Pairi Daiza Pairi Daiza News 2023

11 new gentoo penguins have arrived from Sea Life Billund in Denmark. After a quarantine period they will join the 12 gentoo penguin already sharing the penguin cave in The Land of the Cold with rockhopper and king penguins.

Pairi Daiza NL Facebook Post

 

Once again Paira Daiza have sent one of their Walrus females back to Hamburg to try for a mating with the mature bull Odin. There is just a short (few weeks) breeding window for Walrus, and only at this time of year. They sent the same female last year but she didn't become pregnant that time.

 

Hi,

I am going to Pairi Daiza for the first time later this year and I noticed on Zootierliste, they list 3 different species of Elephant (African, Asain and Javan), is this the case? Are they in the same area, how many Javan do they have? and are they easy to see, or are they off show?

In regards to Bear Cuscus, Tasmanian Devil & Spix Macaw, are these in easy to photo exhibits.

Is there any other rarities to look out for? I'm staying 2 nights and 3 days, so will have time look around the whole site I hope. I'm not into fish, so rare fish are not an interest.

Birds, Rodents and small Carnivores are my main interests.

Many thanks in advance.

 

Please note that the Javan elephant is a form of Asian elephant

 

They definitely have Asian and African elephants. The African elephants can be found in the African zone "The Land of Origins". The Asian and Javan elephants are I presume mixed or at least in adjacent exhibits. They have a large herd of Asian elephants, kept in several groups and several exhibits in The Kingdom of Ganesha and the elephant area behind it.

The bear cuscus are relatively easily viewable and able to be photographed in their exhibit in the Oasis in my opinion.

I have rarely seen the Tasmanian devils, and even more rarely seen them awake.

The Spix's macaws are unfortunately quite hard to photograph, the exhibit is challenging and they usually stay up fairly high in the aviary.

If you have several days I would advise to check out as much areas as you can to find as many of Pairi Daiza's gems as possible, and to return to certain exhibits multiple times to have multiple chances of seeing certain species or seeing them well (I would definitely recommend this for the Spix's and Lear's macaws, and possibly for some of the birds in the Oasis also).

The Chinese viewing corridor in The Middle Kingdom (Chinese area) and nearby areas offer a few rarities such as smooth-coated otter (found next to the Chinese-themed gibbon house), yellow-cheeked gibbon, Chinese goral, Indian hog deer, Père David's deer and François' langur, so that is definitely an area to check out.

With regards to birds I would definitely make sure to spend a fair bit of time in the Oasis greenhouse and the Tropicalia greenhouse (this is the greenhouse near the large cathedral aviary). With regards to rodents the only truly interesting species I can think of are the naked molerats in the crypt under the old abbey tower (which also houses bats). There is also an Alpine marmot/North American porcupine exhibit next to the lobby of The Paddling Bear hotel (only accessible for resort guests). I can't think of anything in terms of small carnivores other than the aforementioned smooth-coated otters and raccoon dogs, which are found in the upper level of The Middle Kingdom.

 

I had a great many questions like yours when I planned my visit to PD in October 2019. I would certainly agree with the advice above from @KevinB. I visited for 2 days, but I managed to see and photograph most of the species that I particularly wanted to. However, with hindsight, I could have used another day very productively. I decided to concentrate entirely on the animals and to resist the temptation to photograph the buildings, planting, geological and ethnological specimens etc: I think that was wise, but I do regret not taking a photo of one huge block of lapis lazuli.
I started planning by studying Zootierliste and watching the recent PD videos on YouTube, but the most useful thing was meeting up with 3 friends (2 are ZooChat regulars) who had visited a couple of months earlier. They were able to tell me where to look for some of my favourite species which were not marked on the map on PD's website (including Siberian white cranes and various parrots). To answer your specific questions: I found the bear cuscus very easy to photograph, the devils needed several visits (after I had got lost twice trying to find them) and the Spix's were decidedly difficult (long lens necessary and monopod recommended) - the Lear's were better behaved. You can judge my results in the Gallery. Good luck!

 

That's surprising to hear considering that the single time I visited PD, I was able to see one of the devils at around 14:00-15:00 patroling/pacing around the enclosure. I was even able to take a picture.

 

It is a bit strange, but I have never seen an awake devil at Pairi Daiza, while the devils that used to live at Planckendael (now deceased) I saw running or walking around quite often.

I guess I probably never visited that exhibit at the right time...

 

I've only visited once and both Devils were active when I went near their exhibit- they weren't a priority having seen them in Australia/Tasmania( and wild also). The Spix Macaws were the hardest thing to photo- next to impossible really and they only seemed to come out at certain intervals. They cling on the mesh very high up whereas the Lear's next door behave like other big macaws and show much better.

 

When I visited in september 2022, the Spix macaws showed well. They were still hard to fotograph due to the mesh of the cage, but could be seen as well as the lear macaws in the next aviary.

 

My visit in September left me with serveral questions about the elephants, maybe someone can help me. Is bull Po Chin always off-show? I checked on google earth, there is no offshow paddock behind the new barn; surely they can`t keep him indoors all the time? Are the 3 females of the Sayang family always off show exept during the bath in the lake? There is a big paddock that looks like an elephant paddock next to the bison paddock (outside the old wall, on the right of the big elephant paddock that is used by the big family group). But this paddock was empty all day when I was there and also when a friend visited recently. Is this ever used for elephants? What was it built for? What are they planning to do with the temple of Ani? It looked very empty with just the two old females Jana and Preya in one paddock and the other one empty.

 

I saw a bull elephant paddock from Pairi Daiza's steam train in September of 2022. Could the bull in this photo perhaps be Po Chin?



I believe the paddocks outside of the abbey wall, except the bison and markhor/black buck areas, are all elephant paddocks, but I do know anything about how they are used and which elephants live where. There is not information about this at the park either. Personally I cannot remember ever seeing elephants in the paddock near the bisons, but I have seen elephants in all other exhibits.

I don't think there are any plans to do anything with the elephant temple other than keeping elephants, in September 2022 I saw elephants in both adjacent paddocks.

 

Thank you! This is Chamundi, the other big bull. He is always in the bull paddock behind the large pasture used by the big family and can be seen from the viewpoint, not just from the train. Po Chin however seems to be always invisible….

 

Po Chin is usually kept with the herd btw unless he's in must and they can't breed with him. No clue where he's kept then. I presume indoor or an enclosure behind the scenes perhaps.

 

Are you sure about that? I visit PD every couple of months and never saw a full grown bull with the herd.

 

2 times I went that was the case. However I'm not so sure. It's more assumption in this case. Since I haven't really spoken with the keepers. But I saw Po Chin twice (I can recognize him) last time was end of December 2021. But I assume since you're a regular you might know more. I'm more familiar with Antwerp and Planckendael.

 

From what I can tell from the translation engine, the new entrance and the egg of life has opened. And the giant pandas will be staying until further notice.

Pairi Daiza stelt nieuwe imposante ingang voor en werkt ook aan waterpark

 

The most interesting other things the articles mentioned is that a new exhibit is under construction for the giant panda twins Bao Mei and Bao Di, and that the park plans to build four more worlds on top of the existing eight (without giving further details, besides a water park being included at some point).

Looking at photos of the new entrance, it all looks really grand and impressive, but I also have somewhat mixed feelings about it.

That said, I am going back to Pairi Daiza's resort later this year and I hope to be able to get some views of this area nonetheless.

 

Are the plans to add four new worlds mentioned in the press for the first time? I know that the sanctuary was already brought up by the press, but has the press mentioned anything about three other worlds before.

The enclosure for the panda twins does seem short sighted in my opinion. Unless the park will breed pandas as soon as the twins are gone

 

With regards to the pandas, apparently the decision was made in consultation with the Chinese breeding program, and from I read they do want to perhaps breed pandas again in 2024.

With regards to the four worlds: it isn't the first they were mentioned, there has been discussion on them for some time, although no complete plans have been officially released. One new world, "The Sanctuary", is currently already under construction. This is a massive multi-hectare tropical greenhouse, which to my knowledge will house mostly South American species and some other tropical species. But I have seen no official communication about a definitive species list.

Two other projects previously discussed (and also already mentioned on signs in the new entrance area) are "The Steppe" (Eurasian plains, presumably) and "The Land of the Rising Sun" (Japanese world).