Brazilian zoos

[FelipeDBKO]

As I'm one of the few brazilians here, my goal is to share personal or public informations about brazilian zoos that I've been and maybe even answer some questions. Also, feel free to share your experiences and opinions on brazilian zoos too.

Oh, and I also want to clarify that more than a year ago I created a thread with the same name and purpose of this one. Some of the reasons to redo it are about a entire year of inactivity, grammar, outdated informations and new places I've visited.

Yeah, so... Hey, ho, let's go.

 

[Brum]

Looking forward to the new and improved thread!

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

It is fine and we are looking forward to any new zoo reviews and wildlife experiences you wish to share with us. Always welcome, informative and interesting to read and learn

 

[FelipeDBKO]

For Brum, Kifaru Bwana, jayjds2 and other people supporting me: thank you. For people who aren't: fu-Just kidding.
Ok, the first text isn't a remake of a previous one, but one that I visited at the beginning of 2017 and still didn't talk about yet:

Parque das Aves (Birds Park): First of all, let's talk about the city:EnglanFoz do Iguaçu. It's not as big as São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, but a great tourist destination worldwide for bordering Argentina and Paraguay, being located in the Atlantic Rainforest and housing the Iguazu Falls and the Itaipu Dam.
Founded in 1994 by a private initiative by Dennis Croukamp, it's now the largest bird park in Latin America, receiving more than 500.000 visitors per year. Located on a 16.5 hectare site of the Atlantic Rainforest (yes, the trail is in the middle of the forest, I've even seen wild roaming tegus and a burrowing owl tried to attack one but the tegu was outside the exhibit, LoL), it's close to the Iguazú National Park (where the Iguazu Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, are located).
Several relatively well-maintained and spacious enclosures contain more than 1.320 animals from about 150 different species, of which about 43% were born there and 50% were rescued; the Pantanal Aviary (Pantanal walkthrough exhibit with scarlet ibis, egrets, toucans, red-legged seriema, spoonbills, jabiru [maybe former, as I didn't see it when I visited the aviary]...), the Forest Aviary (Atlantic Rainforest walkthrough exhibit with curassows, guans, jays, thrushes...), the Macaw Aviary (walkthrough exhibit with a ridiculous number of green-winged macaws, blue-and yellow macaws, hyancith macaws and other parrots; largest macaw aviary from South America), the Kingdom of the Butterflies (walkthrough exhibit with butterflies like morpho, owl and malachite and their caterpillars and hummingbirds), the Paradise of Golden Parakeets (the largest colony of golden parakeets under human care of the world), the Refugy of the Harpy Eagles (the largest aviary for breeding of harpy eagles on display in the world), interactions with macaws and boas, king vulture, southern cassowary, black-fronted piping guan (largest group of the species on display in the world), and alagoas curassow (off-camera, EW species) are just some of my favorite attractions and species. Also, they have the largest group of psittaceans on display in Brazil (over 200) and planted over 2.500 trees in 2012. The entry price is reasonable: R$45,00 for foreigns, R$10,00 for Foz do Iguaçu residents and free for children under 8 accompanied by adults. You can also pay R$200,00 for the Backstage Experience (you can visit the baby station, learn about parrots conditioning, feed toucans, feed flamingos, see a woodpecker being fed, enter the Passeriformes aviary and feed orioles, etc...) and R$250,00 for a Forest Experiencie visiting Guaraní people (each U.S. dollar is aprox. R$3,22).
I'm sorry for any grammar error or confusion. For more information, access the links below and maybe I can answer some questions too.

WEBSITE IN ENGLISH: http://www.parquedasaves.com.br/en.html
MAP: http://www.parquedasaves.com.br/upload/uploaded/mapa_portugues_site.jpg
VIDEO: http://youtu.be/KKv79TUJfTM
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: http://youtu.be/user/PARQUEDASAVES/videos
RANDOM IMAGES: http://lmgtfy.com/?t=i&q=Parque+das+Aves
BIRDS LIST (choose "- Any -" in "Captivy records" and then click on "Apply", I noticed that this isn't 100% correct tho'): https://www.hbw.com/ibc/geo/6436/species

the ting go skrra

 

[FelipeDBKO]

I tried to learn how to create albums but couldn't, so here are the images: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

 

[jayjds2]

I tried to learn how to create albums but couldn't, so here are the images: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Thank you for these photos. What species of hummingbird does the park keep? It seems to be a very well done facility.

 

[CGSwans]

Very excited for this thread, as South American zoos are something of a black box for me. Have you been anywhere outside Brazil?

 

[devilfish]

Thanks for sharing the review and your photos. Since your visit there seem to have been a number of developments, with an intention to focus purely on Atlantic forest species. It's a spectacular and very enjoyable zoo to visit. One of the highlights of the backstage experience is watching wild hummingbirds race between a corridor of feeders - an impressive experience!

Did you visit either of the other two Brazilian collections in Foz do Iguacu? (Bosque Guarani and Refugio Biologico Bela Vista/Zoologico Roberto Ribas Lange)

 

[CGSwans]

Thanks for sharing the review and your photos. Since your visit there seem to have been a number of developments, with an intention to focus purely on Atlantic forest species.

That seems unnecessarily limiting. A focus on South American or even Brazilian species certainly makes sense, but why on earth would they cut themselves off from the Amazon biome?

 

[devilfish]

That seems unnecessarily limiting. A focus on South American or even Brazilian species certainly makes sense, but why on earth would they cut themselves off from the Amazon biome?

Not necessarily; there's a huge variety of species in Brazil's Atlantic rainforest, and there isn't a large number of species held at the park which wouldn't be able to count as 'Atlantic forest birds'. I think part of the idea is to build on their status as a serious conservation breeding centre; they can further specialise with this move.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Not necessarily; there's a huge variety of species in Brazil's Atlantic rainforest, and there isn't a large number of species held at the park which wouldn't be able to count as 'Atlantic forest birds'. I think part of the idea is to build on their status as a serious conservation breeding centre; they can further specialise with this move.

I can understand the switch as Atlantic forest is THE MOST threatened habitat type in Brasil.

 

[FelipeDBKO]

First of all, thank you all.

What species of hummingbird does the park keep?

I searched a little bit and discovered that it's the scale-throated hummingbird (Phaethornis eurynome).

Have you been anywhere outside Brazil?

I stayed for a few hours in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina on the same trip, since both cities / countries border with each other. Nothing more.

Since your visit there seem to have been a number of developments, with an intention to focus purely on Atlantic forest species.

In fact, the Atlantic Forest is being more spoken than the normal because, besides being the most threatened of the "big five" brazilian biomes, it's the biome where I live here in São Paulo (even though Foz do Iguaçu is a bit far from here but is also covered by the Atlantic Forest), so it's quite common for me to come across this biome and its animals in parks and zoos... But coming across animals and educational projects of more popular biomes - like the Amazon, the Cerrado and the Pantanal - are a common thing here too. Anyway, that's good, since most of the people here don't know many things about the Atlantic Forest.

It's a spectacular and very enjoyable zoo to visit. One of the highlights of the backstage experience is watching wild hummingbirds race between a corridor of feeders - an impressive experience!

Unfortunately, I haven't tried the backstage yet. In a few years or less I must go back to Foz do Iguaçu, so who knows...

Did you visit either of the other two Brazilian collections in Foz do Iguacu? (Bosque Guarani and Refugio Biologico Bela Vista/Zoologico Roberto Ribas Lange)

I visited Bosque Guarani. Free admission and it was literally in the same street as my hotel. How could it be easier? I thought it would be a reasonable zoo because people didn't talk so bad about it on the internet, describing it as a "pleasant family walk". But, in my opinion, it was s***. Besides the few animals being all very common here - like macaws, marmosets, capuchins, caimans, sliders and jaguars - it seemed abandoned. Vegetation taking the zoo (in a bad way), small and poor enclosures, inactive animals, macaws ripping their feathers off, apparently dirty lakes, messy paths... These days I even saw a petition about their jaguar.

That seems unnecessarily limiting. A focus on South American or even Brazilian species certainly makes sense, but why on earth would they cut themselves off from the Amazon biome?

Not necessarily; there's a huge variety of species in Brazil's Atlantic rainforest, and there isn't a large number of species held at the park which wouldn't be able to count as 'Atlantic forest birds'. I think part of the idea is to build on their status as a serious conservation breeding centre; they can further specialise with this move.

I can understand the switch as Atlantic forest is THE MOST threatened habitat type in Brasil.

Well, as I said, besides the Atlantic Forest being more threatened not only than the Amazon but also than other brazilian biomes such as Cerrado, Caatinga and Pantanal, it was a more talked about than the normal because the park is located in the Atlantic Forest. And now that we've touched on this subject, the next zoo that I'm going to talk about is also located on a conservation area of the Atlantic Forest, although it's 1.000 km away from Foz do Iguaçu.

 

[jayjds2]

I searched a little bit and discovered that it's the scale-throated hummingbird (Phaethornis eurynome).

Thanks! I highly anticipate the rest of this thread

 

[devilfish]

I searched a little bit and discovered that it's the scale-throated hummingbird (Phaethornis eurynome).

Thanks! I highly anticipate the rest of this thread

I highly doubt that they have any captive hermits (Phaethornis), do they? I saw a few wild though.
When I visited they had (I think) at least four species on display in the free-flight butterfly hall: Black jacobins (Florisuga fusca), Violet-capped woodnymph (Thalurania glaucopsis), I think an Amazilia species- Amazilia versicolor? and I can't remember the other one (if there was another). You've photographed the black jacobins and at least one other species @FelipeDBKO.

I visited Bosque Guarani. Free admission and it was literally in the same street as my hotel. How could it be easier? I thought it would be a reasonable zoo because people didn't talk so bad about it on the internet, describing it as a "pleasant family walk". But, in my opinion, it was s***. Besides the few animals being all very common here - like macaws, marmosets, capuchins, caimans, sliders and jaguars - it seemed abandoned. Vegetation taking the zoo (in a bad way), small and poor enclosures, inactive animals, macaws ripping their feathers off, apparently dirty lakes, messy paths... These days I even saw a petition about their jaguar.

Thanks. On my first visit to Foz do Iguacu it was down the road from my hostel too.
I was told it was abandoned, and believed it, until on a walk before leaving for the airport I caught a glimpse over the perimeter wall of a bird flying in an aviary. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to visit until my next trip, in 2016. It was raining heavily, so I can't comment as accurately on vegetation and state of enclosures - everything was muddy and half-flooded. Crab-eating fox isn't too common, or was the animal not on display? I thought that a large number of the animals were rescued, or is that not the case?

When you're next in the area I highly recommend visiting the Refugio Biologico (/Zoologico Roberto Ribas Lange) - it's one of my favourite Brazilian zoos, and it's certainly near the top!

To add photos to the zoochat gallery, click 'media' at the top of the page, then 'add media' then select a category. You should then be able to upload photos to the zoo's gallery. If there isn't a zoo gallery on here yet you can request it through the 'New Gallery Request Thread'.

 

[FelipeDBKO]

Thanks! I highly anticipate the rest of this thread

Thank you, I haven't started yet but I think that I'll be able to post it today or tomorrow.

I highly doubt that they have any captive hermits (Phaethornis), do they? I saw a few wild though.
When I visited they had (I think) at least four species on display in the free-flight butterfly hall: Black jacobins (Florisuga fusca), Violet-capped woodnymph (Thalurania glaucopsis), I think an Amazilia species- Amazilia versicolor? and I can't remember the other one (if there was another). You've photographed the black jacobins and at least one other species @FelipeDBKO.

Sorry, I didn't notice that there were photos of more than one species. How did you identify these ones? Unfortunately I don't have enough knowledge to identify different hummingbird species yet, but I saw scale-throateds here and here, and also noticed that the one from this photo looks like one:

Please, correct me if I'm wrong. And, as I already said, I don't know a lot about hummingbirds so I didn't know that these one were so rare in zoos - just presumed when I saw that Zootierliste has no records of them -, but since in that example the zoo is located in the animal's natural habitat, it would be easier to keep it. Also, it could have been rescued, temporarily kept for studies or something like that.

Thanks. On my first visit to Foz do Iguacu it was down the road from my hostel too.
I was told it was abandoned, and believed it, until on a walk before leaving for the airport I caught a glimpse over the perimeter wall of a bird flying in an aviary. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to visit until my next trip, in 2016. It was raining heavily, so I can't comment as accurately on vegetation and state of enclosures - everything was muddy and half-flooded. Crab-eating fox isn't too common, or was the animal not on display? I thought that a large number of the animals were rescued, or is that not the case?

Nice. Was your hotel Tarobá or Mirante, by chance?
I don't remember seeing any crab-eating fox, as well as I don't remember seeing any greater rhea (they appear on Google Images when I search for "Bosque Guarani"). The crab-eating fox isn't as common as the animals I mentioned previously - as I believe that at least some of them are in more than half of all the brazilian zoos - but I guess that it's more common in brazilian than exterior zoos, just like some other brazilian species. I already saw it in at least one other zoo (Piracicaba Zoo).

When you're next in the area I highly recommend visiting the Refugio Biologico (/Zoologico Roberto Ribas Lange) - it's one of my favourite Brazilian zoos, and it's certainly near the top!

I wanted to visit it but it wasn't possible, since I was with my family and I'm only 14 (at the time I was 12).
I also wanted to visit the "Biocentro Iguazu", place that I heard some people calling the "argentine Parque das Aves". Despite being in Argentina and not in Foz do Iguaçu, it's pretty close and I even saw the entrance when I was in the bus being drived to the Icebar Iguazú.

To add photos to the zoochat gallery, click 'media' at the top of the page, then 'add media' then select a category. You should then be able to upload photos to the zoo's gallery. If there isn't a zoo gallery on here yet you can request it through the 'New Gallery Request Thread'.

Thanks, maybe I'll try this later... I was confused because I thought there was some way to upload multiple images at once, as it would supposedly be possible in an album.

 

[devilfish]

Thanks, the hermit's curved beak is one of the easiest ways to tell it apart from most of the other local hummingbirds. It's also a bit on the large side. I'll look at my photos when I get the chance (I'm away from home this week) and see what they held.

We stayed in the Katharina House Hostel, which was excellent. The owner kindly arranged a few of our other trips in Brazil. Last time when I was travelling alone I stayed in Pietro Angelo Hotel. It's a shame the crab-eating fox wasn't there. It was a highlight for me, wearing a little pink collar - so I assumed it must have been a confiscation/hand-reared orphan. I saw a couple of potoos in the trees here too, which was great.

Don't worry about missing Biocentro. It offers two things which you'll struggle to see elsewhere; a greenhouse with wild hummingbirds flying in and out to use the feeders, and a group of Dasypus hybridus - Southern long-nosed armadillos. Otherwise, although pleasant, the place isn't highly remarkable. It certainly doesn't compete with Parque das Aves. The other local collections we've not yet mentioned are Guira Oga, a good rescue centre on the Argentinian side, with an interesting selection of animals, and the zoo at C.I.A.S.I. on the Paraguayan side, which doesn't offer great enclosures but has the benefit of displaying an impressive variety of animals, including groups of three peccary species in neighbouring enclosures. However, of all six of these zoological collections, only Parque das Aves and Bosque Guarani can be visited without being part of a guided tour.

 

[FelipeDBKO]

I think that I'll be able to post it today or tomorrow.

Or maybe not.
Unforeseen events, sorry.

 

[FrancoiseLangur]

Hi, Felipe, It might be a bit late to say this, but I am very much interested in Brazil and Brazilian zoos, because I have a great interest in tamarins. And... I happen to be a bachelor in Portuguese philology!

Keep on posting, the information you give us is truly valuable.

 

[FelipeDBKO]

Hi, Felipe, It might be a bit late to say this, but I am very much interested in Brazil and Brazilian zoos, because I have a great interest in tamarins. And... I happen to be a bachelor in Portuguese philology!

Keep on posting, the information you give us is truly valuable.

Thank you, @FrancoiseLangur. It's good to know that I'm really sharing some content here even without being very experienced, at least yet.
You're not late and, now that I've logged in for the first time in a few days, I'll finish the next text soon.

By the way, sorry for posting the text just a long time after the date I told you I would.
Moral of the story: you shouldn't trust me or any other brazilian too much.
However, the next texts won't take so long as they're the ones from the older thread. Or maybe not... Remember, I told you to don't trust me too much.

 

[FelipeDBKO]

First of all, my visit to this zoo was pretty short. I wish I had more time to spend on it even to take more photos (this time they'll be available at the zoo gallery), but...-guess what-...I hadn't. Because of this lack of memories, the text took a while to be done and many of the information had to be remembered/taken from the internet, so I may end up forgetting some interesting details.

ZOOPARQUE ITATIBA (Itatiba ZooPark): I visited this zoo in early 2018 (less than two weeks ago), so probably a lot of the information is relatively updated.
This zoo was inaugurated as a conservationist breeding place in the late 80's called Paraíso das Aves (Birds Paradise). Over the years, the infrastructure has been adapted to receive different species. So, in 1994, the largest private zoo in Brazil was born. It's located in a 500.00m² land of Atlantic Forest with a 3km trail and houses about 1.000 animals from 180+ species. It also has a "brother" zoo, the austrian Schmiding Zoo (does anyone here know this zoo?), which belongs to the same owner and the same board.
I don't remember exactly which was the very first enclosure on the trail, (except for some "free-roaming" macaws and a mini zoo with ass, miniature cattle, goats, pigs, mini lop rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens and red-footed tortoises; animals that aren't in your best interest and made you lose your time by reading this), but some of the first ones are the flamingos lake and a relatively spacious enclosure with tall trees for several emus and red-necked wallabies, followed by some small walkthrough aviaries with random birds like golden parakeets, helmeted curassow, white-cheeked turacos and crimson-crested woodpecker. Also near the entrance, the largest enclosure: a simulation of the Pantanal with mixed species, including brazilian tapirs, nutrias, greater rheas, waterfowls and even a pair of jabirus. Several enclosures, including some of the ones I mentioned, can be seen from different spots later.
I guess that the only cats beside the siberian tigers who live in an acceptably spacious but chain-link-closed enclosure, are the ocelots.
The largest group of white rhinos in Brazil (five) lives in a large enclosure with ostriches and - for some reason - caimans. Also, next to it, there's a HUGE group of egrets with nests on trees (probably wild, since the zoo is located in the Atlantic Forest).
The enclosure next to the "elephants diner" with indian elephants, hippos and buffalos is relatively large too.
A young pair of rothschild's giraffes live with what the website claims to be an older southern giraffe.
Soon after walking through a "maternity" with babies of animals, including toco toucan, spectacled owl and caimans, or other small animals, including six-banded armadillos, caninana and amazon tree boa, there's a large walkthrough aviary with birds like sacred and scarlet ibises, roseate spoonbills, horned screamers, nocturnal curassows, brown bobbies and waterfowls including, surprisingly... Dun dun dun... Brazilian mergansers! I don't know why they weren't out of exhibition, but this is the only zoo in the world to breed this species.
Other species include white-bellied spider monkey, brown woolly monkey, bald uakari, golden-headed lion tamarin, ring-tailed lemur, black-and-white ruffed lemur, banded mongoose, maned wolf, giant anteater, southern tamandua, linnaeus's two-toed sloth, southern cassowary, saddle-billed stork, harpy eagle, crested eagle, chaco eagle, king vulture, hyacinth macaw, great hornbill and crowned pigeon.
There are things I haven't tried, as watching feedings, speeches and evironmental education interacting with animals like tarantulas, cornsnakes, barn owls and six-banded armadillos.

INSTITUTIONAL VIDEO OF THE ZOO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlFyd_pOnA4
WEBSITE: http://zooparque.com.br/
SOME OF THEIR EXHIBITS: http://zooparque.com.br/recintos/
SOME RANDOM ANATIDAE PHOTOS THAT I'VE FOUND: http://zooparque.com.br/aves-aquaticas/
YOUTUBE CHANNEL FROM A VET WHO WORKS THERE: Alexandre Vetzoo
BRAZILIAN MERGANSER EGGS BEING COLLECTED (with subtitles in english!): https://youtu.be/7hUnJHEGibM