The zoo has received a female aardvark from Chester https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1799306496755580
Do you know where it's held? The only place where I could imagine putting an aardvark in cologne would be the current rhino house, but the surroundings in that video don't really look like that house? Definitely a nice addition to the zoo, though! EDIT: Apparently they sectioned off the first part of the crocodile exhibit in the Hippodom, and she's in there. Interesting!
It is a strange place to put her. Do you remember if there was any mention of Aardvarks in the masterplan?
I don’t know about their masterplan, but one of the carnivore keepers told me last week that they are planning to introduce jaguars into the collection in the near future, I’m not sure if that has already been mentioned previously.
Yes, the are part of MP. Planned for new enclosure next to the to be renovated original Bird House into a South America area.
I was told by the keeper I spoke to that this was planned to be elsewhere in the zoo, located in the same area as the bears are currently.
Yes, last bear exhibit plus some overlap beyond. This will allow completion of the South America geozone all the way up to the old Bird House plus.
No problem! It has taken a very long while to get the finances sorted for this very costly and ambitious historical building renovation project funded. The Bird House will become a showcase for South American rainforest fauna (including some birds and other species too). The jaguar exhibit was integral to the South American masterplan zone. It is to be expected also that spectacled bear will be the other S. American carnivore. I am not sure if the Koelner Zoo wants to hold on to the sun bear as a species for the Asian geo zone. Will check with some KZ regulars.
That would be very interesting if they were to introduce spectacled bears. My gut feeling would be that they probably don’t have long term plans for sun bears. I say this because I know the zoo was offered another male and the curator declined him.
In their masterplan the sun bears would move to what is now the ape house, once new accommodations for the bonobos and gorillas would have been built in the center of the zoo. This is a very long term plan however, given the speed of development. This month there has been a Rufous elephant shrew birth, which is very welcome news as the European zoopopulation almost completely collapsed in recent years (before there was a large boom...)
Interesting. I guess the two female sun bears who are currently housed together, Charlotte and Gula, are relatively young and so could still be around at the zoo for quite some time.
Nothing that points to the contrary, so I guess no news is good news. The last confirmation on Zootierliste is 3 months old.
I saw it on Monday 5th and put a photo in the gallery. It lives with a Javan langue and looked healthy.