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Category: Mammals

Domestic Rabbit (Ambassador Animal)

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Domestic Rabbit

(Oryctolagus cuniculus)

The Zoo is home to one domestic rabbit as part of our Ambassador Animal collection. 

Animal Facts

Brown coat, with black and gray sprinkled throughout. Their underside is paler gray. This color helps them camouflage within their environments.
They have a short tail that has a white underside. The white undertail can serve as a beacon to warn other rabbits that a predator is there. Additionally, their tail can be used to confuse predators. The white tail will be a point of focus for the predator so as the rabbit zigzags and takes sharp turns it will be hard for the predator to keep focus on that one spot.
European rabbits are primarily crepuscular, being most active around dawn and dusk. They sleep on average 8 hours a day in short bursts. Additionally, they will sleep with their eyes open to keep an eye out for potential predators, using their nictitating membrane to keep their eyes moist.
Rabbits communicate with each other through physical, vocal, and chemical cues. One important physical cue would be standing up on hind legs, ears straight, and nose rapidly twitching. This signals to other rabbits that they need to be alert and potentially be ready to run because a threat may be nearby
Female rabbits experience postpartum estrus allowing them to reproduce quickly. Females are also capable of rejecting the fetus or reabsorb the embryo if conditions are not ideal for reproduction. Females can produce 7-8 liters per year.

Diet

Herbivore. Grasses, leaves, flowers, bark, roots, grains, vegetables, cecotropes, pellets, timothy hay, greens and veggies.

Status in The Wild

  • Endangered (native range)

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Domestic rabbit natural habitats include grassland, shrubland, savanna, forest. Their range extends the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain, Portugal, and southwestern France), western France, and the northern Atlas Mountains in Northwest Africa.

Introduced countries: Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

They prefer mixed habitats of Mediterranean oak savanna or scrub-forest, or areas with around 40% cover for shelter from predators and open areas that support their diet of grasses and cereals. They are also often found in areas with high density of managed farmland. Soft soil is preferred for building warrens and in rockier habitats they will often use scrubs as their shelter.

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Degu (Ambassador Animal)

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Degu

(Octodon degus)

The Zoo is home to three degus in our Ambassador Animal collection. As such they are not kept in public view, but available for various programs, classes, ZooMobiles, birthday parties etc. 

Animal Facts

Degus have yellowish-brown fur on their heads and backs with lighter undersides. The fur above and below the eyes is also lighter, and their large ears are darkly pigmented and lightly haired. The tail is moderately long with a short, black tufted tip.
Long, comb-like bristles project over claws on the hind feet. They have five clawed toes on their front feet and four on the bristled hindfeet.
Cheekteeth are hypsodont (high-crowned teeth and enamel extending past the gumline) with the biting surface resembling a figure eight.
There is no sexual dimorphism, but males tend to be about 10% larger than females.
Degus are semi-fossorial (fossorial means adapted to digging and living primarily underground), and they form digging chains to excavate elaborate burrow systems.

Diet

Herbivorous. Grasses, leaves, and bark of shrubs and seeds in nature. Rodent chow, greens, vegetables, hay and seeds in conservation care.

Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

There are no imminent threats to the survival of common degus. However, they are sometimes taken from their natural range for the pet trade.

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White Rhino

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White Rhino

(Ceratotherium simum)

Seneca Park Zoo is home to one southern white rhinoceros named Jiwe. He was born in December, 2016 at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas and came to the Zoo in 2020. The rhino habitat is located in Animals of the Savanna.

Experience: Rhino Encounter

Animal Facts

The white rhino is one of five species of rhinos. The others are the Javan rhino, the Sumatran rhino, the Indian rhino and the black rhino.
Full-grown adult white rhinos weigh between 5,000 to 7,000 pounds and measure 6-feet tall at the shoulders.
Our white rhino is fed 10 pounds of grain, 5 pounds of produce (lots of bananas!) and hay every day.
The name white rhino comes from the Dutch words “wijd” or “weit,” meaning wide and refers to their wide, square shaped upper lip.
Rhinos have a poor vision. They can see movement, but not details more than 100 feet away. They do, however, have excellent hearing and a keen sense of smell which enables them to detect odors up to a mile away.

Diet

Grasses, fruits and grain are the primary foods.

Status in The Wild

  • Near Threatened

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

The squared lip that the white rhino is named for is an adaptation to the African grasslands that it grazes for food.

The rhino is built to graze the open grasslands and floodplains in pockets of eastern and southern Africa. When the rhino Species Survival Plan committee decides where to place rhinos in facilities, a number of factors come into play, including the rhino’s age, sex, genetics and exhibit availability.

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Plains Zebra

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Plains Zebra

(Equus quagga)

Seneca Park Zoo is home to three female plains zebra, Lydia, Liberty, and Dottie. Lydia came to the Zoo in November 2018 from Columbus Zoo. Liberty and Dottie arrived together in September 2018 from Hemker Park & Zoo. They share their habitat, located in the Animals of the Savanna area, with the Masai giraffes.

Animal Facts

Each zebra has a unique stripe pattern, helping them to identify each other.
Zebra stripes are thought to create motion camouflage, a method of confusing predators. When a herd of zebras move in multiple directions, their stripes add to the confusion by creating optical illusions.
The quagga, an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra, only had stripes on its neck and head. The body was plain and resembled that of a horse.

Diet

Zebras mainly feed on grass, but sometimes eat shrubs, twigs, bark and leaves.

Status in The Wild

  • Near Threatened

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Plains zebra live in savannas, steppes, and woodlands in southern Ethiopia to northern South Africa, throughout most of the eastern side of the Nile River.

Plains Zebras are threatened due to hunting for their skins/fur, especially when they are located out of protected areas. Fencing around agriculture and protected areas block zebra migration corridors, affecting their ability to obtain crucial resources and escape predators.

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Polar Bear

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Polar Bear

(Ursus maritimus)

Seneca Park Zoo is home to one female polar bear, Anoki. She was born here at Seneca Park Zoo in 1996. She moved to Albuquerque Bio Park in 1998, and to the Maryland Zoo in 2008, before coming home to Rochester in September 2018.

Animal Facts

A male polar bear can be up to 11 feet tall and weigh up to 1,400 pounds. Females can weigh between 450 and 770 pounds.
Hairs on a polar bear reflect light, giving polar bears a white coloration. But a polar bear’s hair is actually translucent.
The large paws on a polar bear act as snowshoes, spreading out the polar bear’s weight and adding extra gripping ability.
A polar bear has blubber up to four inches thick.
A new born polar bear cub weighs about one pound.

Diet

The polar bear mainly eats ringed and bearded seals. It can sometimes be found eating whale carcasses, caribou, rodents, sea birds, fish, eggs, berries, and unfortunately, human garbage. Polar bears are completely dependent on sea ice to hunt seals. As sea ice decreases, so does their ability to get food.

Status in The Wild

  • Vulnerable

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Polar bears are found on sea coasts, islands, ice floes and in open water in Arctic regions including the U.S., Canada, Greenland, Norway, and Russia.

The IUCN lists climate change as the most significant threat to the polar bear, as melting of its sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food. Seneca Park Zoo is partners with polar bear conservation organizations like Polar Bears International (PBI).

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North American River Otter

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North American River Otter

(Lontra canadensis)

There are six North American river otters at Seneca Park Zoo—three females and three males. Ashkii, a female born in 2016, joined us from the National Zoo in March 2020. Sailor, one of our males, was born in 2007 and arrived from a private facility in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in May 2012. Another male, Gary, born in February 2022, became part of our zoo family in 2023.

Most recently, on January 19, 2025, Ashkii and Gary welcomed three otter pups—two females and one male.

Animal Facts

River otters can travel underwater a quarter of a mile and stay submerged for about eight minutes at a time.
Not only water creatures, river otters travel across land. They run and slide along the belly up to 18 miles per hour.
The otter’s thick coat is made of guard hair and an undercoat. The undercoat next to the skin stays dry, insulating the otter from the cold water in its environment.
River otters do not compete with humans for game fish.
River otters are crepuscular, meaning they are more active at dawn and at dusk than other times of day.

Diet

River otters are carnivorous creatures. They eat fish, crayfish, frogs, salamanders, snakes, clams, snails, turtles, birds, rodents and insects.

Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

North American river otters reside throughout the U.S. and Canada along rivers, near streams and lakes bordered by woods with wetlands.

North American river otters have been trapped for their highly-prized furs, resulting in a steep decrease in population since the 1800s. However, the otter is being restored to places where it is regionally threatened, resulting in an otter come back in many places. Seneca Park Zoo is part of an initiative to reintroduce the river otter back to Western New York. Releases have taken place in Honeoye Lake and the Genesee River, among other locations. Laws protecting the otter from over-hunting and habitat destruction have been important U.S. conservation measures.

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Olive Baboon

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Olive Baboon

(Papio anubis)

Seneca Park Zoo has a troop of 10 baboons: 6 females (Pimento, Pearl, Sabina, Peperella, Olive Oil, Olivella) and 4 males (Mansino, Jefferson Jr., Kalamata, Pico-de-Limon). Pimento, the dominant female, is most established in the baboon hierarchy. The baboons can be found enjoying enrichment items, running around their habitat, and grooming one another.

Animal Facts

Olive baboons live in groups of 15 to 150, with many females, a few males and the offspring.
Social hierarchy is important to baboons. Males fight to establish dominance, whereas females inherit dominance from their mothers.
The olive baboon is so named for its coat, which is a grey-green color from a distance.
Males are larger than females, weighing on average 53 pounds, whereas the female weighs on average 33 pounds.

Diet

Olive baboons have a diverse omnivorous diet. They eat everything from plants, flowers, fruits, shoots and twigs, insects, lizards, frogs and turtles.

Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Found in 25 countries throughout equatorial Africa, the olive baboon inhabits the African grasslands called the savanna.

The olive baboon is the most widespread African primate.

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Red Panda

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Red Panda

(Fulgens fulgens)

The Zoo is home to a red panda named Raji. Born in July 2022, Raji arrived at the Zoo in winter 2023 from the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. Raji’s face markings are predominantly red. The red panda habitat is located next to the Animal Hospital.

Animal Facts

Red pandas spend almost 13 hours of their waking time foraging for food. They can eat up to 30% of their body weight in bamboo shoots and leaves each day.
The Chinese word for red panda is hunho, meaning fire fox.
During cold weather, red pandas can lower their metabolic rate to conserve energy.

Diet

Although technically omnivores, red pandas are primarily herbivores and prefer to feed on bamboo leaves and shoots. They will also eat berries, blossoms, the leaves of other plants, and occasionally bird eggs, insects, and small rodents.

Status in The Wild

  • Endangered

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Red pandas are found throughout the Himalayan Mountains, living at altitudes between 5,000 and 15,000 feet.

They prefer cool temperate climates in deciduous and coniferous forests. These forests are vital for red panda survival, since they are an arboreal species.

The biggest threat to this species is deforestation, which eliminates nesting sites and sources of food, and isolates populations into small fragments. They are also poached for their fur, and are becoming increasingly popular in the pet trade.

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Snow Leopard

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Snow Leopard

(Uncia uncia)

Seneca Park Zoo is home to two snow leopards, a male named Kaba, and a female named Timila. Kaba was born in May of 2010 and came to the Zoo in 2011 from the Cape May County Zoo in New Jersey. Timila came to the Zoo in March of 2018 from Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia, where she was born in May 2016. Their first offspring, Silver, was born to mom Timila on May 27, 2019 and now resides at Rolling Hills Zoo in Kansas. Their second, Kenji, was born April 16, 2021 and now resides in a Canadian conservation program.

Animal Facts

Snow leopard eyes are light green or gray, unusual for big cats, which usually have yellow or gold eyes.
Snow leopards are mainly active at dawn or dusk, so they are rarely seen in the wild.
Snow leopards can’t roar because of an under-development of vocal tissue.

Diet

Snow leopards eat wild sheep and goats, but are known to eat small animals such as rodents, hares and game birds. They stalk their prey and spring from a distance of 30 to 50 feet. Their limbs help them leap up to 30 feet, six times their body length!

Status in The Wild

  • Vulnerable

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

The snow leopard is found at altitudes between 9,800 and 17,000 feet in the high, rugged mountains of Central Asia.

Their range spans Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Russia in the north, to India and China in the east. China contains about 60% of snow leopard habitat. They have already disappeared from certain parts of Mongolia, part of their historic range.

The snow leopard is very rare in most of its range, with an estimated 3,500 to 7,000 remaining in their natural ranges, and 600 to 700 in zoos worldwide. They are also listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1972 and included on CITES Appendix I. Poaching for traditional customs, lack of prey, conflicts with herders, loss of habitat and the effects of climate change are the cats’ major threats..

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Southern 3-Banded Armadillo (Ambassador Animal)

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Southern 3-Banded Armadillo

(Tolypeutes matacus)

Seneca Park Zoo is home to a three-banded armadillo named Doug, who was born in 2009 and came to the Zoo in 2010.

Animal Facts

Because of its ability to roll into a sphere, this animal is often called bolita (“little ball” in Spanish). They are the only armadillo able to roll into a ball.
Armadillos also like to swim and they are very good at it!
This armadillo has suffered a 30% decline in the last decade.
Their teeth are small and peg-like and are designed only for crushing the exoskeletons of insects.
Long, hard nails are designed to break through anthills and termite mounds.

Diet

Mainly beetle larvae, although ants and termites are an important portion of their diet during the dry season. During the wet season they feed on a significant amount of fruit.

Status in The Wild

  • Near Threatened

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

The armadillo can be found in grassy or marshy areas between scattered forests.

They can be found in eastern and central Bolivia, Paraguay, the Mato Grasso of Central Brazil and northern and central Argentina. Many species of armadillo are endangered or threatened in the wild. Human encroachment, slash-and-burn farming and hunting account for a large percentage of the problem.

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