# Suggest a new zoo animal! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485 "2011-10-13T02:19:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/21 "2011-10-14T04:13:13Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > I wonder if a dik-dik/rock hyrax multi-species exhibit could work? I was going to suggest the dik-dik. So cute. San Diego zoo has them living with other animals, but I can’t remember if the rock hyrax was one of them. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/22 "2011-10-14T04:15:27Z")
I suspect they don’t meet all the criteria, but: Pangolins! I would love to see a pangolin. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/23 "2011-10-15T03:00:44Z")
> [@porcupine](#): > > I suspect they don’t meet all the criteria, but: > > Pangolins! > > I would love to see a pangolin. Me too! There is one pangolin in the US, as far as I know, an education animal at San Diego Zoo. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/24 "2011-10-15T15:45:22Z")
Coati’s were in the OP’s original list & deserve a second look. They’re a good size, cute, busy, and social. Where I lived in Panama they were indigenous & you’d often see a tribe raiding the garbage or helping themselves to somebody’s fruit trees. They seemed to behave much like racoons, but in a group rather than solitary. Our local zoo has dik-diks and while their small size adds to the cute factor, they’re pretty much just another antelope/gazelle critter. Of which that zoo has umpteen variants. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/25 "2011-10-15T18:11:26Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > I believe lemmings are solitary in the wild, except in the presence of Disney film crews 🙂 Nah, they live in small colonies, at least Steppe Lemmings do. There’s a bit of a current fad for selling them as pets here, and they’re sold as groups, they don’t like being alone. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/26 "2011-10-15T19:19:36Z")
How about binturongs? They’re like large cats with big tails, and they smell like buttered popcorn! ---
**Author:** ![SeaCanary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SeaCanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaCanary)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/27 "2011-10-15T19:56:58Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > How about binturongs? They’re like large cats with big tails, and they smell like buttered popcorn! Ooooooh. That sounds wonderful !! Not a mammal, but they are fascinating to watch and listen to: hummingbirds. They sound like the worlds biggest bumble bee that is coming right at you. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/28 "2011-10-15T20:22:21Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > How about binturongs? They’re like large cats with big tails, and they smell like buttered popcorn! Adorable, but solitary and nocturnal… ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/29 "2011-10-15T20:45:13Z")
I vote for pika or tree shrews, for the adorableness factor. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/30 "2011-10-17T13:10:33Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Adorable, but solitary and nocturnal… They do occasionally scuttle along during the day. But I suppose you’re right…they keep housecat hours for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/31 "2011-10-17T13:43:48Z")
Another vote for capybara. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/32 "2011-10-17T15:15:34Z")
You know what I’d love to see in a zoo? A platypus. But I don’t think there is a zoo in the US that has one. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/33 "2011-10-17T17:57:48Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > You know what I’d love to see in a zoo? A platypus. But I don’t think there is a zoo in the US that has one. You’re right, none in the US or Europe. There’s not a huge number in captivity anywhere, ISIS says a total of 7 individuals, and although there’s been some limited success in breeding them (at Healesville Sanctuary and Taronga Zoo), there’s just not a sustainable population. And, of course, modern zoos are loath to capture healthy wild individuals for exhibit. If you’d like to see a wild platy, Tasmania is the place to go! ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485/34 "2011-10-18T02:59:53Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > You’re right, none in the US or Europe. There’s not a huge number in captivity anywhere, ISIS says a total of 7 individuals, and although there’s been some limited success in breeding them (at Healesville Sanctuary and Taronga Zoo), there’s just not a sustainable population. And, of course, modern zoos are loath to capture healthy wild individuals for exhibit. > > If you’d like to see a wild platy, Tasmania is the place to go! My son volunteers at Taronga. But you can see wild platypus within two hours of Sydney. I third any otter whatsoever, and suggest fairy penguins, which sadly fail the mammal test. (I can’t get to the ISIS site, I don’t know why it’s blocked at work, that’s weird.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-new-zoo-animal/599485.md?page=1)