Pairi Daiza Pairi Daiza News 2021

StoppableSan said:
An open-topped snow leopard habitat - you don't see too many of those! :)
Click to expand...

The vast majority of snow leopard exhibits are netted given how well they can climb and jump, so it is not an easy thing to do it without netting, but Pairi Daiza has taken that challenge.

That said, personally I don't mind as long as the exhibits are decent. And while the previous exhibits at Pairi Daiza offered some vertical space and rock work for climbing, they were just too small.
 
Gorilla Gust said:
Walrus Floki (the youngest one) is now visible for vistors. Pairi Daiza
Click to expand...

The post only says Floki is now allowed to go into the outdoor basin with his mother, the message doesn't say that is done when visitors are allowed in the park. I did not read him now being visible either in the French or the Dutch post by Pairi Daiza.
 
Walrus calf Floki has explored the large main pool for the first time with his mother. Introducing him to the rest of the group is planned in the near future.

Floki now weighs 137 kilograms, over twice his birth weight. He has also slowly started eating mussels.

Pairi Daiza NL
 
KevinB said:
Walrus calf Floki has explored the large main pool for the first time with his mother. Introducing him to the rest of the group is planned in the near future.

Floki now weighs 137 kilograms, over twice his birth weight. He has also slowly started eating mussels.

Pairi Daiza NL
Click to expand...
I'm so excited to see him meet other members of the herd! I've seen some mutual interest and interactions through the barrier, I think everyone will do very well with him :)
 
Some news and notes from my visit to Pairi Daiza on September 2nd and 3rd:
  • There was ongoing cleaning of algae and maintenance work to/on one of the rock formations in the Steller's sea lion exhibit. Therefore only a part of the group was on show in part of the exhibit at any given time. Perhaps this is still resulting from the flooding a while ago that also affected this exhibit?
  • Maintenance workers were busy repairing and repainting sections of the Chinese viewing corridor in the wetland area, something that had definitely become necessary, and the area was therefore partially closed, although most exhibits and animals could still be viewed.
  • The exhibit near the Saint-Bernard Tower, which last year held a pair of swans, has now been connected to the Capybara/Giant anteater/Lowland tapir exhibit on the bank of the Dender, near the watermill/brewery buildings. I saw the capybaras and tapirs using the land and water in this area. The animals got a little bit more space and some more opportunities to get away from each other, which certainly isn't a bad thing, although the exhibit was already rather decent. According to a reaction at the Laafsekikkers the swans were moved to the Chilean flamingo island behind the train station.
  • The "Oeuf du monde" ("Egg of the World") future new entrance zone that is being constructed between the aquarium building and the endangered bird husbandry center is generally not looking bad in my opinion, and probably will look even better once the vegetation had filled and grown out a bit, but I am not at all a fan of the golden-colored "broken egg shell" that surround parts of it. The old (parrot) aviaries nearby were still present and still held some birds, but could not be visited because of building site fences. I hope these aviaries and the species they hold will stay, perhaps with some renovations.
  • The new penguin cave in The Land of the Cold is, although over the top, a pretty nice and decent exhibit. Based on images I had some reservations about the exhibit, and although those have been mostly cleared up, I still think the difference in height between the rocky beach and the pool is too high for too much of its length, and the direct lower level access ramp to the pool is I think on the narrow side, especially if they still want to add more penguins or penguin species.
  • The Komodo dragons were temporarily off-show, there were signs on the windows saying there is ongoing construction work on the exhibits and the animals are temporarily off-show for technical reasons.
  • The blue cranes (normally housed in the exhibit also housing sitatungas and marabous in The Land of Origins) and the white-naped cranes (normally housed in the exhibit also housing hog deer in The Middle Kingdom) were not present (though still signed) at those locations, but rather in the large cathedral aviary.
  • According to Zootierliste Pairi Daiza no longer houses boat-billed herons, but I did in fact see and photograph one in the cathedral aviary.
  • I managed to see all of the walruses at Pairi Daiza, including the calf Floki. That did take me several trips to The Land of the Cold and half an hour or so of waiting, but I would say that was worth it.
  • Sadly the Golden-winged magnificent Bird-of-paradise and the Chinese giant salamander eluded me again, for the third year in a row. I did however get to see a Javan pond heron and an African jacana in the Tropicalia greenhouse.
  • As we were heading for dinner on the first evening I saw a wild great egret flying over.
  • Throughout the park there were new polished mineral rocks with poetry or quotes, most of which I don't remember being there last year.
  • Between The Last Frontier and the raptor aviaries a new exhibit with a barn and a viewing area has been constructed, the viewing area was still being finished on our first day. I have read some speculation this exhibit will house white-tailed deer, but I'm not sure if its future inhabitants have ever been officially confirmed.
 
Last edited:
KevinB said:
  • I managed to see all of the walruses at Pairi Daiza, including the calf Floki. That did take me several trips to The Land of the Cold and half an hour or so of waiting, but I would say that was worth it.
Click to expand...
How were the groups arranged and in what exhibits? Were Garik and Frosya with Ninot and/or Petri?
Also thank you for the thorough write-up of your trip! :)
 
csartie said:
How were the groups arranged and in what exhibits? Were Garik and Frosya with Ninot and/or Petri?
Also thank you for the thorough write-up of your trip! :)
Click to expand...

As far as I could see the main group (Thor, Petruska and Ninotska) occupied the large exhibit all day, with Garik and Frosya alternating in the smaller exhibit with Tanya and Floki. The groups can to my knowledge and as far as I saw have visual and auditory contact through the metal bars between the two exhibits, but no direct physical contact.
 
On an additional note: there's one more thing I missed and only remembered after a post today at the Laafsekikkers.

There is construction in the Mersus Emergo (ship-mimicking building housing reptiles and in the lower levels indoor housing for giraffes, monkeys, shoebill storks, pygmy hippos and pelicans) to renovate and expand the restaurant area.

Unfortunately the terrarium housing juvenile gharials has been removed in this process. I really hope we will see the gharials back at Pairi Daiza as soon as possible, in the Mersus Emergo or elsewhere. It was probably about time to move the juvenile gharials into a large exhibit anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top