Sendaviva will start participating at AQUILA a-LIFE, and will for now on be working on the conservation of the Bonelli's eagle in Navarre, contributing to the release of five chicks of said species and even creating a space for them inside the park. The park's statement. I don't know if the park will house this species, but I did see signage showcasing the eagles on my last visit (seen in this photograph). What I can deduce from the screen and the fact that the area isn't suitable to build another aviary, the park might get a pair of eagles and keep them offshow, being able to see the animals from cameras.
The park released its yearly news bulletin, explaining the new stuff you will be able to find when the park opens for next season (Opening the first of April). Animal-related news: The park will showcase new glass-fronted viewing areas for the Iberian wolves and Syrian brown bears. The bears will also receive a new water feature with a small river running down to a bigger pool. The park got two new species for the bird show, the Peregrine falcon and a hornbill. The bulletin says that said hornbill species is a Buceros bicornis, Great Indian hornbill, but I don't know how reliable this is. Does anyone know if this species has ever been used in a bird show? Any information will be greatly appreciated. Four Guanacos (1.3) have also been added to the park's collection. I suspect these will live in the empty exhibit next to the Barbary sheep at the Hervivore's trail. A brand new series of aviaries have been built next to the "Safari Fotografico", being the home for birds of prey that will participate in breeding programs. The bulletin says that the opening day inhabitants of these aviaries will be the Bonelli's eagles, that as I mentioned in the post above, will take part in a breeding program to release chicks into the wild. A new interpretation area for Iberian fauna has been built in the Bosque area. The area will focus mostly on teaching kids about some breeding programs the park takes part in, putting as an example the European minks and Lesser kestrels. It will also have information panels about the Bardenas Reales natural park and the job zoos do with species conservation. They will also open a "clinic" area in which guests will be able to watch the job zookeepers and vets do in a small 15-minute tour. With all sincerity, I'm very happy with this news. The birds of prey conservation aviaries and Iberian fauna interpretation area ideas were very necessary at the park, it clearly lacked the educational approach before these got announced. I'm also glad we got guanacos, but they aren't the most exciting species and I would have preferred a species that could have partaken in a captive breeding program (The park would be perfect to breed some kind of gazelle, scimitar-horned oryx, Arabian oryx,....). I did not expect great hornbills, I'm going to check the park's social media pretty actively to confirm if this is true or a weird misunderstanding of the marketing team. The link to the news: Sendaviva se hace mayor y regresa con novedades para toda la familia - Sendaviva
Avifauna in the Netherlands used to have a great hornbill in their flight show until she died in 2018 (?). Right now they have a pair of Papuan hornbills in their show.
A European otter pup was born today after 10 years of the pair at the park not having bred. This is the 4th pup born at the park. https://twitter.com/i/status/1398912061770395648
New season! (New species, new exhibits, other developments,...) Another year, another season begins in Sendaviva! This 19th season (Going from the 2nd of April to the 13th of November) visitors will be able to enjoy various new developments that have been taking place ever since the park closed last November. As I did last year, I'll focus on the more zoo-centric news coming this year: The ring-tailed lemurs that already resided at the park will be getting a brand new exhibit. The new lemur exhibit will dispose of 2,000 square meters and will be located passing the road right next to the "Plaza de los Exóticos" and the zebra exhibit. The park will now be offering free educational talks mostly involving animals and nature alongside the regular activities displayed at the park. These talks will take place in the new "Nature classroom" in front of the macaw and lovebird aviaries, close to the "Mundo Zooprendente" pavilion. New species at the birds of prey show! This excellent show has welcomed an individual of American kestrel (Falco sparverius). The park has also welcomed a troop of Bolivian squirrel monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis boliviensis), and I'm guessing they will be exhibited in the old lemur exhibit at the "Plaza de los Exóticos". Sendaviva will for now on participate in the EEP of this species. Sendaviva's aviary will for now on be home to new species of waterfowl (Two of which are returning species to the park). The newcomers are the Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata), Red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis), Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula), Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina), and the Smew (Mergellus albellus). These are older news, but at the end of last year (19/11/2021), the park received a male Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra lutra) called Miwan as part of the species EEP from Zoo Rostock. Sendaviva has been participating in this project organized by the EAZA ever since March of 2021. Link. I'm glad the lemurs are getting a new exhibit, the old one they used to have was way too small for the group they had and they didn't have enough space for proper privacy of the animals. I'm also very excited to see the new waterfowl in the aviary, I thought it felt kind of empty in my last visit, and with these new inclusions and the other species we got last year (screamers, hamerkops, hadaba ibises,...) the aviary must be looking splendid as for this year, I'm especially excited for the smews. I also think the squirrel monkeys are a good inclusion. The news can be found at the link over here: Sendaviva regresa en abril y estrena un nuevo recinto de lémures de cola anillada y amplía el ‘Bosque de las Leyendas’
2,500 people evicted from Sendaviva due to the Bardenas fire Firefighters are currently working on a fire that has caused the eviction of 2,500 people who were enjoying the day in Sendaviva. The abundant smoke that reached the area caused the eviction in the first instance, but as time progresses the flames get closer to the park itself. All guests and workers have left the park and no human casualties have happened, the state of the animals living in the park is unknown. The fire, caused by a harvester working in the area, started after 1:30 p.m. near the information center that the Community of Bardenas has in Aguilares. Firefighters came, but the wind caused it to spread rapidly and now there are fears of the dimensions it may take. There are currently three active wildfires at Navarra as for now. The newly inaugurated water slides have been calcinated and the state of the animals is unknown (Which is making me very very worried). I hope we get more news surrounding the animals soon, and I really hope the correct steps are taken and all of them end up in a safe space... Más de 350 guipuzcoanos, evacuados de urgencia del parque Sendaviva por un incendio 2.500 personas desalojadas de Sendaviva por el incendio de Bardenas
Wildfire news: The fire has been controlled at the park and apparently, no animal casualties have happened. Large parts of the park have suffered vast amounts of damage, such as the "Pueblo" area, which has been burnt to a crisp. The smallest animals were quickly retired from the park with the start of the fire, but the largest ones (tigers, bears, zebras, deer,...) have had to spend the whole active time in their exhibits, although the park deemed it was safe due to some safety protocols they had. This was apparently the case since for now, all animals are back in the park. Large amounts of volunteers helped workers and keepers at the zoo to retire all small animals as quickly as possible, which were relocated to the Tudela bullring since the wildfire was expected to reach Arguedas. Los animales de Sendaviva están ya de regreso en el parque con normalidad
The aftermath of the fire: Sadly, the fire has caused some pretty substantial losses for the park. Four Reeves muntjacs, six "titi monkeys" (Cotton-topped or Red-handed tamarins), a Bolivian squirrel monkey, and a Long-tailed chinchilla have passed away due to the stress of this sudden relocation out of the park. The "Bosque" area has been the most affected out of all zones of the park (Being the highest and most forested area of the whole place). Many of the rides in the area have suffered great damage, and both restaurants in the area have been calcinated. The "Pueblo" area has also suffered great damage, with several important buildings such as the Haunted mansion and the Mascot house being burnt to the ground. Luckily, the fire didn't reach the park's entrance building and hostel. Last but not least, the Hervibore trail's fencing has been damaged by the fire too, as well as the nearby lab where educative activities took place at. Otherwise, the rest of the "Lago" and "Aves" area hasn't suffered any damage. The park will return the money of any visitor who visited that Saturday, as well as the ones coming in Saturday and the rest who had future reservations. The park's maintenance service has been visiting the park this Monday to quantify the damage this fire has caused. La muerte de un 1,5% de los animales y las afecciones en las zonas del “Bosque” y el “Pueblo”, principales daños en Sendaviva tras el incendio del sábado
Reopening: Sendaviva will reopen next Friday after the renovations the wildlife caused to the park. This will be a "partial" reopening since the Bosque area will be closed now due to being the most affected zone in the whole place. Most of the infrastructure (rides, restaurants, shops,...) in the Bosque area is still being renovated, making it not an accessible area for guests. With this said, guests will not be able to see Syrian brown bears, Iberian wolves, Northern lynxes, and European minks during their visits. Some very important rides will also have to remain closed during a time, such as the Bobsleigh, the drop tower, and the large zip-line. Due to the loss these closures mean, the entrance fee into the park will be accordingly lowered alongside the loss of animals and rides you can enjoy at the park. It also mentions that "new activities" in the form of a small truck tour to the most damaged areas of the park (aka the Bosque area) to bring awareness to guests of the dangers of wildfires as well as ‘Plantación Sendaviva: Inicio de la vida’ in which guests will be able to plant a tree in a greenhouse dedicated to later on replanting the park's vegetation. El parque Sendaviva abre un mes después de los grandes incendios en Navarra This map showcases what will be opened and what will remain closed via the striped square you can see on the top left. I might try and visit the park to see what has and hasn't changed.
News of the last two years: After the fires back in 2022, the park has been adapting to it's new self with a whole area burnt to the ground and several aspects of what survived also being deeply damaged by the fire. On that, last year didn't have too many zoo-focused news, and I will be covering what's new as for the last two years. The only non-animal related news I feel like highlighting on this post is the fact that the zoo will be taking on a new "theme", focused on the conservation of the planet, and the first step on this whole rethemeing has been the transformation of the "Pueblo" area into a medieval village (for some reason). - The park cut ties with "Fauna y Acción", a company that breeds and trains animals for TV and other hand-on-hand interactions with humans. Some of the animals in the park (Servals, white tigers, dromedaries,...) belonged to said company and are no longer housed within the park. - Last year did not have any birds of prey shows, it was canceled for the whole season. I think this was because of many of the animals participating in it were owned by "Fauna y Acción" and left the collection (Steller's sea eagle, Secretary, African harrier hawk,...). Despite this this season 2024 is going to present a brand new birds of prey show with the species the park already owns, this show has been highly demanded by visitors, it's genuinely a wonderful presentation. Between these birds we can expect 40 different birds of 25 species, in between which we can find the European golden eagle, steppe eagle, black-chested buzzard eagle, Eurasian griffon vulture, Andean condor, marabou, black kite, barn owl, turkey vulture,... A full species list hasn't been showcased but we can expect other species such as cranes, storks, owls,... to make an appearance. - Another species that had to leave because of the contractual finishing of the mentioned company were the white tigers that lived in the park since 2016. Their exhibit is now home to two female Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) called Tundra and Taiga! Very glad to see the park stop keeping (and breeding...) white tigers, this is a very enticing inclusion. The park has made no official announcement but they have a page on their website and you can see pictures of the animals posted in social media. - The servals left to Tierra Rapaz and their exhibit is now home to a group of Common brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus). - A new species spotted in the aviary has been the White-faced whistling duck (Dendrocygna viduata). - What used to be the porcupine exhibit to later house two elderly yellow mongooses is now home to a group of Dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula)! The park used to house this same species in this same enclosure back in 2015 alongside the porcupines, but it wasn't long-lived. The new group seems to have settled in well, the yellow mongooses seem to have left the collection. - A new farm is being constructed where the ox exhibit used to be as part of the new renovations proposed by this new theme and will be opened by summer 2024. Not much is known about what it will contain but I speculate they will get the remnants of the old "Granja" area that are still currently in the "Aves" area (Valais black-necked goats, Hampshire sheep, chicken, guinea pigs,...) and maybe use the free space these will leave to house more birds in the future giving more sense for its namesake. This is just speculation but also a move that would make sense. - Sendaviva is now a temporary member of EAZA. This inclusion will last two years during which the park must carry out a series of changes indicated by the membership and ethics committee, at which time it will opt for full integration. To reach this new milestone for Sendaviva, the park has had to overcome a series of requirements established by EAZA that endorses it as a seal of quality, including achieving adequate development in areas such as animal care, security, contribution to conservation and research and education. In this sense, some of the tasks carried out by the park are involvement in its conservation programs (EEPs), continuous quality management linked to animal welfare or showing a serious commitment to research activities and education, among others. Swapping out white tigers for pure individuals, the recent inclusion to the otter and squirrel monkey EEPs, the "ZooNaGreen" project they made earlier last year alongside some institutions with a good name (UPV, Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi and Universidad de Navarra),... as well as other recent activities seem to be efforts to be accepted into EAZA. - The "Bosque" area that was badly damaged by the wildfires won't open this year either. I'm not sure if they plan to just demolish what was left (which were basically the animal enclosures) and move the animals or if it will open back again in a future, but it's not looking good. This area housed the park's European minks, Syrian brown bears, Iberian wolves and Northern lynxes and the future of the species within the collection is uncertain. The only remnant of the "Bosque" area is the "Safari Fotográfico" exhibit, home to muntjac and various kinds of ground birds, that starts off near the wild boars in the "Lago" area. Given all of the news and the fact that I haven't been to the park since the fire make me wanna visit, so once the new farm is done I might give it a good visit and ask to staff what will happen to the Bosque area, because it has me intrigued. La consejera Esnaola visita Sendaviva para conocer las principales novedades de la nueva temporada Todo preparado en Sendaviva para su apertura el jueves 28 de marzo Fotos de la inauguración de la temporada en el parque Sendaviva de Arguedas Sendaviva, nuevo miembro de EAZA, la Asociación Europea de Zoos y Acuarios TIGRE DE AMUR - Sendaviva. Parque de la Naturaleza.
