Hi guys. Hope someone can help me with this: What are the best Bird of Paradise collections out there? WHich species are held and which are regularly bred (if any)? Thanks in advance,
In Europe your only chance is Walsrode, they are back on 4 species. Then there is Al-Wabra who has several species and actually breeds with several of them like King BoP. Bronx Zoo has BoPs and so does Jurong. Also it seems that Parco Faunistico has Magnificent BoP in their collection. For species in Europe you can always check ZootierlisteHomepage yourself.
Thanks DDcorvus. I have been to Walsrode and saw their BoP's. Is it true that Honolulu Zoo has Superb BoP (Lophorina superbus)? Is it the only institution with this species?
In addition to Jurong, several places in Asia: Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia), Taman Safari (Indonesia), Bali Bird Park (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur Bird Park (Malaysia), Zoo Melaka (Malaysia), Everland Zoo (South Korea), Ueno Zoo (Japan) and Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand) also have bird of paradise, or at least they had until fairly recently. Does anyone have up-to-date information on the Rainforest Habitat in Lae (Papua New Guinea)? In the late 90´s they had a huge collection of well above 10 species, far outmatching anyone else, but the last I heard was rather depressing and it sounds like most of their collection is gone? The bop´s that have had some breeding since 1990 are lesser, Raggiana, greater, red, superb, king, magnificent and twelve-wired but in essentially all species it has been too little to have self-maintaining captive populations in the long term
There are no bop´s in African zoos and the only in the Americas outside USA is twelve-wired bop at Vida Silvestre (Mexico) As far as I know: Bop´s still in zoos (except for three species with additional information in brackets, all are kept at more than one zoo): Trumpeter manucode (only in Berlin Zoo) Magnificent riflebird (only in Khao Kheow Open Zoo? At least in 2010 they still had it and I think they still do but I'm not completely sure) Magnificent bop Superb bop Wilson´s bop (only in Jurong Bird Park) King bop Twelve-wired bop Lesser bop Greater bop Raggiana bop Red bop Don´t know, perhaps still in zoos somewhere: Glossy-mantled manucode Crinkle-collared manucode Parotias Emperor bop Paradise/Victoria's riflebird (do any of the Australian zoos like Taronga still have either?) Almost certainly not kept anywhere today: Satinbirds (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have Loria´s satinbird anymore) Jobi manucode Curl-crested manucode Paradise-crow Paradigallas Astrapias (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have Stephanie's astrapia anymore) King-of-Saxony bop Sicklebills (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have brown sicklebill anymore) Wallace´s standardwing Goldie´s bop Blue bop (assuming Lae Rainforest Habitat don´t have it anymore)
Very nice! Thanks for the update Chlidonias. Their webpage has been down for some time but via wayback machine here is the Lae Rainforest Habitat species list, c. 2002: The Rainforest Habitat Beyond blue and Raggiana shown in the gallery in Chlidonias link, it is anyone´s guess what they still have.
the only recent photos I could find were all of Raggiana and that one of the blue, as well as a few lories, single-wattled cassowary, saltwater croc and tree kangaroos. It seems most regular tourists visiting the place aren't interested in posting loads of photos of different species and creating lists of birds of paradise they've seen...
In addition to Bronx, San Diego and Honolulu there are several US zoos with bop´s (or at least they had them in 2010/2011, not entirely sure how many have them today): Central Park, Houston, Brookfield, Riverbanks, Toledo, Tampa´s Lowry, San Antonio and a few more. In my post on Asia I forgot Green World Ecological Farm (Taiwan) and there are probably others I don't know about.
As of this week, Central Park has 1 Red BOP, and a pair of Raggina BOP. Bronx seemingly now only has the Red BOP's.
Some were bred first decades ago. No indication that they are remarkably hard compared to many other birds kept with some regularity in zoos. The main problems appear to be: 1) Difficult to source them. All bop´s are listed on CITES (though most bop´s actually are common in the wild). You need special permit from Indonesia/Papua New Guinea for export. Decades ago when they could be sourced more freely there was less effort to breed them and much of the basic information wasn't known (like their fast death if they get an iron rich diet). 2) Small basis population in zoos = even if they breed, the population rapidly becomes inbred. 3) Many bop´s have been kept in mixed bird species exhibits, which aren't particularly good for breeding. Relatively few bird species breed regularly in mixed species exhibits compared to smaller dedicated aviaries with only 1-2 species. 4) Some bop´s have lek systems in the wild and would probably breed better if this was allowed in captivity. But it is not easy to get e.g. 15 Raggiana bop. Even if a zoo could get that number few would have the spaces for the huge exhibit it would require (unless putting them in mixed species exhibits, see above). Most bop´s that are regularly kept are also tropical. If the zoo is in a temperate/subtropical country, they couldn't just built a relatively cheap huge outdoor aviary because it would be too cold, at least during the winter. In this group of birds that is one advantage Jurong and other tropical zoos have over most US and European zoos.
Honolulu also happens to have an impressive amount of Magnificents ,not that it matters. They also have one of the only two genetically distinct male superbs in north america. Another big issue with the whole collecting wild birds is the costs associated with said collection. It more or less runs down to how much bribe money you have to convince the government to let you export ,and to pay the land owners to let you use their land ,and a few other annoying costs.
