Does anyone have pics of the the ship when it was the elephant barn? Having a tough time finding some.
If I am not mistaken the indoor housing for the elephants inside the Mersus Emergo ship (and also that of the hippos that also once lived next to it) was never publicly viewable, so I doubt anyone has any images of those (and if they did they wouldn't really be allowed to post them according to site rules). I might have some photos of the outdoor exhibits, but I am not certain and would have to check.
I have posted three pictures of the Asian elephant paddock next to the Mersus Emergo that I was able to track down among my pictures from 2009 (when Pairi Daiza was still named Parc Paradisio) and 2012, along with some other old stuff, such as pictures of Pairi Daiza's first hippopotamus exhibit that was found next to the elephant paddock. Old photo - Asian elephant next to Mersus Emergo, 2012 by KevinB posted 4 Sep 2020 at 2:05 PM Old photo - Asian elephant paddock next to Mersus Emergo, 2012 by KevinB posted 4 Sep 2020 at 2:05 PM Old photo - Asian elephant paddock next to Mersus Emergo, 2009 by KevinB posted 4 Sep 2020 at 2:05 PM I do not have any images from behind the scenes. As far as I'm aware Pairi Daiza doesn't do behind the scenes tours and has never done those. This elephant paddock didn't exist for that many years, and the elephants now live in different exhibits. Behind the elephant paddock there was also an hippopotamus exhibit (which I also posted pictures of in the gallery), but the hippos have also since moved to a newer exhibit. At this location two walk-through monkey islands, one with squirrel monkeys and one with black howler monkeys, can now be found.
Earlier this week, on Wednesday and Thursday September 2nd and 3rd, I spent two days at Pairi Daiza with a stay in Pairi Daiza's resort. For my more general thoughts on the stay in the resort and the visit I will be reviving and re-using the thread that was made for my thoughts on last year's visit, as those things are not something that belongs in a news thread. Here I will be keeping myself to discussing and commenting on developments relating to animals and exhibits. I do not wish to further cloud threads up with too much stuff related to Covid-19, but I have to say something about it. There was extensive signage at the park and quite a few one-way traffic areas. Face masks were required in all covered and indoor areas and in some outdoor areas, and strongly recommended in the entire park. Stewards/security kept watch in some areas and regulated entry into some indoor areas such a the aquarium and the Mersus Emergo reptile house ship. Personally I found that one-way traffic and face mask wearing were generally well observed, but social distancing and maintaining the 1.5 meter safety distance were not always observed quite as well. With regards to indoor areas not letting too many people in to maintain social distancing was done far better in the aquarium than in the Mersus Emergo. And that is about all I wish to say with regards to Covid-19. In "The Last Frontier" the Steller's sea lion exhibit was divided into two sections. On one side was the mother with the pup born earlier this year, on the other side the male with the other female. I saw the pup well both above and below the water. The wapitis are no longer in "The Last Frontier", where they used to share an exhibit with moose. They were now in "The Land of the Cold", in the back part of the first exhibit in that section. The front part of the exhibit seemed empty. I have seen this exhibit described elsewhere as the future musk ox exhibit. I liked the new area "The Land of the Cold" that opened earlier this year quite a lot. The dark wooden buildings are pretty nice and I liked most of the exhibits also. The Amur tiger and polar bear exhibits are rather good I think. I was impressed at the size of the polar bear pool. The only exhibit I did not like was the walrus exhibit. The largest underwater viewing area looks rather impressive, but the second underwater viewing area and the land area I found far less impressive. In fact I found the walrus exhibit to be looking pretty small and ugly. Both times I visited "The Land of the Cold" I saw one of the female polar bears and the male walrus on either side of the large window between the pools of both exhibits. So it seems to be they spend quite a lot of time in that area. I am not entirely sure what to think about these visual interactions between the two species and whether I should find the clear window between the exhibits a good idea or not. Given that they seem to do it regularly one could perhaps assume the interaction to not be negative, but I still think it could be a source of stress. If anyone has any ideas or perspectives on this, please let me know. It seemed to me that the great white pelican group in the pygmy hippopotamus/pelican exhibit next to the Mersus Emergo was substantially larger than it was last year. I also noticed that there were great white pelicans in several other exhibits: one in the Père David's deer and crane exhibit in the Chinese area, one in the giraffe/Ankole-Watusi cattle/Ostrich paddock and five on the lake with the Russian restaurant and the pontoon terrace. The walk-through raptor aviary was closed. According to signage it was closed because of nesting activity of the secretary birds. The signage also said that for that same reason they were doing less maintenance, causing the aviary to be untidier and dirtier than usual. There was indeed much more visible poop in the aviary as well as on the walkway and signage in the visitor area underneath the aviary. The signage was in fact pretty much caked with fecal matter. I noticed that there were individuals or pairs of several other species in the saddle-billed stork aviary in the raptor area: American black vultures, hooded vultures, white-necked ravens, a southern ground hornbill and a king vulture. All of these were unsigned, so perhaps they were only moved here temporarily. Several of the buildings and structures in The Middle Kingdom (Chinese section) showed substantial wear and damage and seem to be in a somewhat poor state of repair and maintenance. This a bit of a blight on the park's beauty and image and I hope it will be addressed as soon as possible. The pool in the Australian aviary that was once labeled as the future little penguin exhibit now holds a large group of yellow-bellied and some red-eared slider turtles. In the Oasis there was an exhibit that was not there yet in October of last year, housing an adult female and a sub-adult black howler monkey. I don't know why they are housed separately from the group on the island next to the Mersus Emergo. Next to the howler monkey exhibit was a second, smaller new exhibit housing cotton-top tamarins (previously housed elsewhere in the Oasis). In the Oasis the walkway in the lower area, where the hummingbirds and chinchillas are housed, was closed (or in any case I failed to find the designated entrance). Northern Luzon cloud rats are now housed in the Oasis, near the bear cuscus exhibit. The Saint-Vincent's amazons in the Oasis were off show. Signage said they were moved behind the scenes as they are nesting and hoped to soon produce offspring. Instead a pair of blue-headed macaws was on display in this aviary. I am really not a big fan of the small temple enrichment structures that have been placed in the Asian elephant and American bison exhibits. I find them quite ugly and they don't really improve the quality of the exhibits much, if at all. A titan arum or corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum), on loan from the national botanic garden at Meise, was near-flowering in the tropical hall housing the birds-of-paradise. The flower I saw was very close to opening, but luckily was not yet spreading its foul rotten odor. Still a very impressive sight though. I am open to thoughts and discussion of my comments and for additional information.
A male Tajik markhor has arrived at Pairi Daiza from Wilhelma Stuttgart. He will join the two females in the territory near the train track and the American bisons. The markhors can be seen best from the train and can only be seen at a long distance from the walking area, as I noticed during my recent visit. Security Check Required
Maybe two months ago now, or thereabouts? Much better species for the enclosure, but even so it's too small.
I looked it up. The first message I saw about the smooth-coated otter on social media appeared on July 3rd. Pairi Daiza first announced the arrival on their Facebook page on July 5th. There was just one individual left, and according to Zootierliste he moved to the Parc Animalier des Pyrénées (Argeles Gazost, France). I think the exhibit is adequate, but it is not a great exhibit. If I am not mistaken smooth-coated otters are about the same size as Eurasian otters and I have definitely seen larger and structurally better exhibits for that species. Personally I would have preferred for the exhibit to be netted to house waterfowl, such as diving duck species.
In recent FB video, there are 5 tigers visible, 3 arrived from Czechia, does anyone know the origin of the other 2?
The Amur timer exhibit in The Land of the Cold is a decent size, but five tigers seems like a lot for a solitary species in that space, even considering the exhibit does offer opportunities for the animals to get away from each other. Although in the video they seem to be getting along pretty well.
Roughly 1 week ago both red pandas had their first medical checks and it turned out both panda's are male. https://www.instagram.com/p/CGCA_iKIWba/
I know they are two sets of siblings - 3 & 2. Perhaps more tolerant in that situation in familial groups. My guess is there will be some reduction/rearrangement perhaps as they mature.
According to Pairi Daiza FB a giant anteater has been born some weeks ago - so far its sex is not yet known. Log into Facebook | Facebook
Two Sumatran Orang-utan births are expected at Pairi Daiza in the coming months. Sari is due around the end of 2020, Sinta is due in April of 2021. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=976661446153838
