Birds of Paradise

Birds of Paradise
04-06-2012

Hi guys. Hope someone can help me with this: What are the best Bird of Paradise collections out there? WHich species are held and which are regularly bred (if any)? Thanks in advance,

04-06-2012

In Europe your only chance is Walsrode, they are back on 4 species. Then there is Al-Wabra who has several species and actually breeds with several of them like King BoP.
Bronx Zoo has BoPs and so does Jurong. Also it seems that Parco Faunistico has Magnificent BoP in their collection.

For species in Europe you can always check ZootierlisteHomepage yourself.

04-06-2012

Thanks DDcorvus. I have been to Walsrode and saw their BoP's. Is it true that Honolulu Zoo has Superb BoP (Lophorina superbus)? Is it the only institution with this species?

04-06-2012

San Diego also have them, or used to.

04-06-2012

Honolulu has Superb, Magnificent and Raggiana's.



Hix

06-06-2012

In addition to Jurong, several places in Asia: Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia), Taman Safari (Indonesia), Bali Bird Park (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur Bird Park (Malaysia), Zoo Melaka (Malaysia), Everland Zoo (South Korea), Ueno Zoo (Japan) and Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand) also have bird of paradise, or at least they had until fairly recently. Does anyone have up-to-date information on the Rainforest Habitat in Lae (Papua New Guinea)? In the late 90´s they had a huge collection of well above 10 species, far outmatching anyone else, but the last I heard was rather depressing and it sounds like most of their collection is gone?

The bop´s that have had some breeding since 1990 are lesser, Raggiana, greater, red, superb, king, magnificent and twelve-wired but in essentially all species it has been too little to have self-maintaining captive populations in the long term

06-06-2012

There are no bop´s in African zoos and the only in the Americas outside USA is twelve-wired bop at Vida Silvestre (Mexico)

As far as I know:

Bop´s still in zoos (except for three species with additional information in brackets, all are kept at more than one zoo):
Trumpeter manucode (only in Berlin Zoo)
Magnificent riflebird (only in Khao Kheow Open Zoo? At least in 2010 they still had it and I think they still do but I'm not completely sure)
Magnificent bop
Superb bop
Wilson´s bop (only in Jurong Bird Park)
King bop
Twelve-wired bop
Lesser bop
Greater bop
Raggiana bop
Red bop

Don´t know, perhaps still in zoos somewhere:
Glossy-mantled manucode
Crinkle-collared manucode
Parotias
Emperor bop
Paradise/Victoria's riflebird (do any of the Australian zoos like Taronga still have either?)

Almost certainly not kept anywhere today:
Satinbirds (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have Loria´s satinbird anymore)
Jobi manucode
Curl-crested manucode
Paradise-crow
Paradigallas
Astrapias (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have Stephanie's astrapia anymore)
King-of-Saxony bop
Sicklebills (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have brown sicklebill anymore)
Wallace´s standardwing
Goldie´s bop
Blue bop (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have it anymore)

06-06-2012

there are apparently no longer any kept in Australian zoos

06-06-2012

photo from 2011: Picasa Web Albums - Martin Kodad - Papua New Gui...

06-06-2012

Very nice! Thanks for the update Chlidonias. Their webpage has been down for some time but via wayback machine here is the Lae Rainforest Habitat species list, c. 2002: The Rainforest Habitat

Beyond blue and Raggiana shown in the gallery in Chlidonias link, it is anyone´s guess what they still have.

06-06-2012

the only recent photos I could find were all of Raggiana and that one of the blue, as well as a few lories, single-wattled cassowary, saltwater croc and tree kangaroos. It seems most regular tourists visiting the place aren't interested in posting loads of photos of different species and creating lists of birds of paradise they've seen...

07-06-2012

In addition to Bronx, San Diego and Honolulu there are several US zoos with bop´s (or at least they had them in 2010/2011, not entirely sure how many have them today): Central Park, Houston, Brookfield, Riverbanks, Toledo, Tampa´s Lowry, San Antonio and a few more.

In my post on Asia I forgot Green World Ecological Farm (Taiwan) and there are probably others I don't know about.

07-06-2012

As of this week, Central Park has 1 Red BOP, and a pair of Raggina BOP. Bronx seemingly now only has the Red BOP's.

11-06-2012

Are these birds any difficult to breed? Why are there so few in captivity?

11-06-2012

Some were bred first decades ago. No indication that they are remarkably hard compared to many other birds kept with some regularity in zoos. The main problems appear to be:

1) Difficult to source them. All bop´s are listed on CITES (though most bop´s actually are common in the wild). You need special permit from Indonesia/Papua New Guinea for export. Decades ago when they could be sourced more freely there was less effort to breed them and much of the basic information wasn't known (like their fast death if they get an iron rich diet).
2) Small basis population in zoos = even if they breed, the population rapidly becomes inbred.
3) Many bop´s have been kept in mixed bird species exhibits, which aren't particularly good for breeding. Relatively few bird species breed regularly in mixed species exhibits compared to smaller dedicated aviaries with only 1-2 species.
4) Some bop´s have lek systems in the wild and would probably breed better if this was allowed in captivity. But it is not easy to get e.g. 15 Raggiana bop. Even if a zoo could get that number few would have the spaces for the huge exhibit it would require (unless putting them in mixed species exhibits, see above). Most bop´s that are regularly kept are also tropical. If the zoo is in a temperate/subtropical country, they couldn't just built a relatively cheap huge outdoor aviary because it would be too cold, at least during the winter. In this group of birds that is one advantage Jurong and other tropical zoos have over most US and European zoos.