I dont think deleting it would help Kevin. He apologized (a little extreme) and learned from that. Best to do know is let it go.
Sadly baby elephant Tarzen, born April 11th (from Phyo Phyo, who was sadly euthanized earlier this month), passed away yesterday evening despite the best care, 24/7, from the keepers. According to the official statement from Planckendael, despite earlier hopeful signs Tarzen suddenly collapses yesterday, fell asleep and never woke up again. Privacy settings With the earlier deaths of Qiyo (May 28th) and Phyo Phyo (June 4th) it is the third elephant death at Planckendael in a month. Together with the lioness escape and shooting and the ensuing criticism and protests (another one was announced for this coming Saturday), it is high time the bad tidings and misery stop for Planckendael and its staff.
In the regional section of Belgian newspaper HLN an interview with Planckendael head elephant keeper Ben Van Dyck was published regarding the tragic events that happened earlier this year regarding the death of three elephants as well as other matters relating to zoo management. At the end of the interview he also discusses new developments at Planckendael. He mentioned the new bonobo building, a development that had already been communicated to the public and which is currently under construction. But he also mentions the upcoming construction of a new building for barbary macaques. That's the first time I've seen that one mentioned. Presumably this development will take place either in the European area (currently by far the weakest) or the African area of Planckendael. Privacy settings
A few recent changes and new additions at Planckendael: - The vulture aviary next to the path that leads from the large parking lot across the street from the park to the entrance has had red-billed choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) added as a new inhabitant recently. This species was formerly displayed at Planckendael in the beaver/waldrapp/owl aviary in the European section and in one of two then-visible aviaries at the bird quarantaine house (now off-show), then kept off-show for years. Nice to see them again. I spotted them flying around, then hanging on to the net at the very top of the aviary. The black kites (Milvus migrans) have been moved to the beaver/owl/waldrapp aviary. - A Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri) piglet was born on July 28th. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=280563316068961 - A new pair of pygmy slow loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus) has arrived, the male from Poznan in Poland, the female from Decin in the Czech republic. They replaced the deceased previous pair in the exhibit in the nocturnal corridor in the Asian greenhouse. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=519635405146427 - Six Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) have been born so far this year. ZOO Planckendael I will try to add some pictures in the gallery as soon as possible.
Yesterday Planckendael announced in clips posted on it's Facebook page that they are expecting two Grévy's zebra foals to be born. One mare, Luisa, is expected to give birth in about a month. Another mare, Nele, is expected to have a foal next spring. It's been five years since the last Grévy's zebra birth at Planckendael so they're looking forward to having foals again. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=282164635728458 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2142281432448551 I hope all goes well. It will be nice to see some zebra foals at Planckendael again.
Here's some developments and changed I noticed at Planckendael when I visited on Saturday 16th, 2019: - A new viewing area, in addition to the already existing viewing areas, is being constructed near the Asian elephant bull pen, not far from the elephant house. It is quite big and looks like a bamboo/wooden house on tall wooden poles. The new viewing area will presumably allow better viewing of the bull pen and possibly another view of part of the herd exhibit also. Construction is progressing and in an advanced phase. - In the Asian greenhouse a few bird signs were removed since my previous visit on January 16th, indicating Planckendael no longer keeps green-naped pheasant pigeons, Palawan peacock-pheasants or Siamese fireback pheasants (or at least no longer displays them in the greenhouse). - The wombat house was renovated - all of the wood on the outside was replaced, which was rather necessary as the old ones were pretty rotten. They also, strangely, placed a bench cut from a log in the exhibit (I don't think a wombat would use bench). - A lot of the white storks have returned from their winter habitat in southern Spain (the birds that migrate to Africa presumably have yet to return). They have already started building their nests again, I saw multiple birds carrying sticks and other nesting material. Their bill-clattering was able to be heard in many places around the park once again. - The aviary behind the toilet building next to the Africa playground is being removed. Possibly this area will soon become the access road to the new bonobo house. - The construction of the new (and very large) bonobo house also continues. A new roof is now being placed on the previously existing bonobo building, which was gutted and will become part of the new house. Besides this not much change from January 16th was visible from the outside that I could see, but presumably the project is progressing. - In the forest area between the giraffe savanna exhibit and the Mountain bongo and scimitar-horned oryx paddocks the construction of the Barbary macaque exhibit (a new species for Planckendael and the first time this area is going to be used for an exhibit) has begun. An area of forest has been cleared and the construction of what presumably will be the Barbary macaque house has started, the foundation could already be seen. I'm not sure what they're going to do with the rest of the forest area to construct the outdoor exhibit, though, but I assume we'll find out soon enough. - A temporary access road was made through the vegetation in between the visitor pathway near the construction site and the big road next to which Planckendael sits for easy access to the construction site. - The viewing and climbing structure for the younger visitors next to the giraffe exhibit was removed. - It seems a connection between the second small anteater yard and the Darwin's rhea/vicuna/pudu exhibit is being constructed. - The Queensland koala joey Tin-Tookie can now be seen outside of Alinga's pouch. EDIT: I'm going to try to upload pictures from this visit in the gallery as soon as I can find the time and (even more importantly) the energy to do so. It might be a while though, I'm not sure I can get it done the coming week.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that the lorikeet walkthrough and feeding area in the Asian greenhouse is currently closed (and has been at least since mid-January). A sign says they are giving the birds some rest as well as introducing new birds to the group. The adventure route started next to the hornbill/argus aviary and ending near the lorikeet aviary was also temporarily closed recently, perhaps in connection to the lorikeet thing.
Two addaxes born at Planckendael, named Uke and Una. Planckendael posted this clip on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1118598374979139
More than 60 (!) white stork nests counted at Planckendael so far. It sounds like it might become a promising year for the storks. ZOO Planckendael
A new male red panda (Ailurus fulgens), 9 months old and named Sumac, arrived at Planckendael from Banham Zoo. It is hoped he will breed with the female already living at Planckendael, Phentok. ZOO Planckendael on Instagram: “Er is een nieuwe rode panda in #ZOOplanckendael. Sumac is 9 maanden oud en komt uit Banham Zoo. Welkom, vriend! #RodePanda” And an update on the stork colony at Planckendael. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=269605907254567
New elephant viewing area opened at Planckendael. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2043516615952602
Pelicans born at Planckendael according to a Facebook post. However from the pictures it not entirely clear to me just how many have hatched and of which of the two species (they keep Dalmatian and great white pelicans in a mixed exhibit). ZOO Planckendael
I'm having a long weekend off, the weather is decent and I had a driver and someone to accompany me, so I choose to make use of the circumstances and visit Planckendael for the first time in a couple of months. Unfortunately a lot of people seemed to be in a similar situation, as the park was really busy - packed with families with small children and with both children and adults at times making a nuisance of themselves, so in that respect the visit wasn't all that pleasant, unfortunately. Given that I usually spend three hours or so at Planckendael and manage to see the park in that time because I've been coming there for years and know the park well, I don't usually buy any food or drinks at Planckendael and on days like this I'm glad about that, because Planckendael's restaurants are totally underdimensioned and not sufficiently equipped to handle days like this. If you visit Planckendael on busy days (weekends in general, holidays, long weekends, summer school holidays et cetera) I can only advise you bring your own lunch or be prepared to wait very long in noisy surroundings. Here's some things I noticed during my visit with regards to more interesting stuff for us: animals and exhibits. - Lots of European white stork nests with chicks. This may well be a pretty successful stork year. - The three young pelicans born this year (two great white pelicans and one Dalmatian) are no longer on the nest, but can still be easily recognized. - For the first time in years I saw one of the short-beaked echidnas active and awake. - The cape porcupines were also really active, which is quite unusual for them. - There is a new Central bearded dragon specimen, noticeably younger and smaller than the one that was previously kept. - Koala Maka has been moved to Zoo Antwerpen. In Planckendael's koala house the two koala exhibits had been connected. - The toilet building near the African section playground was demolished and temporarily (?) replaced by toilet in containers, which unfortunately were very dirty and smelly. - The construction of the new bonobo building seems to be getting into the final phase. The outside of the building is being finished with different materials on different sides of the building. At the northwestern side of the island, near where the toilet building used to be and near the edge of a foresty area, a new elevated walkway is being constructed out of wood, presumably an access road to the new building or a new viewing area of some kind. The moat around the bonobo island itself has been pumped mostly dry (possibly for cleaning purposes?) and there are some ungoing ground works on the island itself. - The new barbary macaque exhibit seems to be nearing completion as wel. On the giraffe side it kind of reminded me of the exhibit at GaiaZoo with corten steel fencing and wood, on the mountain bongo side some kind of Moroccan/North African style building has been constructed. - The callithrichid area was only accessible from the bush dog side, not from the capybara side. - There seemed to be lot more black-faced ibisses in the South American aviary, compared to a few months ago. - There was a sign saying the Humboldt penguin colony is being plagued by aspergillosis, hence why the feeding presentations have been cancelled for the time being and why there will no breeding this year, sadly. - Also in the South American aviary on the flamingo side an area was separated with a low fence, however, I only saw the stilts in this area, which I believe can fly, so I presume it wasn't for them. - The new elephant viewing area has been finished and does give you a new view. However, the bamboo (?) flooring of the lodge seemed a little questionable to me in terms of weight-baring ability and hardiness. - The glossy ibis in the aviary near the Visayan warty pigs seem to be nesting successfully. - The Indian rock python terrarium in the tunnel area in the Asian greenhouse was completely empty and is presumably being renovated.
The new Barbary macaque exhibit at Planckendael, located in the foresty area in between the giraffe savanna exhibit and the antelope paddocks, has been opened. It appears I was only a few days too early with my recent visit. The seven Barbary macaques who have now found a definitive home at Planckendael were rescued from inhumane conditions in an illegal breeding center in Poland, then moved to Stichting AAP in the Netherlands and later to the Natuurhulpcentrum (Nature Aid Center) in Opglabbeek (Oudsbergen, Limburg, Flanders). Below are an article from a Flemish newspaper and a clip Planckendael posted with the curator of mammals giving information about the animals and the exhibit. Familie geredde berberapen vindt onderdak in Planckendael ZOO Planckendael on Twitter
Pretty much, from what I saw last Friday and in the clip (admittedly without seeing the exhibit itself) the Moroccan-style buildings and garden seem to take up a fair amount of space. That said, some of the trees that made up the foresty area do seem to have remained. Which wouldn't be that bad as the natural habitat of the Barbary macaque certainly isn't all barren rocks and desert but does also contain trees.
The new bonobo building at Planckendael has been finished and the animals have moved to their new home. They are however still getting used to their surroundings and so the opening of the exhibit to the public has been postponed until they deem the animals to be comfortable enough. There is no set date but it seems they hope to open the new exhibit somewhere later this month. Bonobo’s Planckendael nog niet klaar, bezoekers krijgen ‘terugkomticket’
