A 200 million euro expansion of the zoo has been announced by the mayor of Barcelona, the plan is transform the zoo into zoogeographical areas and habitat based areas, to include savannah, steppe, forest and the island of Madagascar. Also planned is a marine park in the city, based in Besos, the marine park is scheduled to open in 2014, with both project due for completion in 2015. Wanted in Europe: Barcelona Animals News : Expansion project for Barcelona zoo.
So much for an economic recession in Spain, as that is probably about $450 million American dollars, and maybe half a billion Canadian bucks!
Complementary information:from the link The marine park at Besos (river) will host underwater species in environments differentiated by water temperature, such as cold water, Mediterranean, tropical and deep ocean habitats. Work on the marine park is scheduled to begin in early 2009 and is expected to be completed by 2014. The two sites, totalling an area of 18 hectares, will both be fully operational by 2015.
The first new exhibit to be build will be the Komodo dragon exhibit. This exhibit will be open at 2010 when other three new exhibits will be already under construction. There are not any list of animals for the "new" zoos. The only confirmed animal for the terrestial zoo is the Komodo dragon, and for the marine zoo, the bottlenose dolphin.
Well, there are not any detailed map or design... there are only some schematic maps and exhibit desings (not maps). There's a video (in catalan) on Youtube that shows the project of remodelation of the current zoo and the new marine zoo: YouTube - Es presenta el nou zoo marí de Barcelona i la remodelació de l'actual zoo terrestre (All the animals that appear in the video and are not confirmed. As I said before, the only confirmed animals are the Komodo dragons and dolphins.) For more information (also in catalan) you can see this pdf: http://w3.bcn.es/fitxers/premsa/dossiernouzoofinal4.812.pdf (You will not understand catalan, but inside you can find some maps... and if you want you can use the Google translator to translate from catalan to english). If I have new information of the project (maps, new animals, photos of the construction of the new exhibits, etc...) I will post them here.
So would the plan include moving the dolphins from their current home at the zoo, to the new marine park?
Thanks for posting those interesting links even though I don't understand most of what they say But it seems to me that they are making the zoo smaller than it currently is now. Why is this?
@kiang: Yes. The plan is to move the dolphins (and all water-related animals) to the marine zoo. @Toddy: Yes. The current zoo will be reduced, but less that the initial plans of reduction to build a parking for the parliment
Good news everyone! The construction of the new Komodo dragons exhibit, called "Terra de dragons" (Land of dragons) has started. In fact, this new exhibit will contain Komodo dragons and indian muntjacs (in separate exhibits ) The zoo has put a map of the project in front of the future exhibit: http://www.zoochat.com/467/terra-de-dragons-pictures-future-komodo-76109/ http://www.zoochat.com/467/terra-de-dragons-map-new-komodo-76108/ Total area of the new facilities: 1800 m2 Muntjac exhibit: 165 m2 Komodo dragon exhibits: 260 m2 The Komodo dragon exhibit seems to be a covered exhibit (maybe with a glass roof). This can be apreciated in another map that shows the exhibit in other prespective (sorry, I don't have a photo of this map). Both exhibits will have a indoor area / sleeping room ("Dormitori") and kitchens ("Cuina"). The Komodo dragons exhibit will also contain a "training area" ("entrenament 1" and "entrenament 2" in the map) and an "interpretation center" ("Centre d'Interpretació"). The blue lines of the map are glass. So, the exhibit will have a look like the current gorilla exhibit: http://www.zoochat.com/467/barcelona-zoo-gorillas-54198/
More maps can be found here: http://www.zoobarcelona.com/ZOO_Barcelona/zoodos/im/Obres_Zoo.pdf (sorry, it's only in catalan). The muntjac exhibit will be also an aviary. A net will cover the exhibit to convert it to an aviary. The birds that will share exhibit with the muntjacs are unknown... The exhibit will be finished on autum.
The Zoo has just published a new book about the past, present and future of the zoo. In the part that explains the future we can find a map that contain the locations of the new exhibits and the corresponding animals. Acording to this map, the new zoo will have the following animals (some species are not indicated): African savannah Elephant African wild dog Hippo Giraffe (¿Baringo?) Orix (¿Scimitar horned?) + Gazelle (Saharawi dorcas) Asian steppe Onager + Gazelle Pelican Lion American rainforest Anteater Tapir + Birds+ Tortoise Spider monkey Birds Jaguar Tortoise African rainforest Pigmy hippo + birds Tortoise Mandrill Bonobo Chimpanzee Golden cat Fosa Lemur Lemur Gray Mangabey Congo buffalo + monkey Bongo + colobus Okapi Dril + Sitatunga Talapoin Gorilla Asian rainforest Orangutan + Gibbon Banteng + Langur + Deer Malayan tapir Anoa Babirusa Tiger (¿Sumatran?) Komodo dragon Indian Muntjac Leopard (¿Sri-Lanka?) Birds Hornbill Otter Macaque Crocodile (¿Siamese?) In this map, thre's no terrarium
Does anyone here have the "key statistics" on the Barcelona Zoo? That is: (a) Number of Species (b) Number of Specimens (c) Size -- hectacres (d) Annual Attendance Thanks!!
a) I think that the number is inferior... around 300-350. b) According the last book published by the zoo, the "exact" number is 2719. 7000 was between years 1990 and 2000. c) 13ha, but this area will be reduced the next years. d) Correct, about 1100000 visitors per year.
You know that the web is VERY outdated (I think is one of the worst zoo websites, at least of the important zoos) According the web, the zoo still have babiroussas, lowland anoas or false gavials ... animals that disapeared from the zoo at least 10 years ago
