I personally really dislike the current trend in zoos for mixing large predators with smaller animals.
2016 now and still at it. Hoping to be ready for Bears soon. We have spent a lot of time installing water harvesting for the bears stream and pond. I would like to say that I find reading much of the constructive criticism on zoo chat very helpful. Please keep posting on our shortfalls so that I can make improvements. As zoo’s go we are still very new and can only build step on step. Starting with barns and fields and limited budgets obviously resulted in some lack of gloss. Everybody wants to grow and improve and hopefully the majority of visitors can see that is what we are doing. It is nice to be given a little more space and larger budgets for new projects like the bears but I personally get a lot of satisfaction from upgrading some of the more budget enclosures. Although it will never get any publicity we have spent a lot of time and money on infrastructure and environmental projects that will make life easier for keepers and help us to further improve animal welfare. In short it’s not been easy so far and I’m not expecting it to be in the future but I for one want to build a first class zoo and I think the Bear enclosure will be another contributing step.
Coatis are very hard on enclosures, both as diggers and denuders of vegetation. Maybe NA should take that into account in mixing them with the Bears if they want an attractive or planted exhibit to last longterm. Like Chlidonias I am not really a fan of these mixed exhibits. These species would not meet at close quarters like this in the wild- if at all. At best I think they tolerate each other, at worst, accidents can occur.
In agreement about the look of the present coati enclosure but it was put up quickly to accommodate and give them more space and exercise. It has had it's share of problems but was far better for the coatis than there original accommodation. As I understand it the thinking is given enough space there will be lass noticeable wear and tare on the enclosure. (But the little ... darlings do like there digging)
That is true of course. I believe Chester have(or did have) Coatis in with their SB's and their enclosure is pretty large- I'm not sure how well it has withstood Coati usage overall though.
Facebook and local media have announced the arrival of the bears who received a prayer of dedication.
It seems the bears have settled in well: "We have now officially welcomed Spectacled Bears, Sonco and Tupa to our new exhibit, Andean Adventure. We are pleased to say that the two brothers have settled in very well after their journey from Frankfurt Zoo, Germany, and are enjoying the fantastic facilities Andean Adventure has to offer. With a running stream, climbing frames, trees and caves, the two acre enclosure provides plenty of stimulation needed to keep these bears entertained."
As Tupa and Sonco were moved to Vienna this week, I'd like to know (for an article on my blog), were they mixed with coatis and the monkeys at Noah's Ark during they stay in England? DId that work without problems?
There were no monkeys, but South American Coatis did indeed share with the Spectacled Bears. There was a large separation enclosure attached, with small gates in place so that the coatis could access both should need be, but the bears could only access one. This is often done when smaller species share with larger, more aggressive ones, to give them space to escape if need be. To my knowledge, there were no problems, and its a decently common mix, with Zoo Zurich in Switzerland also mixing them.
