The most important animals you should really know about

[@travy9454]

I was very pleasantly surprised by the mention of Marius! As someone from the surrounding region I remember the whole discussion/controversy vividly. But honestly it was a very hard descision. A few people wanted him moved to the nearby Frankfurt Zoo but that one has no space for more giraffes as it is a small facility when conpared to what Opel Zoo offers. And in general I can't imagine that finding space for a giraffe which isn't a good breeding candidate is easy to find quickly, as most zoos already have no space for more giraffes or are simply too small.

[@zooblether]

Yeah it’s very complex and was an important discussion. I know keepers on both sides of the debate, but the use of that management tool is something which both zoo staff and public should understand. The handling from the zoo itself was very transparent, and from the pictures of the crowds present, the opportunity for education wasn’t something which everyone was against at any measure.

[@STFUinternet]

Idk what award he deserved, but at my local zoo a chimpanzee named Hank meant so much to me as a kid. I don’t remember why but he was isolated from the other chimps and was always alone. But whether outside or inside, he seemed to love sitting by the window to watch and interact with people. As a kid I was fascinated at the intelligence and calm presence about him, before Hank I assumed all animals were mindless and chaotic. As a teenager when I heard he passed I cried a little, because he made my liking of animals become an obsession. So whatever award that entails, Hank the chimpanzee deserved it

[@zooblether]

@@STFUinternet his isolation doesn’t sound good if it was long term. The impact he had on you sounds like a big one though. Maybe an honorary “biggest chIMPACT” award is in order!

[@Koroblin]

Rosa the sea otter should of been mentioned, she fostered 15 sea otters who most where able to be released into the wild helping the north American sea otter population a ton.

[@zooblether]

Aww that’s cool! Hadn’t actually heard of her before, so thanks for the message.

[@enzolopes220]

Hello. The biggest Brazilian zoo stars would be Cacareco, the black rhinoceros, and Sebastião, the chimpanzee. Both were born at my local zoo, in Rio de Janeiro. Cacareco was the third black rhinoceros to be born under human care, in 1954. She would be loaned to the city of São Paulo in 1958 to stay at the new zoo for a season. There, she became an icon and, because of her fame, a journalist decided to launch her name as a protest candidate for councilor in the municipal elections. The pachyderm would win 100 thousand votes, 5 thousand more than the party with the most votes. She would not see the results in São Paulo, though, because she was returned to Rio a few months before election day. Sebastião, nicknamed Tião, was a chimpanzee born in 1963. He became famous for his behavior, throwing sand at the city's mayor once in 1982. Then, Casseta & Planeta, a group of comedians, launched his candidacy for mayor in 1988, where he won 400 thousand votes, becoming the third most voted candidate in the election and the most voted chimpanzee in history (his world record is even in the Guinness Book of World Records).

[@zooblether]

Love these examples! Hadn’t heard of either, but I guess getting thousands of votes is a good measure of their popularity!

[@chloerosemccarty5973]

My favorite local zoo animal was Amanda the orangutan at Como Zoo in St. Paul, MN. She passed away recently. She had a favorite post in her enclosure which she people watched from, and you could sense her annoyance at belligerent guests. She always seemed to have a gentle demeanor, and was a good “auntie” to the young orangutans born to her troop, not being able to have offspring of her own due to being a hybrid. Whenever mom or dad needed a break, she’d always entertain baby. She had beautiful dark auburn hair, and enjoyed making paintings as enrichment.

[@zooblether]

Hey thanks for this comment! She sounds great, just said to someone else that it’s interesting how many people seem to be pulled towards great apes as their most impactful animal. Sounds like Amanda was a special one.

[@gliscornumber151]

Harambee should have at least been nominated for the in memoriam award 😞

[@zooblether]

His story was in my drafts. Not sure I had anything to add to it that hasn’t already been said. I’ll maybe cover it when discussing exhibit design at some point. But there are very real people on both sides of that situation, largely the professional opinion is that given the circumstances the correct steps were taken. A discussion about how those circumstances took place is a valid one, and one which continued to affect design today. Perhaps I should have mentioned him as you say, but this time decided on a different direction.

[@AngelnottheSaint]

Love this! I worked at Zoo Atlanta which had Willie B gorilla and Chantek the orangutan Animals are so great 💕

[@zooblether]

Omg! I remember watching a Ted talk about Chantek, I’d completely forgotten. Will have to look it up again. Thanks!

[@simonmcglary]

Sir Nils can often be seen standing separate from the other kings at the zoo. Well, you can’t be seen mixing with the riff raff, he is a knight of the Norwegian realm and, as Baron of Bouvait Island, has his own island.

[@zooblether]

Quite right too! Haha

[@CheshireVulpes]

at the zoo i work at in the city of amersfoort in education we got an indian elephant called indra who is now a granny but when she was born she was the first born elephant at the zoo and the head zoo keeper even stayed all night at the elephant barn to be there just in case of anything happening bothy the head zoo keeper from then are still in the park along side that same elephant who is by far our most famous animal and allot of visitors know her name and often come just to see her

[@zooblether]

Elephants is an interesting one. Not sure if it’s because they’re big and charismatic, or because there are fewer of them, or possibly because the general public “know” more about their intelligence and family dynamic, but they seem to be commonly known by name at zoos all over the world.

[@koltenwonnacott3276]

Ken Allen the orangutan from the San Diego Zoo deserves an honorable mention, so too does Harambe. Both of these apes had huge cultural ripple effects for one reason or another reaching even outside a zoo setting

[@zooblether]

That’s a second mention for Ken Allen! Interesting that apes seem to stick in people’s minds so much.

[@settrasurfs1780]

The is Harambe erasure. Justice for Harambe

[@zooblether]

His story was in my drafts. Not sure I had anything to add to it that hasn’t already been said. I’ll maybe cover it when discussing exhibit design at some point. But there are very real people on both sides of that situation, largely the professional opinion is that given the circumstances the correct steps were taken. A discussion about how those circumstances took place is a valid one, and one which continued to affect design today. Perhaps I should have mentioned him as you say, but this time decided on a different direction.

[@erringsleet6316]

I just want to say thank you for talking about Marius, population management euthanasia is still a lot of people need to be better informed about

[@zooblether]

Thanks, it’s an important part of management in some cases, but the profile of this case was something wider spread than I’d seen previously.

[@galcalderon3797]

Honestly the whole marius situation is kind of bizarre. My zoo has a bachelors group for male giraffes since culling is completely illegal in my country. Despite us being an EAZA member and having both the space and means to hold him, as well as having a group of non reproductive southern and reticulated male giraffes, Copenhagen were unwilling to let us have Marius, citing that he's to genetically unimportant for that. It feels like they looked for an excuse to cull him, despite being an endangered animal

[@zooblether]

It’s certainly a complex situation, and at the time I know various efforts and statements were made. But both at zoo and breeding program level the decision was ultimately made. As I said elsewhere I know keepers and zoo staff on both sides of it, but it definitely led to greater understanding for the general public.

[@JurassicLion2049]

My local lions are Earnest snd Miss Ellen of San Diego Zoo. Earnest is the goofiest lion Ive ever met.