ZOO Antwerpen Zoo Antwerpen News 2025

Crowthorne said:
One more little thing I've just remembered, I thought it was very interesting that on the roof behind the bee-eaters there was a beehive, which allowed the bee-eaters to hunt for their own food. I'm assuming this was a deliberate choice by the zoo, rather than a coincidence?
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Yes, it is something they do as an extra in the insect diet of the bee-eaters. The beehive is taken care of by a bee keeper who also provides drone brood as part of the bee-eaters diet.
 
Crowthorne said:
One more little thing I've just remembered, I thought it was very interesting that on the roof behind the bee-eaters there was a beehive, which allowed the bee-eaters to hunt for their own food. I'm assuming this was a deliberate choice by the zoo, rather than a coincidence?
Click to expand...
KevinB said:
Yes, it is something they do as an extra in the insect diet of the bee-eaters. The beehive is taken care of by a bee keeper who also provides drone brood as part of the bee-eaters diet.
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Crowthorne said:
Thank you for the info @KevinB it was really interesting to see the natural hunting behaviour of the bee-eaters!
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I've seen similar set-ups for bee-eaters at San Diego and Basel where beehives are strategically placed directly next to or above bee-eater aviaries.

~Thylo
 
I wonder where zoos keep finding beekeepers that don't mind their hives getting absolutely massacred. At the rates I've seen these bee-eaters consume bees, they must be empty in a month or so.
 
Penshet said:
I wonder where zoos keep finding beekeepers that don't mind their hives getting absolutely massacred. At the rates I've seen these bee-eaters consume bees, they must be empty in a month or so.
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Bee-eaters are feed with mealworms or crickets too for example, so they don’t eat bees only. And the beehives are placed outside the aviary, so not all bees fly into the aviary.
 
Paul.Haerle said:
Bee-eaters are feed with mealworms or crickets too for example, so they don’t eat bees only. And the beehives are placed outside the aviary, so not all bees fly into the aviary.
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Antwerp also has areas with flowers nearby, but on a different side of the hives from the aviary, to attract the bees.

I don't think bee-eaters will be more destructive to a beehive with enough worker bees than other things like environmental toxins, parasites or invasive hornets can be.
 
Time for an update:
  • The new Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo male Kikori (Rostock) arrived this morning in the monkey house. The keepers were working on the largest of the two enclosures by adding some smaller structures. Inawi (former Tree Kangaroo) has left, could be a swap with Rostock?
  • One of the tamarin enclosures was empty due to renovation.
  • The second Pygmy Marmoset enclosure has gotten new foraging ground and more climbing frames.
  • The poster for the Amur Tiger has been removed and replaced, so I guess that is the confirmation that they won't be included.
  • A species of Tortoise is being introduced to the African desert terrarium in the reptile house.
  • The saltwater side is closed off due to construction in the Aquarium.
  • The Ostrich has been introduced to the Giraffe today, the Warthogs were not out yet.
Bird House:
  • I saw two Spangled Cottinga fledglings in the bird house.
  • Two new species have been added to the Asia aviary inside of the bird house: White-rumped Shama (already in collection), Orange-headed Trush (new)
  • New plants have been added into the Australia aviary.
 
According to Zooflits the arrival of a male pygmy hippopotamus is expected in mid-November.

With the already present female in her indoor exhibit for the colder months they are now working on the outdoor exhibit furthest away from the building. They are filling in a part of the basin to enlarge the land area for the pygmy hippo as this species spends more time on land. They focused on getting the indoor exhibits done in the previous building period.

Zoo Antwerpen verbouwt nijlpaardenverblijf kort na heropening
 
Some updates:
  • The Goeldi’s Monkeys now have access to the enclosure to their left (formerly occupied by ‘Francky’ the old Pygmy Marmoset that passed away, 2 Golden-headed Lion Tamarins and a Geoffrey’s Tufted-ear Marmoset, who have their main enclosure next to it)
  • The Ultramarine Grosbeak that lived with the Sun Conures is gone (the species can still be found in the South American aviary near the bird house)
  • I only just noticed, but the ‘African waters’ tank in the aquarium contains a Nile Shoftshelled Turtle apparently since 2020 according to zootierliste.
  • The Red Duikers have moved from the Okapis to the Eastern Bongos. There is no sign of the Dik-diks, so I assume they left the collection.
  • There are now 2 male Congo Peafowl. (Instead of one)
Reptile house:
  • 1 Spurred Tortoise hatchling has been placed in the African desert terrarium in the reptile house.
  • A female Cuban Iguana has been added to accompany the male after the last one passed away.
  • There is a female Guatemalan Spiny Lizard present in the male’s enclosure.
  • Swift Woodlouse have been added to the Panther Chameleon exhibit.
 
MClaeys said:
Great news! Let’s hope Ayo will do what he must and that we’ll get some new baby gorillas again.
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He should have at least two mates initially; Mabele (1999) and Mayani (2001). The younger two, Thandie and Vizazi, are both currently six and five years old respectively, so I imagine they'll wait a few years before allowing both of those females to breed.
 
Hi all. Can anyone confirm, is it just Lions at Antwerp now, in terms of felines? Thanks!
 
MClaeys said:
It is, they went from jaguars, amur leopards, Siberian tigers and lions to lions only. The plans are to have snow leopards to in the future. They also planned to have Siberian tigers again, but these plans got canceled.
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Thank you for the swift reply! I appreciate it. That's a shame!
 
Arrival of 1.0 Pygmy Hippo called DABOU from France.
ZOO Antwerpen on Instagram: "Coucou Dabou! Na vrouwelijk dwergnijlpaard Nimba, verwelkomen we nu ook een mannetje: Dabou. Deze jonge, Franse charmeur vervolledigt ons nieuwe kweekkoppel voor deze bedreigde diersoort. Na een eerste, rustige nacht verkende Dabou dapper zijn nieuwe verblijf. Hij had al oogcontact met Nimba, maar de dieren hebben elk een volwaardig binnenverblijf. Dwergnijlpaarden zijn namelijk solitaire dieren, dus zullen deze twee voorlopig een LAT-relatie hebben. In de natuur leven er nog maar 2.000 tot 2.500 van deze dieren in de bossen van Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia en Ivoorkust in West-Afrika. In drie van de vier landen ziet de toekomst er niet goed uit voor de dwergnijlpaarden. Daarom kiezen we ervoor om samen met andere, Europese kwaliteitsdierentuinen het behoud van de soort op lange termijn te garanderen. #ZOOantwerpen #dwergnijlpaard"
 
 
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