the worlds first!!! » Parc Paradisio

04-08-2008

I've posted some shoebill pictures from Frankfurt Zoo in the Gallery under Zoo Frankfurt.Enjoy.

04-08-2008

I think I've seen part of the shoebill facility in prague, but am not sure. you could see low aviaries through the trees. I always found it strange they never built an nice enclosure for these animals. they most certainly have the space and an aviary isn't all that expensive.

frankfurt has had only one female for several years now. don't know how old she is. there were plans to send the 2nd male from paradisio there. but this never went through and the animal died later on.

thx for the update on german sites. paradisio did send press information in 3 languages, but I have absolutely no idea how international they sent it. all I know is that zoos as far as japan know the news.

@pertinax: no chance they can put the chicks in sight of the parents unless the put them in a portable cage inside the enclosure.

04-08-2008

@ forumbully.The quarantine station with the shoebills at Prague zoo is across the street behind the giraffe house, you can't see it from the vistors area.

One of next big projekts at the zoo is ( of course ) a new elephant house, so I think they have to save money and have no money for a shoebill house.

The shoebill aviary at Paradiso isn't a walk-through, exhihit, or ? Do the vistors have access to the exhibit, or will they close the access to them if the chicks has hatched ?

04-08-2008

then it's another quarantaine station I saw. just thought it resembled your description

at paradisio it isn't walk through. they have a large boat that houses reptiles and in the lower section are the winter/night enclosures of siamang, hippo, tapir and shoebill. not accessible by visitors. the outdoor enclosures of all animals mentioned are islands around this boat.

people can see the animals either from the shore of the lake or from the boats deck. the shoebill enclosures nets are right next to the deck, but while the female is nesting, an extra barrier has been placed to minimize stress.

04-08-2008

San Diego Wild Animal Park currently has 2.3 birds.

1.2 are clipped, and have been or are currently hand fed. All three of these were kept on exhibit at some point. Currently of these 1.1 are on exhibit and 0.1 is now housed in another location.

Additionally, they have 1.1 wild caught adults in a very large flight. These two birds are full flight. There is little interaction between these birds and the keeper staff.

Additionally, a few years back when these wild caught adults were brought into the US, other US zoos also acquired adults in hopes to breed them in captivity.

04-08-2008

I thought, San DIEGO WAP has send a shoebill to tampa a few years ago, is that correct ?

04-08-2008

RE:shoebills in Prague
There is a new aviary and a small house for one shoebill pair planned to be built next year. The accual number of birds is 2,2.

offtopic
RE:new elephant house in Prague
The zoo director tried to phase out the elephants, but the city council (the owner) has not allowed it. The old house is not acceptable any longer so a decision to build a new one had to be made. This investment is 100% funded by Prague city council so it does not affect the economic condition of the zoo at all.

04-08-2008

There is a wide variety of ways of hand rearing birds; creche reared, social imprint, food imprint, dual raised, sibling assocation, puppet feed, foster reared etc. The age from which hand rearing starts also has a large effect; egg,hatch, week, pre-flegde etc

Done for various reasons. Mass production being often the key factor. Many are hand reared to be used potentially for AI or for as trained flying birds.

Parent reared raptors (not owls) that are then trained using falconry based methods are usually the best breeders and parents. These birds have the benefits of knowing exactly what they are and being calm birds in close proximity to people. In general the worst natural breeders are full food imprints, however enough examples occur of these imprints breeding. Followed by untrained wild caught adults. Many commercial breeders will strongly talk up the benefits of creche reared birds for breeding as this is the simpliest method for mass production.

In my limited opinion the ideal situation here would be for the 2 chicks to be raised 10-14 days and as long as strong and healthy returned to parents. With the 2nd clutch being taken away for artificial incubation. Clearly this puts the chicks at risk from their inexperienced parents. However, these young would hopefully grow up knowing exactly what they are and great future potential breeders. It could be possible at later date to swap the nearly fledged 1st clutch chicks (these would go into isolation til independence) for the potential 2nd clutch chicks.

06-08-2008

They sent 1.0 out about 4-5 years ago, but I do not remember the institution. The 2.3 number is current. The wild caught adult free flight female in the breeding cage is from another zoo.

06-08-2008

I think it was Tampa.

07-08-2008

If you see how long it taked for the "ordinary" Belgian people to read about this, (several newspapers have it still not published) am I not surprised. It seems that the most people of the press don"t see anything special in these birds...

I am not into birds or Paradisio, but even I see that it was something special within the birdscollection of Paradisio

11-08-2008

any updates or new pictures?

11-08-2008

updates yes, pics no.

both chicks are doing fine. they're actually starting to look like shoebills.
the parents are caring very well for the 2 new eggs, so this too is looking good.

Haven't been to the park myself. bit of a lack of time and no professional reason to go there. but you'll get new pics as soon as they're available.

13-08-2008

Somehow, I was expecting that...

13-08-2008

yeah well, apparently this was the n° 1 "complaint" visitors had. they don't look like the parents at all.

but now their bill is really starting to get the right shape.