Both the reptile house and the tapir exhibit have been renovated, and some Persian fallow deers, Falabella ponies and goats, along with two porcupines, are born
During these weeks, the zoo renovated and enlarged the South American exhibit, which now hosts a tapir, some Patagonian hares and a pair of capybaras. The Australian animals (wallabies and emus) were moved into the former rhea area, next to the flamingoes and the elephants.
After many years the zoo is goif to host a new bird of prey. We don't know abouth the exact species,but it will be hosted in the African aviary (the birds which are hosted inside of it are going to be moved in another area).
The staff is pretty sure that they are Persian, and zootierliste (which however is not perfect) signs them as Dama dama mesopotamica.
In their website they write just "Dama dama", and I still think that last one Persian fallow deer in Italy is in Bussolengo. Anyway, I am going to check it.
New arrivals at the zoo; Milk frogs Okipipi (and other Dendrobatidae) Ghost Frog Harris' Hawk Common Goshawk
A general recap of what happened the last months: -Wallabies and emus are now hosted in a new exhibit next to the flamingo enclosure. -From what I understood, yhe african birds were all moved from their giant aviary to the De Brazza's Monkey exhibit (I'm talking about Sacred ibises and Crowned Cranes in particular). -The Small Mammals area was changed and some animals were moved. Now, in the former skunk cage, there should be a sparrowhawk (a bit small for it, but whatever). -The Rabbit Cages were changed and improved. They still host domestic rabbits though. -The old Australian Exhibit was used to create a much bigger South America-themed enclosure, which hosts a singe tapir, many Patagonian hares, two capybaras (which already are mating) and also some rheas. Unsure about the presence of the Black-necked Swan I saw some years ago. -Altough I assume it's still pretty mediocre, the reptile house has been hugely improved. I think that they want to transform the smallest section of the building to an "Amphibian House" for frogs and chameleons (although it's a reptile). Some times ago they wanted to add some bird species, but I think they left the project. -Unfortunately, the Sitatungas have left the collection, and now only Nile Lichis remain. -As I said before, the african birds were moved to the aviary which hosts De Brazza's Monkeys. It's a pretty good enclosure but I have doubts about the different animals living together. Also, now there are only five monkeys as two of them were transferred to other zoos. -Many births of ungulates: many chitals, fallow deers and Cervicapra antelopes were born, along with porcupines and tortoises. -The former african aviary is home to some buzzards (one of them was moved to another cage because it was harmed by the others). I don't know much about the zoo's future projects. The situation is getting better but I still think it can do more now that the Covid-19 situation is less impactful on its development.
Last week, around 30 new animals arrived at the zoo. From Natuurhulpcentrum Opglabbeek, a rescue center in Belgium, came: * A female serval, moved in the former coati cage in order to introduce her to the resident male; the coati has been moved to a quarantine cage * Various parrots, namely two southern mealy amazons, four orange-winged amazons, four black-headed parrots, and a pink and grey cockatoo * Four Harris's hawks, added to the five already housed in the Great Aviary * For the Reptile House, the new arrivals include a bearded dragon (the zoo already had two), a green iguana (the zoo already had one), and two Malaysian black scorpions Other recent arrivals are two red-necked wallaby does, Philippine sailfin lizards and weaverbirds; the weavers can be seen flying over the crocodile pool, alongside parakeets and budgerigars that were moved there to make room for the new parrots. The zoo also awaits the arrival of a female tapir and a female Asinara donkey, to finally move on with the breeding programmes of both. The curator is evaluating the possibility to introduce guanacos to the South American area, though for now this is just a concept. Text from Alessandro Zotti, who isn't able to write here on Zoochat.
The new Amphibian Area opened yesterday and hosts, along four species of frogs (a number that's going to increase), also a chameleon, which formerly was hosted in a very small terrarium and now it seems to have much more space. The terrariums look very nice indeed with lots of plants. They also are planning to redo the "dinosaur park" thing which is useful to conservation as much as minigolf in British zoos.
Here it is a little virtual tour of the zoo in its actual state: The Pachyderms House still hosts a pair of Asian elephants, more precisely Jula (from Copenaghen) and Mya (from Whispnade). In the exhibit some grass is growing, giving more colour to a paddock which would be otherwise a bit barren and "arid". In front of this paddock there are some other exhibits: one for a non-breeding colony of Greater flamingoes (I thought they wanted to make their area larger and to add more individuals but it seems that won't be done in the near future) and another one for Australian fauna (Red-necked wallabies and Emus). I think they united the old rhea and crowned cranes exhibit the australian paddock. The farm hadn't had important changes in the last months (apart from a recent alpaca birth) and I'm pretty sure the Australian crested pigeon that used to be in the turkeys aviary isn't there anymore. In the little mammals area there are two meerkats (yes, two meerkats) and some Indian mongooses alonng maybe some domestic rabbits and prairie dogs. The old coati area has been united to the serval exhibit to make the latter a bit larger; now there are two Servals, a male called Roy which has been in the zoo for two/three years and a new female that arrived some weeks ago (they did a sort of contest to give her a name). I don't know if the skunks are still present, but I'm pretty sure in one of the cages previously used for quarantine there is a sparrowhawk (which is the secondo bird of prey present here along with a female Indian rock owl). The old tiger cages remain still empty, and the "felin area" (lions, sri lanka leopard, black panther and caracal) remains basically untouched. The camels are still there too, although I hears some years ago they wanted to give them away to make space for an Australian exhibit (a project which, among with many others, didn't see the light). Next to the camels there is the relatively new fosa exhibit, in which there are now a male and a female. I was told the exhibit is very good, and I hope so! In the little european exhibit there are several hystrixes (and also some "puppies") and probably some red squirrels (the last time I visited the zoo last year they were still there). In the last months there have been many births among fallow deers, chitals and blackbucks. Their areas have a great potential to be turned into something really interesting. In the old rabbit cages there are now (probably temporarily) some Chacoan maras, a new additon the the park. There are still a total of four tigers (the white one, Arcana, is still confined in a sort of separation area), while in the nearby South American paddock there is a single tapir (not for long I hope), the rheas, many Patagonian maras and also a couple of capybaras, another new addition. The Great Aviary, that previosly hosted African bird species, now hosts many Harris's hawks (I think at least 4-5); imo they should have added a rarer species, such as Egyptian vultures (which are endangered and could maybe one day reintroduced to the wild, and it would be a first reintroduction for the zoo). The "Uccelleria" is nowadays pretty rich in birds: there are pheasants and a lot of parrots. Newesr inclusions include a third Grey Parrot, an Eclectic parrot and also some caiques. And now we move on to the Reptile House, which has been renovated. I didn' have the opportunity to visit it and so I had to look it from photos, and although sand in the bearded dragon terrarium seems a pretty bad idea, the other ones look pretty good. They also did some changes to the crocodile exhibit, and now there is more vegetation and even some birds, such as budgerigars and weavers (I suppose Village). The newly opened "Amphibiarium"(idk how to spell it) looks even bette, with terrariums rich of vegetation. They also turned the old indoor tortoise area to a chameleon exhibit that will probably be modified in the future (I hope so). From what I know there is still a single brown bear, a single common seal and a group of Japanese macaques. In the past they wanted to make all these exhibits a single one and use it to host sea lions, but that's another abandoned project. As I said before the sitatugas have left the collection and now there are only Nile lewches left. Part of their exhibit has been flooded to make it more comfortable to the animals. Nearby there is the great "african aviary", that hosts a little group of De Brazza monkeys (mainly males), and some birds. I'm pretty sure they won't breed grey crowned cranes anymore and that would be a shame! The savannah and hippo area is basically identic to what it was last year; there has been a waterbuck birth though. There are now four Siamangs in their exhibit (an adult couple, a young one born three years ago and a really young individual), but we don't have any informations about the development of the ancient chimpanzee project, that'll probably be abandoned (I hope they're going to create the little monkeys area they mentioned me last year though). The zoo is now collaborating with Bugoma Primate Conservation something, settled in Uganda. No major news about the lake either. That should be it. The zoo has faced some problems with the ongoing covid pandemy and probably it's goig to develop in longer times. I hope they will settle their focus more on conservation and quality exhibit, because some of their paddocks are terrible and should be readjusted.
The harbour seal exhibit is under renovation, because soon a female for Halos will arrive. In the small mammal area there is now an Asian palm civet. A dinosaur "park" has been established in the zoo and hopefull (for me) it'll be removed in late november.
They should really know for sure...but a couple of photos of them on here would help with identification and solving the mystery. There are none in the Naples section of the gallery at present.
I found an image of a fallow deer posted by the zoo in their facebook page and screenshooted it but I don't know how to post it in this thread.
I could only find one photo which looks like a Fallow Deer on their FB and its so poor its impossible to identify further.
Search on google "zoo di napoli daini" (daini is Italian for fallow deers) and look to images, there should be a photo from their facebook account with an image of a brown fallow deer (with also the scientific name).
I've looked at a lot of images from Naples Zoo now (its not to be confused with another one in the USA) but can't find any of Fallow deer apart from one that is probably a 'stock' photo from elsewhere of common fallow deer. So no wiser as to which type Naples have got.
