AquaZoo Leeuwarden Aqua zoo news

Some updates from my visit yesterday:

- The longsnout seahorses (Hippocampus reidi) are back. In the morning they were not yet visible, but when I walked past the aquarium in the afternoon, the sign was back and I saw at least three seahorses hidden among the corals and rocks.

- The terrarium of the Majorcan midwife toads (Alytes muletensis) is being remodelled. The lower part seems to be redesigned.

- In the separate display for the small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) eggs, two of the eggs have hatched. A first breeding for the zoo.
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- The raccoons (Procyon lotor) are still not on display. They are behind the screens. I was informed that they are waiting for re-inspection of the enclosure after some modifications.

- The second chick of the red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) has also died unfortunately.

- The red pandas (Ailurus fulgens) are still in their old enclosure. Work is still in progress on the indoor enclosure at the new enclosure.

- The food trailer is now located near the old raccoon enclosure. Some new picnic benches have also been added there.
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- The old beaver enclosure is being converted into a field for native bee and butterfly species, among others. Some bee hives have already been put up. Biodiversity is the focus of this new area.
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- At the koi pond, you can now sail remote-controlled boats.
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Some updates from my visit yesterday:

- Two more young small-spotted catshark have hatched. With that, there are now four young sharks.

- The (famous) raccoons are now finally on display! They are still a bit shy so it is still a good search in the outdoor enclosure. They are easier to see in their indoor enclosure.
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- There are also grass carp now in the water of the North American beaver enclosure.

- A North American beaver was born at the end of July. Unfortunately, the young died after a few days.

- The male capybara has died.

- A common seal was born in July. Unfortunately, the pup died recently.

- The two hives in the former beaver enclosure are home to European dark bees (Apis mellifera mellifera). This is the only native honeybee species in the Netherlands. The species is threatened with extinction and is therefore widely bred. These are also returned to the wild, as has now been done in AquaZoo.

- One of the female red kangaroos has a joey in its pouch. It can already be seen from time to time.

- In the future red panda enclosure, a small house has been built on one of the islands.
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A long awaited visit to Aqua zoo today. I have to say I'm quite impressed with the Churchill area, and I can see the Asian / Amur area taking shape. I had a fun day and saw some interesting species :)
Especially loved seeing the giant otters!

The zoo has changed so much since 2018. I mainly remember the harbour seal / sea lion enclosures. Some of the earlier enclosures are still great, like the penguin ones and the kangaroo / wallaby walkthrough. And I like the interaction of certain species and enclosures with local nature. Love the setup for the bees and some of the harbour seals tried tasting some of the local bird cuisine... The duck was too fast for them... this time.

Some other enclosures could use an update, as the decor for some non-European species is still Dutch swamp ;) (It was a fairly rainy day too, tbh) I liked the mixed enclosure of tapir and capibara, but would love to see a bit more South-American plants in that enclosure, for example. However, considering the size of the zoo and the location, I think its fair to consider not everything can be updated at once. Also the signing was a bit off, the sea lions were still signed at some point so we were wondering if they had left or if we had gone crazy.

I made some pictures of the little Joey inside and outside its mothers pouch. Also some of the small-spotted catshark are in the big tank now with the other animals. Zoo staff is feeding them fish porridge to make sure they get enough nutrition with all the bigger fish in the pond. Staff was excited to see the catsharks managing to get around and grow in the tank.

On the car ride back husband and I were discussing where Aqua Zoo is moving to from here. By getting the tigers to Leeuwarden, AquaZoo showed a vision for growing to a bigger zoo. However, we were wondering which species could be added to reach this goal / keep the water theme / make us want to take such a long drive again. Pygmy Hippo's would be a lovely addition, perhaps sea otters... The ideal additions would be small and water-themed, yet very impressive. :p

Also, visiting Beekse Bergen, DierenRijk / Eindhoven Zoo and Aqua Zoo this year made me wonder if animal groups can be moved around in the Libema parks freely? Of course EEP qualifications should be taken in order, but I wonder for example, if Libema is allowed to move one of their surplus groups from Beekse Bergen to Aqua Zoo... That would open up opportunities for the smaller zoos in this branch.
 
Yunha said:
I liked the mixed enclosure of tapir and capibara, but would love to see a bit more South-American plants in that enclosure, for example.
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With tapirs eating every green leaf they can reach, I don't know how long these plants will survive. ;) Though I agree that the enclosure feels a bit bare, especially with so many trees around it.

Yunha said:
Also the signing was a bit off, the sea lions were still signed at some point so we were wondering if they had left or if we had gone crazy.
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Huh, where? I visit AquaZoo fairly often but I haven't seen those signs. The sea lions already left in 2021.

Yunha said:
On the car ride back husband and I were discussing where Aqua Zoo is moving to from here. By getting the tigers to Leeuwarden, AquaZoo showed a vision for growing to a bigger zoo. However, we were wondering which species could be added to reach this goal / keep the water theme / make us want to take such a long drive again. Pygmy Hippo's would be a lovely addition, perhaps sea otters... The ideal additions would be small and water-themed, yet very impressive. :p
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The zoo will see many more changes in the coming years. It is planned to be divided into areas. Like the Amur area and Churchill area. These areas will focus on a major river in a different continent each. A South American area and an African area will be added, for example.
 
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MennoPebesma said:
With tapirs eating every green leaf they can reach, I don't know how long these plants will survive. ;) Though I agree that the enclosure feels a bit bare, especially with so many trees around it.
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Haha, that's a very fair point. I even saw one of the Tapirs ripping grass out of the soil and partly eating it.


MennoPebesma said:
Huh, where? I visit AquaZoo fairly often but I haven't seen those signs. The sea lions already left in 2021.
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I saw at least one Sea Lion-looking icon on the picture signage. It might have been a South American Fur Seal however. The Fur Seal is still in the park guide I bought, but unfortunately I missed them in the park as well. (But I cannot find information about this species on the site or on the park map.) Do you perhaps know MennoPebesma, if the Fur Seals still reside at Aquazoo?

I think the image signs are going to be updated soon, as they are not adjusted to the Churchill area yet either. Sign going to the Polar Bears took us to a fence-blocked path, and the Raccoon icon was still pointing us to their old enclosure (as I remember it at least. Across the otters / food cart?)

Anyway, looking forward to the going-ons at Aqua Zoo :)
 
Yunha said:
I saw at least one Sea Lion-looking icon on the picture signage. It might have been a South American Fur Seal however. The Fur Seal is still in the park guide I bought, but unfortunately I missed them in the park as well. (But I cannot find information about this species on the site or on the park map.) Do you perhaps know MennoPebesma, if the Fur Seals still reside at Aquazoo?
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Ah, yes I forgot about those. I know my way around by now so I don't look at those anymore ;). But now that you mention it, I can indeed remember noticing before that those were no longer correct.

Fur seals are indeed no longer there, the last one unfortunately left in 2022. Their old enclosure is now part of the Humboldt penguin enclosure. Odd that the fur seals are still in the park guide, although there must be more mistakes in there then.

Yunha said:
I think the image signs are going to be updated soon, as they are not adjusted to the Churchill area yet either. Sign going to the Polar Bears took us to a fence-blocked path, and the Raccoon icon was still pointing us to their old enclosure (as I remember it at least. Across the otters / food cart?)
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Yes there is a dead end there now. In the future, each themed area will have its own entrance from the main path, just like the Churchill area has now. Indeed, the raccoons used to be opposite the small-clawed otters.
 
Some updates from my visit yesterday:

- The meanwhile annual dino weeks have started again. Which means there are currently many moving and noise-making dino statues scattered throughout the park.

- The changes to the Majorcan midwife toads' terrarium are finished. In the lower section, the water part is now larger, some branches have been added and there is room for some greenery/plants.
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- It looks like they have started to work on something new at the lower part of the Wadden sea area.
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- Soon, some raccoons from another zoo will join the current group at AquaZoo. Not only to increase the number of animals, but also with the hope that these new animals who are used to living in a zoo can make the current animals feel more comfortable, so they will show themselves a bit more

They will also try to catch some more of the escaped raccoons next autumn/winter. On wildlife cameras in the area, there are still occasional sightings of raccoons.

- A new species in the Churchill area: the American paddlefish. Like the other fish species in the area, they inhabit the beaver enclosure. I have not yet seen them myself, but the sign is now up.
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- The Amur tiger cubs are now 15 months old which means they are about to move to other zoos. This is expected to happen late this year/early next year. New homes have been found for all four in other EAZA zoos.

- Meanwhile, a small house has also been built on the other island of the new red panda enclosure. The outside enclosure seems almost finished now. The indoor enclosure, however, is still being worked on.
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MennoPebesma said:
For years, AquaZoo had a male group of giant otters, but that is about to change. Two of the three males will move to other zoos to make way for a female. She will then be paired with the remaining male. One of the males has already been moved to a zoo in Germany.

Source: Facebook AquaZoo Leeuwarden
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Happy about this development. Will be nice to finally have a breeding pair in the Netherlands.
 
MennoPebesma said:
For years, AquaZoo had a male group of giant otters, but that is about to change. Two of the three males will move to other zoos to make way for a female. She will then be paired with the remaining male. One of the males has already been moved to a zoo in Germany.

Source: Facebook AquaZoo Leeuwarden
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I'm happy about this as well. I found the giant otters to be the most exciting species in Aqua Zoo and would definitely find my way back if younglings were on show. :)
 
Some updates from my visit yesterday:

- The armadillos' enclosure has been redecorated. There are now different types of substrate and some new tree trunks have been installed.
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- The agoutis in the indoor part have young again. I saw one but more may have been hiding.

- Demolition of the former raccoon enclosure has started. Part of the fence is already gone as is the separation enclosure.
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- The giant otter who moved is Nacho, he has been moved to Leipzig. The other male is expected to leave at the end of this month. After which a female will probably arrive at AquaZoo a few days later to pair up with the remaining male.

- The young red kangaroo has left the pouch.
 
Fourteen African penguins have died in recent weeks. They were sick, but what they died of is still unknown. Multiple tests and investigations by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht have not yet been conclusive. Treatments that are normally successful are now not working, or not working well.

To give the penguins some rest, the walk-through enclosure has been closed to visitors for the time being.
 
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Some updates from my visit yesterday:

- Part of the giant otters' indoor enclosure has been redecorated. Meanwhile, only one giant otter remains at AquaZoo. The other male was moved earlier this week. The new female is expected soon.
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- In the lower part of the Wadden area, some new construction has been build up. This appears to be the sea trout rearing tanks, which were mentioned earlier.
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- The walk-through African penguin enclosure was still closed. By the end of the afternoon, though, it had been modified so that you could walk through part of the enclosure. This keeps the zoo route reasonably intact.

- One of the North American porcupines has died.
 
Some updates from my visit yesterday:

- The Red Madagascar Panchax are now in a new aquarium.
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- The new giant otter female has arrived. She and the male are already together and seem to get along well.

- I haven't seen the hamerkop in the pelican aviary for a while.
 
The new giant otter female is 3-year-old Maya from Budapest Zoo. She and male Viggo have been inseparable from day one. Maya's arrival not only allows AquaZoo to contribute to the European management programme. But in the future, possibly also to an international reintroduction project in Argentina.

One of the males that moved out of AquaZoo also contributed to this by testing a GPS transmitter earlier this year. Addy de Jongh, biologist, founder of the former Otterpark Aqualutra (now AquaZoo) and member of the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group has helped Rewilding Argentina successfully place this GPS transmitter on a giant otter in Argentina. This means the otters there could be released into the wild next year.

Source: Facebook AquaZoo Leeuwarden
 
Some updates from my visit yesterday:

- Surprisingly, I saw a starfish in the reef aquarim. I hadn't seen it for a while.
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- The sea trout breeding tanks are now filled with water. It won't be long before the fish arrive.

- The humboldt penguin enclosure was closed because of works. The flying steamer duck has also moved from the African penguin enclosure to the humboldt penguin enclosure.
 
AquaZoo has started rearing young sea trout (Salmo trutta trutta). This is part of the ‘Vissen voor Verbinding’ project in which several organisations are working to reconnect waters and improve fish stocks in the Wadden Sea and surrounding waters. How the project works will be explained with interactive education boards.

Four large water tanks have recently been installed in AquaZoo's Wadden area. Some 2,500 sea trout now swim in them sorted by size. When they are about a year old, they will be released into the streams and hopefully swim to sea themselves. It is possible that some of the fish will be tagged before the release in order to monitor whether they have actually managed to swim back to sea. After the fish are released, AquaZoo expects to raise a second batch of trout and the project will continue.
 
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