Haven't read all the threads in this, so I apologise if I'm repeating someone - but they have prairie dogs in with the bison at Whipsnade, on "Bison Hill" - which I know isn't even remotely unusual...but the fact that the prairie dogs appear to be completely unrestrained is quite amusing...they could happily head off across the bedforshire countryside... hehe. Made me chuckle when I saw them.
Ungulata, I think it's more of free-ranging prarie dogs entering the bison enclosure rather than being exhibited with them, but I also think it's a good combination!
When Chester had marmots in what is now the Lechwe enclosure, they managed to tunnel out and into the neighbouring enclosures (the rhinos and the bison). I'm fairly certain Tapirs and Capybaras also used this enclosure at the same time...
Certain animals go well together as in they pose no danger to each other, but there are cases that zoos are very educational, and only put animals together from the same region.
@Ungulata: About the bison-prarie dog combination-can also be observed in f.e. Munich and Vienna Zoo. @dragon(ele)nerd: No offence intended, but could You please stop posting such platitudes? Thanks.
Another one I forgot to mention, which I don't think has been metioned was also at Newquay zoo. They had Long-nosed Potoroo, Prevost's squirral and Civets in the same exhibit.
Re South Lakes enclosure with spectacled bears, brazilian tapirs, otters, agoutis and coatis: I've just been watching the Natural World programme about spec bears which strongly suggested that the bears, previously thought to be almost entirely vegetarian/insectivorous, kill and eat cattle and tapirs (mountain tapirs actually). So to keep them with tapirs would contravene UK zoo regulations prohibiting mixing of predator and prey.
I'm not sure, but I recall reading somewhere that there has been at least one incident at South Lakes involving spec bears & tapirs. Anyone else heard about that?
I have heard it, and as Pygathrix has said there is a thread on it, but I'm unsure whether it has been confirmed. You'll notice on the thread that some members deny it very adamantly, and it only really stands as a rumour. What about other bears and mixed exhibits? I'm sure I read somewhere about a very unusual exhibiting mixing American Black bears, kulan, camels and sheep. That doesn't really make any sense to me! (I found it here: Kulan (Equus hemionus kulan) at Serengetipark Hodenhagen - Photo Gallery) I also know of brown bears mixed with wolves, and brown bears mixed with foxes. Also heard of Sloth bear with macaques, though I seem to think that ended in injury. It seems weird to me that there are so many mixed species exhibits with what essentially is a dangerous carnivore.
A few of those ones you mention are on Zoolex. The sloth bears and rhesus macaques are as well as brown bears and wolves
@Pygathrix & ^Chris^: Thanks. Hodenhagen still has this combination-which seems to work pretty fine due to a quite stable interspecific hierarchy. Zürich Zoo keeps their spec bears together with coati's, and there's at least another zoo with the same combination. Leipzig Zoo keeps their sloth bears together with rhesus macaques. At first, the monkeys were afraid of the bears, but now You can see some of them even ride bear-backs... The combination of brown bears and wolves worked in some institutions; in others, several sometimes even fatal confrontations and chronic stress were observed. And about the question regarding the potential of bear-related conflicts: well, many of the herbivores or primates aren't the friendliest animals on Earth ether (zebras, hippos, many antelope bulls...), yet still You can see them in mixed-species exhibits. It depends on the individual potential to act up...
@ Sun Wukong … Thanks for the info about mixed exhibits with manatees. By the way I have not knowledge of that West African manatees are kept in captivity, I thought such the Caribbean manatee live in zoos currently. About elephants & hyraxes (and the theme connecting with this): I didn’t say that zoos should turn back to display their animals by taxonomy aspects like in many zoos’old days. The elephants & hyrax combination is just an example. What you were mentioned beforehand, for example the Pachyderm House at Tierpark Berlin Friedrichsfelde, is not the same thing we talked about. This theme is collection planning and exhibit concept, but not mixed exhibits. Taxonomyc aspects would be interesting in some cases in mixed-exhibits, so I would not go back the inappropriate display technics. And yes, taxonomy for visitors are not very interesting, but this combination just one example I mentioned. I just emphasize that mixed exhibits should keep species together which not just come from a same habitat (yes, this is the main requirements), but in addition any other connection (like similiraty in any factor, in behaviour, symbiotic connections, etc…) These would be much the same habitat displays that you said is good, but a bit more I think … @ Chris ….Some mixed-exhibits with bear species (I try to write about what had not been mentioned in this thread earlier): Brown bear & Nothern lynx at Salzburg Zoo Brown bear & Wolwerine at Tierpark Dählhölzli, Bern Brown bear & Red fox at Skansen Foundation, Stockholm, at Zoo Ljubljana, and at Dartmoor Zoological Park Brown bear & Arctic fox at Veszprem Zoo (not exist already) Polar bear & Arctic fox at Zoo am Meer, Bremerhaven (earlier at Dublin Zoo and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo) North American black bear & Grey wolf at Woburn Safari Park and Ree Park – Ebeltoft Safari North American black bear & American bison at Safari Parc Peaugres Asiatic black bears & Hanuman Langur at Zoo Ostrava (this just a plan, not exist currently) Sloth bear & Hanuman langur at London Zoo (earlier with Lar gibbon and Muntjac) … but I don’ t know exactly this mixing is work now or not … Sloth bear & Barbary macaque at Safaripark Beekse Bergen, Hilvarenbeek … this exhibit not exist already, because sloth bears killed one macaque in front of the visitors … Sun bear & Binturong at Parc Zoologique de St.-Martin-la-Plaine The Sloth bear & Rhesus macaque combination in Leipzig work well, but they have some problems with environmental enrichment, because macaques are more agile than bears. The Spectacled bear & Coati combination are also tried in Zoo Antwerp and Los Angeles Zoo, not just in Zürich. I put up an interesting link about mixed exhibits (I don’t know you know about this or not). It includes photos about some accidents connecting with mixing, and some example what there were mentioned here beforehand. Here you can see it: http://www.deharpij.nl/downloads/presentaties/Marcdamen.pdf
@Orycteropus: 1.Toba Aquarium has West African Manatees. TOBA AQUARIUM[JAPAN]Introduction of exhibition 2. Currently, both subspecies of the West Indian Manatee (i.e. Carribean AND Florida Manatee) are kept in zoos. 3. In regard to Your passage starting with "About elephants" and ending with "I think"-could You please paraphrase that, as I have difficulties to understand what exactly You want to convey. 4. There are plenty of more examples one could mention, like the Syrian Brown Bear & Korsac Fox mix at Heidelberg or the Kodiak Brown Bears & Arctic Foxes at Gelsenkirchen ZOOM;in addition, the Bear (may it be Brown or American Black)-Wolf combination can be observed in Juraparc (CH), Wisentgehege Springe (D), Bärenpark Worbis (D), the Greater Vancouver Zoo (combi no longer existing) etc. etc. The lynx-bear combination is no longer valid at Salzburg; neither is the combination at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.
Orycteropus, Spectacled Bears with Coati is also found in Chester and Jersey Zoos. In Jersey they also share with Asian Short Clawed Otters (I think that was mentioned previously on this thread) Also the mixing of Sloth Bears and Langurs at London Zoo is now over. The bears were sent to Whipsnade recently and the (very few) Langurs were confined to one of the old mappin bear enclosures on my last visit (May last year) Dartmoor no longer keep bears with the Red foxes either (at least I think they don't)
@ Sun Wukong, please apologize for my earlier reply, I wrote that a bit faster than usual, so probably I was easily misunderstood … About manatees: certainly I believe what you said (that Toba Aquarium has West African manatees), I want to say that I hadn’t have knowledge about this until you wrote that. So thanks for the info … About mixed exhibits with bear species: yes, I know there are lots of mixing with bear species, I just wrote that had not been mentioned in this thread previously…. For example bear & wolf coexisting is a very usual mixing with bears … But, as I wrote I know only one mixed-species exhibit with Sun bears…does anyone know more example? Sorry, what should I paraphrase exactly? Please ask me … @ CZJimmy, yes I forgot the mixed exhibit with Spectacled bears in Jersey, but I know this. And somebody wrote in this thread earlier that they add to Howlers to this combination. Is it true? But I don’t know this combination work in Chester Zoo, so thanks for that (and for the others, too).
*photo taken from Flickr, not my own image... Yes it is true that howler monkeys are in the bear enclosure at Jersey (however I have not seen it in person as I visited in 2005, before the howlers arrived). As far as I know, there have been no serious confrontations between the bears at Chester and the Coati. The Coati tend to stay away from the bear's favourite spots. The zoo must've taken this into account, as they installed climbing logs and branches at either end, whereas the bears stay near the centre, where the waterfalls and pools are.
The Dallas World Aquarium features a spectacular central tank with Caribbean manatees, giant arapaimas, pacus, huge red-tailed catfish and many other fish species. Tamarins, toucans and ****-of-the-rock roam the above-water area of this habitat, and adjacent separate exhibits (linked visually) include Giant Otter, Orinoco Crocodile and Anaconda. Minnesota Zoo mixes Asiatic Tapirs and Binturongs. Woodland Park Zoo's Brown Bear exhibit was designed to also house red fox (there is a "fox bunker" built into one of the large artificial rock formations), but foxes were never introduced into the habitat.
@reduakari: Isn't the Dallas World Aquarium quite notorious for squeezing everything together within size-wise rather limited exhibits? Red-tailed catfish is another species I should have mentioned in regard to fish species kept together with manatees. Shame on me... @Orycteropus: No offence taken. About the paraphrasing part: could You just abstract the bottom line of said passage of Yours?
