Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp News 2020

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
 
Sadly okapi Kamina has been euthanized today, she suffered from multiple age related diseases which kept getting worse. She reached the age of 22.
 
The Municipal Council of Rotterdam voted over the proposed 10 million euro loan to the Rotterdam Zoo. In a 42-1 vote it was approved (against: PvdD = "Party for the Animals"). Furthermore several proposals by the PvdD and the SP ("Socialist Party") that called (among other things) for the end of the Zoo's participation in breeding programmes, the banning of euthanesia and forced care for former lab animals received limited support from other far-ish left-ish parties (50PLUS, an elderly party, and DENK and NIDA, two Islam-ish party), but didnt pass. Most right-wing and centre parties, as well as PvdA ("Labour") and GroenLinks ("GreenLeft"), were supportive of the Zoo.

More on this: Dag des oordeels: Gemeenteraad stemt over noodsteun Blijdorp
 
Blijdorpenaar said:
The Municipal Council of Rotterdam voted over the proposed 10 million euro loan to the Rotterdam Zoo. In a 42-1 vote it was approved (against: PvdD = "Party for the Animals"). Furthermore several proposals by the PvdD and the SP ("Socialist Party") that called (among other things) for the end of the Zoo's participation in breeding programmes, the banning of euthanesia and forced care for former lab animals received limited support from other far-ish left-ish parties (50PLUS, an elderly party, and DENK and NIDA, two Islam-ish party), but didnt pass. Most right-wing and centre parties, as well as PvdA ("Labour") and GroenLinks ("GreenLeft"), were supportive of the Zoo.
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Amsterdam, learn from this example! One of the most crazy things is that Halsema is nominated for the title of best mayor in the world...
 
Blijdorp has released info about their recently changed tank in the conservation center (from salt to fresh) It currently contains:
- Paretroplus menarambo (Critically endangered, 18 holders)
- Paretroplus kieneri (Vulnerable, 11 holders)

And in the future it will definitely also contain (and probably other species aswell)
- Paretroplus damii (Vulnerable , 4 holders)
- Paratilapia polleni andapa (Vulnerable, 18 holders)
- Ptychochromis grandidieri (4 holders)

Some of these species are declining fast and some dont have proper info available, and might be much more endangered then we think

PS: For the holders i did a quick ZTL check, i'm aware holdings of fish are often inaccurate and that rare fish can be very common on the private trade. It was mainly to give an indication about how many zoos are displaying the species.
 
Bosjesman said:
Blijdorp has released info about their recently changed tank in the conservation center (from salt to fresh) It currently contains:
- Paretroplus menarambo (Critically endangered, 18 holders)
- Paretroplus kieneri (Vulnerable, 11 holders)

And in the future it will definitely also contain (and probably other species aswell)
- Paretroplus damii (Vulnerable , 4 holders)
- Paratilapia polleni andapa (Vulnerable, 18 holders)
- Ptychochromis grandidieri (4 holders)

Some of these species are declining fast and some dont have proper info available, and might be much more endangered then we think

PS: For the holders i did a quick ZTL check, i'm aware holdings of fish are often inaccurate and that rare fish can be very common on the private trade. It was mainly to give an indication about how many zoos are displaying the species.
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I am pleased they are focussing now on Malagasy freshwater fish species!

BTW: I would be interested to know what the status of these species is in private aquaculture!
 
Bosjesman said:
Blijdorp has released info about their recently changed tank in the conservation center (from salt to fresh) It currently contains:
- Paretroplus menarambo (Critically endangered, 18 holders)
- Paretroplus kieneri (Vulnerable, 11 holders)

And in the future it will definitely also contain (and probably other species aswell)
- Paretroplus damii (Vulnerable , 4 holders)
- Paratilapia polleni andapa (Vulnerable, 18 holders)
- Ptychochromis grandidieri (4 holders)

Some of these species are declining fast and some dont have proper info available, and might be much more endangered then we think

PS: For the holders i did a quick ZTL check, i'm aware holdings of fish are often inaccurate and that rare fish can be very common on the private trade. It was mainly to give an indication about how many zoos are displaying the species.
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Video-clip of the former Sea of Cortez-aquarium, now being a Madagascar Lake aquarium :) :

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=792623818260565
 
Few weeks ago the name of the newborn black rhino was revealed: Nasor. His name is a tribute to the boy from Tanzania, who arrvied together with the first black rhino as his caretaker in Blijdorp in 1931!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIIVuJxqFqs/

A new arctic fox from Stichting AAP arrived at the zoo and now lives together with the other arctic foxes in Blijdorp. This is the second arctic fox to arrive at the zoo this year, a male arrived in September.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIlhawlKrtl/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE9qZQjhVv4/
 
This afternoon a living Blue Shark beached in Ouddorp, the netherlands, after releasing it multiple times it kept beaching itself so they decided to bring it to blijdorp, where it is currently bts and acclimating to a new environment. A lot of researchers are currently busy with it. Chances of survival is super low. Also no place is keeping this species right now and previous holdings were not super succesfull. This species is not a regular species in the netherlands and in the wild here its very rare.
 
Bosjesman said:
This afternoon a living Blue Shark beached in Ouddorp, the netherlands, after releasing it multiple times it kept beaching itself so they decided to bring it to blijdorp, where it is currently bts and acclimating to a new environment. A lot of researchers are currently busy with it. Chances of survival is super low. Also no place is keeping this species right now and previous holdings were not super succesfull. This species is not a regular species in the netherlands and in the wild here its very rare.
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It was also later released back into the wild but further of coast.
It was the best decicion for the shark as a species is quite needy and hard to keep.
 
I'm not aware of a single instance of any aquarium keeping this species for even the mid (over a year) term, so I doubt that this would have been that successful. Best port of call from the point of view of research into the captive husbandry of hyper-pelagic species might have been to swiftly transfer it to as big a tank as could be found in Europe (Lisbon perhaps) and hope for the best.
 
Setting up such a far distance transport for a sick animal while all kinds of travel restrictions are in place might not be the greatest idea possible.
 
Blijdorpenaar said:
Setting up such a far distance transport for a sick animal while all kinds of travel restrictions are in place might not be the greatest idea possible.
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Oh from a wider perspective absolutely, but I still maintain that from the perspective of furthering research into the husbandry of pelagics it was perfectly reasonable.

It was also never going to happen :p
 
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