WOW! Thank you Jola, I have been waiting for someone to post a review and pictures of this new exhibit. It looks great and the video gives a great perspective of the exhibit.
Well, it was named after the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition (1872–1874) that discovered an archipelago which they named "Franz-Josef Land".
Great review of the new exhibit Jola, it looks stunning, definitely an exhibit for Vienna to be proud of. Is this the best polar bear exhibit in an urban zoo in Europe? Better than Copenhagen? What other European zoos have world class polar bear exhibits? I hadn't heard of Franz Josef Land before, but there is a Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand that I know of!
Zoo Vienna received 1,2 Mhorr gazelles (Nanger dama mhorr) to start a new breeding group. Wien: Drei rare Schönheiten | zoobesuche
After a few years, I´ve visited Schönbrunn again. The zoo has got only better. The polar bear exhibit got the best of the rather limited space it could use. I liked the new inside boxes for anteaters, less barren then the usual ones. I´ve spent good time in the bird house and was salivating over some exquisite singing bird species. The sight of slim elephants was a shock, I´m used to overfed ones. All in all a nice afternoon.
After the dead of the 16 year old Koala male Bilyarra Vienna recieved today a new male for their female Mirra Li. The male Wirri wirri came from the Zoo Beauval in France.
Wirri Wirri is a new male but not a new breeding partner for Mirra Li. She is 14 and not very healthy.
Was at Vienna Zoo last week and would have to agree that the polar bear exhibit is truly spectacular. Other highlights are the Lions (great views) the Penguins (reminded of Taronga with the deep viewing pools), the Pandas, the Cloud rats (bigger than anticipated) and the S. American house with 4 or 5 Giant Anteaters, Capybara, Tapirs and crested Seriema. There is a large external area which had a herd of Vicuna and I assume the others can share, but as the day was cold all stayed inside except one of the Anteaters. Great bird houses and birds. The standard of all exhibits is very high, and the Zoo is well laid out and easy to navigate. It is up there with the Berlin zoos as the best I've seen.
Next year the zoo starts to restore and to develop their Giraffe building and outdoor exhibit. The indoor exhibit will to be 440 sq and the outdoor will be 1500 sq large. So wird das neue Zuhause der Giraffen! ? Tiergarten Schönbrunn The new exhibit open 2017.
This sounds like a good development, and I imagine it will look great, like the rest of the Tiergarten's modernised historic exhibits. But the modern glass conservatory style indoor area pictured in the link above doesn't look particularly appealing to me. Will have to see what it looks like when its complete. It also says the giraffes will be temporarily relocated to adjacent defence force land, and I think it says they will be visible to the public there (the translation isn't the best).
Two days dago, the zoos last serow died, a female, born 1997 at Berlin Zoo.So only three european zoos left with that species: https://www.zoovienna.at/news/japanischer-serau-verstorben/
Sad news, but unsurprising for the taxon. I think the serows at Vienna were in a beautiful exhibit up past the Andean bears, and mixed with Japanese Cranes (please correct me if I'm wrong). Are the cranes still there, and is it known what the future plans for this exhibit are?
Baby-boom with the Ring-tailed lemurs, already 6 have been born sofar. The first birth of the year was on March 3 and was a twin.
Hello, I'm very interested in the conditio of Wirri Wirri, the new koala. How is he? I saw a video of his trip from Beauval, but little new informations can be found in the internet so I'd be grateful for any news.
"Wirri Wirri" settled in very well. He is a cute and pretty active Koala. I took some pics and a video a few weeks ago. I'll try to put them online this weekend.
