I had a wonderful visit of the Tierpark yesterday, even though I had limited time (only one day which would be sufficient enough for any zoo but this one ) I don't know if the snowcock is still alive or not, I did a complete tour of the Faisanerie and spent more than a hour there (the collection and exhibits are fantastic there) but couldn't find an aviary with it signed or the animal itself. I could have missed something and be wrong though and I hope so! I unfortunately missed the cock-of-the-rocks in the Crocodile Hall but apart from that I've seen practically everything there is to see there, including a very active pair of oropendolas. The South-East Asian hall inside the Alfred-Brehm house seems to be accessible, I've seen pied imperial pigeons, red-whiskered bulbuls, nicobar pigeons and quite some fruit-bats (I honestly do not know which species it is as according to ztl they keep 3 species but I have got a picture, albeit a bad one) but unfortunately the access to the external aviaries of the Alfred-Brehm seemed to be bared and unfortunately I have missed a lot of species there (I've only see the birds kept there, the Himalayan striped squirrel, the Palawan leopard cat, the Binturong and one Javan leopard). Does anyone know if one of the enclosure near the zebus held deers in the recent past (or for thar matter, where are the Bawean deers held inside the park)? There wasn't any sign on the exhibit in question and I saw 3 individuals that look like Bawean deers (plus 1 male and 2 females, one seemingly being a calf IIRC); but considering the extensive cervid collection of Tierpark Berlin it could be something else. I do have some pictures but they are really bad as the animals were back in their dark den and it was raining. Otherwise, highlights included seeing an aardwolf and a (Himalayan) striped squirrel after losing hope to see them (I kept going back and forth in both exhibits), a very active group of red howlers and really a lot of nice things, including their impressive collection of cranes and thrushes/galliformes (the latter mainly being in the wonderful Faisanerie) The Mountain paddocks were certainly some of my favourite zoo exhibits ever, they are like so immersive but being so ''naturally'', with no fake rocks, over-theme or something and the array of species displayed there is a little extra, indeed!
That sounds like you have seen the Bawean deer, they should be in that area and they have 1.2, one of which being a juvenile. All the other hog deer are now in with the Nilgai. Those will be Pteropus giganteus as the straw-coloured fruit bats are normally hard to find, they hide during the day in any crevice they can find and of the 3rd species there is only 1 left.
Ah thanks, I have indeed seen the hog deers with the nilgais. It must be giganteus then, considering the fact it was quite a visible, large group.
I'm glad the swift fruit bat (Thoopterus nigrescens) is still there. I have never seen it in any other zoo.
Is anyone aware of the waterfowl taxon (taxa?, I don't know how many there are) kept in with the Wood bison/American white pelican? I've got a picture which looks like a sort of scaup/diving duck in general but it is way too bad for a proper identification.
@Zoo Tycooner FR: I checked today and four species were labelled: shoveler, northern pintail, greater scaup, and red-crested pochard. Hopefully one of them fits
Sorry for the double-posting but I cannot edit my post anymore. I uploaded some pictures of the supposedly Bawean deers and a few other pictures worth uploading to the Tierpark gallery.
An update on the planned works in the Tierpark: Rund 30 Mio. Euro für Affe, Tiger und Co. The Alfred-Brehmhaus was in a worse condition than assumed and the drawings available were also not accurate, with cables present where they should not be for example. Renovation works should be ready to commence March 2018. The Snake farm, the main reptile building of the Tierpark will close it's doors today. The building is in an extremely bad state and is beyond repair. The heavy rains of this year made the situation only worse, the building itself was also far from optimal for the inhabitants and keepers... Over half of the species can be relocated within the Tierpark (part will go to the Alfred Brehm house once finished), the rest will leave the collection. Renovation of the Pachyderm house is expected to start at the end of 2019.
Collared mangabey born at the Tierpark ( FB ) : ROTSCHEITELMANGABE geboren – NEUES aus dem TIERPARK BERLIN Gerade mal ca. 30 Minuten alt ist diese junge Rotscheitelmangabe (Cercocebus torquatus), die vor drei Tagen in Friedrichsfelde zur Welt kam. Ihre ursprüngliche Heimat sind die Regenwälder Westafrikas. Diese Primatenart ist in der Wildbahn gefährdet, es gibt daher auch ein Europäisches Zuchtbuch (ESB), das im Zoo de Barcelona geführt wird. Rotscheitelmangaben gibt es seit 25 Jahren im Tierpark Berlin. Im gleichen Jahr der Ankunft kam das erste Jungtier zur Welt. Seit dieser Zeit gab es mehr oder weniger regelmäßigen Nachwuchs bei dieser Art. Wir freuen uns mit dem Tierpark Berlin über diesen neuerlichen Zuchterfolg.
For everybody who believes that the new zoo director is against species diversity: 2 Arabian striped hyena were imported from Bahrain. Additionally a Bawean hog deer was born, a first for Germany.
New polar bear cub born to Tonja:'Time to cross fingers' Berlin zoo’s hope for polar bear cub after mother EATS sibling
There is a nice video about the polar bear cub on YouTube (just very shortly after it was born): And another one a bit more recent (but the cub still is just a few days old): The first video kind of went viral in Germany with more than 130k views (an all time record for videos on official zoo platforms) and even made it into YouTube's trending videos. The latter, however, didn't even reach 1k views so far, although it features pretty much the same touching scenes in colours rather than black and white. Funny. It's always impressive how such a massive animal can be this careful. I hope the cub will survive this time. So far, it looks quite good. Something else: The monkey building receives massive interiour redeciration as well as an installation about species conservation. The building is still accessible and works are scheduled to end before Christmas. So hardly anyone should be effected negatively. Beginning in 2018 there also will be further remodelling focusing on the outside exhibits. They wrote something about climbing elements. Quite likely, this will be the first major project to finish under the new direction, even though it "only" costs some 450-500k Euro. 2018 may finally mark the beginning of works on some major major projects: Brehm building, staff/ administration building, Himalaya mountain area, further African (savanna) enclosures e.g. for lions. The plans for the former/ present pachydermy and future Africa building are also due to be finished in 2018. But chances are that none of these projects will get much attention, if the young polar bear survives and gets presented to the public. It won't become a second Knut, but the combination Berlin and polar bear cub remains a very strong one...
