Hmm that is true! Or they could take a bit of the 3 hectares of elephant enclosure away (0.5 at max) and turn it into a sunbear forest
Now that you've said it it seems very likely I think sloth bears would fit very nicely into a dedicated Indian zone, with gaur, rhino, tiger, macaque, deer and maybe one temple for every Hindu god.
I mean, rumours of Indian rhino and gaur coming to Pairi have been circulating for a while.....I wonder if they would attempt to import actual Bengal tigers...?!
They already have inbred hybrid white freak tigers and Amur tigers, why would they need even more tigers? What would be the point of having just a few pure Bengal tigers on the continent? Then again if they can collect, that has never stopped them before...
If there’s one thing people know about this zoo it’s never say never...Pairi Daiza are the only zoo on the continent that I wouldn’t rule anything out for (platypus, three-toed sloth, anything!)
Exactly! I wouldn't be surprised if they went for river dolphins in their big tropical hall. But that said, there's a lot of reasons not to get them aswell.
Given the 2019 births manatees seems more likely to me. That said, it remains to be seen how dramatic the impact of the current crisis on Pairi Daiza will be. They have already postponed their 2020 opening and likely will have to further postpone it.
Quite possibly the inbred White Tigers were all that was available at the time, or with better knowledge their policy might change to trying to replace them with something like purebred Indians( or Sumatran) if they could get them. This place seems to stop at nothing...they are very fond of achieving 'firsts' too.
The man almost literally swims in cash, but manatees do seem likely. But I know some zoo's that do have the young are trying to grow their manatee herds.
In that case I would hope they would first improve the tiger temple enclosure. While it is not an awful or substandard exhibit, it is not great either. And you are not wrong that we can't really say "that would never happen" with regards to Pairi Daiza... I assume you are referring to Marc Coucke here. He does have a lot of money, but most of the businesses he owns are now closed due to the coronavirus crisis. Presumably there will some financial impact on Pairi Daiza and its projects at some point.
Marc Coucke is the entrepreneur with the big money who co-owns Pairi Daiza, Eric Domb is the park's CEO.
I agree with you that at PD you never know - however I'd not expect major additions of new carnivores before the new tropical hall will be built. From the current rumors I'd imagine gaurs more likely to come than Indian rhinos (at the Temple or Ani) - especially as they had already been officially announced for last year but have been delayed. In addition I've now read several times that for 2021 they plan to bring muskox to the former reindeer enclosure Depending on the geographical scope of their new tropical hall (only South America or also e.g. South-East Asia) I could well imagine that they include also sun-bears. Outside the tropical dome I expect two more 'worlds' to be added: South America and Dessert Within the South America world I'd clearly expect spectacled bears. So mid-term there is a reasonable likelyhood that they might have all 8 bear species at some point in time if they follow my ideas and find a good place for sloth bears... What has already been annouced however is that they will have manatees in the new tropical hall (even with underwater accomondations)...
@Jogy, if they do all of the above for bears I could see them putting sloth bears in the enclosure currently used by Tian Bao...or getting a purpose built area in the Kingdom of Ganesha
The enclosure used for Tian Bao would theoretically fit very well - however I‘d expect the Panda twins to move in there in a year or two before they have to return to China some years later...
Hippopotamus calf born on February 12th. The birth was only announced today, as this week the calf went outside for the first time. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1711591868980865
I still feel that tigers should be conserved in situ and that many zoo visitors aren't bothered about whether tigers are purebred or which subspecies they represent. If more people visit zoos to see white tigers, rather than those with orange coats, does it really matter in a conservation sense? This is especially important as many zoos are suffering financially due to the coronavirus.
No it isn't great. Its worst feature I think is how bare it is, essentially just a grass paddock with a few logs. Some planting- Bamboo clumps, small trees etc would help immensely if they aren't going to replace it anytime soon.
I could imagine the latter might be more likely, complete with artificial termite mounds etc and maybe something else(?) sharing with them.
