good small zoo. I have requested a forum and gallery are to be created, so I will do a full review then but in short there is: A large Butterfly house, Bug World (Approx 25 tanks of insects, amphibians and some reptiles), a reptile section (Approx about 20 tanks), lots of aviaries, and good selection of smaller mammals such as Tamarins, Marmosets, Lemurs, Racoons, Meerkats e.t.c. Despite its small size it took me 90 minutes to get around once. It became a member of BIAZA I think back in 2014.
Good to hear about new additions to a relatively zoo-lacking country. Letterkenny's Tropical World doesn't seem to have an entry nor a species list on Zootierliste - is that something you would be up for?
I have began creating a list of all the species on show Going again on Wednesday with someone else on Zoochat so I can finalise the list then and message you it for Zootierliste if that suits you.
You don't need to hurry or do it for my sake, I don't think I'll be going to Letterkenny during the next couple of months anyway. I just thought it would be a bit of a shame if a "proper" zoo like that didn't have a Zootierliste entry.
After finally finishing the Species List Tropical World has Birds (48), Mammals (18), Reptiles (22), Amphibians (5), and Other (14). Will write a review when the Forum is created and if anyone wants a full list of the species just PM me.
That's a much bigger list than expected. You should post the list here on this thread, as I and others I'm sure, would like to see it.
Here is the full list of species @dublinlion. Was actually 19 mammals as I somehow managed to forget Raccoon. Birds (No Particular Order) Red-Billed Blue Magpie Red-Billed Hornbill African Crowned Hornbill Violet Turaco Rainbow Lorikeet Yellow-Bibbed Lory Black-Capped Lory Orange Headed Thrush Blue Eyed Cockatoo Galah Cockatoo Scarlet Macaw Harlequin Macaw Blue and Yellow Macaw Canadian Great Horned Owl Sulphur Crested Cockatoo Channel Billed Toucan Bali Starling Australian King Parrot Crimson Rosella Indian Ringneck Parakeet Cockatiel Sun Conure Maroon Bellied Conure Yellow Crowned Amazon Kakariki Love Birds Emerald Dove Snowy-Crowned Robin Chat Bleeding Heart Dove Black Crowned Night Heron White Cheeked Turaco Blacksmith Plover Wattled Starling Burchell's Glossy Starling Red Crested Turaco Superb Starling Livingstone Turaco Canary Zebra Finch Bengalese Finch Heck's Grass Finch Snowy Owl Great Grey Owl Southern Boobook owl Barred Owl Wood/Carolina Duck Fulvous Whistling duck Rosy-Billed Pochard Mammals Red-Handed Tamarin Cotton Top Tamarin Geoldi's Marmoset (Was not signed) White-Lipped Tamarin Common Marmoset Geoffroy's Marmoset Squirrel Monkey Prevost Squirrel Pygmy Marmoset Siberian Chipmunk Ring-Tailed Lemur Common Brown Lemur Black Lemur Parma Wallaby Meerkat Fennec Fox Black Tailed Prairie Dog Black and White Ruffed Lemur Raccoon Reptiles Leopard Tortoise Sulcata Tortoise Horsefield's Tortoise Hermann's Tortoise Cuban Knight anole Corn Snake Central Bearded Dragon Leopard Gecko Fire Skink Western Spiny Tailed Skink Meller's Chameleon Giant Day Gecko Royal Python Berber Skink Blue Tongued Skink Spiny-Tailed Lizard (Uromastyx) Chinese Water Dragon Argentine Black and White Tegu Panther Chameleon Green Iguana Mountain Horned Dragon Black Iguana (Ctenosaura similis) Ambiphians Giant Waxy Tree Frog Yellow Tree Frog Mission Golden Eyed Tree Frog Whites Tree Frog Pac-Man Frog Other Rusty Millipede Sunny Stick Insect Leaf Insect Jungle Nymph Praying mantis (No species given) Brazilian Blonde Tarantula New Guinea Spiny Stick Insect Hesperophasma lobatum Laos Black Forest Scorpian Three Horned Rhinoceros Beetle Cockroach (No species given) Giant African Millipede Pink Toe Tarantula Chilean Rose Tarantula Species signed but not seen Red Footed Tortoise Roul Partridge Hahn's Macaw Lesser Pantagonian Conure Overall: Birds(48), Mammals(19), Reptiles(22), Amphibians(5), Other (14)
Thanks for posting this SM. That is really surprising that they have built such a large collection albeit smaller species, and this place is still pretty much under the radar. Are there any larger groups or is it mostly single specimens or pairs?
For the birds most species are kept in groups with only the Macaws, Cockatoos, Toucan and Owls kept single or in pairs. There is a number of large aviaries. They do make the most out of their limited space. For example, the 'Jurassic Land' (Dinosaur models) is actually netted to make an aviary that houses about 12 White-Cheeked Turaco. Most of the smaller social-able mammals were kept in quite large groups e.g. There was approximately ten Cotton-Top Tamarins. Due to the very limited space, the larger mammals were kept mostly in pairs. The exception being a trio of Ring-Tailed Lemur and a trio of Black Lemur. Most of the enclosures for mammals seem to be at maximum capacity, with some being on the small side for even just a pair. If any of the Lemurs were to breed, there would be problems creating an enclosure large enough. When this Small Zoo first opened, the only mammals it had were some Meerkats, Common Marmoset, Otters (Replaced by the Prairie Dogs), Red Squirrel (Replaced by Prevost Squirrel), a pair of South American Coati (replaced by a species of Lemur) and a single Raccoon. The owners did not imagine how popular it would become. The nearest Zoo to it is Belfast which is nearly 90 miles away.
Here is the current signed Zoo map. Missing is Bugs Worlds located at E1, and some new aviaries the the left of'MONKEYS'. When it first opened it was only the area which is slightly shaded grey (E.F.G)
The number of species held by this small zoo is close to the Fota and Tayto levels. Even though they are all small of stature species, it is still pretty impressive.
