What (habitat) species have you seen in nocturnal houses in zoos

[ElectricMonk]

I mentioned in another thread that I might start this one: This is NOT a wishlist - nor is it (quite) a suggestion, so I'm posting it here.

I think that an interesting option for a future pack would be a a nocturnal pack. There are lots of good options from around the world and maybe a way of creating darkened spaces for nocturnal houses could be included?... However, many normally nocturnal (and crepuscular) species are not generally kept in nocturnal houses in zoos, since its often possible to shift their activity patterns so that they are active outside, in the daytime, in captivity. For instance, Tasmanian Devils are nocturnal in the wild, but I never seen them in a dedicated nocturnal house.

I thought it'd be interesting to know what (habitat) species people have seen in nocturnal houses in zoos... I've seen the ones below, and I know of many others (but haven't included them in the list) - I've also seen LOTS of exhibit animals in nocturnal houses - I've limited this list to habitat animals because I've seen too many exhibit-type species to be able to remember them, or where i saw them. If you've seen habitat animals kept in nocturnal houses I'd be very interested to see what you saw and where.

Aye ayes (London zoo)
Brown Kiwis (Aukland Zoo)
Platypus (Melbourne Zoo)

 

[Lelka]

Say, I've seen crested porcupine and kinkajou in local zoo.

 

[Roxxsmom]

I saw echidna in a nocturnal exhibit at the LA zoo some years ago. I remember they used red lights in the exhibit, presumably because these don't disrupt the animals' photoperiod and makes them more likely to be active during zoo hours. I've seen them do the same thing with bats of various species, and other small mammals that are nocturnal, such as skunks, aardvarks, and certain rodents.

I'm guessing animals that disappear into burrows when they sleep are more likely to be given this kind of exhibit.

Lions and other felines are certainly nocturnal or crepuscular, and are often sleeping during the day in zoos, but they tend to sleep out in the open where guests can still see them.

 

[nutrit]

My favorite Nocturnal house is in Frankfurt zoo Germany - Grzimek House.

Here are some larger species that occur there:
Golden lion tamarin,
Eastern quoll
Large hairy armadillo,
Northern Luzon giant cloud rat
Brazilian porcupine
Southern springhare
Aardvark
Aye-aye
Australian water rat
Short-beaked echidna,
Asian small-clawed otter
White-faced saki,
Linnaeus' two-toed sloth,
Javan mouse deer
Goeldi’s monkey
Green acouchi
Komodo dragon
Paraguayan tamandua,
Bearded emperor tamarin I
Dwarf mongoose,
Yellow-spotted rock hyrax
Golden lion tamarin,
Linnaeus' two-toed sloth
Binturong
Fennec fox
Konkajou

 

[random goat]

Great thread, I like the idea of a dedicated DLC for nocturnal animals.
Luckily for me, one of the few zoos found in Spain has one of the biggest nocturnal animals sections in Europe (afaik). I'm talking about Faunia, in Madrid. I visited the zoo more than 10 years ago so I had to look on the website to remember what animals are housed there. Note that some of them could be considered exhibit animals:

Galago (unsure about the species)
Black-headed night monkey
Gray mouse lemur
Ocelot
European badger
Binturong
Aardvark
Tamandua
Two-toed sloth
Common genet
Common tenrec
Six-banded armadillo

It also used to have Eurasian lynx a decade ago, probably replaced by ocelots.

 

[Firestar97]

European skunk

Didn't know there are Skunks in Europe. Or is the European Skunk something like the European Raccoon (of which most Individuals have dark brown Fur because their Ancestors escaped from Fur Farms)?
Or did you maybe somehow confuse Skunks and Badgers?

 

[random goat]

Didn't know there are Skunks in Europe. Or is the European Skunk something like the European Raccoon (of which most Individuals have dark brown Fur because their Ancestors escaped from Fur Farms)?
Or did you maybe somehow confuse Skunks and Badgers?

Yeah, haha. It was just a lapse. I meant European badger. I edited it!

 

[DarthQuell]

I know this is kinda obvious, but bats. Seba's Short-Tailed Bats in my zoo. I saw Flying Foxes once (the smell). My zoo (Houston Zoo) doesn't really have a nocturnal house. The closest we have is the Carruth Natural Encounters. I mean, we have both Naked Mole Rats and African(?) Mole Rats. Sorry, this isn't very helpful

 

[ralphthestick]

Only one that springs to mind is the aye aye, which you mentioned already. Maybe Malagasy giant rats could just about squeeze into habitat territory (only a little bit smaller than capuchins). I think I've seen crested porcupines in a night house environment, but I can't think where. Prague maybe? Like aardvarks and your Tasmanian devil example, they don't normally get a dedicated nocturnal set up.

Personally, my hope for a nocturnal pack would be the addition of modified exhibits with (longish) looping animations - the same sort of idea as JW:E's aviary, allowing us to have bushbabies, lorises, and maybe even small bats. That sort of thing would definitely work to make something like my main point of reference, London Zoo's nocturnal house, but I think that's a fairly standard set up for this sort of thing, isn't it?

 

[Firestar97]

Personally, my hope for a nocturnal pack would be the addition of modified exhibits with (longish) looping animations - the same sort of idea as JW:E's aviary, allowing us to have bushbabies, lorises, and maybe even small bats.

This would be great for Bats. Especially if there will be a Option to remove the Walls of it to be able to build a Batcave where Guests can walk trough (some Zoos in Germany have that. But I think I was never or only once inside of it because the Smell gets really strong in there)

 

[12344321]

Toronto Zoo used to have this noctural walkthrough in their Oceania pavilion. It was kiwis, bandicoots, echidna, kangaroo rats really really cool indoor nocturnal walkthrough. Unfortunately they repleaced it with sea anemones and other boring aquarium animals.

 

[Witch King of Angmar]

The Buin Zoo in Chile has housed some pretty well known species at their nocturnal house over the years, including:

• Genet
• Barn owl
• Magellanic horned owl
• Short-eared owl
• Kinkajou
• Raccoon
• Hairy armadillo
• Ocelot
• Caracal
• Striped skunk
• Grison
• Chinchilla
• Degu
• Viscacha
• Cape porcupine
• Egyptian fruit bat

Of those I would like to see the porcupine, ocelot and kinkajou in PZ, and hopefully one of the owls or bats if the aviary pack becomes a reality. Aye-ayes and kiwis would also be great choices.

 

[Villa11]

I'm trying to remember which animals used to be housed in the Nocturnal house of Antwerp Zoo (is has since been removed to make room for a playground :'( ) , so the list is not complete and I don't remember the actual species:
Springhare
Bats
Sloth
Aardvark
Armadillo
Night Monkey
Tamandua
mouse deer
I think at one point their fennek foxes where in there to.
They also housed Gambian pouched rats as the Zoo funds a project in Africa that uses this species to detect landmines.

At Planckendael they don't have a typical nocturnal house, but there used to be a darker area in their Asian tropical house which had black rats (and they had a movie playing that explains how the rats spread the black plague)

Pairi Daiza has a walk in bat enclosure in the old crypts (the domain used to be church grounds in the 13th centaury, the crypts and the tower are still left), they hold a mix of bat species in there. It also holds a group of naked mole rats. Another group of bats is held in a walkthrough exhibit, but this is not in the dark.