Burgers' Zoo Burgers' Zoo News 2022

Two baby green basilisks have been spotted in the Bush!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1222070734987842

 

After what might be months (years?) of closure I'm happy to inform that the birdwatching platform and the caiman cave are finally opened again!

 

Other updates from today:

The storm hasn't caused much damage to the visitor parts of the zoo. But the Sri Lanka Panther enclosure has been damaged, meaning that the panthers are temporarily behind the scenes. And the destruction of the sun bear enclosure has only worsened.


I forgot to mention it in my earlier update, but the canyon aviary is also now opened again!

I said earlier that I didn't want to speculate too much. But I think we're getting a sort of boardwalk!


Either way, there certainly seems to be something going on with the path!

Another new thing I noticed: Along with the dots around the enclosure, new lines have also been added

It was very clear with the first markings that they were for climbing structures, but I have absolutely no idea what these markings mean. Oh well.

I spoke with a keeper, who, course, tried to not spoil anything. In doing so, however, I think he accidentally confirmed our thoughts about porcupines as new inhabitants (By being a bad liar ).
He also mentioned that work seems to be ahead of schedule, and they'll have new inhabitants before the busy season!

I'll try to give weekly updates on the bighorn sheep enclosure.

 

This footage includes clips of both baby basilisks and Anolis. The still image you have taken from the video is of an Anolis.

 

I noticed! Someone already pointed it out on a different forum. Apparently I can't differentiate young anoli and young basilisks

 

Today was a short walk through the park for me. Had some must-sees of which I hit 90%.
A few things were tweaked since my last visit but it was sorta good? to see the caiman back in its main enclosure.

However at the constructionsite at the Desert I spotted conceptart/constructionplan. So I grabbed my camera and took a shot. Sadly slightly out of range but with a crop and colour enhancements I managed to make a construction map sorta readable.

So hereby I want to share with you all the plan for the ex-bighornsheep enclosure. I couldn't make it readable as I definitely need a bigger tele-lens for that

 

Amazing news! Looks like this "uglier" part of the desert will finally get some greenery and dead trees, as well as sand pits. I could try to make a clearer map of it on the desert so we can get a better view

Edit:


Warning! This is not official, this is just me interpreting the map that anubite provided to try and get a better image for us all

 

Today was a short walk through the park for me. Had some must-sees of which I hit 90%.
A few things were tweaked since my last visit but it was sorta good? to see the caiman back in its main enclosure.

Oh wait I guess I can't start the same as last post...

Eitherway...

During my visit of the Bush it was quite noticeable that the gardening has begun as a lot of foliage was cut down and trimmed to maintain the Bush.
The Montezuma quails proved to be quite the difficulty to see as I failed to see them over the course of several revisits of their habitat over the course of the day... Perhaps it was just too busy with children..

Unsure if it had been mentioned before, however Burgers' Zoo currently has information ''boards'' on the main Safari Route mentioning different topics of research that have been concluded within the zoo. Noticeable cool results include;
- Various species of ants have been found to inhabit the Bush. The panel includes a map and species list with ''dots'' of where the species has been observed. The following ant species are listed;

• Brown tree ant (Lasius brunneus) a European native species
• Thief ant (Solenopsis fugax) a European native species
• ''Dwarf thief ant'' ,Dwergdiefmier in Dutch, no English common name (Solenopsis pollux) a species native to North, Central and South America
• ''Yellow seed ant'', gele zaadmier in Dutch, no English common name (Tetramorium insolens) a species native to Oceania and introduced indoor to various European countries.
• ''Longjawed hearthead ant'', langkaakhartkopmier in Dutch, no English common name (Strumigenys rogeri) a species native to tropical Cental Africa.
• ''Whitefootant'', witvoetmier in Dutch, no English common name (Technomyrmex vitiensis) a species native to Southeast Asia.

I'll upload my photo on this map after my post in the Burgers' Zoo Media album.

- Study shows there's at least 55 species of Foraminifera in the Ocean's tanks. These single-celled animals aren't really something we will ever see without a microscope, but it's cool to know about these species never the less!

Both of these facts made me question something today.. Are these animals seen as part of the collection? Since they also can't really be counted as wild for the Netherlands? So where would fellow ZooChatters argue these species count for on say lifelists or other tallies.

The Ocean signs for sale were/are... sort of.. a hit.... I guess not many have been sold or they sell like a few hundred of them in total as it felt like there were dozens of them left!, no there are dozens of them left, probably like 50+ or so I estimate.
Picked up 1 signage myself of the foxface rabbitfish but may pick up a few more in the future to add to my current existing signage collection. For 15 euros a piece they are less expensive as the previous 45 euro Park signs and share the same price as the previously sold Safari signs.

In general it felt great to visit the zoo again without many covid regulations of mandatory masks and such and I really was able to enjoy the zoo again like before!

Edit: I am returning to the zoo later this week again. If there's any other news I come across I'll have it posted.

 

They are certainly not part of the collection and do not appear in ZIMS listings, but they do appear from time to time in national checklists of wild species. They are established populations, so one could count them in theory, though I guess very few people do...

I assume they just add new ones every now and then, there were also dozens when I bought one some weeks ago.

I visited today and they are incredibly shy still, I managed two glimpses of animals at the back of the canyon near closing time, when there was no one else in the Canyon. The Soccoro doves clearly don't mind, as they have a nest less than a metre away from the visitors...

 

Will try this tomorrow when visiting again!
During my visits this week so far I also got some incredible close encounters with these doves. Really helped creating a newfound love for this particular species.

That's what I thought. Interesting that some species are taken into the national checklists for wildspecies... Given they are sort of in the grey-area of being captive but wild at the same time...

On another note, one I completely forgot to tell when I visited on thursday;
After a chat with a keeper in the Desert about the quails I got to hear that these quails are eventually meant to be released in the main Desert hall. I hope by that time they will be less shy and more adapted to people, or else they might just become even harder to see, or not, only time will tell
To my best knowledge this should be new information to the forum.

 

The male lion born in Burgers' Zoo in 2020 was moved to Zoo Plock in Poland this afternoon. He will form a group with two females from Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=351086123587960

 

The zoo has now officially announced the renovation of the former Bighorn sheep enclosure in the Desert (through their Instagram story), including some pictures of the enclosure:


Translation:
1. Our colleagues of the technical service are busy renovating the former enclosure of the bighorn sheep, in which new animals will come soon!
2. Are you curious which animals are going to live here? More (info) soon!

 

They have also shared some photos in the community section of their YouTube channel. At least they last longer than 24 hours

https://www.youtube.com/c/BurgersZoo/community

 

Well I am more than excited for these animals as they will be populair with the guests and thus doing the Desert a lot more justice by getting people to visit it. (Plus maybe the restaurant there will be open more often with such cute animals close by!

 

Not many updates this week, only for the bighorn sheep. Which have gained the first tree, as well as some small borders (For the sand pits, I assume) as well as the beginning of some new boulders.



We can also see that the path is as good as done, apart from the fence/barrier.. And the points assumed for climbing structures have now been fully dug out

Also: the Sri Lankan panthers and back in their enclosure, the cub was even visible today (with some difficulty)

 

Wasn't able to visit this week, but there were some Desert updates from the Dutch forums:

The path in front of the bighorn sheep enclosure has been opened again, and a lot of trees have been added as well, though I'm not sure if they're alive or not


New outlining for the rock fence has also been added

Other updates:
Two new Screaming piha's arrived from Walsrode (one male, one female)

The Eastern superb fruit doves in the pheasantry have had another chick

 

The path behind also has been opened.

Though I am cautious with saying if this will be the case till its finished now. As earlier this week it was also open but the day after it was blocked off again. I reckon its open if there is no construction going on and closed if there is construction going on.

The trees are most definitely alive.
I checked today and saw some of them already having buds, some bigger and more close to flowering then others. Which species of tree these are, no clue yet.
In general the Desert has begun to flower, quite nice to see it progress!

besides this, I've already seen several bird species; white-winged dove, socorro dove and yellow grosbeak perch on the new trees... I think this will really make that section more cohesive and much nicer for birdwatching

The Montezuma's are still as shy as ever...

 

Good to hear more screaming piha's, in my opinion the best bird in the whole zoo.

 

Far from the best shot, but during my route I spotted the one of theMontezuma ladies.

All the way in the back. The male showed itself for 2 seconds and dissapeared again to the far right of the canyon.

 

Wait, does Walsrode have Screaming pihas? I thought burger’s was the only holder in Europe.