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Taipei Zoo Taipei Zoo New Rainforest Exhibit

Discussion in 'Taiwan' started by albertonykus, 2 Sep 2019.

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  1. albertonykus

    albertonykus New Member

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    Hi everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the new rainforest area at the Taipei Zoo, and seeing as this zoo receives relatively sparse coverage on these forums, I thought I'd provide an overview and impressions. Unfortunately, it was raining during my visit (requiring me to fumble with an umbrella) and it was crowded enough that there were staff ushering people along the paths, so I don't have many photos to share.

    There are two main sections to the new area, an outdoor section and an indoor section (the latter is known as the Pangolin Dome). It's generally more convenient to visit the outdoor part first, because it loops back to the entrance of the Pangolin Dome, whereas the exit to the Pangolin Dome takes you elsewhere in the zoo.

    Upon entering, the first outdoor display one is likely to see upon entering is a small exhibit for black-capped squirrel monkeys. Due to the crowds, I didn't view this exhibit up close, so I don't have much recollection of the details.

    Next up is a roofed walkway that includes underwater viewing for tomistoma and painted batagur. Across from them is a glass-fronted exhibit for white-faced capuchins. (The signage called them white-fronted capuchins, but the scientific name and range map provided suggested otherwise, as did the monkeys' overall appearance.) A little further along is a viewing window for the capybara exhibit that visitors will encounter next. Everything after this point is no longer covered by the aforementioned roof.

    Continuing along, there is a small exhibit for Asian small-clawed otters. To me this was probably the most lackluster part of the new area, because the exhibit simply looked too small for such active animals. One can barely seen their pool from the walkway without leaning forward. (It's a big contrast from the Eurasian otter exhibit at the same zoo, which is large and densely planted.)

    The capybara exhibit is much larger and nicer-looking, consisting of a grassy island surrounded by water. Next to this is another island that nominally belongs to a giant anteater, but the capybaras and anteater are able to swim between both islands. According to the zoo's social media, spider monkeys also live on these islands (which have climbing structures for them), but I didn't see any on my trip (and in fact, I don't remember even seeing signs for them).

    Past the giant anteater island, there is a fork in the path. As far as I can tell, there is no way to see both forks without doubling back, though they seem to loop back to the same point. I ended up taking the left fork, which allows visitors to view an island for Malayan tapirs as well as a smaller one for southern tamandua. The tapirs are able to swim to the tamandua island and I also saw at least one capybara there. (Based on overhead photos of the exhibits, it appears that the right fork also provides views of the tapir island but not of the tamandua island, so I may have made the correct choice.)

    After this, visitors can enter the Pangolin Dome (not that there was anything stopping them before). Despite the building's name, the Taipei Zoo's pangolins are not housed in here, but in the Formosan animal area of the zoo. The Pangolin Dome instead got its name from its pangolin-inspired design, and there are also metal pangolin sculptures throughout the exhibition area as a recurring motif. (Some social media posts do seem to indicate that the zoo intends to eventually open a pangolin exhibit in the dome.)

    Most of the dome consists of a walkthrough rainforest exhibit. The free-ranging species that I took note of include Linnaeus's two-toed sloth, cotton-top tamarin, great curassow, great argus, scarlet ibis, and blue-tailed bee-eater. I was fairly impressed by the size, decor, and unique combination of species. The roof of the dome appears to be made of wire mesh, so it is still subject to meteorological phenomena (which is another way of saying that I still needed my umbrella inside).

    Shortly after entering, visitors are taken past a glass-fronted aviary for toco toucans and then a detour into a nocturnal section with reverse lighting, featuring exhibits for fat-tailed dwarf lemur, pygmy slow loris, Azara's night monkey, and aye-aye, most of which were once exhibited at the zoo's nocturnal house (torn down some years ago to make room for the Pangolin Dome). The walkway slopes downward throughout, bringing visitors to the "forest floor".

    Here, there are pens for red-footed and radiated tortoises as well as large aquariums (one with an underwater tunnel) containing a variety of tropical fish. I didn't catch what all the fish species were, but they included arapaima, pacu, Jullien's golden carp, and many types of cichlids.

    The walkway then slopes back upward, taking visitors to the "canopy". This area is likely to provide visitors with good views of many of the free-roaming inhabitants. Shortly before the exit to the walkthrough area, there is a glass-fronted aviary for blue-and-yellow macaws.

    The last bit of the Pangolin Dome includes a cafe and gift shop, as well as an amphibian nursery that exhibits poison-dart frogs at all stages of their development. Upon leaving the building, visitors pass by outdoor islands for siamang and orangutan, then continue onward to the zoo's older rainforest exhibits. (This part of the zoo was once known as the "Asian tropical rainforest area", but appears to have been renamed to "tropical rainforest area" to account for the recent expansion.)

    If I had had the choice, I probably would've waited a few more months for the crowds to die down before visiting. However, I thought that the exhibits themselves were overall nice and well-designed (other than the small-clawed otter exhibit). If you're a zoo aficionado who has been to many large zoos, there are probably only a few (if any) species that you are unlikely to have seen before, but all of them combined made for a quite impressive collection.
     
  2. Brum

    Brum Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Welcome to ZooChat, and thanks for the write-up of a little visited (by ZooChat standards) yet very interesting collection . :)
     
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  3. TZDugong

    TZDugong Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Welcome to Zoochat! What a great first post! Do you happen to have any photos of the Pangolin Dome? It sounds like a very interesting exhibit.
     
  4. albertonykus

    albertonykus New Member

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    I've uploaded the few photos I got from the trip to the forum gallery. As it turns out, I unfortunately only took one picture worth sharing of the interior of the Pangolin Dome (other than the amphibian nursery). This video on the zoo's YouTube channel includes a few shots from the inside of the dome that might be more representative of what it's like.
     
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  5. Bib Fortuna

    Bib Fortuna Well-Known Member

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    @albertonykus.

    Just one question-are the new exhibits for common and pygmy hippos are finished, or do they still live on their old concrete island ?
     
  6. albertonykus

    albertonykus New Member

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    I don't have pictures, but the new hippo exhibits have been completed. There is now an underwater viewing area for the pygmy hippos.
     
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