Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp News 2020

The last member of the meerkat group has died of old age, so a new group has arrived and been placed in the enclosure between the okapi's and weavers. Youngsters have already been spotted, though I suspect they were born in their zoo of origin or behind the scenes. The last yellow mongoose is also gone, not sure wheter he was killed by his parasitic infection or if he just went on transport, and his island (next to the zebras) is now occupied by four common dwarf mongooses. Still a bit shy, but a nice species I suppose and thematically better fitting.

Furthermore mating has been observed with the nurse sharks. Would be amazing if we could secure some pups from those guys after this years succes with the blacknose sharks :) Source + some info on extended opening times and sponsorships: Kort Nieuws
 
Unfortunately the male Asiatic lion Aapel has died at the Rotterdam Zoo.

His health had been fragile with good and bad periods since he arrived at Rotterdam, but a clear cause was never found despite several examinations. After a backwards fall about a month ago his health started to decline with a poor prognosis of little to no hope for recovery. Therefore the decision was made a humane quality of life was no longer possible, and he was euthanized.

Aapel was nearly 11 years old and fathered three cubs at Rotterdam.

His body was given to the veterinary faculty at Utrecht for research purposes.

The future of the lion pride will be discussed with the studbook coordinator.

AZIATISCHE LEEUW AAPEL OVERLEDEN - Diergaarde Blijdorp
 
TBH: most, if not all new Asiatic lions handed down by the Indian zoos conservation breeding program exported from India have been ill advised choices. Either individuals that are diseased, elderly or even almost past their reproductive sell by date and actually very few in prime conditions and just reaching maturity! I realise these are strong words, but I am afraid Blijdorp's male Aapel was not the only bad example. Extremely sad to loose him like it happened.

Glad he left 3 offspring, but it is a telling and small legacy.
 
May I ask if you know more about that exchange? How some animals were selected, how many came to Europe, which countries/zoos participated...
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
I realise these are strong words, but I am afraid Blijdorp's male Aapel was not the only bad example. Extremely sad to loose him like it happened.
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I mean look when Prague got the 1,2 group, how was director drooling over how big achievement and sign of prestige it is...but years later we find out that one of the females is infertile, second can probably conceive only through AI and the male doesn't know how to mate.
 
Another question we should ask ourselves is if zoos (and other organisations) should continue to threat Asiatic lions as a separate subspecies. Educationally speaking, I'd say yes, but genetically I'm not so sure.

Anyway, to remain on topic, Aapel is a big loss for the zoo and I'm sure he will be missed by the regular visitors. He might not have been the prettiest lion, he was an icon for Rotterdam Zoo,
 
Very fair point. The IUCN has adopted the newer approach, recognising the northern and southern species instead. However, Im not so sure if there are any lions, that are now being managed as 'African', that could be cleanly seperated into purely northern and southern. Another thought: although the IUCN now also views the Amur leopard and the North Chinese leopard as one species, they do still advise to manage them seperately for the time being. Perhaps they also advise that for African and Asiatic lions?
 
Blijdorpenaar said:
Very fair point. The IUCN has adopted the newer approach, recognising the northern and southern species instead. However, Im not so sure if there are any lions, that are now being managed as 'African', that could be cleanly seperated into purely northern and southern. Another thought: although the IUCN now also views the Amur leopard and the North Chinese leopard as one species, they do still advise to manage them seperately for the time being. Perhaps they also advise that for African and Asiatic lions?
Click to expand...
As long as "leopard" or "lion" studies only look at genetics we will see this tendency to lump various eco types in some (sub-)species. However, ... a Barbary lion is unsuited to tropical rainforest Congo, just as much as an arid land Namibian lion is not the same as a savannah biome lion in Eastern Africa. Not to speak of any other biomes or eco typings.

I would favour and find it more than sensible and defensible that those working in ecology/zoology should opt for using evolutionary significant conservation units (which is basically separating f.i. North-Chinese leopard and Amur Leopard (btw Amur Leopards range in the northern PR China provinces naturally)).
 
To be fair, telling Amur leopards and North Chinese leopards apart is next to impossible. There's a reason so little Amur leopards in captivity are pure bred. And that isn't 'despite' their distinctness, but because geneflow between the two probably wasnt halted untill the 19th or 20th century... I get the impression the IUCN is just worried some new study will consider the two to be seperate species after all, after we started crossing the two in captivity. But heyho, I might be wrong.
 
And then the not so fun news: today it has been announced 25% of staff will be fired in an attempt to save the orginisation.
 
These are horrible news. What is the main reason for this? Budget cut? (And by the way: How big is the financial support of the city/the government for the zoo in relation to the total budget)?

I deeply hope this step is only temporary and the fired people will get their jobs back as soon as possible
 
zoomaniac said:
These are horrible news. What is the main reason for this? Budget cut? (And by the way: How big is the financial support of the city/the government for the zoo in relation to the total budget)?

I deeply hope this step is only temporary and the fired people will get their jobs back as soon as possible
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Subsidies from the municipality are only 800.000 euros a year (on an annual budget of roughly 30.000.000 euros), they have been significantly reduced in the previous crisis. The zoo had savings of around 21.000.000 euros at the end of 2019 and given they operate at 40% of their capacity since re-opening, it is quite likely that a lot of these savings are gone by the end of the year. From the messaging of the zoo it appears they think there is a high risk that next year will be bad as well....

On another note the Dutch government has so far pledged 39.000.000 euros for zoos in general, out of an estimated 150.000.000 euros that would be necessary according to the zoos themselves...
 
lintworm said:
Subsidies from the municipality are only 800.000 euros a year (on an annual budget of roughly 30.000.000 euros), they have been significantly reduced in the previous crisis. The zoo had savings of around 21.000.000 euros at the end of 2019 and given they operate at 40% of their capacity since re-opening, it is quite likely that a lot of these savings are gone by the end of the year. From the messaging of the zoo it appears they think there is a high risk that next year will be bad as well....

On another note the Dutch government has so far pledged 39.000.000 euros for zoos in general, out of an estimated 150.000.000 euros that would be necessary according to the zoos themselves...
Click to expand...
The whole Corona exercise and policy as it stands is unsustainable in the long term and public authorities are failing their own national and local good governance, educational and non-profit institutions. I find this fitting to say it out loud here as it relates directly to the fortunes and well being of those very same institutions. More or less all zoological facilities including Rotterdam's Blijdorp Zoo are affected. F.i. Amsterdam - Artis Zoo is losing a similar amount of monies in the bank by the current pre lockdown / restricted public access policies of national and local Government.
 
Help is coming for Blijdorp

The ailing Diergaarde Blijdorp will not disappear from Rotterdam, according to Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. He said this on Radio Rijnmond on Monday evening. "The college (city government) will contribute in some way." Calling it an icon of the city. Although at the moment he didn't name any specifics how help would be given.

Aboutaleb over noodlijdend Blijdorp: 'Dit icoon mag niet verdwijnen'
 
Elephant Irma, the oldest of the herd, celebrated her 50th birthday today. She was the first elephant that was born in captivity to become a mother herself, the first elephant to breed in the Netherlands and the first great-grandmother in the history of Western zoos. Her parents were a gift of the Thai royal family to the monarch of Denmark and her sister lives in the USA :) Olifanten-Stamoudste Blijdorp is een Sara: een halve eeuw Irma
 
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