On Thursday 18/9 will Universeum and The Perfect World Foundation host a event call: Save The Rhino 2014 - There they will have a lecture about how you can help to rescue rhinos in the wild. In the evening they will also have a gala dinner there some swedish artists and comedian will entertainment. You can read more about the event here: https://theperfectworldfoundation.org/ In end of may this year the Toco toucan female ''Georgina'' was stolen from the Rainforest, and the Police found her in a bathroom in an apartment in northeast Gothenburg in end of june. you can see a video below when she was back to Universeum and met her ''boyfriend'' Big George. Georgina is imported from South Africa and Big George is from Rotterdam Zoo where he´s born. The video: Georgina och George tillsammans igen - Nyheter | SVT.se
How long has the Universeum had toucans in the Rainforest for? Are they free-flying in the walkthrough area? The only birds I recall from my visit there in Jan 2012 were scarlet ibis, sun bittern, and a variety of Neotropical passerines.
The Toucans came in 2013. I'm not sure if all toucans are free-flying or in aviaries. I haven't visited since the spring 2011, but here are a list I found on the internet which I think are correct with birds species in the Rainforest: Red siskin, Red-legged honeycreeper, Blue nacked tanger, Blue dacnis, Turquoise tanager, Yellow cardinal, White-lined tanger, Yellow-hooded blackbird, Brazilian tanger, Scarlet ibis, Sunbittern, Cobalt-winged parakeet, Blue-crowned motmot, Curl crested aracari, Toco toucan, Crimson-rumped toucanet, Green arassari, Keel-billed toucan, Red-billed toucan, Ivory-billed aracari, Ringed teal. I hopefully to go and visit soon again and I can write a correct species list and more info after I have visit.
Wow, that is a fairly impressive list of toucans - 7 species! Few zoos would be able to match that number. It would be great to know how they are housed. They would look brilliant free-flying in the rainforest. Here is the list of species I saw at the Universeum on 10/1/2012 - not including fish and invertebrates: Green Anaconda Blue Tit Willow Tit Grass Snake Adder Great Crested Grebe Blue Tree Monitor East African Jameson’s Mamba Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake Long-nosed Viper Inland Taipan Boomslang Cape Cobra Moorish Viper Beaded Lizard Northern Death Adder Madagascan Giant Day Gecko Common Marmoset Goeldi’s Monkey Turquoise Tanager White-lined Tanager Red-legged Honeycreeper Scarlet Ibis Yellow-hooded Blackbird Yellow-Green Grosbeak Red Siskin Giant Waxy Monkey Tree Frog Blue Poison Dart Frog Mealy Amazon Red-footed Tortoise Dwarf Caiman Common Iguana Sun Bittern Golden Poison Dart Frog Of all the species, the Grebe was perhaps the most interesting - the Universeum is/was one of the few zoos holding any species of grebe, and this individual was particularly active and easy to see up close. However it is no longer listed on Zootierliste so perhaps they no longer hold this attractive and interesting species.
Well that's interesting then. Possibly they have divided the rainforest space? I'm not sure where they would build toucan aviaries, its a rather constrained set up. We will need photos when you visit Thesweham.
the Universeum looks amazing! I've been looking around at various sites (and there's photos on Zoochat too of toucans and toucanets and aracaris). It's a bit hard to tell but I think they are all kept separate from the main rainforest hall. The toco toucans are definitely in a separate aviary, and I found a comment in an article about a worker there which referred to "the mixed toucanette/aracari exhibit".
Its a very impressive design and concept, but they do attempt to cram a lot in - it might be better if the whole thing was just "natural history", with the other science stuff moved elsewhere - but that is a rather biased view. The rainforest is particularly impressive as far as "indoor jungles" go, rather similar to Vienna Zoo's version in some ways, but you can get very close to many species, and the monkeys were especially friendly. But the top bit for Swedish wildlife is stunning, and my favourite part - it was very well done.
Universeum has the largest collection of toucans in Europe! I have seen some of picture from the aviary there the Toco toucans are living and what I can see, their exhibit are there the Anacondas was living (beside of the pool for fish and turtles). The anacondas have gone for a tropic indoor zoo in Norway. When five toucans came from South Africa in March this year and when they came into the Rainforest, a toucan was trying to eat monkeys.... I'm sorry for my english, I'm not fluent (yet).
Wow, very impressive. Where did all the toucans come from? Ah OK, that would make a good display - are all the species exhibited together in one space or separated? Your English is fine, don't worry about it!
I thought the toco toucan aviary looked like the anaconda enclosure but of course I haven't been there so was just going by the photos of each and not knowing one way or the other. According to the annual report of the Universeum the various species are imported "from zoos and breeders in the US and South Africa". I'm still confused as to whether most are loose in the hall or enclosed? In the Zoochat gallery there is a photo of a mixed aracari aviary. But the reference above to a toucan trying to eat a monkey -- the primates are loose in the hall aren't they? Or not?
Here is a Swedish news article in Swedish about the Monkey and the Toucan; Utrotningshotad fågel försökte äta upp apor | GT Goeldi´s monkeys, White tufted-ear marmosets and Pied tamarins are free range in the Rainforest.
From Friday 14 November this year until April 12 next year, they will hold a exhibit called Ice age on their roof terrace. There you can find; Mammoth, cave bear, smilodon in natural size, of course are these robots like dinosaurs as many Zoos on the planet has.
On Tuesday, at noon a small fire was starting at the roof terrace and some fur of a Woolly rhinoceros model exposed. the fire was very small and the staff of Universeum could to douse the fire without fire fighting. Them have start a investigation about how the fire was started.
The man who stole the Toco toucan female in end of may last year has convicted to pay: 10000 SEK (about 1059 Euro) in penalty.
For some weeks ago, 0.2 Horn sharks have arrived from Artis, Holland. This is a new species for Universeum and they are living in the Ray tank in the Aquarium hall. They will also to renovate the Rainforest hall from this year, until the spring 2016. This summer a new aviary will be open with new home for toucans and sloths, we can just do hope a sloth male will arrive to Tallina too.
A very sad news, Herman the sand tiger shark has died. He was just some months when he arrived from Holland in 2001 for the opening of Universeum. They will also to do an autopsy of him.
On Thursday last week (On Walpurgis day and the Swedish king birthday), 1.0 Linnaeus´ two-toed sloth arrived from Twycross Zoo, UK. His names is Annika,( who is a common ''girl-name'' in Sweden). At Wilhelma, there he is born, they first thought he was a girl, but in England they checked his sex and sexed he like a male. At the moment, Annika is to spend time in quarantine, but later he will live together with Tallina in the new aviary in the Rainforest when the construction is finish in some weeks.