It is peculiar to English (or American English). So oriental white stork and oriental realm in biogeography were made politically correct in English?
I would say (in British English at least) that 'Oriental' would only be potentially offensive if used in direct reference to people, and possibly to (groups of) countries. Even then it would probably depend on context. 'Oriental' has certainly not been expunged from animal common names at all.
Hello, is it possible to confirm that there are still sun bears at Łódź today? Looking at the zoo plan online, I can’t see a habitat for sun bears, and so I assumed they were no longer a part of this collection. Can anybody advise for sure? Thank you!
Thank you, this is very helpful! I think this bear is Mali. I will plan a trip to Łódź in that case! I love Poland anyway, so this will make a great excuse for me to go again! Do you know where in the zoo she is located?
The Orientarium project brief from 2015 reads like this: "Lodz Zoo show the first concept of Orientarium. It should by ready in 2018 or 2018. Shetch was developed by Wrocław Zoo. Orientarium will be housed by gibons, orangutans, sharks, rays, langurs, asian elephants, gavials, clouded leopars, malayan tapirs, anoas or babirussas, sun bears and much more." Sun bears get a mention here specifically!
I’m hoping I will visit Łódź quite imminently - I’m planning to visit Basel in February / March time and I see it’s possible to take a direct flight from Poland to Switzerland for just £24, so it’s very tempting to combine these visits. I enjoyed Wroclaw Zoo very much when I visited, their Afrykarium was excellent. I think this development at Łódź will be quite something going by the drawings and descriptions.
Sorry, but I don’t know. I even don’t know if she is on or off show. Orientarium is a huge project but details are not yet developed. How it will be looking, when work begins – nobody knows. I must admit that I’m very skeptical about this project. This is not the best time to visit Łódź Zoo. Many animals left the zoo. Better idea is a trip to Opole Zoo which is beautiful or to Poznań Zoo which under new management is getting worse and for a year can be much worse than today. No zoo in Poland can match Wrocław.
Thank you, that is a really good point. I saw various photographs from May, June and August last year where animals were gradually being removed from the zoo plan one by one. Maybe these animals are ones that left, or maybe as you say they are off show for now. I should try to gain clarification before I plan to visit here I think. It’s a shame things are so uncertain here.
If you are fan of sun bears I suggests a trip to Czechia. In Jihlava is very fine enclosure and in Usti nad Labem they have bears unrelated to other animals in Europe, from Myanmar if I good remember correctly.
Thank you! Yes, for me this is a very exciting trip to plan! I’ll visit Decin and Usti Nad Lablem from Prague Airport and then Hodonin, Jihlava and Olomouc from Brno Airport. It’s the best country in Europe for sun bears with these five zoos. After I have managed to sort out a trip to cover Basel, Łódź and Zagreb (all the only zoos within their country with sun bears) I plan to do this trip next!
I can confirm that Mali the sun bear is currently off show to the public due to the construction works, but I am glad to hear that the oldest female sun bear in Europe, so I am told, is still in good health! So looks like my next trip will be Basel and Zagreb, and Łódź will need to wait until the Orientarium is complete.
Looking at this more and more, I still cant get rid of a feeling that it looks like cloud leopards will have bigger exhibit than sun bears...
Maybe I am missing something there, but I can’t see any way of telling which enclosures are for which animals. If the sun bear enclosure is of a good size, as it looks to be on the individual drawings (which illustrate four bears, too, interestingly enough) I hope that means they are planning to increase their numbers. In fact, their current circumstances being what they are, I would be absolutely gobsmacked if that was not the plan.
I see. I was just looking at the sketch of the actual ground area. I think it’s actually quite hard to tell the proposed sizes of each section at this point. I can’t wait for it to be built, though. I am really very excited about visiting this once it opens. It will literally be a drop everything and go immediately kind of trip.
A catwalk with lions and tigers is to open in May of this year. Is this part of the Orientarium complex or a seperate building ?
