Artis Royal Zoo Artis News 2023

[Mr Gharial]

Visiting next week, will have plenty of time to see everything but any must-sees or advice from regulars?

The row of reptile house, forest house and bird house definitely shouldn't be missed! I also suggest checking out the giant polder aviary, which can be best seen from outside the zoo

 

[Mr Gharial]

Artis is one of 4 ZTL collections with whiptail catfish
It is the only ZTL collection with a blackbelly limia, Siamese halfbeak, Tapahoney corydoras, coppename corydoras and Suriname corydoras

All of these should be in the Aquarium

The one problem being that the Aquarium is closed due to renovations

 

[tom1998]

The row of reptile house, forest house and bird house definitely shouldn't be missed! I also suggest checking out the giant polder aviary, which can be best seen from outside the zoo

great tips, thank you!

 

[tom1998]

The one problem being that the Aquarium is closed due to renovations

typical! thanks anyway @Dassie rat I'll keep an eye out for those species next time )

 

[JurassicMax]

Visiting next week, will have plenty of time to see everything but any must-sees or advice from regulars?

I agree with Mr Gharial, but you should also check out the Metzelaarskas / Tropical Greenhouse next to the Butterfly Greenhouse. Some of the fish species mentioned by Dassie Rat might be living in there, but are quite hard to see since you can only few the pond from a bridge.

What animals are you interested in? Artis also has a nice Insectarium and the Butterfly Greenhouse is also quite nice.
The small mammal house still houses some interesting species like European Dormice, four-toed hedgehogs and Persian jirds.

 

[lintworm]

Visiting next week, will have plenty of time to see everything but any must-sees or advice from regulars?

Adding on to what others have said: don't miss Micropia, their microbe zoo, which isn't included in the regular entrance price, but for which combined tickets exists.

 

[tom1998]

I agree with Mr Gharial, but you should also check out the Metzelaarskas / Tropical Greenhouse next to the Butterfly Greenhouse. Some of the fish species mentioned by Dassie Rat might be living in there, but are quite hard to see since you can only few the pond from a bridge.

What animals are you interested in? Artis also has a nice Insectarium and the Butterfly Greenhouse is also quite nice.
The small mammal house still houses some interesting species like European Dormice, four-toed hedgehogs and Persian jirds.

a bit of everything really! (vague I know ), definitely will spend time on small and rarely seen species, reptiles/small mammals/birds but also any particularly well done enclosures/exhibits will be of interest!

 

[JurassicMax]

Today I visited Artis and noticed a few changes in and around the small mammal house.

At least 4 Blue-throated macaws (Ara glaucogularis) are now housed in the former yellow-throated marten. I persume that these are the 4 young that hatched last year and that this is a temporary enclosure for them.

The signage of the Four-toed hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris) has been removed, either their died or have (temporarily) been placed behind the scenes.

The former meerkat enclosure has now been planted and refurbished, hopefully this will be added to the dwarf mongoose enclosure.

I also saw a transport crate in the gibbon inclosure, so possibly one or both of the animals will soon move to a different zoo?

 

[KevinB]

In Mid-August two Inca tern chicks hatched.

ARTIS - Leggen alle vogels in mei een ei? Zeker niet! De...

 

[JurassicMax]

Last Month 2 Red-tailed amazons (Amazona brasiliensis) hatched for the third year in a row.

Source:
Instagram of Artis (21/09/2023)

 

[JurassicMax]

This year 28 African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) hatched.

Recently the Dutch goverment has made 10 million euro available for the restoration of the Artis aquarium. This is great news, because now Artis can reach their goal of reopening the aquarium in 2025. However, they still don't have all the money needed to complete the renovation.

Source:
Instagram of Artis (07/09/2023)
Website of the Rijksoverheid (26/09/2023)

 

[Rensrobert]

I have a question about the new lion enclosure. Does anybody know how big it will be and how it compares to other lion enclosures in the benelux. When I was there it looked on the smaller size of the other enclosures in the benelux. For example the antwerp lion enclosure seems bigger.

 

[MennoPebesma]

I have a question about the new lion enclosure. Does anybody know how big it will be and how it compares to other lion enclosures in the benelux. When I was there it looked on the smaller size of the other enclosures in the benelux. For example the antwerp lion enclosure seems bigger.

According to Artis itself, the enclosure will be around 1800 m2 in size. To give you an idea of how big that is compared to other lion enclosures in the Netherlands and Belgium, here is an overview with surface areas I measured from Google Earth:

The Netherlands:
Artis new: 1800 m2
Artis old: 220 m2
Wildlands Emmen: 4700 m2
Dierenpark Amersfoort: 1500 m2
Beekse Bergen Safaripark 1: 2600 m2
Beekse Bergen Safaripark 2: 5800 m2
Beekse Bergen Resort 1: 5000 m2
Beekse Bergen Resort 2: 4800 m2
Dierenrijk: 1200 m2
ZooParc Overloon: 2300 m2
GaiaZOO: 1900 m2
Ouwehands Dierenpark: 1300 m2
Diergaarde Blijdorp: 1250 m2

Belgium:
Zoo Antwerpen: 1000 m2
Zoo Planckendael: 1500 m2
Pairi Daiza: 2300 m2

 

[Rensrobert]

Wow, that is alot bigger then it looked. Would have guessed it more around the 1000m2. It is a significant upgrade then. Also planckendael suprises me. Is it really that big? I would have guessed it to be smaller then antwerp, ouwehands and blijdorp. I have seen all the enclosure

 

[MennoPebesma]

Also planckendael suprises me. Is it really that big? I would have guessed it to be smaller then antwerp, ouwehands and blijdorp. I have seen all the enclosure

Planckendael surprised me as well, indeed. With a better aerial view, I measured it again and came up with about 1350 m2.

 

[MennoPebesma]

The new lion enclosure at ARTIS was officially opened today. The new enclosure is ten times larger in area than the old one. It is a hilly landscape inspired by the African savannah in different seasons, with a dry and vegetated area.

 

[felis silvestris]

The new lion enclosure at ARTIS was officially opened today. The new enclosure is ten times larger in area than the old one. It is a hilly landscape inspired by the African savannah in different seasons, with a dry and vegetated area.

The new exhibit looks great! They look a lot happier in there than that old grotto. Speaking of, what should they do with it now?

 

[Rensrobert]

Well that is a good question. I think it can go two ways. Or just like the old fossa, pairie dog and red river hog enclosure it will stay empty or they look for a smaller cat species or civet. If they continue the current trend of getting rid of species that they don't see a future with and giving species an improved enclosure, maybe bintorung. For myself I hope they bring back a species and give this space to the margay.

 

[Hugo28]

The new exhibit looks great! They look a lot happier in there than that old grotto. Speaking of, what should they do with it now?

I think I read somewhere that they're thinking of building a bridge for the lemurs from the island to the Kerbert terras.

EDIT: I've found the Dutch article here. The director says that he has the plan I described above. However, they are still looking into the possibility.

 

[StoppableSan]

I think I read somewhere that they're thinking of building a bridge for the lemurs from the island to the Kerbert terras.

EDIT: I've found the Dutch article here. The director says that he has the plan I described above. However, they are still looking into the possibility.

Given its proximity to the Reptile House, why not lightly renovate the space for komodo dragon?

EDIT: Looking at my photos from March 2023, I'd actually say that this space is practically *giftwrapped* for komodo dragon. Dayroom, large outdoor space, heavily planted, next to the Reptile House, minimal renovations required.