Little Rock Zoo

Here I am at the Little Rock Zoo. The visit to the Little Rock Zoo had two purposes. First, of course, a write-up for Zoo Folk^® but also I was assisting with International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) in 2024. IVAD is held each year on the first Saturday in September. I assisted with IVAD at the St. Louis Zoo a couple of times and I really enjoy talking about vultures all day. You could say IVAN is for IVAD!

However, this is for Zoo Folk^® so lets get started.

For information such as directions, places to eat, and a map go to the Little Rock Zoo website.

As I usually do, I head to the right. First up is a side trail that led to the African penguin exhibit, unfortunately the path was closed. The African penguins came around the back and said hi.

Across from the penguins were red river hogs. I am amazed at how large the heads on some pig species seem. Specifically, they seem excessively large for the body size. I wonder if that is where the saying “pig-headed” came from.

Further down this path are some primates, specifically lesser apes.

Usually when I see Siamangs or gibbons at a zoo they are active. This was the case at the Little Rock Zoo. Later in the day the Siamangs were hollowing. You could hear it all the way on the other side of the zoo. Siamangs probably have the loudest vocalizations of any Old World monkey.

Both the siamangs and the white-handed gibbon are endangered. The white-handed gibbon is also called the lar gibbon.

The antelope near the gibbons is a Kirk’s dik dik. There are actually 4 species of dik diks but I’ve only ever seen the Kirk’s dik dik.

On the other side of the gibbons, is a host of other animals and species. The first of the two antelope species is the yellow-backed duiker.

Some of the duiker antelopes look a bit like dik diks. However, they are distinctly different. The yellow-backed duiker is a forest/jungle dwelling antelope. It’s kind of hunched back helps it move through the forest and underbrush.

I have no idea what the problem with the greater kudus horns are. I have seen many more lesser kudus than greater kudus.

Of the zoos I’ve visited , the southern ground hornbill is far more common than the Abyssinian ground hornbill. Both ground hornbills look similar, with the Abyssinian ground hornbill having more blue on its face. The hornbills have a variety of colors, shapes and sizes from the small yellow-billed hornbill to the colorful Rufus hornbill to the ground hornbills.

The last animal in this general area was the secretary bird. I had been quite pleased by how the last photo turned out, so I posted the photo on a Facebook group that posts zoo photos. I said I was pleased with the photo, despite it being a common bird in zoos. Whoops, I got a lot of comments that indicated the secretary bird wasn’t very common. I had presumed it was common because I saw one at the Kansas City Zoo and now the Little Rock Zoo. It seems the bird only occurs in 7 of the over 400 zoos in the United States.

Further along, we move to some southern species. The maned wolf, of South America, was just relaxing on the relatively hot day.

I often think the maned wolf looks like a red fox on stilts, though not obvious from these photos. However, one was lying right next to a glass observation window, while visiting another zoo, and they are much, much larger than a fox.

The Little Rock Zoo specifies the Stanley crane, of South Africa, however at other zoos they are often refereed to as the blue crane.

In the same general area was a fairly large enclosure for some Chacoan peccaries.

So why do I have so many photos of the peccaries? I liked the exhibit and was pleased with the photos. I guess you could say…wait for it…I pigged out on the peccaries!

We now move to the first animals of Africa. First up was the cheetah.

When I first got there the cheetahs were roaming their enclosures. They then rested in the heat of the day.

I enjoy watching cheetahs walk. I think they look so sleek and regal. I also imagine them going from the easy walk to a speedster.

So we go from a speedster to a slowster. The African spurred tortoise is the largest tortoise in Africa and third largest in the world (behind the Galapagos and Aldabra giant tortoises). However, the African spurred tortoise is not known for the extremely long life span (50-60 years) , compared to the other two giant tortoises (>125 years).

Last is a crested porcupine. I have only been at one zoo where these types (crested or Cape porcupines) were moving. In the wild both of these porcupines tend to be nocturnal.

I now move on to an African plains area. This was an interesting display, because it was fairly long but not exceptionally wide. This is one of the few zoos that has common wildebeest with plains zebra. These two species are often seen together on the African plains, so I liked the exhibit.

To add to the African plain illusion are a couple of female ostriches. I have seen more female ostriches in zoos than males. I imagine this is because the males can be territorial.

The black rhinoceros is smaller than both the white rhinoceros and Indian rhinoceros. However, they are considered to be much more aggressive than the white rhinoceros which they share the African plains and savanna with. Only at the San Diego Safari Park and the Disney Animal Kingdom Theme Park have I seen zoos that have both the black and white rhinos.

A few years ago there was a lot of publicity on the last male northern white rhinoceros subspecies dying. Also, the last two females (at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Park) were too old for reproducing. However, most people don’t know there were at least 5 (some say 8) subspecies of black rhinoceros of which 3 are extinct. The western black rhinoceros was declared extinct in 2011, after having only being scientifically identified in 1949.

In the next area they had alpacas, llamas, and miniature horses.

I was concerned about the alpaca laying on its side. However, I walked by later and it was doing fine. I get concerned with alpacas in extreme heat.

The next area was big cats, and it started with a Mayalan tiger.

The Maylan tiger is likely to become listed as Critically Endangered, once it has been determined if the tiger is truly a distinct subspecies.

Next up was a jaguar, the largest cat in the Americas. They are also the only cat in the Americas that can roar.

Last is the African lion. You rarely see more than one male in a zoo. Male lions are incredibly territorial, and will fight, sometimes to the death with any intruder. This is actually true for all the big cats here. However, the male lion looks distinctly different than the female (most of the time), while for tigers and jaguars it’s less obvious.

The three big cats are use to the kind of heat in Arkansas since in the wild each lives in warm-hot environments. The lion on the African savanna and Malayan tiger and jaguar tend to live in jungles. However, recently jaguars have been spotted in the mountain desert areas of Arizona.

I now move on to some monkeys. First is the lesser spot-nosed guenon, which I knew nothing about.

The lesser spot-nosed guenon is also called the lesser spot-nosed monkey. I went to Wikipedia to learn more, but there wasn’t much there either. They are from West Africa but north of the Congo.

The Little Rock Zoo is the first zoo I’d seen the Angola colobus. I have seen the black-and-white colobus a number of times at different zoos, however this was the first Angola colobus I’d seen. I found it amusing that the Angola colobus is black and white as well.

I now move to an area off to the side. I start with a species I’ve never seen before, the African spotted-necked otter.

The Little Rock Zoo also had North American river otters. I could probably get away with saying just river otters, since nearly all the other “river otter” species do not occur in US zoos.

I don’t say too many negative things about zoos, but I was disappointed on the amount of pool space the otters had. Other zoos I have visited have much larger pools for them to swim in, and often an underwater viewing window, as well.

On the other hand the sloth bear had a quite nice enclosure. The sloth bear is the kind of bear Baloo was from the Jungle Book.

A second side area also had some smaller carnivores but also a small deer.

The red fox is probably the most well known of the foxes. Not only do they occur in North America, they also occur in Europe and Asia. The gray fox only lives in the Americas, mostly in the southern and central states of the US but also Mexico and into northern South America.

I find it interesting that the binturong and serval were next to each other. Both of these species have become popular in the exotic pet trade. The binturong is not kept extensively in the Americas, but are more commonly kept as pets in Asia. Several’s are sometimes bred with domestic cats to create savannah cats. They usually take on more of the serval traits than the domestic cat.

Last up was a Reeve’s muntjac. This small deer, which is sometimes called the Chinese muntjac, is fairly common in zoos as well as in the wild. They live in dense forests of Southeastern Asia.

It was in this area I had a nice chat with a zookeeper. I mentioned to the zookeeper I liked the spotted-neck otters and how I wish zoos displayed more small to medium carnivores. He mentioned that he felt that zoos certified with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums were becoming very similar. I agreed. There are groups of species a person tends to see at most zoos. For example, lions, tigers, bears, giraffes, and at least one pachyderm (elephant, rhino or hippo). However, as I mentioned with the Oklahoma City Zoo, some of the unique animals, like the raccoon dog, are not what people are interested in or coming to a zoo to see. For what I call zoo enthusiast (like myself and possible you) the rarely seen and unique animals are what can make a zoo visit that much more special.

I walk a little ways and see some large Aldabra tortoises.

These giant tortoises along with the Galapagos giant tortoise are the oldest living land vertebrates, that we know of. The giant Aldabra tortoise can reach ages of over a 150 years.

There was a small building off to the side and I was very excited to see a ring-tailed cat.

I have seen a few exhibits at other zoos with ring-tailed cats, however this was the first one where the critter was active. In fact this ring-tailed cat was very active.

Though called a ring-tailed “cat”, it is not very closely related to cats. It is a part of the raccoon family.

They are very agile, like a weasel, and very good at catching rodents. They are sometimes called miner’s cat because they were tamed enough to keep the rodent population down in the old mines.

I then headed down a path by a pond. First there were Chilean flamingos.

After the flamingos there was waterfowl. First the bar-headed goose, which is quite abundant in Asia. They have been kept in ponds in Europe because it is considered attractive and breeds readily. However, many have escaped over the years so their are breeding populations in Europe as well as Asia.

There were also a couple of trumpeter swans. The trumpeter swan is the heaviest bird native to North America reaching weights of between 15-30 lbs.

Last photos are of a local blue heron and an unknown turtle species. Zoos can offer an oasis for these animals in the heart of a city.

This building was quite open with these birds able to fly around inside. The fruit-dove and Hadada ibis were the most active.

The mammals were not running free. This is for the best since monkeys are notorious for being mischievous, including grabbing things, and sometimes biting. The tufted capuchin is not the typical capuchin you see in movies (that’s the Panamanian white-faced capuchin). Both spider monkeys and capuchin monkeys have prehensile tails. If you see a movie, supposedly filmed in Africa or Asia and the monkeys are hanging by their tail, that’s a technical error. Only New World (South America specifically) monkeys have prehensile tails.

Because sloths are slow and aren’t generally aggressive some zoos have “sloth experiences”. I hope to check that out sometime. Zoos will often let sloths “run” free, though the Little Rock Zoo did not.

As with other zoos, the Little Rock Zoos snakes tend to be either venomous or big. All but the eastern rat snake fall into these categories. Once again I am surprised how many zoos have Komodo Dragons.7

I believe this is the first zoo that I’ve seen a green basilisk. The green basilisk is sometimes called the plumed basilisk because a fan of sorts at the back of its neck will sometimes be displayed.

I was a little disappointed with only one turtle. Last is the American alligator another surprisingly common reptile in zoos.

They had a few amphibians. I believe this is the first Amazon milk frog I’ve seen.

I enjoy seeing newts and salamanders. I also believe this is the first Chuxiono fire-bellied newt I’ve seen. I have seen Kaiser newt before.

Asian elephants are often the elephants portrayed in cartoons and movies. They tend to be easier to train and there is a longer history of them in captivity. When I was young and watched the old Tarzan movies I was disgusted when they put fake large ears on Asian elephants to make them look like African elephants.

There is quite a lot of controversy about having elephants in captivity. Nearly all circuses have stopped using elephants. There are people who feel strongly that no elephants should be in captivity. However, in the wild they have poachers harvesting them for their tusks and being so large it is nearly impossible to keep elephants out of farm land. Even though all three elephant species are at least listed as threatened, some areas still cull (shoot and kill) problem elephants which can include family groups.

One or more of the great apes are often displayed at zoos. The Little Rock Zoo has orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. There are three distinct species of orangutans and two of gorillas. Here they are displaying the Borneo Orangutan and the western lowland gorilla. The western lowland gorillas are the only gorillas displayed in the United States, however both the Borneaon and Sumatran orangutans can be displayed at various zoos. There are no eastern gorillas nor Tapanuli orangutans are found in the United States. The Tapanuli orangutan was officially identified as a separate species in 2017.

Ring-Tailed lemurs are far and away the most common lemurs seen at zoos. However , the black-and-white ruffed lemur is also pretty common in the zoos I’ve visited. Though they have almost a fox-like face they are indeed primates like humans, apes and monkeys. Lemurs are only endemic to Madagascar.

This ends the tour of Little Rock Zoo. This zoo was on the smaller size but was laid out fairly well.

I really enjoyed the African spotted-neck otter and my chat with the zookeeper.

So this is the Zoo Guy to all the Zoo Folk, perhaps you can go to a zoo this summer, maybe the Little Rock Zoo in Little Rock Arkansas.