On my visit in 2016 both exhibits were definitely signed to have pangolins... Zootierliste doesn't have any porcupines besides Cape porcupine listed for Leipzig. I'd imagine Philippine porcupines or (African) Brush-tailed porcupines are more likely for that exhibit, and more readily confusable with Long-tailed porcupine? Either species would be interesting!
The two enclosures were combined back in September with the pangolin pair having access to both sides at all times. ~Thylo
Then I must be confused with another zoo that had porcupines in a basement, although clearly not next to pangolins!
Day 1: Monkeying around in Magdeburg Species from @TeaLovingDave list of "hidden gems" seen: 2/5 Quotes of the day: "Guys did you noticed any dirty glass throughout the day? Because I didn't." "Come on, do your twisted tails pose." Technically, the first day was our travel to Leipzig where we were accommodated, but as there wasn't anything zoo related to report, I will count as the first day our Magdeburg visit. From the original plan there was only one change made: We added the fourth member to our group of three zookeepers and with him, although not a zookeeper but a long time private keeper of various reptiles and invertebrates, our group became even more diverse and his knowledge in these areas was really helpful throughout the trip. We arrived in Magdeburg just a few minutes after opening time, with the plan in mind that if we'll have some time to spare, we'll do the Schoenebeck zoo as well. If only we knew... Quick zootierliste search, the previous day showed that we were in for a treat, and the zoo really delivered. After going through the entrance building with meerkat exhibit, which was sort of impressive in its own way - Meerkat will always be the "meh" species but the exhibit was spacious, nicely decorated a covered all the needs meerkat could have more than enough. From there we headed to the left part of the zoo. We got just a glimpse of a tufted deer, hiding in the back of his exhibit. So the first animal to properly "greet" us was a really friendly Swinhoe's squirrel in the aviary next to them, living there with a pair of Temminck's tragopan and Pallas's squirrel. Around the empty Tiger and Snow leopard exhibits, we came to not-so surprisingly empty Marbled polecat and Bobak marmot enclosures. The first thing we really didn't like was the Bush dog exhibit where we were surprised that the dogs aren't roaming free around the zoo at this point, we came to the first (at least for us) real highlight of the trip - The Tapir house. We really liked the concept of this house, with the dominant big species being joined by a group of smaller species either sharing the exhibit with it or having its own exhibit in the house, a concept that is being used by every other zoo, but the way Magdeburg executed that, had something really pleasing. Even though 2 of 3 South American tapirs living there, were probably the two prettiest animals of this species I've ever seen, the biggest hit in the house was a pair of Red titi monkey. The hunt to see them displaying the "sitting together with tails twisted" pose, became our main goal for the rest of the day, but we remained unsuccessful Another highlight could come soon after titis, but the Black-tailed marmoset, didn't bother to show outside whole day. The biggest downside Magdeburg has is that there isn't one route around some parts of the zoo and you have to zig-zag around for bit. So after zigging around Red flanked variegated squirrel and zagging through Australian aviary, where you can feed the parrots with millet (although it didn't really work for us), we finally get to Chimpanzee house. That was the first moment throughout the trip when our jaws dropped. It's probably just because of our limited experience but live grass in the inside enclosure? A group with more animals then 5-6? We never saw something like that before...and that was the moment we knew, that we certainly won't make it to Schoenebeck We spent almost unhealthy part of the day looking at the efforts of the group to become first completely hairless Chimp group in the world and other behavior. The next interesting thing for us was the design of the Ape house, especially Mandrill exhibit. If I exaggerate a bit, I can say that we almost got lost there, but it was really nice to see Mandrills running everywhere around you, and especially the younger ones were really interested in us. Then we got to the new-ish African complex with Sand cat enclosure which looked like it's walkthrough but the doors were locked so we really couldn't look at it closer, Walk-in aviary with Weavers and Crowned lapwing, but without the Francolin, even though he was signed and African wild dog exhibit, which seemed way to open for me. The main part of the complex is obviously the African elephant house. Outter enclosure is awesome and inner part is pretty good as well, but what I didn't like is how uninviting the entrance look. When you are coming from the wild dog side, it looks more like you are going to the keepers' area, rather than pavilion. Inside the house there are also free flying birds - Hamerkop, African openbill and Western cattle egret. There is also exhibit for Smith's bush squirrel and White-throated monitor. The last thing that stood out for me. was the Black rhino house. As I've stated before, the way Magdeburg had the animal houses set-up was really likable for me. Also the design of the houses was pretty neat, with the right amount of mock rock to create a nice immersion. The only odd thing here was the Black lemur exhibit, although well-designed, it just didn't felt right to me with the rhinos, even though I don't really need to have all exhibits sorted strictly geographically. These were probably all the highlights from our Magdeburg trip. I could write about much more things but I want to keep these readable. (I wonder how I'll cope with it in the Leipzig report ) All in all, I think it was good zoo for the start of our zootrip, similar in many ways to some Czech zoos, but different enough in other aspects. One of the biggest was that the windows in exhibits were ACTUALLY CLEAN. WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?! WE ARE NOT USED TO IT HERE!
Glad you enjoyed yourself although you didn't mention visiting the Giraffe House at all, I am guessing that you saw the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater given the fact that you mentioned missing the Bobak Marmot, Francolin and Marbled Polecat, and hence this along with the Variegated Squirrel will be the two gems you picked up. Incidentally, these are the two gems I myself missed during my recent Sept 2018 visit You may well recall that Helly and myself remarked to you, as we made our way around Jihlava with you in 2017, that it rather reminded us of Magdeburg
We certainly did! Yeah, I just wanted to add the post about which gems we actually saw, just in case it's not clear from text. Next time it will be included directly in the report. So, the Magdeburg gems: Blue-cheeked bee-eater - seen Double-spurred Francolin - signed but not seen (Which is odd given the fact that there is nowhere to hide in that aviary.) Red flanked variegated squirrel - seen Bobak marmot - not seen Marbled Polecat - not seen
We only just about saw it by leaning over whilst more or less laid on the ground and looking into the house through the door - it was curled up directly under the wooden shelf next to the viewing window and as such was not visible otherwise.
The experience of seeing a full chimpanzee troop for the first time is indeed a powerful one. They instantly become a far more attractive species.
As @TeaLovingDave mentioned, we missed the francolin, bee-eater, and squirrel on our visit. Thankfully spotted the polecat and marmot, though. We also missed the Black-Rumped Agouti, Golden Jackal, and obviously Marsh Mongoose, all of which were big misses for me. ~Thylo
And it can get even better as I will write in the report from Leipzig We missed out on jackals as well, there were some renovations going on. Black-Rumped Agouti even showed up outside what I really didn't expect at this time of year (even though we had wonderful weather for all 3 days). I was also really pleased to see Greenish acuchy, even though it was impossible to take a good photo of him.
HOMIN96 and TeaLovingDave - there are a few big rarities in the Magdeburg Zoo that you did not mention. During my visit in August last year I also saw (from among the species you have mentioned): - Marsh Mongoose (Atilax paludinosus) - off show - Papuan Agile Wallabty (Notamacropus agilis papuanus) - Margay (Leopardus wiedii yucatanicus) - off show - East African Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena dubbah) - Black-rumped Agouti (Dasyprocta prymnolopha) - Hartlaub's Duck (Pteronetta hartlaubii) - Grey-headed Social Weaver (Pseudonigrita arnaudi) - Cape Shoveler (Anas smithii) - Reichenow’s Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris reichenowi) - off show - Green Keel-bellied Lizard (Gastropholis prasina).
Well, my list wasn't meant to be comprehensive and omitted species which were offshow or not unusual for the Czechs. We tried to get access to see these in September 2018, but no luck which stung a bit as I also didn't see the species at ZieZoo in Feb 2018, but no matter. I'm afraid the pure male died some time ago, prior to your visit - they keep only non-nonspecific stock now.
When I visited last summer I emailed to curator Mr.Ruske prior to my visit and was lucky enough to be guided by Mr.Ruske having nice chat with him and was able to see the off-show facility and see the Marsh Mongooses. Similar situation with Schoenebeck - was accompanied with a nice guy and saw all the species kept off-show..only sent an email and nicely asked about possibility to see the area "behind the scenes"
Our issue was we didn't know the mongoose were off-show until we were at the zoo. We tried asking a keeper who was going into their holding area to feed them but no dice ~Thylo
