I visited the park yesterday,
The new South American zone is very nice because the two biotopes are quite distinct (
3 Chaco plains enclosures in rotation with South American tapirs, greater rheas, giant anteater, guanaco, Chacoan peccary, capybara and Southern screamer and
two forest enclosures, one for bush dogs and one for white-nosed coatis). I've added photos to the park gallery. The rotation principle is interesting, but if I understand correctly, one of the plain enclosures is not visible to visitors. In fact, during my visit, I went into the area several times and only saw the tapirs, peccaries and rheas. I think the rotation principle takes time to set in, hence the many absences (especially as in the rest of the zoo, it's generally very easy to observe the different species on display).
These capricious tapirs took over 10 minutes to reach one of their outdoor enclosures...
...but it's true that their indoor enclosure looks cosy !
It was my first visit to the zoo and I loved it, I've never felt such a bucolic atmosphere in a park like this before. I started at the top of the archipelago area and it was so great to be surrounded by dozens of wallabys, mara, muntjacs, cranes, countless anatidae (I think I saw 30-40 different species) and other aquatic birds. Added to this were over a hundred wild birds (grey herons, white storks, mallards, gulls, etc.). It's also one of the most beautiful monkey islands I've ever seen, with real trees of many species, age and forms. This has to be one of my favorite zoo exhibit of all time with the Doué aviaries.
Apart from that, here's a bit more information :
Asian aviary species list and count:
Scientific aviary species list (every species where easy to spot) :
- Marbled teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris)
- Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
- Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)
- Little egret (Egretta garzetta)
- Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
- Black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
- Ruff (Calidris pugnax)
- Squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides)
If you want to visit the zoo, don't miss the show, which is not only very nice but also features many species not seen elsewhere in the zoo, such as Psittacidae, ibises and birds of prey (one of which whas the Ural Owl, which was not listed on ZtL).
A final question : I was wondering if anyone knows if Barking deer (Muntiacus muntja) are still present in the park ? On the map, the muntjacs are referred to as “Chinese muntjacs” and I imagine they are Reeves' muntjacs. I thought I saw some muntjacs behind the Indian plain (in an off-stage exhibit), maybe it was the barking ones. (They looked more “orange” which seems to confirm it, but I might be crazy).