Lesser anteater exhibit - Zoo São Paulo

@David Matos Mendes Probably Bauru as from memory they have a fairly decent enclosure too.

The enclosure for lesser anteater at Sorocaba zoo could be improved in my opinion as it is a mixed species enclosure (also holds agouti, toucan and an armadillo species which is bullied by the anteater) and an indoor one. I think a much better enclosure for the tamandua could be built and perhaps an outdoor one with much more climbing opportunities.

@Onychorhynchus coronatus Never heard of mixing birds such as toucans with mammals like anteater, agoutis and armadillos in the country. Although the anteater and armadillo doesn't get along well, It seems a nice and different idea. How big is the exhibit? Do you think it actually works well in general?
About the indoor exhibit, I always think they should have outdoor access too, unless it's an animal that needs temperature/humidity control. Climbing structures are really important for animals such as anteaters too, as you mentioned.

@David Matos Mendes It doesn't work too badly for the toucan because it can hop out of the way of the tamandua mirim which is somewhat aggressive to all of the other animals.

The other animals that tend to be on the receiving end of his bullying behaviour are the giant hairy armadillo and a pair of agoutis but it mostly seems to be the armadillo that gets it worse.

I couldn't find a picture of his enclosure on zoochat so I'll have to take a picture next time I'm there but this is the area of the zoo where he is kept and in this row of mixed species enclosures. The tamandua / armadillo / toucan / agouti enclosure is located on the far left of the one depicted and which now holds several prehensile tailed porcupines, tapiti rabbits, agouti and a huge Brazilian porcupine.

Zoologico Municipal Sorocaba - Armadillos - ZooChat

@Onychorhynchus coronatus Ah, yes, I can see. These enclosures seems to be quite new. I mean, they were probably built after the 2000's, right? Cause generally glass panels were not something common in our zoos before the XXI century...

I think observing the individuals and their own characteristics is extremely important to realize if there is actually a possibility to keep them together with others or not... Only the characteristics of the species in general is not enough to build nice ecossistems at a zoo. I bet the zoo's crew might have something in mind to solve this situation already. Hope so...

@David Matos Mendes Yes, I think they were constructed in either the late 1990's or the early 2000's.

About individual suitability of the animals for a mixed exhibit , yes, I agree, a very important factor to consider with these kind of enclosures. As I've said the problem at many Brazilian zoos is that there are simply too many animals being brought in all the time by the public or the environmental police that have been injured so space tends to fill up very quickly. Sometimes different species get housed with eachother out of necessity rather than optionally and this can be a little problematic.

Another thing I'll mention is that if you ever visit Sorocaba zoo you will love to see the historical archive and library that they have there as it is full of old documents, magazines, journals, photo albums etc relating to the history of the zoo that I just know you would find interesting.

@Onychorhynchus coronatus Ah, yes, I get it. I hope the zoo finds a better way to handle these animals in the future. I'm sure Sorocaba zoo's crew is totally capable, I just hope the brazilian zoos had enough resources to be able to handle situations like this in a better way. It's those old problems we have... I sometimes think about how modern our zoos could be if the enough money was available, due to the awesome professionals we have in many of our institutions.

About this historical archive, I would definitely love to see it. As a fan of general history and zoos, I am an actual big zoo history lover too. I've been wishing to visit Sorocaba zoo for a long time, since the days I used to watch Rodrigo Teixeira and Sérgio Rangel's tv shows. It will be awesome to learn more about the past of this very interesting institution. It is definitely included in my following years zoo plans, among with Bio parque do Rio, Bauru, Guarulhos, and maybe Brasilia again (to see the new "african gallery").

@David Matos Mendes You should definitely check it out as you will find some real treasure there in that archive. Personally, I used to wish that I had an hour spare sometimes to just have a look through those records / photos / journals as there is a lot of history hidden away in that room.

I actually think it is a really important thing that this recent history of zoos is preserved and kept for future generations to see and be fascinated by.

@Onychorhynchus coronatus Yes, I also find it very important to preserve archives like this. The history of zoos serves a lot for education and also for learning the mistakes and good acts the institution promoted in the past, so it can help the zoo in following the best directions nowadays.

I honestly had never heard of a zoo providing historical resources available for the public like this. I really liked this attitude of the institution, and think it should be definitely spread around the country too.

@David Matos Mendes Yes, I think so too because zoos are part of a place / community and to some extent give an identity or character to a place (I know for sure that Sorocaba zoo is a very important part / institution of the city). So much history occur there that is relevant / significant to every day peoples lives and memories are formed. For example, a persons first sight of an animal as a child with their parents / grandparents, their first trip there with a boyfriend / girlfriend, their later visits with their own children and then their grandchildren etc.

Well it isn't really available to the public like an open museum or something like that but if you work there you may access it and I'm sure that if you sent them an email or gave them a call and stated that you wanted to have a look through the archive there would be no problem. There are mountains of material in that archive from over about 50 years.

By the way, in terms of zoos and their museums or records / archives of their own history I can only think of a couple of places that have what could be called exhibits open to the public of this. The finest would be Jersey zoo in the UK and their exhibition on the life of their founder / the influential conservationist and writer Gerald Durrell. I'll post a couple of images of this from the zoochat gallery below:

Pictures from an Exhibition, October 2016 - ZooChat

Pictures from an Exhibition, October 2016 - ZooChat

Pictures from an Exhibition, October 2016 - ZooChat

@Onychorhynchus coronatus I totally agree with you about the importance of the zoo memories. Zoos are,(in some cases were ) actually a very important part of the society of the city they are located in. Everyone in BH, for example, and in all the cities of the metropolitan areas around, have been to , or knows exactly what place you're reffering when you mention "O zoológico". It's very dificult to find someone around here who doesn't know who was Idi, or Joca, or Beré. That's one of the good parts that give hope to the env. education, cause many people still have a very nice relation with the institution...

I'm definitely very interested in these archives of zoo Sorocaba. When, and if I get to go there in the following future, I'm definitely gonna try a contact with the crew to be able to check a little out all of this history.

For these pictures, I really like what Jersey zoo is exposing to their public, specially the informations of the historical individuals who lived there and were probably very known by the public. These kind of exhibitions would really come in hand in our country's institutions.