Burgers' Zoo bouwt nieuwe dierverblijven! Burgers Zoo just released their plans for the park area in the entrance area! Squirrelmonkeys and coatis and the makis get a new enclosure!
Exactly my reaction. The concept looks great but i'd rather see other animals than coatis and squirrelmonkeys. The lemurs couldve received a new enclosure for sure, but that area would've been great in a new theme. For these two enclosures many animals will be leaving sadly. The seals, meerkats,warthogs, duikers. Which is a very sad thing for me atleast! Maybe they could still add some tiny theme with a shed near the lemur with madagascar reptiles. But I guess this is it.
Burgers' Zoo has confirmed in replies on their Facebook to me and others that the duikers, warthogs and ringed seals will be moving to other zoos next week (which ones was not mentioned). The meerkats will however remain in their current exhibit. While I'm somewhat excited about the new project and given that this Burgers' Zoo we can rest assured the exhibits will be of high quality, but I must say I have very mixed feelings about a few special species being sacrificed for two new enclosures with relatively to very common species. One could hope something more rare would be added in somewhere on the side, but there's not talk of that so let's not get our hopes up.
Im curious how it will work out. Although i find it a mist oppertunity that they move slightly away from their ecodisplay vision with these developments.
While I understand that from a zoonerd point of view, the loss of ringed seals and blue duikers is a shame, you have to understand that these 50+ year old enclosures were in a bad state of repair and just not suitable anymore from an animal welfare and management perspective and had to be replaced as soon as possible. You also have to understand that Burgers' receives no external funding for their projects and that two expensive ecodisplay exhibits in two years might have been a little too much to expect. This does not at all mean a move away from the ecodisplay concept. Burgers' has always done a big project once every few years and some minor exhibits in between, for example the bird quarantine aviaries between the construction of the Rimba and the Mangrove. Also, as the coati group probably does not last much longer than a decade or so from now due to the EU restriction on breeding and moving of this species, I think these two new, probably very popular with the general public, exhibits are a nice temporary solution for this area until something more long-lasting can be constructed here.
Though I had expected something different, I think it is a good development that this area will be attractive again, as it was looking quite run down in recent years. I must say that I am happy that there will finally be any S-American primates again and with Peruvian squirrel monkeys, they at least have some rarity status . I am still hoping very much that the warthogs and potentially blue duiker will return in the Safari at some point. Still a pity about the seals though....
For the safari they do have the space between the cheetahs and the bridge. So it would've been a good idea to move them over. But it does feel like they are making it look like the tiger viewing window in the rimba meets the new giftshop roof. So that's a good thing I guess.
Or, to look at it another way, they are getting rid of some of the main treasures of the collection in order to build a new exhibit for a species which they cannot breed and will not be keeping in the long term.
Yes, but like I said, those treasures were kept in enclosures no longer suitable for keeping animals in and they can't move the coati out, so the coati had to get a new enclosure anyways. I also prefer seeing blue duiker and ringed seal over coati, but I also understand that the zoo chooses to exhibit public favorites over species that no one but a handful of zoo nerds truly cares about. Besides, it is not as if Burgers' has now suddenly lost all rarities, contrary even. Their latest addition (indigo bunting) is a species that is only found at one other public collection in Europe.
True, but I do feel like the amount of mammals have been decreasing without any new mammal species in return
True, with the departures next week 9 mammals species will have left the park over the last few years (Kirk's dikdik, Bongo, Red duiker, Blue duiker, Warthog, Ringed seal, Pygmy hippo, Swift fox, Lowland tapir). That is a lot of ungulates with only Beisa oryx and Peruvian squirrel monkey gained... But it is not just about a rarity count, Burgers' still cares about showcasing rare animals, if they fit the theme, but running a zoo is more than collecting rare animals. Building the rimba was rarity wise a net improvement, this area will be a net loss in terms of rare species. As said before this seems like a medium term investment to make this area proper again (and for 95% of the visitors it will be an improvement). The new enclosures will be relatively cheap and this means that within a few years we can probably expect the last part of old zoo (bird house) to disappear. I still would have liked something more exciting, but hopefully they will add a third lemur species or another S-American mammal with the monkeys and coati, the space is there.
The new enclosures also seem as if they'd be very versatile... If ever Burgers wants to go into another species that would fit that enclosure (or tie the enclosures into a possible themed area around it) it would be easy to swap the inhabitants for something more exciting later on. I don't really see this development as a loss, but as an opportunity for something new... I hope the seals will go to another accessible zoo though! Blijdorp's old sea otter enclosure would definitely be an interesting possibility...
The ringed seals are in Ecomare, the Blue duiker left for Flamingo Land and the Warthog went to the UK and Sosto in Hungary. In the Bush a young screaming piha has just left the nest. Other recent breeding successes include 6 Socorro pigeons, Galah, Green imperial pigeons and a Swamp wallaby. This year has been a very successful breeding year for the birds (would it have to do with the warm weather?).
Could well be, from what I hear other zoos have had a good breeding year with theirs birds too. I think it's not just the heat that has helped, but also the lack of rain - wet weather generally isn't good for young birds.
The experiment with the jellyfish in the Mangrove has been successfull, and will stay in the pool next to the craps. The around 50 jellyfish are best visible with low-tide
They filled up the pool to make it more shallow, as I could see the bottom very clearly. And the water is still very dirty!
Personally i find that the water still dirty and not clear, having trouble seeing them, but apperently its good enough for the jellyfish themselfs
