She just had a daughter last year (Isabelle), and I was really hoping for something exotic from down under. Perhaps a pair of wombats or koalas or something. But nothing came...
An appraisal of the new elephant house from Building Design magazine (don't be put off by the terrible pun in the headline): Foster's urban tusk force at Copenhagen Zoo
I really like the building- the design has clearly tried to come up with new solutions rather than just using the same old flawed design again. Unfortunately I don't think the outdoor paddock does the house justice at all- in fact it ruins it. If the outdoor paddock had more space, and a range of substrates (particularly grass) it'd be far better suited to the animals. I see there are protected areas with trees growing in them. The exhibit will look better when these have grown up, but the elephant 'desert' (as Kiang puts it) really undermines all the other work put into the design. I guess in an ideal world I would like to this building with the outdoor sand paddock halved, and a couple of acres of grass added.
Although the elephants might carry the viruses in themselves, In general I think the exhibit will be safer for new borns, with a new exhibit a death of a calf is narrowed by quite a bit, what health is Gandhi in right now?
Questions for Toddy Some questions for Toddy, the expert on Copenhagen Zoo here on Zoobeat: Just like you, I have followed the building of the new elephant enclosure with great interest. I have visited it three times since it was opened, the last time was about six or seven weeks ago. Also, just like you, I find the outdoor enclosures for the two males far to small. It´s a great shame, really! My questions: 1. The last time I was at the zoo, the male enclosures were still not ready. Do you know if they are ready now? Can Chiang-Mei and Tonsak finally go out? From what I have understood, they must have been kept indoors for several months now......... 2. You write "As a small bonus, the males are allowed to use the females' enclosures when they are not using them (both indoors and outdoors)." Are you sure about this? It is of great interest to me! I have seen Tonsak in the 900 square meter heard indooors enclosure, but that´s it. It would be so nice to know that the males, at least now and then, will get access to the larger outdoors heard enclosure and get the opportunity to bathe in the pool etc. Nothing would please me more!
Hello Dan So good to see another Scandinavian here on the forum Now to your questions: 1. The males have access to their outdoor enclosures during the day now. I have seen Chieng Mai outside a couple of times. Only one male is using both enclosures at a time though. I don't know why this is so. 2. I have heard that the males are using the females' outdoor enclosure in the evening when the zoo is closed. I have not seen this myself though so I cannot confirm this 100 % I hope this info helps
PS to Toddy About the new savannah at Copenhagen zoo: 1. Up until the last time i visited (early July 2008), the part of the savannah closest to the hippo enclosure was still sealed of by net fence. Has this fence been removed? 2. Do you know if the rhinos will eventually get access to the rest of the savannah? All the early sketches of the project showed all savannah animals (exept the hippos) having total access to the whole area.
And another question for Toddy, Copenhagen being my "Home Zoo", it is great for me to have the opportunity to discuss this zoo with someone else who is equally interested! I don´t remember the location now, but somewhere on this site you wrote that the polar bear exhibit will be the next big project for the zoo. Do you have any further info on this matter? We can probably agree that the current exhibit is somewhat of a disgrace and that improvement is much needed. My "dream idea": transform the birds lake near the zoo entrance to a new, state of the art- polar bear exhibit. This piece of land is avaliable, it is of not much good use right now, I think. How about that?
Dragon(ele)nerd asks about the health of the elephant calf Ghandi at Copenhagen zoo. I am happy to report that the youngster is doing just fine! From my latest visits I recall him giving his mother and the othe old females in the herd a hard time keeping track of him! He climbs the sand dunes, goes - what is it called? - tight roop walking (?) on the logs of tree and generally makes the females worry about his adventures.... It is a true joy to watch! They take such good care of him....
Wow that's a lot of questions And I am happy to provide you with some answers! About Ghandi Yes, Ghandi is doing just fine. He has found a playmate in the 11 year old female Kungrao and is being a hyperactive pest for the adult elephants, just like a young male elephant his age should. About the savannah 1. Yes, the fences was removed this summer. All the antelopes are using the hippo enclosure as well now, and the wildebeests found a new hobby right away. They started to tease the giant hippos until one of the almost got killed by Polo (the huge hippo male). Now they are more carefull. 2. The original plan was to have the rhinos use the whole area but I'm not 100% sure what went wrong here. It doesn't look like they will get the whole area any time soon though. I still don't understand why the zoo hasn't switched to black rhinos... About the polar bears The polar bear enclosure is next on the list of great projects. For those of you who don't know, the polar bears live in an old bear grotto. Fortunately it is one of the best of the old bear grottos in Europe, but still not good enough for polar bears in our time. The new exhibit is being planned currently. I have been inside the "studios" at Copenhagen Zoo and seen the model of this new enclosure. I didn't have my camera and the model was wrapped in plastic, but I took a picture with my cell that you all (hopefully) can enjoy, even if the quality isn't that good. As you can see on the first picture they won't be using the bird lake, only take a small part of that area. The enclosure will include a land-part and a deep water-part. There will be a glass tunnel where visitors can view the polar bears under water. The seals will also get an extension to their enclosure so the visitors can view them next to the polar bears. The new enclosure will be 5-7 times bigger than what they currently have. Please remember that these plans are preliminary, and nothing is certain yet (except the location). Feel free to ask more questions.
Thanks Toddy! Very nice info on the savanna - I will check it out for myself in some of the upcoming weekends. Your pictures from the plans for a new polar bear enclosure really made my day! Being perfectly familiar with the layout of Copenhagen Zoo, the pictures give me all the information I need! This is just as good an idea as that of mine - my "dream idea". Relocating the flamingos is pretty unproblematic and it frees an area about the same size as the one I was thinking about. Let´s indeed hope that this turns into reality as soon as possible, so that the current two young bears will be able to live there in a couple of years! Fantastic!
PS! Oh..... and when the new polar bear enclosure becomes reality, then the current polar bear exhibit can very easily be added to the brown bear enclosure (you would just have to make a hole through the wall!) You would then instantly have a decidedly better enclosure for the brown bears, with more area to explore. Put some soil and vegetation in the old polar bear exhibit and decrease the water level in the pool a bit. Piece of cake!
That is already the Zoo's plan at the moment A larger renovation of the bear grottos will be done when the polar bears have moved out. All the exhibits will be combined into one, and according to the orginal plan the bears will be able to get on top of the cliffs as well.
That is more good news! When these plans are realised, I think the only really sub-standard enclosure remaining (taking into account that Copenhagen is an inner city zoo) would be the wolf enclosure. That one should be abandonend totally, don´t you agree?
I'm just hopefull that the little bull is doing great, hopefully he will grow to adulthood, when do you think they will have a new calf? When Tonsak is fully an adolescent?
With the big old bull, Chiang Mei, being so "active" I wouldn´t be surprised if he would be given the chance to sire another offspring. A female baby that could be forever integrated into the herd, would probably be a blessing, I think. Another baby male, though....... maybe not so good? Might be that Toddy knows more about this subject?
wasn't there a female called coco? who lived to 17? but she died somewho I'm not sure by what but there was an inbreeding porblem with her and her father, I doubt there will be that problem again if another female calf is born, because of the new structure of the exhibit,
