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Botanical gardens with animals

Discussion in 'Zoo Cafe' started by Onychorhynchus coronatus, 27 Oct 2020.

  1. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    According to google images it looks like they have some aquariums with axolotls too, which gets them a big thumbs up from me (I think these are all round great animals for museums, zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens). :D
     
  2. Batto

    Batto Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Wüstenhaus Wien / Desert House Vienna
    Palmenhaus Wien - Schönbrunn / Palm House Vienna
    The aquaristic sections in various German botanical gardens (in particular Berlin and Munich).
     
  3. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Wüstenhaus Wien - Looks absolutely beautiful with the historic / heritage building in that Art Noveau style (so very Viennese considering that Art Noveau began there) and seems like an excellent range of species (mole rats, rattlesnakes, gila monster, agama, elephant shrew, Luristan newt). Desert / arid houses are actually always my favourite glasshouses to see within botanical gardens as I have a huge interest in cacti.

    Palmenhaus Wien - Beautiful looking glasshouse, again stunning looking Art Noveau historic architecture and engineering and looks like they have a great selection of Neotropical and South-East Asian butterflies.

    Berlin botanical garden - Great looking botanical garden, looks like it has a marine aquarium with similar species to Kew Gardens in the UK but perhaps more presentable / less shabby and with more species.

    Munich botanical garden - Great looking botanical garden (s*** website though that looks like it was designed circa 2001), looks like a lot of the grounds provide brilliant habitats for local biodiversity and it seems from google images like they have quite a nice if modest reptile collection. Thumbs up for me for them having a rhinoceros iguana which is my favourite species of the Iguanidae.
     
    Last edited: 27 Oct 2020
  4. Jurek7

    Jurek7 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Poznan botanical garden has aquaria in the greenhouse (Palmiarnia). They existed since many decades, were renovated relatively recently, currently have ca 60 species including arapaimas. I never visited it.

    Berlin botanical garden had also some toads and free-flying birds in their greenhouses. Many years ago, especially noticeable were huge nests of baya weavers (not present anymore).
     
  5. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for your comment @Jurek7 !

    The Palmiarna looks quite stunning and there seems to be some quite interesting fish kept there.

    Judging by a quick google search they have koi, red tailed catfish, various cichlid species, red bellied piranha, Xingu sting rays, pacus and even Mexican blind cave fish in addition to the arapaimas you've mentioned.

    What species of toads are these that are free ranging in the Berlin botanical garden glass house ?

    Also, do you know what happened to the weaver birds ?
     
  6. MRJ

    MRJ Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    In Australia:
    • Melbourne Zoo started in the Botanic Gardens but quickly moved to the current location.
    • Adelaide Botanic Gardens has a Tropic Hall with some free-flying birds and some insect exhibits.
    • Ballarat Zoo, closed in the 1950's, was located in the Botanic Gardens.
    • Bendigo's White Hills Botanic Gardens had a small zoo which closed in the last five years.
    • Launceston Botanic Gardens has had an exhibit of Japanese macaques for many years.
    As said above many zoos put a lot of effort into their botanic estates, so it is more likely to be that a zoo contains a botanic garden than the other way around. I'm also aware of some small zoos that are located in parks and gardens that don't qualify as "botanic gardens".
     
  7. Gondwana

    Gondwana Well-Known Member

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    The Dunedin Botanic Gardens in New Zealand has a block of aviaries mostly populated by native and exotic parrots.

    The Atlanta Botanical Garden has an amphibian collection that includes some rarely exhibited species, and housed the last specimen of Rabb's Fringe-limbed Treefrog before its extinction.

    The Cleveland Botanical Garden has small birds and reptiles in its greenhouse.

    The Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA has various birds in the main greenhouse.
     
  8. Yoshistar888

    Yoshistar888 Well-Known Member

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    While not a strictly botanic garden Melbourne Zoo did have a Japanese garden area filled with plants and theming for the area, while that may sound standard it was heavily focused on the botanic side with signs for plants .
    It had Siamang, Koi and Mute Swans, the first two have been relocated to other areas (tree top monkeys and the pigmy hippo tank) and the latter has been entirely removed from the collection.


    Although probably not worth mentioning due to the threads context, Moonlit Sanctuary does have a small but very nice native garden section.
     
  9. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Sadly the excellent aquarium beneath the Palm House at Kew Gardens closed a few years ago although there are still fish displayed in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

    (Incidentally it is interesting to note that the Kew Gardens' Palm House was designed by Decimus Burton, the architect that designed London Zoo's Giraffe House.)
     
  10. Rayane

    Rayane Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    In Stuttgart, the first row of greenhouses in the Wilhelma is more of the botanical garden part. However there are 2 aviaries in these greenhouses, one for tanagers one for australian finches.
     
  11. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for your post @Rayane !

    That is interesting, what tanager and finch species are kept here ?

    Thank you for your reply @Tim May

    Yes, it is quite a shame about the closure of the aquarium I agree.

    Do you know if the poison dart frogs and reptiles still being kept at Kew's other glasshouses ?

    That is interesting, I didn't know that and I agree it is definitely a site of architectural and historical value with the Victorian construction.

    Thank you for your reply @Yoshistar888 !

    That is interesting, I really love Japanese gardens although I do have to say that siamangs though Asian are not really great theming for a space themed on Japan.

    I will see if I can find some pictures of that garden at the Moonlit sanctuary as I've been hearing some brilliant things about that place lately.
     
    Last edited: 28 Oct 2020
  12. Rayane

    Rayane Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Last week the Tropical one had : Bay-headed tanagers, Blue-necked tanagers, Red-legged honeycreepers, Violaceous euphonias and Red-crested finches.
    The Australian one had : Crimson finch, Diamond firetail, Diamond doves, Scarlet-chested parrots, Plum-headed finch, Star finches, Red-billed long-tailed finch, Red-browed firetail and the last one I'm not sure anymore, Zebra finches.
     
  13. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    To the best of my knowledge, there are still Chinese water dragons and poison arrow frogs in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. However, it's a couple of years since I last visited Kew Gardens so I am not completely sure; hopefully somebody who has visited more recently will be able to confirm.
     
  14. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    The Chinese water dragons are excellent residents in that conservatory I think as they probably perform a huge role in pest control.

    I wish I could remember which species of poison dart frog they keep but I can't, hopefully someone who has been there more recently than I have will remember this.
     
  15. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Dendrobates leucomelas
     
  16. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Yes, that is definitely one of them @Tim May, thank you for that !

    I remember it being the orange banded variety.
     
    Last edited: 28 Oct 2020
  17. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Those are some really strikingly colourful bird species indeed.

    I bet it is wonderful to see them amongst all of the lush vegetation of the glasshouses. I think it would really give a bit of a rough idea to visitors of what the Atlantic rainforest here in Brazil or the Australian outback looks like.
     
  18. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for your reply @MRJ and sorry about my late one

    Some of the birds at Adelaide garden are spectacularly beautiful and especially the rainbow and roselia lorikeets. It must be incredible to see these birds in the wild.

    Regarding the Launceston Botanic Gardens, that is an interesting choice of animal to have in captivity so were these Japanese macaques held within a Japanese garden of the wider botanical gardens or do you know what their story was ?
     
  19. Jurek7

    Jurek7 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Basel botanical garden used to have a greenhouse with several bird species (good ones, like malachite sunbirds and fairy bluebirds), two frog sp. (one was self-introduced small one) and basilisk lizard (probably only one animal). And it was free to entry. The greenhouse is being rebuilt until 2021.

    @O.C. - unfortunately I don't know answers to your questions.
     
  20. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for your reply @Gondwana and sorry about my late one

    I have just had a look at the Dunedin botanical garden website and it is great to see that the birds they keep within their aviaries like the South Island Kaka are being bred for conservation purposes like reintroduction. Also it seems that Dunedin's exotic parrot collection is formed mainly by Australian species and kept within an Australian themed garden that is part of the wider botanical gardens which is quite a nice detail.

    Cleveland Botanical gardens seems to have quite an interesting variety of tropical species kept (I assume within biome / biogeographic themed domes) like panther chameleon, red footed tortoise, toco toucan and various doves, honey creepers and tanagers.

    It is quite hard to find what animals the Meijer Gardens on the other hand via google images as most pictures show some weird and wonderful animal sculptures but they do seem to have many tropical butterfly species and also tanagers (seems like a lot of botanical gardens opt for these birds and it doesn't suprise me given how beautifully coloured they are).