I have always been fascinated by giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), but couldn’t find an overview of their population in European Zoos. This thread gives a list of the current Giant anteater population in European Zoos, please feel free to give any additional information and/or news. I would be very interested in names, dates of births, transfers and other information of each animal. According to Species360 there are currently 171 (84,85,2) Giant anteaters living in 81 European Zoos/Institutions. This request was made on the 27th of April 2022, so it could be that some changes have already occurred. Additionally some zoos on ZTL are stated as holder, but can’t be found in the Species360 record. So either they don’t have the species anymore or are not a member of Species360. These zoos are also not on this list, since I don't have current data for them. Spoiler: Austria Tiergarten Schönbrunn (1,1,0) Total: (1,1,0) Spoiler: Belgium Parc Animalier de Bouillon (1,0,0) Pairi Daiza (1,3,0) Monde Sauvage Zoo (1,1,0) Zoo Planckendael (1,1,0) Total: (4,5,0) Spoiler: Croatia Zagreb Zoo (1,1,0) Total: (1,1,0) Spoiler: Czech Republic Decin Zoo (1,1,0) Liberec Zoo (1,1,0) Olomouc Zoo (2,1,0) Praha Zoo (1,1,0) Zoologická zahrada Zámek Lešná (2,2,0) Total: (7,6,0) Spoiler: Denmark Aalborg Zoo (1,1,0) Ree Park Safari (1,1,0) Kobenhavn Zoo (1,1,0) Total: (3,3,0) Spoiler: France Amneville Zoo (2,1,0) Parc Animalier d'Auvergne (1,0,0) Fort Mardyck Zoo (1,0,0) La Flèche Zoo (2,1,0) La Teste Zoo (1,1,0) Zoo des Sables d'Olonne (1,1,0) Montpellier Zoo (1,1,0) Parc Zoologique de Paris (1,1,0) Safari de Peaugres (1,1,0) Parc Zoologique de la Barben (1,2,0) Parc Zoologique de la Bourbansais (1,1,0) Zoo Parc de Beauval (1,1,0) Thoiry ZooSafari (1,1,0) Biotropica (1,0,0) Total (16,12,0) Spoiler: France|Martinique Zoo de Martinique (1,2,0) Total: (1,12,0) Spoiler: Germany Berlin Zoologische Garten (1,1,0) Zoo Dortmund (2,4,0) Zoo Duisburg (1,1,0) Zoo Frankfurt (1,1,0) Zoo Halle (1,2,0) Zoo Köln (1,1,1) Zoo Krefeld (0,1,0) Zoo Leipzig (1,1,0) Zoo Magdeburg (1,2,0) Tierpark Hellabrunn (0,1,0) Allwetterzoo Münster (1,1,0) Zoo Neuwied (1,0,0) Zoo Schwerin (1,1,0) Wilhelma Zoo (0,3,0) Total: (12,20,1) Spoiler: Greece Attica Zoo (1,0,0) Total: (1,0,0) Spoiler: Hungary Zoo Budapest (2,1,0) Zoo Györ (1,0,0) Jászberény/Taborolomo Zoo (1,1,0) Sóstó Zoo (1,1,0) Pécs Zoo (1,1,0) Szeged Zoo (1,0,0) Total: (7,4,0) Spoiler: Netherlands Artis Zoo (1,1,0) GaiaZoo (1,1,0) ZooParc Overloon (2,1,0) Dierenpark ZieZoo (0,2,0) Total: (4,5,0) Spoiler: Poland Opole Zoo (2,1,0) Poznan Zoo (1,1,0) Warsaw Zoo (0,1,0) Zamosc Zoo (1,1,0) Total: (4,4,0) Spoiler: Portugal Lisbon Zoo (1,1,0) Total (1,1,0) Spoiler: Spain Barcelona Zoo (1,1,0) Madrid Zoo (1,2,0) Loro Parque (1,2,0) Total: (3,5,0) Spoiler: Russia Kaliningrad Zoo (1,2,0) Novosibirsk Zoo (1,1,0) Moscow Zoo (1,0,0) Total: (3,3,0) Spoiler: Switzerland Zürich Zoo: (1,0,0) Total: (1,0,0) Spoiler: United Kingdom Drusillas Zoo Park: (1,1,0) Howletts Wild Animal Park (1,1,0) Belfast Zoo (1,1,0) Blackpool Zoo (1,2,0) Yorkshire Wildlife Park (1,1,0) Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens (1,1,0) Chester Zoo (1,1,0) Colchester Zoo (1,1,0) South Lakes Safari Zoo (1,0,0) Dudley Zoo (1,1,1) Edinburgh Zoo (2,1,0) Hamerton Zoo (0,1,0) Wild Discovery (1,0,0) Longleat Safari & Adventure Park (1,1,0) Jimmy's Farm (1,0,0) Total: (15,13,1) Total population in Europe: (84,85,2)
Sadly 27-year old female Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) Sandra was euthanised, she suffered from age-related illnesses. Sandra was the oldest giant anteater in the world, she would have celebrated her 28th birthday next week. Source: Instagram of Zoo Dortmund (03/06/2022) https://www.instagram.com/p/CeVU7m3qoMS/ Zoo Dortmund now has 2,3,0 Giant anteaters left.
On the 20th of June, a giant anteater was born in Zoo Frankfurt. It's a male. A few days ago, he went with his mother Ines to the outdoor enclosure where visitors can see him. The youngster's father is Falin. Source
Recently a giant anteater was born at Cotswold Wildlife Park. It is a female and she has been named Zena. It is the third cub for parents Zorro and Zeta. Source: Facebook Cotswold Wildlife Park
Last Friday a giant anteater was born in Zoo Leipzig to female Bardana, this is her second young. Source: Instagram of Zoo Leipzig (17/02/2023)
I recently put in a new request, according to Species360 there are currently 176 (84,89,3) Giant Anteaters in 83 European Zoos/Institutions. This request was made on the 20th of February 2023. Since my last update the number of holders has increased with 2 Zoos/Institutions (already in 2022) namely Avifauna and Camperdown Wildlife Centre. Additionally some zoos on ZTL are stated as holder, but can’t be found in the Species360 record. So either they don’t have the species anymore or are not a member of Species360. These zoos are also not on this list, since I don't have current data for them. As always feel free to add to this thread with any information regarding the giant anteaters in Europe Spoiler: Austria Tiergarten Schönbrunn: (1,1,0) Total: (1,1,0) Spoiler: Belgium Parc Animalier de Bouillon: (1,0,0) Pairi Daiza: (1,3,0) Monde Sauvage Zoo: (1,1,0) Zoo Planckendael: (1,1,0) Total: (4,5,0) Spoiler: Croatia Zagreb Zoo: (0,1,0) Total: (0,1,0) Spoiler: Czech Republic Decin Zoo: (1,1,0) Liberec Zoo: (1,1,0) Olomouc Zoo: (2,1,0) Praha Zoo: (1,1,0) Zoologická zahrada Zámek Lešná: (2,1,0) Total: (7,5,0) Spoiler: Denmark Aalborg Zoo: (2,1,0) Ree Park Safari: (1,1,0) Kobenhavn Zoo: (1,1,1) Total: (4,3,1) Spoiler: France Amneville Zoo: (2,1,0) Parc Animalier d'Auvergne: (1,0,0) Fort Mardyck Zoo: (1,0,0) La Flèche Zoo: (1,1,0) La Teste Zoo: (1,1,0) Zoo des Sables d'Olonne: (1,1,0) Montpellier Zoo: (1,1,0) Parc Zoologique de Paris: (1,1,0) Safari de Peaugres: (1,1,0) Parc Zoologique de la Barben: (1,2,0) Parc Zoologique de la Bourbansais: (1,1,0) Zoo Parc de Beauval: (1,2,0) Thoiry ZooSafari: (0,2,0) Biotropica: (1,1,0) Total: (14,15,0) Spoiler: France | Martinique Zoo de Martinique: (1,2,0) Total: (1,2,0) Spoiler: Germany Berlin Zoologische Garten: (1,1,0) Zoo Dortmund: (2,3,0) Zoo Duisburg: (1,1,0) Zoo Frankfurt: (2,1,0) Zoo Halle: (1,2,0) Zoo Köln: (1,2,0) Zoo Krefeld: (0,1,0) Zoo Leipzig: (1,1,1) Zoo Magdeburg: (1,2,0) Tierpark Hellabrunn: (0,1,0) Allwetterzoo Münster: (1,1,0) Zoo Neuwied: (1,0,0) Zoo Schwerin: (1,1,0) Wilhelma Zoo: (0,0,3) Total: (13,20,1) Spoiler: Greece Attica Zoo: (1,0,0) Total: (1,0,0) Spoiler: Hungary Zoo Budapest: (1,1,0) Zoo Györ: (1,0,0) Jászberény/Taborolomo: (1,1,0) Sóstó Zoo: (2,1,0) Pécs Zoo: (1,1,0) Szeged Zoo: (1,0,0) Total: (7,4,0) Spoiler: Netherlands Avifauna: (1,1,0) Artis Zoo: (1,1,0) GaiaZoo: (1,1,0) ZooParc Overloon: (2,1,0) Dierenpark ZieZoo: (0,2,0) Total: (5,6,0) Spoiler: Poland Opole Zoo: (1,1,0) Poznan: (1,1,0) Warsaw Zoo: (0,1,0) Zamosc Zoo: (1,1,0) Total: (3,4,0) Spoiler: Portugal Lisbon Zoo (1,1,0) Total: (1,1,0) Spoiler: Spain Barcelona Zoo: (1,1,0) Madrid Zoo: (1,2,1) Loro Parque: (1,2,0) Total: (3,5,1) Spoiler: Russia Kaliningrad Zoo: (1,2,0) Novosibirsk Zoo: (2,1,0) Moscow Zoo: (1,0,0) Total: (4,3,0) Spoiler: Switzerland Zürich Zoo: (1,0,0) Total: (1,0,0) Spoiler: United Kingdom Drusillas Zoo Park: (1,1,0) Howletss Wild Animal Park: (1,1,0) Belfast Zoo: (1,1,0) Blackpool Zoo: (1,1,0) Yorkshire Wildlife Park: (1,1,0) Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens: (1,2,0) Chester Zoo: (1,1,0) Colchester Zoo: (1,1,0) South Lakes Safari Zoo: (1,0,0) Dudley Zoo: (1,2,0) Camperdown Wildlife Centre: (1,1,0) Edinburgh Zoo: (1,0,0) Hamerton Zoo: (0,1,0) Wild Discovery: (1,0,0) Longleat Safari & Adventure Park: (1,1,0) Jimmy's Farm: (1,0,0) Total: (15,14,0) Total European population: (84,89,3) Increased with 5 (0,4,1) individuals compared to 2022.
A giant anteater was born at ZooParc de Beauval on 31 December. It is a female and she has been named Neiva. Parents of the young are Gabe and Aurora. Source: ZooParc de Beauval
A giant anteater has been born at Chester Zoo. Parents of the cub are mother Bliss and father Oso. Source: Facebook Chester Zoo
Is anybody able to provide a list of current individuals housed at these collections? From my own records, the UK list is quite straight-forward, however, the European ones are a little more harder to determine certain individuals.
I am going to make a new list relatively soon, which will most likely be in the same format as the previous lists that I made. If you want information of specific individuals, I recommend looking the threads of the zoos that they (used to) live in. This list only covers the number of individuals per zoo but not their names, which would be quite hard given the large number of them.
On the 10th of February a female giant anteater was born to female Bardanas in Leipzig Zoo. Source: Instagram of Zoo Leipzig (21/04/2023)
Emile, born in 2021 in Overloon (the Netherlands) has been moved to Bristol. (Instagram zooparc Overloon)
The female has been given the name Amei, the father of her is called Gorrie. Source: Instagram of Zoo Leipzig (03/05/2023)
Recently a Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) was born to female Tiyaka, a zoo first breeding for Planckendael! Source: Instagram of Zoo Planckendael (15/05/2023)
Recently over a year old male Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) Gizmo arrived from Dudley Zoo. Source: Instagram of Edinburgh Zoo (15/05/2023)
