I was, of course, being a little facetious when I suggested a net and galahs. I suspect that galahs would destroy most nets quite quickly: budgies and cockatiels would be easier to keep Does anyone else remember the aviary for homing budgies next to the Three Island Pond? I believe that originally they allowed some of the budgies to fly freely. Alan
Yes, I do. I think it had two compartments, one for free-fliers and one for a contained flock to attract them back. I think they had them free flight for a while, perhaps until the local Sparrowhawks polished them off.
I know this is getting well off the point, Future of the Mappin Terrace, but haven't Longleat tried free-flight budgies at some point too?
I thought my comment about cockatiels, budgies and zebra finches was being facetious too... then everybody started taking it seriously!!!! Is anybody seriously thinking that ZSL, the pinnacle of zoo conservation in the UK, would take on a display exhibit with common domesticated species (given that no wild types would be found here due to Australian export laws)???
I bet that their publicity dept would take up the challenge if they actually decided to do it - can you imagine the posters on the tube? Alan
Nothing whatsoever. There's nothing wrong with Bactrian camels.......... ................. ..........................Budgerigars, yes I'm sure a multi-coloured flock would look ridiculous, but a really big community flight of wild-coloured (though still domesticated) grass finches and parakeets would be a pretty amazing sight, and I'm all up for public collections making stunning exhibits from species commonly kept in rather dire conditions by a large percentage of the population as pets.....it's a great way to visually educate people about how the thing they have in a cage in the dining room might actually be able to live if it was in more natural surroundings.
sorry i meant domedary, but as it is a climate change exhibit i thought showing how camels have adapted to live in australia would be good
It wil be indeed hard to get green budgies, but there are some breeders in continental europe trying to breed budgies back to their "wild" appearance and if in the aviary they would keep a group of gouldian finches (also wild colours) they will contribute to conservation anyway as these bird is threatened in the wild.
" THE BUDGIES ARE BACK!! " Seriously I think everyone involved in this discussion was throwing wild ideas into the ring to give this Australian exhibit a more authentic 'Australian' feel. They could perhaps add an Aviary in the public viewing area which contained some of the afore mentioned Australian birds- that might help improve the 'feel'. The reality is of course that it will hold Kangaroos/Wallabies + Emu plus some sort of Australian waterfowl and that's likely to be about it. regarding camels, they are non- native to Australia; they would eat all the Eucalypts that have been planted; there is nowhere in the display to house them at night; the existing ones at ZSL are needed where they are to try and keep the Elephant house looking like it contains animals; they are virtually immobile in behaviour; so Noooo, I don't think they would be very suitable...
It's quite amusing to see how this thread has developed from a South American theme being proposed (Bears, Coati etc) to finding out about the Aussie exhibit, then people proposing a big cat exhibit to finally budgies being introduced!
but as i said its a "climate change" exhibit and i thought it would be a good animal to show how the world has changed?
... and somewhere along the line its become clear just what the 'future of the Mappin terraces' is...
well do you think that the camels would have survived in the australian deserts 100 years ago? its just shows how much man has changed the world over time!
I have to say, I wasn't proposing budgerigars for the mappins! The thread just brought up an interesting fact that there are dozens of australian bird species kept by hobbyists that aren't really exhibited in any kind of 'free-flight' (as in netted flight) or community situation in UK zoos. Of course wild-colour birds are easy to find....ok so they won't be the exact shade of green, but 300 green birds moving as a flock would be a reasonably amazing experience for any member of the public that has only seen one of these animals pecking at a plastic mirror in a foot-long cage. Camels......I was being sarcastic....I don't want to see camels on the mappins, in the casson, anywhere really, unless they are planning to link them educationally as ambassadors, to an in situ wild camel project, which they aren't.
There is a tentative link because they use their Bactrian Camels as ambassadors for the endangered wild Bactrians (part of the EDGE programme - ZSL has those boards by leading from Barclay Court i think) EDGE of Existence programme - News - ZSL London Zoo - ZSL
Yes indeed. Do you really think the Australian desert is a result of global warming!! It's been there for 1000s of years!!
