I take it the twin baby Gorillas are still flourishing okay with their mother? No news is presumaby good news?
Dear Oranje fellows. Hope you can anser to the following questions: 1. Does anyone know, when the last Jaguar und the last common hippo have left the collection? 2. Are there any plans how the area behind the cheetahs and lions (which seems to be mostly wood) will be used in future? 3. Are there any plans to built a new elephant habitat or will Burgers Zoo phase out the specie (what I hope they won't)?
I will try to give an answer, but it are not the most easy questions The jaguars left in the 70/80ies, but I have no exact date (maybe somebody older than me has). The hippos left I believe in the end of the eighties (1989 or something like that), but that somebody can check in the 2007 hippo studbook or on zootierliste 2. I do not know of any plans for the area behind the lions/cheetahs, but the future plans of Burgers Zoo are a very good kept secret. I would not be surprised if nothing happens with it in the coming 10-20 years, but if then the most logical thing would be something like a Congo display, when linked to the gorillas & chimpanzees. I recently heard some rumours that the gorillas will get their own indoor house, right behind the island, but I do not know if its true, although there was some construction work (mainly sand and cutting trees) going on on that place in december 3. On a dutch forum it was recently mentioned that according to a keeper they did not know yet what the future of the elephant would be, as their exhibit could be incorporated in the new ecodisplay that will be build between the playground and entrance (although nobody seems to know what and when this ecodisplay should be build).
Thank you so much for your quick reply, lintworm. Yes, I know that my questions were not easy to answer. (If they were, I could done it myself) I have already checked the zootierliste about the jaguars and hippos (no or no exact dates about the leaving in both cases unfortunately). Hope you keep us informed about the future development of this great zoo as good as you can.
out of curiosity: Does anyone know the size of the desert building, "Burgers' Desert". According to the Dutch wikipedia it is 0.75 hectare (1.85 acre), but a rough estimate based on google maps suggests 0.5 hectare (1.24 acre). Assuming either of these is correct, it would make it larger than the 0.39 hectare (0.96 acre) Desert Dome at Henry Doorly Zoo, which frequently is called the world's largest indoor desert. I also remember the Desert Dome as smaller than Burgers' Desert, but perhaps my memory is fooling me. (however the Desert Dome is definitely the largest in volume [cubic meter] due to its great height.)
Four giant shovelnose rays arrived recently from Aquatopia (Antwerp). I saw two of them today (the other two rays are still in quarantine) and they are still very small, only half a meter I think.
In Burgers Zoo gorilla Shatilla has given birth to a female young this morning, they are doing well and were even visible in the outdoor enclosure today. There are now six gorilla babies in Burgers Zoo, all born in the last 14 months, so the group now consists of 15 members.
Twin gorillas first birthday-party video-clip : https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=urQA13ZMQfw
Some birthday 'cake' for the twins. As is typical of their behaviour, the Silverback hogs the food and sits near it while the others hardly dare approach. Of course this was just for publicity and they are normally fed so everyone gets a proper share by scattering it around. The mother of the twins looks to be in excellent condition considering she has been suckling two babies for a year now.
