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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Adorable, but solitary and nocturnal…
I vote for pika or tree shrews, for the adorableness factor.
They do occasionally scuttle along during the day. But I suppose you’re right…they keep housecat hours for the most part.
Another vote for capybara.
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!
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.)