What Animals Would Be Animal Ambassadors?

WendyBirdy

WendyBirdy
I'm just wondering for a zoo idea, which is a zoo of entirely ambassador animals, which animals would count? Im counting both habitat and exhibit species
Current species list:
Nine-Banded Armadillo
Lemurs
Capuchin
Dingo
ASCO
Binturong
Aardvark
Cheetah
Raccoon
Striped Skunk
Wombat
Arctic Fox
Wallaby
Emu
Capybara
Caracal
Skink
Boa constrictor
Tarantulas
Fennec Fox
Spotted Hyena

Not Ambassador But In the Zoo:
All The Other Grassland Animals
Giant Anteater
 
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NZFanatic

NZFanatic
Wellington Zoo uses dingoes and Asian small-clawed otters in one of their educational shows. Plenty of zoos also do it with lemurs and capuchins.
 

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
Binturong, aardvark, cheetah, wombat, racoon, skunk, arctic fox , nine banded armadillo are just some of the many found from examples on zoochat
 

biggest_dreamer

biggest_dreamer
I think most of the big ones I'm aware of have been mentioned already besides the caracal - I know Chattanooga has an off-exhibit ambassador pair.
 

biggest_dreamer

biggest_dreamer
yoav_r said:
What are animal ambassadors in this context?
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Ambassador animals are those that are used for education or demonstrations, sometimes including ones outside of the zoo itself, and may or may not also be kept on exhibit. If you've ever seen someone walking around a zoo holding a snake or a parrot, or with a binturong or armadillo on a leash, that's an ambassador animal. We more or less have it in game with the new exhibit educator thing from the last update, just not for habitat species.

Brookfield Zoo has a nice succinct description of them on their site, as well as a very long list of the species they have (I got to see the two-toed sloth doing a presentation when I visited a few months ago): https://www.czs.org/animalambassadors
 

Antimony96

Antimony96
In North America, there are a ton of zoos which keep skunks, raccoons, and nine-banded armadillos (as well as other smallish mammals like opossums) off-exhibit as ambassador animals.

A large chunk of exhibit animals as well, the best examples being the blue-tongued skink, the boa constrictor, and the tarantulas.
 

Pentoleaf

Pentoleaf
Adding on that many (though not all) ambassador animals are rescues or domestic species which thrive on human interaction and cannot always be kept on exhibit with others of their species.
 

Cynogale bennettii II

Cynogale bennettii II
If 'ambassador animals' means a species that leaves its enclosure for demonstrations, the Singapore Night Safari has a pretty impressive show involving them - as well as the binturong, raccoon and small-clawed otter already mentioned in this thread, it also involves a fennec fox and a spotted hyena.
 

yoav_r

yoav_r
biggest_dreamer said:
Ambassador animals are those that are used for education or demonstrations, sometimes including ones outside of the zoo itself, and may or may not also be kept on exhibit. If you've ever seen someone walking around a zoo holding a snake or a parrot, or with a binturong or armadillo on a leash, that's an ambassador animal. We more or less have it in game with the new exhibit educator thing from the last update, just not for habitat species.

Brookfield Zoo has a nice succinct description of them on their site, as well as a very long list of the species they have (I got to see the two-toed sloth doing a presentation when I visited a few months ago): https://www.czs.org/animalambassadors
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Sounds like animal shows with a fancier names. No sure what I think of this.

We had "ambassador animals" in the zoo I worked in, as in animals the zoo put front and center in the education department, but the animals themselves didn't actively participate or do any shows.
 

TheHippoGirl

TheHippoGirl
I think those ambassador animals are a very American thing. I might be wrong but I don't think we have them in European zoos. At least, in Belgian zoos, we don't.
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
yoav_r said:
Sounds like animal shows with a fancier names.
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It's not, speaking in general terms.

Wellington Zoo's educational "show" is basically highlighting what the animals already do in nature; they do flight displays with hand-reared parrots (ones that are common in the pet trade, such as cockatoos), show off the intelligence of otters by having them put recycling in a recycling bin in exchange for fish, and both their dingoes are also hand-reared. There's no petting involved; the only guest-animal contact is usually when people are asked to give the parrots like an old receipt or something to take back to the rubbish bin.
 

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
TheHippoGirl said:
I think those ambassador animals are a very American thing. I might be wrong but I don't think we have them in European zoos. At least, in Belgian zoos, we don't.
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Yeah it does seem to be, typically animals kept backstage and shown at animal talks. I have yet to see any dedicated ambassador animals in the UK but seen plenty in usa
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
Captain Callum said:
Yeah it does seem to be, typically animals kept backstage and shown at animal talks. I have yet to see any dedicated ambassador animals in the UK but seen plenty in usa
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Edinburgh Zoo used to have a talk in the Budongo Trail building involving spiny stick insects. I have photos of myself with one on my head.
 
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