If i'm informed correctly the two females were killed by a virus. The remaining 2.0 were then taken off show, one was owned by Walsrode and one by Bronx zoo. What happened to these animals i don't know, perhaps the virus killed one of the males or perhaps one of them got called back from their owners...
I'm guessing then, that it's iron storage disease. It kills lots of birds of Paradise. What BoP's does Walsrode keep?
I just whent to Cologne Zoo 2 weeks ago, and got the full story from a keeper: "For seven years we kept the red bird of paradise (paradisea minor), feeding it with the same. Then we were told by experts, that our food contained a little too much iron. We decided to switch foods imediatly, and consulted a firm that made som other birdfood. They promised minimal iron, you we used their food instead. One week later, 3 out of our 4 birds had died from to much iron, it we decided that it was time to leave to the experts. Our last bird of paradise was sent to Walsrode." And sadly, Cologne Zoo has decided not to get birds of paradise again...
Walsrode currently keeps the following species: King Bird-of-Paradise (Cicinnurus regius) Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise (Seleucidis melanoleucus) Greater Bird-of-Paradise (Paradisaea apoda) Lesser Bird-of-Paradise (Paradisaea minor) Apart from the Reds (Paradisaea rubra) at Chester (3.1), this may be all the birds-of-paradise in Europe - does anyone know of any others?
Wuppertal keeps king bird of Paradise. Does anyone know the origins of any of walsrode's BoPs? Chester zoo now has what may be one of only a handful of captive female red birds of Paradise. Their old female died, and this new one arrived from Bronx earlier in the year. The zoo has to be careful to prevent her dying from Iron Storage disease.
I thought Chester's new female BOP came from a private collection in the middle east... could be wrong though.
I was told that by Penny ( the woman who imports animals for Chester), that she was from Bronx. This would also fit in with ISIS. Update on Chester Red BoPs: They are now mixed with a flock of Mindanao bleeding hearts (Gallicumba Criniger). This seems to be working well. The BoP aviary, is much better than the pigeons previous aviary. It seems to stimulate foraging. There is, or was, a male Palawan peacock pheasant in the back BoP aviary, but he may have moved to the main pigeon aviary, as I saw a sign there. The odd thing about him is that there was no easy way of being able to see him. He would always skulk about on the floor, and as the back aviary is only just on view, being able to see him, was difficult. I have no pictures or film of him. The zoo also has a pair of Palawan Peacock Pheasants in the bird corridor. The two male chicks, have now got the beautiful green feathers on their head. One of them, is very tame, and used to live in the tropical realm with a pair of malay crestless fireback. He will still come up to the aviary and start chirping. The two chicks are not fully grown, as they do not posess the red tail streamers. All three male BoPs at Chester zoo are living together. I have not Knowingly seen the female. I may have mistaken her for one of the chicks earlier on in the year, but I'm not sure.
