This looks like one of the most exciting zoo developments in a long time and I am really excited about how it will turn out after EO opened at San Diego Zoo and turned out to be a bit of a flop.
I think, you will not missing something special, just a rainforest building like in every zoo, but a little bit bigger and with a boat ride in it...And a lot of just indoor exhibits for big mammals-great. The costs of that building had could save a lot of real rainforest...
@EvilKittie You will miss a lot, believe me. @mstickmanp Last update November 2008 (new update expected in november): Africa: Pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis) + Owl faced monkey (Cercopithecus hamlyni) - already at the zoo Whale-billed stork (Balaeniceps rex) Carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicus) Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana diana) - already at the zoo + Kirk's dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii) Serval (Leptailurus serval) Asia: Oriental small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea cinerea) + Sri Lanka giant sqirrel (Ratufa macroura) - already at the zoo Small Indian civet (Viverricula indica) False gavial (Tomistoma schlegelii) Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) - no longer Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) + outdoor exhibit Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) Sunda wrinkled hornbill (Aceros corrugatus) Slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) Spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) Asian brown tortoise (Manouria emys)- already at the zoo River terrapin/tuntong (Battagur baska affinis) Callagur tortoise (Callagur borneoensis) South Africa: Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) Giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) - already at the zoo Squirrel monkey (Saimiri) Linne's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) With-faced saki (Pithecia pithecia) Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) Red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) different callitrichines - already at the zoo Tunnel of living fossils: McCord's snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi) - already at the zoo Spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens) - already at the zoo Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) South American lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa) Elegant crested tinamou (Eudromia elegans) Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) Kowari (Dasyuroides byrnei) Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) Pacarana (Dinomys branickii) ?? Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) ??
How about waiting to critizise it to when we actually see it finished? @BjoernN: Thanks for the list! Sounds interesting even though I still don't get the servals in a rainforest
Really ambitious species list. I like the idea they want to keep Virginia opposums. I think it is quite a common species in America nature... but very strange for Europeans, at least for me. I wonder why only a few institutions in Europe keep them (according to tierliste only 3). And outdoor exhibit is planned only for Malayan tapir?
You are right, Toddy. I hope, they will replace the servals by fossas. The definite stock of animals will be announced next year.
@cockroach Unfortunately, yes, an outdoor exhibit is planned only for Malayan tapirs. The indoor exhibits will be very large scaled and well structured, for example: Pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis) + Owl faced monkey (Cercopithecus hamlyni) - 250 sqm Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana diana) + Kirk's dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii)- 230 sqm Whale-billed stork (Balaeniceps rex) - 120 sqm Serval (Leptailurus serval) - 100 sqm False gavial (Tomistoma schlegelii) - 450 sqm Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) - no longer - 450 sqm Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) - ~ 2000 sqm Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) - 60 sqm Giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) - 500 sqm Squirrel monkey (Saimiri) - 400 sqm Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) - 100 sqm
@Toddy. Why not ? Other peole say it will be an amaziong house without to have seen it, because its not finished. I've seen a lot of tropical rainforest buildings, and all of them ( with one exception ) are too abd for the animals and the operating costs are so high, tehy could save a lot of real rainforest in the nature. 250 qm for a year round indoor holding of pygmy hippos ? Too small for that species. But if they would have an outdoor exhibit for the summer times, it would be good. But just indoors, no. If the exhibits sizes in the list above are true, they are all to small for the species, and thats the big problem with Gondwanaland, I'm dure, it will be a great experience for the people, not for the bigger animals.
@Zebraduiker: There is no reason to praise nor critizice Gondwanaland yet. Why not just wait until it is finished and then justify your criticism? About keeping large mammals indoors all year round why not contribute to the new thread I have started on the topic? I would like to hear your opinion.
Oh yes, you are right, it is South America. @Zebraduiker Berlin Zoo has a ~80 sqm indoor exhibit (2 exhibits 40 sqm each with a very small land part) for its 1,2 pygmy hippos + offspring and a 230 sqm outdoor exhibit for summer. Is is really better to keep them on 80sqm for 6-8 months a year and on 230 sqm for 4-6 months than on 250 sqm the whole year like in Leipzig?
Sumatran rhinos to Gondwanaland I got to know the zoo has a plan to get a pair of sumatran rhinos.. The last one was kept in Leipzig died in 1894... I think that it will be better if the director just goes to Howletts to make a copy of the rhino statue...
The last Sumatran Rhino at Leipzig Zoo died in 1906. It was alone all the time (17 years). They do not have these plan anymore. The Malayan Tapirs will get the enclosure, that was planned for Sumatran Rhinos in the past...
