I haven't been able to find any official confirmation, but according to the French Leszoodanslemonde forum Pairi Daiza will be the first European zoo to show Spix + Lear's macaw. Additionally they should also receive Imperial and Red-necked amazon. This corresponds nicely with the building work in the parrot section. Additionally Pairi Daiza's current vet has worked several years in Al-Wabra before coming back to Belgium. As they are already set to receive Birds of Paradise, these would not be very strange other additions, given the fact that Al-Wabra is stopping the bird programs...
@lintworm the Belgian facebook page "Les Zoos de Belgique" has indeed mentioned the same (just the macaws, not the amazons), where they say the source is the 2018 map of the zoo. I can't find the 2018 map anywhere online, though, so I don't think there is any official statement out yet. It would explain the delay with the birds-of-paradise, that have been announced almost three months ago. It'd make more sense to transport the parrots and birds-of-paradise together, as likely all of those will come either directly from Al Wabra, or from ACTP if they've already been moved. I'm definitely extremely enthousiastic about all of this, it's a lot of very rare birds coming to Belgium all at once!
I downloaded the 2018 map a while ago and can see "New bird demonstrations (birds of prey, macaws...)" is mentioned.
Interesting, but I hope that's not the only source for the rumour! I don't expect it to be though, as it seems there are quite a few details out already...
@lintworm has stated in his Significant Zoos thread that Pairi Daiza will receive Valencia's walrusses.
It was announced on their facebook page today that the Spix's macaw exhibit will be opened tomorrow! Pairi Daiza The facebook post also had a picture showing the location of the exhibit and the basic outlines, and it looks like they'll be in a glass "greenhouse" in between the two gift shops, right by the entrance. I find this a bit of a weird placement since it's an area that always has a lot of people (right by a narrow passageway that connects the entrance and gift shops to the rest of the zoo), and because they have two tropical houses and even a specific parrot area, but it's still a very interesting development. Let's hope the other parrots and birds-of-paradise follow shortly!
This is amazing! Is already known what species of Birds-of-Paradise will be on show? Time to plan a short trip there
Lesser, King, and Magnificent have been mentioned, and there are on-show enclosures for birds-of-paradise in the smaller tropical hall already built, so at least one species will be on-show. I think it's fairly safe to say these species will all be arrivals from Al Wabra (either directly or via ACTP), that had/have 1 male Magnificent bird-of-paradise, around 20 King birds-of-paradise, and around 10 Lesser birds-of-paradise and are moving out all of their important birds for political reasons. The fact that the magnificent would be a single animal makes me hopeful that it will be one of the species going on-show, as breeding wouldn't possible for that species unless they get more. Sant Alessio in Italy should also still have Magnificent birds-of-paradise, but theirs are off-show; I'm hoping a deal can be made!
All from "Les Zoos de Belgique," who went to the conference/presentation this morning; -4 Young Spix's macaws have arrived at Pairi Daiza and are on-show in a glass aviary close to the entrance. -Pairi Daiza has paid at least €3.000.000 (about US$3.500.000) to make this possible, and those were just the expenses from the beginning of the year so that number will definitely still increase. -Lesser and Greater birds-of-paradise have arrived at the zoo! No info on whether or not those are on-show yet, unfortunately (but they weren't yesterday). No word yet on King bird-of-paradise, Magnificent bird-of-paradise, Lear's macaw, and both amazons.
Call me ignorant/stupid/naive but how does PD fund these enclosures and species? I mean the buildings alone must cost a fortune, then there's the panda bill, koalas eucalyptus (I assume it's imported?) and all the normal zoo costs?
In 2016, Marc Coucke purchased 95,14% of Pairi Daiza's shares, and thus practically "owns" the place (with Eric Domb still functioning as the director). Marc Coucke is one of the three richest Belgians because he founded the pharmaceutical company Omega Pharma, and besides Pairi Daiza he's also heavily involved with 3 soccer teams (Lille OSC, KV Oostende and RSC Anderlecht), a cycling team (Quick-Step Floors), and has an estimated net worth of €1.348 billion. They have quite a lot of money to spare!
They have a yearly revenue of 58 million (that was in 2016-17, so will be higher now) and in that period they still made a profit of 1.25 million euros. They have insanely high visitor numbers and they are an expensive park to visit.... Those are values that are 2-3 times as high when compared to other major zoos in Belgium and the Netherlands
Thanks for this guys, if only every zoo had that much money to spare... Interesting how a bird park can become the most expensive zoo in Europe, it's like they have Disney money to play with!
There are pictures of Lesser and Greater Bird of Paradise on leszoosdanslemonde.com so they seem to be on-show...
And if I read correctly, two other species of Birds of Paradise are off-show. The Lears' macaw should be on show as well now, right next to the Spix' macaw...
@Jakub I can't find the pictures you mean on that site... However, someone in the comments on the posts of Les Zoos de Belgique has mentioned that both species have been on-show and visible since yesterday, so it would appear you're right! EDIT: I've found the pictures, was looking in the wrong place. Either way, an update was just posted and it would seem (the language is a bit ambiguous) that Lear's macaws have just gone on show right next to the Spix's macaws as well.
Nope, the ones you refer to are the ones on the "Les Zoos de Belgique" facebook page. The ones Jakub means are posted here (last post on the page) and are taken in Pairi Daiza.
