Burgers' Zoo Burgers' Zoo news 2024

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Some snippets from the latest ZieZoo:

- There are currently some building works going on near the Bush entrance (allegedly a water playground) and the elephants (allegedly a renovation of the stable so the elephants can choose whether to be inside or outside, and a renovation of the visitor area)
- The chimpanzee male Claudius who sired the 2 babies (a male and a female) has died after being attacked by 2 resident males in his introduction phase.
- The female tree porcupine died while giving birth (young in breech position, can't be fun with those quills...)
- There are finally fertile zebra shark eggs again, which hasn't happened since 2001 (when the single baby shark died after a few weeks)
- The cinereous vulture chick that was adopted from France moved to Planckendael in November to their dating aviary
- The final slingjaw wrasse has died.
- They have been doing some tests together with Diergaarde Blijdorp which fish are spawning around full moon in the coral reef basin, eggs of some 12 fish species have been identified. It is not clear whether Burgers' Zoo wants to start breeding these species, like Oceanopolis in Brest is doing. It is a priority for Diergaarde Blijdorp and let's hope we will see this happening too in Burgers' in the coming years..
- At least 2 of the 3 sun bears born in 2019 will move to other zoos, the first has already left for Tregomeur in France.
- The monitoring programme coordinated by Burgers' Zoo for greater roadrunner has been upgraded to a full EEP.
 
lintworm said:
There are currently some building works going on near the Bush entrance (allegedly a water playground)
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A little bit of work has been done here already, though there are no signs indicating what exactly it will be:
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In the area near the elephant stable entrance there has been some demolition work, though nothing has happened yet.

For the rest my visit was very uneventful. The final 5 barracuda have left for Diergaarde Blijdorp leaving the small open ocean tank with a few golden trevally and cleaner wrasse. It will be interesting what they plan to do there as the schooling fish concept has never really worked.

Overall I am curious whether 2024 will be just as disappointing as 2023 from the animal side of things. 2023 saw a net decrease of 3 mammal species and with greater flamingo 1 bird species left (but with a good reason). The great curassows will leave too if not gone already, which was also unavoidable. The new leopard (former jackal) and hog deer (former reindeer) exhibits aren't exactly upgrades and with red cardinals and golden-bellied mangabeys 2 interesting species were moved behind the scenes. As far as I am aware only 2 new species were added in 2023 outside of the Ocean: four-eyed fish (a great addition) and blue-winged teal (but just a single male). For the first time in 35 years no truly new bird species (only superb fruit doves back from behind the scenes and orange-fronted fruit doves taken out in 2022/2023) were added to the Bush, nor was any bird species added to the Mangrove for the first year since it opened, despite plenty of potential new species being possible for either exhibit. But what is more there is a surprising number of species that are not in a breeding position anymore (unless new animals were acquired very recently) for quite some time including spangled cotinga, Madagascar crested ibis, red-crested turaco, Montserrat oriole, white-headed catbird, yellow grosbeak and indigo bunting. Sourcing new animals for some of these species can be tricky, but a situation like this was unheard of a few years ago. It has apparently also been impossible to find a second capybara, so the animal arriving in late 2022 is still alone... In that sense 2024 can only be better, but if not Burgers' is on track to see a serious decline in bird species in the coming years. The average visitor doesn't care and the zoo still has a very solid set of exhibits and infrastructure which will together with their reputation carry them on. But the love for unloved species that was present much of this century seems on the decline and I hope they will prove me wrong.
 
Unfortunately the last bobcat at Burgers' Zoo has died at the ripe old age of 19 years and 9 months.

The article mentions Burgers' Zoo might want to continue with this species, but that the number of bobcats in European zoos is limited, and that they will be thinking about the former bobcat exhibit, which will be possibly repurposed.

The only bobcats in the Netherlands are now at Faunapark Flakkee.

Bijzondere diersoort verdwenen uit Burgers’ Zoo
 
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KevinB said:
Unfortunately the last bobcat at Burgers' Zoo has died at the ripe old age of 19 years and 9 months.

The article mentions Burgers' Zoo might want to continue with this species, but that the number of bobcats in European zoos is limited, and that they will be thinking about the former bobcat exhibit, which will be possibly repurposed.

The only bobcats in the Netherlands are now at Faunapark Flakkee.

Bijzondere diersoort verdwenen uit Burgers’ Zoo
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I can't imagine they don't already have a plan, this could be foreseen for years, though it is sad to see the final individual pass away.

While I loved the bobcats, I hope they will go for jaguarundi or ocelot, which are far smaller and are a better fit for the enclosure size. Both cats do occur (or occurred in recent times) in the general area the Desert is themed around (Sonora & Mojave deserts). Small cats in the larger Dutch zoos have a hard time anyway with only Blijdorp still having some species (but still far less than 15 years ago). But I guess the most logical would be white-nosed coati given they are attractive and the ring-tailed coati in the zoo will likely disappear within a few years (EU regulation). I am confident they haven't sunk so low that they consider raccoons....
 
hi all, may I ask few questions about gorilla relocation plan to China Zoo. Did they leave Burgers zoo already? How many gorillas will go there? Thanks.
 
DannySG said:
hi all, may I ask few questions about gorilla relocation plan to China Zoo. Did they leave Burgers zoo already? How many gorillas will go there? Thanks.
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They haven't left, first due to Covid, but now I don't know. The silverback has died in the meantime and given it has been silent for so long, I doubt that they will actually still go to China, but they will still need to relocate the other males...

Ellen said:
Raccoons are actually one of my favourite animals so I wouldn't be against it! Although ocelot would also be very cool.
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Raccoons aren't a typical desert animal and they are one of the most widely kept mammals of them all. Burgers' used to put a premium on establishing rarer species if they fit the them, this is less so with the current management, but cute as raccoons may be, it would be a further devaluation of the Desert.
 
lintworm said:
They haven't left, first due to Covid, but now I don't know. The silverback has died in the meantime and given it has been silent for so long, I doubt that they will actually still go to China, but they will still need to relocate the other males...
Click to expand...

Thanks for prompt feedback, which is quite similar as my understanding.
 
DannySG said:
hi all, may I ask few questions about gorilla relocation plan to China Zoo. Did they leave Burgers zoo already? How many gorillas will go there? Thanks.
Click to expand...

lintworm said:
They haven't left, first due to Covid, but now I don't know. The silverback has died in the meantime and given it has been silent for so long, I doubt that they will actually still go to China, but they will still need to relocate the other males...
Click to expand...
According to a biologist and curator at Burgers' Zoo, it is still planned to move Bauwi's three sons to China, as she explained in this (Dutch) news article after Bauwi's death: Ontroerend: gorilla’s en verzorgers nemen afscheid van dode Bauwi (33): ‘In veel opzichten lijken ze op mensen’
 
One of the "young" sunbear left the park. Few weeks ago, one left the park and went to Tregommeur (France). The second is going to France and according to what we see in the video, it will go to St Martin La plaine (Espace Zoologique)


Source: Burgers' Zoo Facebook & Instagram Page
Burgers' Zoo on Instagram: "Een 4,5-jarige Maleise beer is woensdag vanuit ons park op transport gegaan naar het Franse dierenpark van Saint-Martin-la-Plaine. Het jonge vrouwtje, dat geboren is in Burgers' Zoo, is voor het transport onder narcose gebracht door de dierenarts voor een veterinaire controle en het plaatsen van een chip. In Europese dierentuinen leven in totaal maar 34 Maleise beren: 10 mannetjes en 24 vrouwtjes. Het fokken met Maleise beren is niet zo simpel, zo blijkt. Burgers' Zoo levert dan ook een zeer welkome groei voor het Europese populatiemanagementprogramma met de geboorte van maar liefst drie beren in 2019. #beer #transport #burgerszoo"
 
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A female Rotschildt's giraffe was born last night. With the recent arrival of a 2 year old female from Aalborg there are now 0.7 giraffe at the zoo, so hopefully a new male can be sourced soon. This is the second giraffe birth in half a year, though the first calf had to be euthanized due to a leg problem. I have stopped counting but the new calf should be around the 130th giraffe born in Burgers'.

Nieuw leven in de zoo! Vanochtend verwelkomden de dierverzorgers een nieuwe toevoeging aan onze groep: een pasgeboren Rothschildgiraffe! Het jong stond al overeind op zijn lange pootjes en verkende nieuwsgierig zijn omgeving. Wist je dat giraffen, na een draagtijd van ongeveer 14 maanden, een staande bevalling hebben? Het jong maakte een val van 1,5 meter, maar dankzij een instinctieve beweging landde het veilig op zijn schouder. De Rothschildgiraffe die in Burgers’ Zoo leeft, is een variant die alleen in Kenia en Oeganda voorkomt en zeldzaam is. Door inspanningen van natuurbeschermers is hun aantal in de natuur weer wat toegenomen. Er leven naar schatting 1100 Rothschildgiraffen in het wild en ongeveer zo’n 350 in dierenparken, waaronder in Burgers’ Zoo. Dierenparken hebben een gezamenlijk Europees managementprogramma opgericht om een veilige reservepopulatie van ze te behouden. #giraffe #giraffegeboorte #burgerszoo | Burgers' Zoo
 
Yesterday while visiting i spotted a hemidactylus frenatus in the bat enclosure in the desert tunnel. I dont know if this happens regulary but this is a first for me, unfortunaly to dark for a nokia phone to take a proper picture.
 
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