3 new species arrived at Dierenpark de Oliemeulen in Tilburg : Leptodactylus laticeps a frog which has never been on show before in Europe Polychrus acutirostris still in quarantaine, also the only ones in Europe Uranoscodon supercilosus an iguan-species rarely kept in Europe, the only others at the moment are kept at Hamburg - Germany Will go to the Oliemeulen this weekend and try to make some photos.
Went today to de Oliemeulen to see ( and photograph ) the 3 new species they got. Directly after the entrance had a look at the 2-headed cornsnake -strange animal - and in the first row of enclosures at the left side the frog Leptodactylus laticeps was hideing. It was hardly visible and imposible to photograph - hopefully next time more luck. Then looking for the 2 lizards and found the iguanas - Uranoscodon superciliosus - next to the exit to the otdoor area. I saw 3 animals from which one was a little bit active, the other 2 were just sitting around. On the sign at the enclosure it stands that also the anole - Polychrus acutirostris - should be in it but I didn't manage to find it. By asking one of the keepers I learned that they had been in it but because of bad health they had been placed back in the quarantaine - so hopefully also more luck next time ! Further little news from the collection. The new Caracal enclosure was still under construction and in the bird-show I saw a new species for the Oliemeulen : a Hooded crow.
Paid a visit to the Oliemolen today and at least I managed to take some photos of the Red-punckted Burrowing frog Leptodactylus laticeps althrough not very good ones ! They still are hidding very well but evenso I saw 2 of the 3 animals in the enclosure. The anole Polychrus acutirostris are still not on display. By the Cotton-topped tamarins babies were born on 9 December 2012 and today I saw the family-group and one of the young. The new Caracal-enclosure seems to be finished but still no animals in it.
Went to the Oliemolen today because it was one of the first sunny days in the Netherlands ! Little news but at least the caracal enclosure had been finished and 3 animals are housed in it. The animals also enjoyed the sun and were quite active. In the Iguana-enclosure ( green and black iguanas and helmed basilisks ) I saw 3 ( american ) turtle species which I couldn't identify and there was also no sign on the enclosure, placed pictures in the Gallery so hope some-one can help.
Sorry Shirokuma, just road your question now. Dierenpark de Oliemolen is a small collection in Tilburg. In fact it´s an old farmhouse with some land around it. In the farmhouse a large reptile and amphibian collection is housed with also some insects, lots of bird-eating spiders, some fishes and some small mammals ( small hedghogtenrec and flying foxes ). Down-floors lots of snakes, turtles, tortoises, crocodilians, a few aquariums, a lot of poison-arrow frogs and other amphibians and lizards and the 2 above mentioned mammals. On the first floor some tejus, lizards and 3 species of poisonous snakes ( bamboo viper, rattlesnake and cobra ). Also upstairs is a kind of classroom in which several times a day an education-show about bird-eating spiders is given. When we go downstairs again we can go outside and here we see a small parrot-enclosure with amazon-parrots and some macaws. Several enclosures with small monkeys ( marmosets, sakis, squirrel monkeys, capucin monkeys ), cats ( serval, caracal and ocelot ), birds of prey ( eagle, vulture, falcon ), cranes ( crowned and desmoiles ), stork, porcupine, owls, skunk, tortoises ( European and African spurred, only during the summer ) squirrels and flamingo and nice fitted in the relative small area. In a small room into the main building the alligators are housed. On a large field parralel to the mainbuilding several times a day a bird-of prey show is given. Altogether a very nice collection in which you can spend several intresting houres !
Went today to de Oliemolen and some news : The Mozambique girzled lizards are not on display anymore and replaced by some giant grasshoppers. A small area which had not in use for some time houses now a pair of crowned cranes.
Always one of the first thing I do is to check if these anoles already can be seen but yesterday again negative
Short visit to the Oliemolen today. Not much new but they were working hard for the exibition about Insects which opens coming monday. This exibition will include enclosures with life insects ( some new spectaculair species are expected ! ), preparations of insects and photos ( several 3D ones ). Photos and praparations were almost finished but the living ones were still not one view.
Took a look at the insect-exibition and saw a lot of new species ! Several new species of stick-insects I had never seen before, also new ( to me ) species of beetles, praying mantis, crickets and so on. Also in the 'main-collection' a new species : Woma python. This Australian species is kept only rarely in public collections in Europe althrough a fear number is kept and bred by privat breeders.
10th visit to the Oliemeulen this year ! Some small news : the 3 White-fronted marmosets born April 15 were very active and playing around at least 2 young seen in the Squirrel monkey-group talked with one of the keepers and he told me that the Anolis for which I've been looking around already so long - Polychrus acutirostris - is no longer in the collection - have died At least I managed to make some decent pictures of the 2 Malayan giant flying foxes ( Pteropus vampyrus ) !
Some Facebook-bnews from the Oliemeulen : First Uranoscodon supercilosus have hatched ! Already for 11 days a Capucine monkey has been born but prob. due to jalaousy the other female in the group has killed the baby yesterday
After I had guided Zooman around Beekse Bergen on his European tour, we still had some time left so I asked him if he was intrested to visit a smaller Dutch collection. He agreed and so we went to the Oliemeulen which is about 6 kilometers from Beekse Bergen. For me it was - if I've counted right - the eleventh visit this year, for Zooman it's first ( and I suspose his only ) one. A few changes were noticed by me : the aviary in which normaly the American kestrels were housed, now is home to a Black kite and the Bearded anolis was replaced by a Land crab. We also saw one of the baby Porcupines which was quite active. Zooman was surpriced by some of the strange animal-combinations like Black vultures togehter with Ring-tailed lemures and a combination of Squirrel monkeys, Blue and yellow macaws and Lesser Flamingos......
Visit number 12 this year. For the first time I managed to take some decent pictures of the rare frog Leptodactylus laticeps ! Changes since my last visit : the small group of Siberian ground squirrels have been replaces by a pair of Japanese with-bellied squirrels which were very tame and very active ! 2 very active Armadillos are new and live in an enclosure together with a variety of iguanids ( Green, Black, Rhino and Helmed Basilisk ). Also new is a female American black vulture for one of the males already living at the Oliemeulen. It was quite bussy in the park and the park was furnished Halloween-style.
The Blue-and-Yellow macaw which hatched at August 15 is taking it's first views outside the nestbox ( FB ).
