The zoo recently put their 2 female raccoons to sleep, they were both around 15 years old and suffered from age related problems. They were the last raccoons in Cologne zoo according to Zootierliste. Source: Facebook of Cologne Zoo (14/04/2021) Aanmelden bij Facebook
The ‘unknown’ zoo is the same source as the animals that just arrived at Chester and Berlin Tierpark...they’re from Duke Lemur Centre.
Apparently, the sifakas will be visible from tomorrow on in an enclosure in the madagascar house! (source: facebook)
I went on a quite spontaneous trip to Cologne to see the sifakas, and found some more interesting news: In the tropical building, one of the twelve-wired birds-of-paradise they got in 2019 is now on display in one of the aviaries there. In another aviary (the one with the palm cockatoos), there is also a cotton pygmy goose now, a species which wasn't listed on ZTL for the zoo. There were also some young animals around, the newest of which were two blue cranes apparently hatched about 2 days prior. A thing I found interesting was that there were some beehives placed in the zoo, and two of them were located in the aviaries of the bee-eater species. You could really see them hunting the bees in mid-air, which I found a really cool thing.
On Monday I was in the zoo Cologne, mainly of course to see the Sifakas. It was a pleasure to watch the pair. Although I know this species from the USA, it is great to have a second Sifaka species in Europe. The two animals harmonize very well with each other, so that offspring should be expected. The sifakas now inhabit the entire right side of the lemur house, but unfortunately the interior is very soberly furnished due to the very strict specifications from the U.S. and looks correspondingly sterile. So now only 4 species of "big"lemurs, as well as mouse lemurs live in the house. I know it still with 13 species, including proboscis monkey and Douc langur. And this is still little, in the 1970s lived more than 25-30 species and subspecies in it... The new South American house is ready, but it cannot be opened because of Corona. It includes four outdoor aviaries. To the left, Red Howler Monkeys, Black-faced Ibis and Spectacled Duck live together, with the Ibises having no rain protection. To the front of the house are two aviaries for Toco Toucans and small birds, and to the right is an aviary for Geoffroy's Cat. There are only 1.1 reticulated giraffes left, which will also be surrendered as the house finally gets an addition. The impala husbandry will be terminated, only five femals left. Kisanga, the Okapi cow is now 26 years old and thus the oldest Okapi in Euorpa-she is also correspondingly extremely thin. Shortly before the EAZA issued a breeding stop for Asian elephants, another cow was mated in Cologne, which is presumably pregnant. Will be for a while so the last calf there. Both aardvarks were very active, the hippos were outside all day, Grevy zebras and kulans swapped exhibits...unfortunately the aquarium was still closed.
Interesting - Chester's isn't at all sterile looking (Coquerel's sifaka indoor enclosure - ZooChat) - but it's a recent build and I think it may have been designed from the start with the Coquerel's in mind, which obviously give you more options than you have when converting an existing (and not new) enclosure.
Thanks for the update! I saw the thin okapi on my last visit and already wondered if it was an old animal. In terms of sifakas, I had heard a while ago that Cologne wanted to build an enclosure for them next to the old elephant house, but when I was there, that space was empty and showed no signs of construction, so I don't know if they gave up on that...
This is indeed very interesting. The exhibit in Cologne has no natural floor substrate, just concrete, and has absolute no living plants , only a few dead trees for climbing. And the painting of the walls looks like it was painted by kindergarten children ...
How weird. Maybe they had the option only of bare floors or a specific type of 'natural' floor that Cologne couldn't retro-fit for some reason (drainage perhaps?). Bit of a stretch but could be the case, I guess. Do we know what Tierpark Berlin's indoor enclosure is like?
Another ring-tailed vontsira was born this year and was given the name Batemy. It is the third offspring of Cologne's pair, all of which are male. The mother came from Saarbrücken in 2013, the father arrived from Madagascar in 2018. (Source: Facebook)
it is importent to kow that the madagascar house in Cologne will not be there for very long. They will soon start constrcting the new one in the old elephant house. So they would not realy modernize a building that will not standing for much longer.
