Mixed species enclosures and other changes for Burgers Zoo

Hi there, I'm currently busy with a project to improve burgers zoo in the Netherlands. (Though I'm not associated).

I was wondering about some animals in shared species enclosures,and weather they're possible or not, I'm just going to post a list of animals that I was curious about

Australian lizards?
For the outback region I'm creating a cave system with australian reptiles, but I was wondering which ones can be kept together, or even kept together with other species (Echidnas, Cuscus')

Koala and wombat?
Not much to add, just curious if they'd mix

Eurasian bison?
For the European region I was planning a mixed enclosure for the Wisent, together with the fallow deer and the wild boar. But I have no idea if these animals can actually live together safely. They will have an enclosure of both forest and heather plains, so maybe the deer and boar would keep to the forest area while the wisent would spend it's time on the plains, and they'd avoid each other. But I'm not sure of this.

European crayfish?
Again for the European region, I planned a swampy walkover enclosure, where you'd walk over a bridge over a creek with european crayfish, freshwater crabs, and smaller fish. Have crayfish (European or American) been kept with freshwater crabs or smaller fish, or would the crayfish quickly thin out the fish numbers?

European eel?
I can't seem to find any information on shared enclosures with them, maybe because they're don't share many enclosures with other species. What European freshwater fish could go along with them? Are they even kept in freshwater tanks? I know they travel to sea to grow up, but adults live out the large portion of their life in fresh water, right?

Pangolin?
I know that pangolins are very hard to keep in captivity, and I honestly don't expect them to take this one. But out of pure curiosity, could a white-bellied pangolin share an enclosure with an aardvark and/or a potto?

Anteaters?
I know that both anteaters and tamanduas can be aggresive sometimes. I had an enclosure planning with multiple nocturnal South American animals, but I'm not sure if they can live together. Most of the animals seem peaceful, but I'm still not sure if they can be kept together. The list currently consists of the Giant anteater, the Southern tamandua, theTwo-toed sloth, a currently undetermined armadillo, the Nutria, the Agouti, two night monkey species, and finally the Lowland paca. Could any of these animals cause problems? Both for each other, and for a walkthrough enclosure (With a mildly raised bridge)?

Madagascar animals?
For the Madagascar house I put a few animals together, the greater hedgehog tenrec, the highland streaked tenrec, and the giant day gecko. The aye-aye and the malagsy giant rat. And the
Achrioptera fallax (large stick insect) with the Seychelles giant millipede. The aye-aye has been mixed with the giant rat before, and the gecko and tenrec too (Though I don't know what species of tenrec). Do these animals mix? (Not all of them, just the mixes I specified)

I know it's a bit of a list, but these are the only animals I couldn't find much information on

 

1. Cuscus occasionally eat small reptiles so that's out of the question. However, echidnas only eat insects so they can be mixed with reptiles. Some reptiles aren't compatible with these mammals. Saltwater crocodiles and monitor lizards are carnivorous so that wouldn't work. I would say that maybe a small/nonvenomous snake or small or medium lizard could mix fine with an echidna

2. I could see this working. Koalas have been mixed with other small ground-dwelling marsupials before such as wallabies at the San Diego Zoo.

3. Bison are pretty territorial and have been known to kill deer and other animals who stray too close. Same thing for wildboars. For the safety of these three animals, I think it's best to keep them all separated.

4. Crayfish and crabs are both territorial and can eat each other when their soft flesh is exposed after molting. Fish can be mixed with either one of these species, but try to avoid bottom-dwelling fish.

5 I honestly have no idea about what fish can be housed with European eels, since I'm no expert on fish. Maybe salmon or trout? I do know that putting small fish or crabs in their tank is a bad idea.

6. I think aardvarks, pangolins, and pottos could be kept in the same exhibit since the first two eat only insects, and pottos mainly eat fruit.

7. I think all these animals could go together, but I'm not completely sure about the tamandua and the night monkeys. Tamanduas are territorial and might attack the other animals. The night monkeys could potentially stress out the sloth.

8. Firstly, I don't think the two tenrecs can be housed together. Greater Hedgehog Tenrecs occasionally eat small animals, and could create a threat for the baby Highland Streaked Tenrecs and the gecko. The Highland Streaked Tenrec and the gecko should be fine. The Aye-Aye should be fine with the rat, as they are insectivores. The stick insect should be fine with the millipede. Millipedes don't eat insects but instead, decaying plants.

Hope I helped!

 

I think it should work, if fallow deers and boars have a separate exhibit and they can go through to the wisent enclosure.

 

Echidnas and reptiles, namely blue tongues, bearded dragons and shinglebacks can be mixed, and are so in several collections.

I doubt wombats and koalas would work together, wombats would likely bulldoze and crush a koala.

 

for the crayfish, crabs would be a bad idea, but surface-dwelling fish could work, assuming they are too big for the crayfish to go after and too small to go after the crayfish. there is still always a chance the crays might go after fish, especially at night. to be 100% safe, crayfish are best kept singly by themselves

for the european eels, i imagine they could cohab with similarly-sized fish

for the aussie reptiles, i know that the Cairns Aquarium cohabs blue-tongued skinks and frillneck lizards (among other reptiles), but i dont know all that much about reptiles so idk if that's a good idea

 

• The wombat and koalas could work as koalas spend most of their time in trees
• the pangolins could work with aardvarks as both are very docile but the stress of another animal being around could affect the pangolin
• I don't have much knowledge of freshwater eels or their temperament but I do know with moray eels you don't want any fish that could fit in the mouth of the eel. You also want to avoid any territorial animals that could provoke the eel. But I don't know how similar freshwater and morays are, but I assume freshwater eels aren't as deadly and aggressive as moray eels
• Agouti, Paca, Armadillo, and maybe nutria (Ground mix) should be fine together so an exhibit with just those would be possible. That being said an exhibit with just those animals would need a large body of water for the paca and Nutria. That exhibit could also be walkthrough but I would not suggest a walkthrough with any of the other animals. Night monkeys, sloths, and tamandua wouldn't have the best relationship with each other and could end up on the path with people and could be potentially harmed. The monkeys could also steal from people bringing foreign objects into the exhibit. Anteaters are larger compared to the rest of the land animals and could pose a threat. They could also get onto the path as they are good climbers. So here are some possible combinations that could work: the ground mix and tamandua and sloth or night monkey and tamandua or just one of the three; just the ground mix; the anteater and either the sloth or night monkey; or you could attempt to mix the anteaters with the smaller ground mix but I don't know how well that would go. What I would do is split your list in half with two exhibits carved out by an elevated walkway so it would build the idea of two exhibits when really they are separate. One exhibit would have the Nutria, Paca, Giant Anteater, and Sloth (Also a large water feature as all animals in the exhibit have been observed to swim); the other would include the Agouti, Armadillo, Night Monkey, and Tamandua (No water Feature needed for this one).
• Aye Aye and the Giant Rat should be fine as I know the Aye Aye is docile and I don't think the Giant Rat is too aggressive. The Stick Bug and the Millipede should go well together as those two are the same size and so they shouldn't eat each other. I would worry more about the two tenrecs than the tenrecs and the day geckos as I doubt they would have any problems. I have never seen two tenrecs in a mix together and someone above me mentioned the Hedgehog eats smaller animals so I wouldn't suggest mixing it with the other tenrec, the only threat the hedgehog could pose to the gecko is stress as the gecko could avoid getting eaten but the stress could be too much.
• I don't know much about reptile combos but from what I have seen at different zoos I would try to stick to these guidelines: don't mix venomous or poisonous, The mix should be around the same size to avoid predation, and all territorial or aggressive reptiles should not be mixed. Also, try to keep the mix low as two many animals could cause distress amongst the exhibit members.
• This is pretty much all I've got

 

Do you know of any European animals that could go together with either the fallow deer or wild boars?

 

Do you maybe know if giant anteaters could go together with lowland tapirs? They have a seperate exhibit and maybe they could be mixed

 

While I have never seen a mix like this before I believe it could happen as tapirs have mixed well with smaller mammals before and I doubt the Anteaters would go against the tapirs

 

Boars are usually a bad idea for mixed species but fallow deer should mix well with other deer species or anything else the bucks don't consider aggressive or a threat but always keep in mind deer are easily spooked/aggravated.

 

Well, I did find this:
"The Giant Anteater has joined a mixed species exhibit, Viva South America, alongside Brazilian Tapirs, Capybara and Mara. Whilst Giant Anteaters are solitary mammals originating from Central and South America and happy to live by themselves, the Viva enclosure allows species to have separate indoor and outdoor areas."
- Drusillas Zoo Animal Manager, Mark Kenward, about the moving of their giant anteater to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, Bristol, UK

 

Do you maybe have any suggestions? Red deer or roe deer are an obvious choice, but are there any others?

 

Artis keeps giant anteaters in a mixed enclosure with not only lowland tapirs (at a certain point 4), mara's and capybara's but also lama's and southern screamers (Chauna torquata). In the past they were also kept together with vicuñas and greater rheas.

 

Thanks! That's at least two zoos that keep them together, rhea's and lama's are day-active, so they wouldn't work in the night house. Just the tapir and anteater for this one

 

Good point, I forgot about the night house part...

 

Ya those are two obvious choices some others would be a possible fox mix which I heard about in the carnivore mixes forum or an Ibex like the Iberian Ibex, or the Eurasian Beaver and have river flow through the exhibit or some vultures (obviously with clipped wings). Pretty much smaller mammals, other hoofed mammals, or birds

 

This is a great example

One other animal that is DEFINITELY compatible with all of these animals is the capybara

 

They already have a capybara exhibit in the bush, I've already taken the aardvark out of the bush, wouldn't want tot empty it completely

 

How about a mouflon? Appearently they live on the veluwe too (The veluwe is a nature reserve that borders Burger's zoo, it's what the Wild boar / Fallow deer enclosure is based on)

 

a Mouflon could work just be careful when combining the rams and bucks as territorial issues could arise