Female Snow Leopard, Lalia died suddenly this week - a postmortem revealed she had anemia and a heart problem. She had come to Pairi Daiza from Stuttgart back in 2015
Elephant birth last night: Pairi Daiza A lot of keepers present, but also the other elephants were present, which is a step in the right direction The mother is Khaing Hnin Hnin and it is her 7th calf, this time it is a male.
They are onshow inside the Oasis, near to the mouse lemurs But you may need to wait till near the end of the day for them to show up
Really? That surprises me. On my visit earlier this year I counted some 30+ of them within seconds of appearing at their exhibit, which didn't have a whole lot of hiding spots. How many did you see?
The mole rats are in the Crypt - they were one of a few animals on my list I sadly didn’t spot when I visited. I also wish you luck with the dorcopsis (in the Australia aviary) and the echidnas (not hard to see, but they were hidden away asleep in their log by the bear cuscus)
There were a half a dozen or so Lemmings out before midday when I was there. I also failed to see the Dorcopsis, but did catch the Wombat out this time, making up for my previous trip and not seeing them at Duisburg either.
Duisburg is notorious for their wombats not being onshow...it's because they don't use the burrow they have been offered as an indoor space, they just use a self-made one! The dorcopsis are proving to be incredibly difficult to spot it seems...I hope sooty mangabey finds them! I will say this about the wombats at Pairi, their indoor space is incredibly well designed...
Whereabouts are the wombats? I didn't see them today (nor the echidnas) - but in a zoo this size, there were lots of things I couldn't get to on one autumnal day. I did see the lemmings - not a huge number, and they were pretty nervous, but heads poked out from time to time. No sign of the dorcopsis, sadly. And only the naked mole rats.
The wombats are in the temple area up on top of the hill - can’t remember where EXACTLY but I believe they’re near the leopard. The echidnas are right next to the bear cuscus - did you see their enclosure or not at all? Shame about the dorcopsis - it shall continue to evade us all (the blue-legged mantella to Pairi’s Chester?) Were the Palestine mole rats signed? I didn’t see them either when I visited, but they were next door to the naked mole rats.
All those temples start to merge into each other a little.... I'm not sure the echidnas were there - as of today, opposite the bear cuscus (and the mouse deer) were the rufous hornbills, and then, as the path curves round, were armadillos and prairie dogs (each in enclosures which could very easily house echidna....). Palestine mole rats were signed, but nothing was visible in their two exhibits, sadly.
@sooty mangabey Are we going to hear your views on this recent visit or do we have to wait until Spring and the new ZooGrapevine magazine? Also I know this isn't your first visit but since it's gone critical what is your opinion now compared to your last visit? I know you weren't to enamoured with the theming but since the collection has grown can you look past it? Sorry for all the questions, just intrigued to know what you think.
The echidna enclosure is part of the cuscus enclosure they have a sectioned off area right at the front of the enclosure, which could be hidden if there were a lot of people in front of it to be fair.
I think it's been covered quite extensively in Grapevine / IZN, so I don't think the editor would especially welcome another piece on it! So, here, briefly: I think it's a fantastic zoo. It's not how I would develop a zoo if I were spending many millions of euros doing so, but to criticise it for not being the sort of backward-looking, taxonomic collection I would favour would be somewhat unfair, possibly! And given what they are doing, they've done it very well (far, far better than Hannover, for example, I think). It largely lacks the tackiness of some other heavily-themed zoos (some very dodgy evocations of Africa and a desire to squeeze a temple into every free space aside) - although parts of it are, frankly, bonkers (such as the collection of precious stones which are displayed alongside the pandas, for example). I was very impressed by some of the new developments: the Gorilla Volcano is a bit odd, but to have two spacious indoor areas is excellent; the two orang spaces look very good. Nearly 20 elephants, in various groups? Excellent! The Chinese area? Really very attractive. Asian Black Bears? Lots of space, which is good, but until I saw the bears I did think the exhibit was for deer. The African area which was newly opened when I last visited in 2012 has bedded down quite nicely, with the dreadful leopard enclosure no longer used for its original purpose (it is currently housing Clouded Leopards on a temporary basis). The Oasis Tropical House is a bit unsatisfying - a combination of animal house, playground and restaurant, which doesn't really work as any of these (having tables for eating on in a house where there are free-flying birds doesn't seem like such a good idea). There's just about enough quirkiness there, still (some of the species discussed above), but the place as a whole is possibly moving towards being a brilliant ABC zoo, rather than the esoteric bird garden I first visited in the 1990s. In summary: if I could, I'd go back tomorrow, and the next day (and I'm sure I wouldn't be bored). I think it's one of the major European zoos. On a personal level, I definitely prefer Antwerp, and possibly prefer Planckendael, but I suspect that many would see things differently. And anywhere that has a collection of this size, displayed with this much flamboyance, has to be worth seeing!
Ah - yes! That makes sense. Certainly saw this. Certainly didn't see any monotremes in it, sadly. Certainly wondered what it was for, and concluded it might be an area which had been developed but then was not used (no signs for anything, unless I was being very unobservant....).
That was a fantastic summary, very detailed and passionate. I didn't realise you 'd visited in its previous incarnation as a bird park, I honestly thought you first visited after it began to change in to the Behemoth it has become today.
