In many zoos throughout the world mixed enclosures are common practice, especially with the ratite family (ostrich species in "Safari" settings) but what bird/mammal species have you seen/would like to see in future in a hybrid enclosure setting? Feel free to add your own justification of temperaments, feeding methods and enclosure design ideas too.
Singapore Zoo houses a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills together with a bachelor pair of proboscis monkeys as well as a pair of female Indian muntjacs. Pretty interesting and effective mix I would say. It is great that it is a "three-layered/tiered" exhibit, though the main stars are still the monkeys. The other two species are much harder to chance upon.
In Berlin Zoo, a species of crane (I forgot which type) shares an enclosure with the blackbuck antelope
The okapi exhibit at Doué looks very impressive. I love the idea of making a themed exhibit en just put an aviary around it. The birds have much space and you have to look for the animals, so it's positive for both the keepers and animals. And if the aviary is really big it's better themed than small aviaries, 'cause it feels like you're in the real jungle with free-ranging birds. Bioparc - Zoo de Doué la Fontaine | Okapi Sanctuary I think more zoos should build exhibits like these. The new buffalo enclosure at Antwerp and the new hippo enclosure at Beauval are situated in large aviaries too. I could think of many biomes to make a similar exhibit for. I've seen many other mixes with birds and mammals, from muntjacs with cranes/geese to okapis with cranes and hippos with pelicans/ducks. I really liked the exhibit at GaiaZOO where trumpeter birds live together with white-faced sakis. At Amnéville a trumpeter bird lives with white-lipped tamarin. An interesting mix that I've heard of is bearded vultures with alpine hares in an Austrian Zoo I guess.
Some of the best exhibits are large tropical houses and large walk-through aviaries in tropical countries, which show variety of big reptiles and smaller mammals together with birds. For example small kangaroos, iguanas, bats, lemurs, small monkeys, hyrax, large rodents, otters, small ungulates, peccaries etc. Examples: Magdeburg zoo tapir house: brazilian tapir, guan, sunbittern, guira cuckoo. Magdeburg zoo aviary: parma wallabies, budgerigar, many other Australian birds Tropical hall Kerzers: variety of birds, 3 species of iguana, tortoises, two-toed sloth, leaf-nosed bats. Nearby collared peccaries with spectacled owls. Madrid: klippspringer, rock hyrax, African birds. Desert in Arnhem: collared peccary, bighorn sheep, rock squirrel, iguanas, many birds. Wollemi aviary in Sydney: platypus, echidna, several small wallabies, lizards, birds. Enchanted Forest in Singapore: fruit bat, ring-tailed lemur, mousedeer, birds. I like especially if birds are larger species, toucan size or more, and mammals are varied, not just marmosets or sloths which are common in this type. Interesting how the recent trend of building very big aviaries with ungulate mammals will develop. The cost of large areas of netting is going down.
San Antonio Zoo exhibits a Giant Anteater in the South American Aviary. The Brown Bear Exhibit at the AWCC is frequented by Bald Eagles, Common Ravens, and Black-billed Magpies...especially during bear feedings. The Bears and the Birds all interact with other much as they would in the wild. The Educational Experience and the Illusion of the Natural World are perfect.
Moonlit Sanctuary (Melbourne, Australia) has (1) feathertail gliders and owlet nightjars (2) squirrel gliders, yellow-bellied gliders, potoroos and tawny frogmouths.
Heritage Park Zoo (Prescott, Arizona): American kestrel and American porcupine Cameron Park Zoo (Waco, Texas): King vulture, yellow headed Amazon parrot, Salvin's pigeon, Inca tern, Collie's magpie jay, white faced whistling duck, scarlet ibis, Patagonian conure, sun conure, squirrel monkey, two toed sloth, mara, agouti, capybara, red footed tortoise, spiny iguana, green iguana.
The Smithsonian national zoo keeps rüppell's vulture with dama gazelles and scimitar horned oryx. They also keep Abyssinian ground hornbill with a male lesser kudu.
Not anymore, the anteater was moved to a different part of the zoo. The Dallas Zoo has an exhibit on the monorail with marabou storks, lappet faced vultures, a secretary bird, kudu (forgot which kind), gerenuk, and Thomson's gazelle.
Moody Gardens has a rainforest exhibit where various animals, including Rodriguez fruit bats, cotton-top tamarins, and a variety of birds, share space.
The fruit bats are not free flight, but they share their space with troupials and black naped fruit doves, from what I saw. The National Aquarium in Baltimore has a rainforest walk through that has golden lion tamarins, two toed sloths, and several bird species (I don't know how many, as the signs were down, but I saw at least ten and know there are more). The Dallas World Aquarium has an area for free flight birds. The birds can access the habitats of giant otters, red handed tamarins, white faced saki monkeys, a brown throated three toed sloth, and an Antillean manatee. There is also a mixed species habitat for red backed bearded saki and some toucan. Another area holds giant anteater, toco toucan, boat billed heron, helmeted curassow, and black crowned night heron. Yet another exhibit holds golden lion tamarin, plate billed mountain toucan, an araçari species, and gray winged trumpeter. There's also an exhibit with emperor tamarin, emerald toucanet, and saffron toucanet. A nocturnal exhibit has desert cottontail and burrowing owl. I think that's all, but I might remember another. The Houston Zoo has an exhibit for okapi, Speke's gazelle, and blue crane.
Brookfield Zoo's Tropic World has a number of birds in the three large exhibit areas, and I suppose in the Africa section, it's entirely possible that they can access the gorilla exhibit, which is fenced off from the rest of it. Habitat Africa! The Savannah also has a kopje exhibit in which several species of bird have free-flight, with klipspringers being the token mammal species present. Othereise, while the zoo has multiple aviaries, most of them are restricted to birds.
Toronto is far from innovative when it comes to any mixes but they do keep a couple. First is marabou storks with Grevy's Zebras. Another exhibit has a marabou, a family of southern ground hornbills, and a white headed vulture in with the greater kudu. In the winters the ring tailed lemurs live with the African grey crowned crane pair. In the African pavilion a hammerkop and a von decken's hornbill live in an aviary where they can access the African spotted necked otters exhibit. When the zoo first opened they did try keeping African Penguins with Cape fur seals... let's just say this was a bad idea. The poor penguins hid all day afraid for their lives. Didn't last long.
The Ellen Trout Zoo (Texas) has bay duiker and west African black crowned crane together. I think the cranes can fly, as the enclosure is netted over.
Oregon Zoo has Southern Ground Hornbill housed with Giraffe, Gerenuk , Spekes Gazelle, and I believe Bontebok. They also housed Red Billed Hornbill and Dwarf Mongoose together. Honolulu zoo has Grey Crowned Cranes, Secretary Bird, Great White Pelican, Sacred Ibis, White Stork, and assorted waterfowl housed with Bongo, and previously Addra Gazelle. They also have Golden Lion Tamarin with Grey Winged Trumpeter and Moriche Oriole. And Ostrich with Giraffe, White Rhino, and Zebra.
