It amazes me that the zoo with the highest attendance of spain doesn't have a thread here, namely the loro parque tenerife. Allthough this zoo houses mostly parrots, there are a number of other exhibits that make this zoo worthwile. Planet Penguin, orca ocean, the dolphin lagoon, and the aquarium for example. Did any of you ever visit this zoo, and what did you think of it?
Ok, didn't know that. To my knowledge the canary islands belong to spain, so please forgive my mistake
I have uploaded some photos of my visit to Loro Parque, as well as other animal collections in the Canary Islands, and I was also surprised to find the galleries for the Canary Islands listed under Africa rather than Spain!
I surprised too but Sim put the Canary Islands in "Africa" attend to geographic criteria and not political criteria I think...
Fair enough ... In response to the original post, there are no posts in the Loro Parque thread anyway, so maybe you should start us off, Johnny
Spix Macaw at Loro Parc. So do you know what the current situation is with their Spix Macaws- any recent updates on breeding?
With all due respect people, Sim is actually RIGHT. The Canary Islands are closer to the African subcontinent and the inclusion with Spain is only for reasons tied with colonial history. So far, the geo-gibberish .... As for the institution deserving its own thread, I suppose quite a few Spanish zoos deserve their own thread. But I agree, that Loro Parque does stand out from the crowd. It has a collection in parrots, amazons and macaws, loris et al unsurpassed ....! The Loro Parque Foundation has its own website, sadly it has not been regularly updated for the last few years with news from beyond 2007.
You are in a mistake The Canary Islands are Spanish for about 500 years with all the rights and obligations, but this is not a political forum see the link for more information about Loro Parque Foundation: Loro Parque Fundacion: 100% for Parrot and Nature Conservation
I think you missed the point Kifaru Bwana was making. The Canary Islands are geographically part of the African region. They are only politically part of Spain. It is really irrelevant how long ago Spain invaded them and ousted the people already living there, the islands are still situated off the coast of Africa. They could equally well be placed in either the European or African forums: both could be considered correct depending on how one views it.
Strictly speaking, the Canaries arise from an oceanic plate and not the African continental plate. Therefore geographically they are not part of either Africa or Europe. Similarly the Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands may be tied politically to mainland continental countries but do not belong to a continent themselves. Back to topic: Loro Parque do have an enormous parrot collection but I found that it was displayed rather unimaginatively, with rows and rows of small aviaries. I know that sometimes this is the best way to keep and breed some species, but a few more walk-through areas would have been nice. The penguin house is excellent, I especially liked the huge cylindrical tank of sardines in there.
I hear that a lot about Loro Parque, that they've got an impressive parrot collection but housed in a somewhat aesthetically poor manner. All you really ever hear about too is the parrots; the rest of the animals hardly ever get mentioned, to the extent that even though I know they have big cats and gorillas and an Antarctic penguin house etc etc, it still almost comes as a surprise to hear they have them (if you see what I mean)
According to IZN they have opened a new breeding centre for the Spix's Macaws, they currently hold six of them within the collection. The new centre will consist of eight large avairaies with interconnecting passageways which can be opened depending on breeding needs. The park has also bred for the first time a yellow tailed black cockatoo.
That's one of the reasons I opened this thread. I Hoped people knew more about how the park was faring. I was there in 2006 because they had just opened the orca ocean, and since I have a lifelong fascination for orca's since my parents took me to a dolphinarium where they had an orca ( gudrun, who moved in 1987 to seaworld in the united states, where she died somewhere in the nineties) I just wanted to go there. But the park itself fascinated me. It's a parrot park, with some splendid atractions, which you wouldn't ecpect. Especially planet penguin was impressive, but the dolphin lagoon, tiger exhibit, gorilla enclosure, chimpanzee area, aligator compound, jaguar crater and the splendid aquarium amazed me. I didn't find it hard to imagine this was the zoo which had the highest attendance in the whole of spain. It had one downside however; it's incredibly expensive.
Just returned from a trip to Tenerife..Highlight of the holiday was the 7hour visit to Loro Parque fantastic. Cost 31.75euros but worth every penny, Did miss Katandra saw the climb to treetops but didnt realise what it was [silly us]Our last visit was some 12 years ago allthough the parrots living areas leave much to be desired it is a vast improvemrnt on last time where the birds were in tiny cages with no shade, I took some 1756 photos! The colours of the Parrots was amazing but I noticed that most visitors ignored the parrots,I spent most of the time saying 'oh'and'wow''incredible' Also the gardens were imaculate and spectacular. as were all the other exhibits. Dont miss it if you go to Tenerife.
My grandparents went there last year and said it was one of the most memorable experiences they have had. I'll try to upload some pictures they took. Even a cheeky squirrel monkey landed on their heads and parrot got very attached to my nan! It sounds really good and would love to go when i am older.
