Planckendael Planckendael News 2024

Yesterday a new giraffe female arrived from Basel 3 year old Rohaya. Today she was already introduced. Introduction seemed to be going well, I haven't seen her go outside but no conflicts or so.
The bushdog female has arrived the introduction is happening indoors, more info will follow out of a press release.
The orangutans had new educational paneling.
That paneling also stated they're still looking for a gibbon male.
The storks are already returning 54 have arrived as of now. In local news RTV they also did an item due to air tonight.
One of the Visayan warty pigs young has died. I heard a rumor the enclosure will be broken down and the family will be moved behind the scenes.
One of the Red Kangeroos moved away to Beauvall, so one remains.
An Egyptian vulture female arrived.
The black billed stork chick from last year was moved behind the scenes and will leave soonish.

 

I found the mother of Rohaya was called Sophie. But does anyone know who Sophie's parents were?

 

Today the male Matombu was found dead in the building. A shame since he and Rohaya were from separate breeding lines.

 

My god, such a shame. I saw him a couple of days ago and he was fine...

 

Matombu died accidentally from an open hind leg fracture (which are almost always fatal in giraffes), resulting from a very unfortunate kick after he got spooked by the new female.

Giraffenman Matombu overleden door pootbreuk

Very sad indeed, and yet another setback to having a breeding giraffe herd at Planckendael again.

 

Planckendael has started the construction of a new entrance at the side of the current entrance. This new entrance will include a 28 meter tower with bamboo as a structural material, something which has not been done yet at this scale in Europe. During the construction they will temporarily use the old entrance next to the manor house (restaurant Stork) again. Visitors are encouraged to park on parking 2 (the large parking lot connected to the park via a tunnel) for easy access.

ZOO Planckendael start met bouw van nieuwe ingang: “28 meter hoge toren van bamboe is uniek in Europa”

 

Planckendael has received a new male Northern white-cheeked gibbon, 7-year old Nakai from Lyon, France and he is being introduced to their female, 24-year old Paquita, who lived with the orangutans since he partner Paul died in 2022. The introduction, which seems to be going well, is taking place with just the two of them, away from the orangs. Given the young age of the male it will probably be a while before they will breed.

Planckendael stelt voor: Nakai, nieuw vriendje voor witwanggibbon Paquita

 

I'm glad the move did happen. I was starting to doubt if it would.

 

Birth of two more Saharan Dorcas gazelles, one on Christmas 2023 and one in January 2024.

ZOO Planckendael on Instagram: "Weekends zijn voor familiemomenten? In de stal bij de familie dorcasgazellen is het in ieder geval al een gezellige drukte! Vrouwtje Wanaki beviel op kerstavond van haar tweede jong, en nog geen maand later, kreeg ook Wahari haar tweede kleintje. Opvallend genoeg herhaalden beide moeders dit bijzondere moment negen maanden na de geboorte van hun eerste jong. En dat maakt deze mooie recente gezinsfoto! We zijn verheugd dat we op deze manier de reservepopulatie van deze kwetsbare diersoort kunnen ondersteunen. #ZOOsamen #ZOOplanckendael #dorcasgazellen"

 

It was mentioned on the Antwerp and Planckendael members website, and also reported at the Laafsekikkers, that a Somali wild ass stallion is temporarily staying at Planckendael to breed with their three mares. According to the website he is named Ollie and came from a French zoo.

 

Great news, I'm a little surprised since the enclosure isn't build for breeding, especially in the short term. But I'm exited.

 

I visited Planckendael today. Some things I saw:

• The old entrance next to the 1780 castle/manor house is temporarily back in use due to the construction of a new entrance, but differently than it was back in the days. The ticket offices and a temporary gift shop in the castle have been installed in the castle itself, where the restaurant 'Stork' is normally located, this restaurant has been temporarily reduced to a takeaway window. The old ticket office and gift shop building has had some exterior cosmetic updates, but has not been taken into use again. Of the old members service kiosk only the metal roof and supports, without glass, are still present. For the handcart and wheelchair rental service a tent has been put up.
• The entrance building was actively being demolished, the ticket office and members service building and part of the canopy connecting it and the gift shop had already been removed.
• Due to the construction the small parking lot on the side of the park was not in use and only the large parking lot on the other side of the road, connected by a tunnel, was in use. It was however still possible to visit, via a dead-end walkway, the vulture aviary that is normally on the road to the entrance from the large parking lot.
• All of the crown and a large part of the trunk of one the trees at the edge of the Dalmatian pelican pond has broken off and was resting in the pond, I saw several of the pelican sitting on and within the branches, they seem to be liking it (possible nesting area?).
• I saw a pair of Australian maned wood ducks and two chestnut teal drakes in the aviary near the snow leopard and elephant exhibits. They were unsigned at this aviary and still signed for the Australian waterfront aviary, so presumably this is something temporary, although the reason is unclear to me. The maned wood ducks were fairly aggressive towards the northern shovelers that normally reside in the aviary near the snowleopards.
• In the (former?) Visayan warty pig exhibit I saw a large mound of dirt, there was active digging and possible demolition ongoing here. The exhibit has been removed from the map. I do hope the oriental white stork aviary won't be permanently largely not viewable, I hope the small loop that is still present on the map in this zone is an indication for that.
• I saw an unsigned Vietnam pheasant in the pigeon aviary in the orangutan greenhouse, apparently they have (temporarily?) moved there from the demoiselle crane aviary.
• The new male gibbon Nakai and female gibbon Paquita were in the largest indoor exhibit, together with the youngest and smallest orangutan.
• The Children's python terrarium in the Australian terrarium house is temporarily empty.
• Someone was doing behavioral observations in the lemur exhibit.
• I saw a long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) near the bison/wapiti exhibit.
• The first of the old aviaries in the American section now also houses Mexican military macaws, alongside wild turkeys. This species is also still housed in the fourth and lasts aviary in this row.
• Something is being constructed near the entrance of the South American monkey island, based on the presence of a slide it seems it will be a small playground. A few picnic benches were also placed there.

I will post a few photos of the major changes in the gallery.

 

I was at Planckendael again today, so again some updates.

• It seemed to me that the Eurasian griffon vultures have a nest and are sitting on an egg again.
• In the domestic rabbit exhibit new grass turf rolls have been laid. They were also laying grass turf rolls in the former badger exhibit. I don't know nor was it indicated what they are going to do here, but given that the signs for badgers weren't removed I still hope they will get badgers again.
• In the orangutan greenhouse butterflies are present again (Morpho peleides, Heliconius doris, Heliconius sara and Dryas iulia). This experiment didn't go super well last year, so I don't really like them doing this again. I don't think anything has really been changed here.
• The spotted hyenas had another cub a few weeks ago, with some luck it can be spotted in the large den, or even walking around or being dragged around the exhibit.
• In the weaver aviary two green woodhoopoes have been added again. The species was not yet signed. According to the signage however this aviary now also houses Fischer's turacos, but I did not see any.
• A new wooden canopy was placed over the viewing windows for the golden-headed lion tamarin and white-faced saki house. New holes have been made in the visitor side wall of this building to allow the animals to access the outdoor exhibit at this side rather than via the roof as was previously the case. Four new corthen steel feeding structures have also placed on the island.
• As far as wildlife goes: Eurasian wren and Great grey wagtail seen. Also lots of great tits and several European robins. In the pelican exhibit I saw two common moorhens fighting.

 

I don't think it was reported here but according to ZTL the slender-horned gazelle has died. Can anybody confirm? I was surprised to not see it here.

 

Personally hadn't heard about it yet nor saw it reported anywhere. I didn't notice anything about it at the exhibit today, but I didn't really pay attention to the signage.

Certainly sad to lose this species, but with a successful breeding herd of Dorcas gazelles and a bachelor herd of Mhorr gazelles Planckendael still satisfies my love for this kind of ungulate.

 

It's also a surprise to me. I wouldn't have noticed that the animal had died otherwise, as the sign at the enclosure was still there last weekend. Planckendael isn't always the fastest on updating the signage, but it's sad that they didn't make some public announcement of the death of such an iconic animal.

Zootierliste cites a personal e-mail from the park as a source, so it seems that the information they have is trustworthy.

 

I was also at Planckendael today. Only thing I can add is I noticed a Camel had a calf

20/03/2024 Bactrian camel with calf by Perseus6 posted 20 Mar 2024 at 7:25 PM

20/03/2024 Bactrian camel with calf by Perseus6 posted 20 Mar 2024 at 7:25 PM

And I noticed more then 4 Otters in the moat so potential new cubs?

20/03/2024 Asian small claw otters by Perseus6 posted 20 Mar 2024 at 7:25 PM

Last time I saw the Slender horned gazelle was the 5th. Although I haven't visited much.

05/03/2024 Slender horned gazelle and dorcas with fowls by Perseus6 posted 20 Mar 2024 at 7:25 PM

05/03/2024 Slender horned gazelle and dorcas with fowls by Perseus6 posted 20 Mar 2024 at 7:25 PM

 

I didn't see the camel calf, it might not have been outside yet when I was there.

I only saw five otters on March 4th, so I think there has probably been a second litter.

With regards to the gazelle I am now confused, as ZTL lists February 24th as her date of death with the report coming in on March 2nd, but according to your photos she was still there on March 5th?

 

I was going to make the same remark. Maybe the information on Zootierliste isn't right after all and the animal is still alive? It would explain why the signage hasn't been removed and why there hasn't been any official communication from Planckendael.

 

I can try to make an Inquiry. It will take time to confirm if she passed since. However I did spot her on the 5th of March this year.