Best enclosure / exhibit design for lesser known smaller mammals.

I wonder why they no longer keep bats in the Australian exhibit.

Could it be a concern with someone being bitten or perhaps zoonosis ?

 

What is the point of a comment like that on this thread Luke ?

I find it unnecessarily rude for you to be like.

 

Deleted.

 

The couple they had were quite old. I'm not sure why they haven't been replaced; it must have just been too much going on in the exhibit.

 

Ah I see, well that is quite a shame as fruitbats make for fantastic exhibits.

On that subject the current pandemic does make me wonder what the future might be for exhibits like the walkthrough bat enclosure at Bristol that I mentioned earlier in the thread.

Even if there is no huge risk of zoonosis bats have got a terrible press during the COVID-19 crisis and maybe zoos will take note of that.

 

I was still working on my bat phobia on my last visit, so I can't say I was disappointed they weren't there! I think they added another layer to the overall feel, though.

I haven't noticed anyone commenting negatively about bats while around exhibits, so hopefully it's like that in general. I've heard several people commenting how cute they are

 

I'd agree with this, the exhibit is still quite new though (finished in 2019) so hopefully more trees will be added as it fully beds into the zoo.

They keep 4 Red Pandas - including a baby one.

 

Yes, it does look a bit sparse at the moment but once more trees are added it will definitely look better.

The space they have on the ground is very impressive but I feel that this is a species that really needs a lot of arboreal space too and perhaps more than terrestrial space.

I think once more trees are added in they will have a truly stellar enclosure.

 

You have a bat phobia ?

Well it is brilliant to hear those kind of comments from the general public around animals like bats.

They are such a maligned group of mammals so I think positive comments on them in zoos is more proof of the value of walkthrough type immersion enclosures with fruitbats.

 

Pretty proud to say I had a phobia About 15 years ago I had one go for my head in my garage and get tangled in my hair while screeching. I know it was probably just scared and confused, but it became a phobia. I couldn't see photos or cartoons of them, couldn't discuss them at all or I'd have a panic attack. After a lot of work, a lot of pushing myself at zoos, it's now just a fear. I wouldn't want to have them flying by my head, or making noise around me, but for the most part I can even walk through areas where they're loose without my heart rate increasing much.

Even when I was terrified of them, I knew it was a personal thing and didn't want anything bad to happen to them, or for other people to not like them. They do a lot of good for nature. I just didn't want to know they existed haha.

 

No, don't worry, it happens, I'm just glad that you have overcome the phobia now, that is cool to hear .

My significant other still has a strong phobia towards bats and here in Brazil there are a lot of bats so it can be a problem for her.

As there are often fruiting trees on the sidewalks they will fly from one to the other and their flightpath is often directly over the heads of people walking by which makes things difficult.

Personally, don't have a problem with bats and have worked with them before, the only ones I am a little wary of (yet still utterly fascinated by) are the common vampire bats in rural areas.

There is quite a big problem with vampire bats here and the transmission of rabies in rural areas of Brazil due to urbanization and population booms with this species because of the spread of invasive feral pigs (not to mention all the damn beef cattle).

 

I think the Enclosures were very cool Designed by the way i have been to nuremburg and have Seen the fantastic fishing Cat Enclosure.


I was 2018 in Praha Zoo and have Seen the cool African nocturnal house and asian rainforest nocturnal and bat Tunnel.

My local Wildlife-Park has a Cave with some egyptian fruit bats.

 

I'll have to check them out as all three of those species (particularly the kowari) are very interesting to me.

What was your impression of the fishing cat enclosure ? How did it compare to other zoos where you have seen the species ?

I know Prague has a nocturnal house but I didn't know they had both an Asian and an African themed nocturnal house and I didn't know about this bat tunnel either so I'll have to check that out as it is quite interesting.

 

I don't think I'd have been able to overcome it if I lived where you do! That all sounds slightly terrifying.

 

I'm never terrified by the fruit eating bats and not really for the most part by the vampire bats either.

But I did stay for a while in a cabin in a protected area once here in São Paulo state where there have been episodes of rabies transmission to livestock in surrounding farmland from the common vampire bat. In the roofspace of this cabin everyday and night I would hear a very noisy group of bats and I would kind of think / hope to myself "Oh god, I hope they are not vampire bats" but evidently they weren't and I never got bitten.

However, in that same cabin I did almost get bitten by another potentially blood sucker, a kissing bug (the ones that transmit chagas disease). It was on my hand and I just felt it in time and flicked it on the floor. Needless to say, I killed it.