Not the entire list has been moved on-show, no (though I'm sure that certainly with some of the smaller species I missed some; almost none of the new species were signposted and almost no waxbills were still kept off-show on the 13th). It is worth noting that in February, many birds were kept off-show that wouldn't be in the summer; not all exhibits in the zoo are able to hold certain migrating/tropical species year-round, and my visit in February probably reflects this a little. Also, a lot (for the birds at least ~50%?) of the off-show collection were duplicates from the on-show collection, and I'm sure the species list of things moved on-show will probably also contain some duplicates. I think the actual number of 'new' species on-show might actually be closer to 40 than to 80 (I saw 32 new passerines for the challenge, and can think of about ~10 non-passerines that weren't on-show that are now), but in any case this recent shift of the collection has indeed massively boosted what is visible on-show!
Does anyone know if the striped possums and Goodman's mouse lemurs have also moved onshow? Under New Guinea ground cuscus on ZTL it says they live with a striped possum, brushtail possums and woylies....
That used to be the situation a few years ago, I believe, in the exhibit that is now home to just the woylies and cuscus, along with (invisible) sugar gliders. Both Goodman's mouse lemur and Striped possum are also not guaranteed off-show, unfortunately.
Both species offshow afaik but if you plan a visit try to contact zoo's spokesman Martin Vobruba who is a very kind person. I'm almost sure he can arrange behind the scenes for you☺
Some mouse lemurs are on show now in Madagascar house (or at least were last summer) but I´m not sure whether they were Goodman´s That´s putting it VERY mildly
Oh, interesting! The situation wasnt like that for long though, as in August it was just one enclosure with grey mouse lemurs.
I am starting to doubt my memory now... There were for sure also Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs, but in my memory both Votsotsa enclosures also had Mouse lemurs.
Last year, a new exposition opened in the Rhino House, featuring many species of fish, frog and lizards. Many of the species were previously kept behind the scenes. There's a heavy focus on Malagasy species, although there are a few others. Here's the (I hope complete) species list of the newest addition to the zoo. * = not seen - Cuvier's Magagascar Swift (Oplurus cuvieri) - Grandidiers Madagascar Swift (Oplurus grandidieri) - Anzalama Magascar Swift (Oplurus fierinensis) - Peter's keeled cordylid (Tracheloptychus petersi) - Madagascar keeled cordylid (Tracheloptychus madagascariensis)* - Madagascar girdled lizard (Zonosaurus madagascariensis) - Black-striped skink (Brachyseps macrocerus)* - Common Mad. skink (Madascincus melanopleura)* - Eyelash gecko (Correlophus ciliatus) - Vieillard's chamaeleon gecko (Eurydactylodes vieillardi) - Bauer's chameleon gecko (Eurydactylodes agricolae) - Mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris) - Robust forest gecko (Bavayia robusta)* - Boehm's day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis boehmi) - Madagascar day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis madagascariensisis) - Broad-tailed day gecko (Phelsuma laticauda) - Yellow-headed day gecko (Phelsuma klemmeri) - Robert Mertens day gecko (Phelsuma robertmertensi) - Seychelles day gecko (Phelsuma sundbergi ladiguensis) - Andaman day gecko (Phelsuma andamanense) - Boettger's day gecko (Phelsuma v-nigra comoraegrandensis) - Island day gecko (Phelsuma nigristriata) - Koch's day gecko (Phelsuma kochi) - Lined day gecko (Phelsuma lineata) - Olafian day gecko (Phelsuma seippi) - Réunion ornate day gecko (Phelsuma inexpectata)* - Réunion island day gecko (Phelsuma borbonica borbonica)* - Speckled day gecko (Phelsuma guttata)* - Antongil velvet gecko (Blaesodactylus antongilensis) - Grandidier's velvet gecko (Blaesodactylus sakalava) - Golden fish-scaled gecko (Hemidactylus mercatorius)* - Flathead leaf-tailed gecko (Hemidactylus platycephalus) - Mocquard's Mad. ground gecko (Paroedura bastardi) - Stumpf's Mad. ground gecko (Paroedura stumpffi) - Lined leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus lineatus) - Betsileo reed frog (Heterixalus betsileo)* - Madagascar reed frog (Heterixalus madagascariensis) - White-spotted reed frog (Heterixalus alboguttatus) - Ankafana bright-eyed frog (Bophis luteus)* - Free Madagascar frog (Guibemantis liber)* - Sambava tomato frog (Dyscophus guineti) - Marbled rain frog (Scaphiophryne marmorata) - Brown mantella (Mantella betsileo) - Green mantella (Mantella viridis)* - Perugia's limia (Limia perugiae) - Tiburon Peninsula limia (Limia dominicensis) - Blackbelly limia (Limia melanogaster) - Spotted skiffia (Skiffia multipunctata) - Varatraza panchax (Pachypanchax varatraza) - Siamese algae eater (Crossocheilus siamensis)
Some changes in the first room of the Underground world: The grass snake and Endlers guppy are both no longer there. There are currently 4 enclosures here 1) A terrarium for Cuban small-eared toad, Bufo empusa, I think an European first! 2) An aquarium for Butterfly Splitfin. 3) An aquarium for Iberian ribbed newt, Glass bloodfin tetra (Prionobrama filigera), Spotted hoplo (Megalechis thoracata) and Aplocheilus lineatus. 4) An aquarium for Flag cichlid (Mesonauta festivus) (not seen) The small aquarium in the Tropical Pavillion that used to house Spotted green pufferfish, has new inhabitants as well (the pufferfishes are no longer there); Arowana (not seen), black ghost (not seen), many-banded headstander (Leporinus affinis), chocolate catfish (Platydoras armatulus) and spotted headstander (Chilodus punctatus). All of these were marked 'new 2018' New in 2018 in the aquarium of the Madagascar house: Pinstipe damba (Paretroplus menarambo). New in 2018 in the Sonora building; House finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) New in the pygmy hippo house; Eurasian Curlew (still unlabelled). The reason most birds have been moved on-show is because of renovation going on behind the scenes. For those familiar with the huge bird/mammal room, the back half is now complety empty (bar some empty cages) while the first half still has some mammal species, but all but 4 species of birds are gone there. The only birds still present there last week were; - 1 Moustached parakeet (Psittacula alexandri dammermani) - 1 Green rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) - 2 Island canaries (Serinus canaria) - 2 White-eared brown doves (Phapitreron leucotis) Some of the bird species I saw here last year, I now saw elsewhere in the zoo, including oriole warbler, common cuckoo and Sumatran treepie.I did not see all of them however (no black lark, Black-throated accentor, Sulawesi mynah, Stephans dove for example), but as a lot of them were unlabelled, I could easily have missed some. Also saw some species I did not see in 2016, including Brush bronzewing, horned lark (labelled in the wrong enclosure, red-throated bee-eater, European blackcap and Black wheatear. Regarding mammals, there's still quite a lot to see Behind the Scenes, including a lot of rodents. Those include Southern Luzon cloudrat, Campbell's desert hamster, fat sand rat, alpine field mouse, cururo, Kellens dormouse, Merriams kangaroo rat... to name just a few. Marsupials too; Ground cuscus, brush-tailed possum, potoroo, bettong, striped possum (saw just 1), feathertail glider, kowari. Saw Goodman's mouse lemur and fat-tailed dwarf lemur, as well as Alaotra bamboo lemurs too. There's also lesser and greater hedgehog tenrec and a colony of an still unidentified bat species. Also, the African house is temporarely CLOSED for breeding reasons. This means the Cape foxes and other species are not visible at the moment. I think this is all for now. I only visited one day this time, so I'm sure there's stuff I missed.
Interesting! In August 2017 the black-throated accentor and black lark were in the DinoZoo, in an aviary with grey hypocolius, rufous scrub-robin, red-headed bunting, a pheasant subspecies, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. I did see the accentor, but didn't see the lark (though of hypocolius, scrub-robin, lark and accentor, only the lark was signed). Sulawesi mynah was in an aviary in the Asian garden together with pied imperial pigeon, pale-bellied mynah and a few others, and Stephan's dove was in the aviary next door with a few other pigeons. I believe all of the species you mention not seeing were single animals... It'd be unfortunate if all of them left or passed away! Though I guess it is always still possible that you just missed them. In which enclosure of the Sonora house were the house finches? Nice addition that will hopefully bring a bit more life to that area!
Didn't see hypocolius or scrub-robin either... Now I'm wondering if there's an aviary I somehow missed. There were some no-shows in the Asian garden, so Stephan's dove and Sulawesi myna could have been 2 of them. Luckily I saw all of those in 2016, exept for the hyocolius. The house finches were in the former burrowing owl enclosure. Not completely sure the owls are gone, I did spend little time there, but I didn't notice any owls or signage.
Forgot to mention one of the aviaries (either AsianGarden or Dinopark, I forgot) now keeps an Catharus species. It was impossible to photograph, but im 90% sure it's Catharus mexicanus. It was signed as well, and I could have sworn I photographed the signage, but appearantly I did not. Another pretty cool species to keep an eye out for if anyone is to visit the zoo soon.
Is the off-show area being renovated, replaced - or done away with altogether? The last option would be the one which makes sense, logically, economically, I am sure. I sincerely hope this is not the case. A new construction could be very simple, and thus pretty inexpensive, and would obviate some of the shortcomings of the current (or old) area - a lack of space being the primary issue.
To quote the bird and small mammals curator: "The off-show area will be new and better." which apparently means more space for animals and thus probably less species...
