Pairi Daiza Pairi Daiza News 2025

Dierentuineigenaar deelt details over opening tropische kas Pairi Daiza
Marc Coucke, one of the owners of Pairi Daiza, confirmed that the sanctuary will open in the first half of 2026.

I Also went to PD yesterday, here are some updates:
- I noticed not all storks had flown south yet... I don't know a lot about stork migration, but should they not be already on their way?
- something i never noticed before, but there are turkeys in the moose exhibit.
-the renovation of the Izba roof appears to be finished
-the upper viewing area of the macaques was still closed off, however I saw them from below, so they are still there
-an area of around 1 meter around the reindeer enclosure was closed off.
-I saw a wombat outside for the first time!!
-there was a transport crate in the fur seal exhibit.
-on 3/11 and 9/11 2 red-footed tortoise and 1 hermann's tortoise arrived in Pairi Daiza
-the path near the François Langurs was closed off, according to an employee because a tree fell on the path.
- on my way with the train, I took a look at the greenhouses in Brugelette where plants for the sanctuary are growing. It looked quite empty, most plants are likely already in the sanctuary.
 
That certainly gives us something to look forward to for 2026.

And yes, the storks should have left by now, they normally leave in August or September with the birds that migrate to Africa leaving earlier and the birds that migrate to southern Spain leaving later. However some storks do not migrate and that number seems to be increasing, and non-migrating birds often stay near their nests (Pairi Daiza might also still feed the storks somewhere, which would encourage them to stay around, in the past I have seen the storks feeding in the Père David's deer exhibit). These individuals might also be birds that were kept in aviaries for some years to take away their migration instincts before being released to be free-ranging.
 
EliasNys said:
-there was a transport crate in the fur seal exhibit.
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Would you by any chance know which individuals are still at Pairi Daiza? According to Species360, there are two. However, according to my information, there are three: male Numba and females Mandela and Spirit.
 
MennoPebesma said:
Would you by any chance know which individuals are still at Pairi Daiza? According to Species360, there are two. However, according to my information, there are three: male Numba and females Mandela and Spirit.
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Babelutte recently died and Oslo moved to prague. One female was moved to Rostock in oktober. So I think that indeed leaves them with 1.2, although there can be things I don't know too. I certainly did not see all three, but one could have been hiding of course. They appear to be emptying out the exhibit though, from 6 to 3 or 2 in a very short time. I wonder if they are going to do anything with it, since it is quite old already (at least for Pairi Daiza standards) but honestly, the exhibit is decent and doesn't really look like it needs a renovation, so i don't see what they would change...
 
KevinB said:
That certainly gives us something to look forward to for 2026.

And yes, the storks should have left by now, they normally leave in August or September with the birds that migrate to Africa leaving earlier and the birds that migrate to southern Spain leaving later. However some storks do not migrate and that number seems to be increasing, and non-migrating birds often stay near their nests (Pairi Daiza might also still feed the storks somewhere, which would encourage them to stay around, in the past I have seen the storks feeding in the Père David's deer exhibit). These individuals might also be birds that were kept in aviaries for some years to take away their migration instincts before being released to be free-ranging.
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Near the Belgian border, there are some Storks remaining all year long in places like the Domaine du Marquenterre (Département de la Somme, Northern France). It was already the case in the early 2000s.
 
KevinB said:
These individuals might also be birds that were kept in aviaries for some years to take away their migration instincts before being released to be free-ranging.
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Are all the Storks in the colony in and around Paira D. from introduced birds, or are some of them naturally occurring? Is there a known history?
 
Pertinax said:
Are all the Storks in the colony in and around Paira D. from introduced birds, or are some of them naturally occurring? Is there a known history?
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I don't know specifics about the Pairi Daiza colony, but basically all storks occurring in Belgium are descendants of introduced colonies in Belgium or neighboring countries. In much of western Europe wild storks went extinct in the 19th or 20th centuries, so very few, if any, truly naturally occurring storks have remained. However the storks from the different colonies are known to move between different areas and colonies as well as establish, with some help, new nesting areas, at their choice. For all intents and purposes the storks in these colonies are wild with limited management, as they move and migrate freely and largely if entirely find their own food.
 
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EliasNys said:
Pairi Daiza / WIKI Daizen | Mur détruit à la sortie de la volière cathédrale | Facebook
According to these images, a part of the ancient wall surrounding the abbey was torn down, the wall in between the voliere and the tropicalia. Possibly a side entrance for the sanctuary. As a historian, this hurts to see...:confused: How did they even get a permit to tear down this heritage? o_O In the Last Frontier zone they already tore down a large part...
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well. any action should respect the heritage. what has gone can't be restored. species or an ancient wall.
 
LittleRavenwood said:
Does anyone know where are the mouse deer held and how easy are they to spot?
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They are in the Oasis greenhouse, in an exhibit near the Pesquet's parrots and the silvery-cheeked hornbills.

You can find the location of the exhibit on this map:

Fire escape map of the Oasis with exhibit and visitor area locations - List in comment - State as of September 1st, 2025 - ZooChat

Finding the mouse deer can be hit or miss, they can hide relatively well. In my experience you are more likely to see them earlier in the day when they get food, heading to the Oasis shortly after opening time might be helpful.
 
KevinB said:
They are in the Oasis greenhouse, in an exhibit near the Pesquet's parrots and the silvery-cheeked hornbills.
Thank you!
You can find the location of the exhibit on this map:

Fire escape map of the Oasis with exhibit and visitor area locations - List in comment - State as of September 1st, 2025 - ZooChat

Finding the mouse deer can be hit or miss, they can hide relatively well. In my experience you are more likely to see them earlier in the day when they get food, heading to the Oasis shortly after opening time might be helpful.
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Thank you!
 
The Facebook fan group "Pairi Daiza/Wiki Daizen" just posted the plan of which species would be visible in "Sanctuary". We already saw this plan but now we have numbers indicating which species we should see and where. I'm translating it for everybody:
1)Drill
2)Tapir
3)Sharks and sea turtles
4)Manatees and fishes
5)"mangrove"(no species said)
6)Crocodiles(according to the post, saltwater and nile)
7)Pygmy hippos
8)Birds(no species said)
9)"Monkey valley" with howling, golden lion tamarin, top cotton tamarin, de Brazza; etc
10)Fossas
11)Lemurs
12)Turtles/tortoises
13)Komodo dragons
14)"Butterflies valley" and hummingbirds
15)Giant otters with waterfalls

It's said that this plan is not definitive, might be modified and some upcoming species are missing. They also say that we don't know where jaguars would be and if they would even be inside(Outdoor exhibit ?)

Pairi Daiza / WIKI Daizen | 1 drill 2 tapir 3 requins ,tortues ,4 lamentins et poissons | Facebook
 
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Raptorblack226 said:
"Butterflies valley" and hummingbirds
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Interesting to see, whether Pairi Daiza will manage to get some hummingbirds and try to breed them.
Like Pairi Daiza practiced it already, I‘d guess they try to import them, but I doubt, that’s successful, because of their petiteness.
The second way would be getting some from private breeders, but so far I know Pairi Daiza doesn’t have that good connections, and even if, they‘d need something for a change (mostly hummingbirds) and so far I know they have nothing for a change.
 
Paul.Haerle said:
Interesting to see, whether Pairi Daiza will manage to get some hummingbirds and try to breed them.
Like Pairi Daiza practiced it already, I‘d guess they try to import them, but I doubt, that’s successful, because of their petiteness.
The second way would be getting some from private breeders, but so far I know Pairi Daiza doesn’t have that good connections, and even if, they‘d need something for a change (mostly hummingbirds) and so far I know they have nothing for a change.
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If they can't get, or fail, with the hummingbirds I think small South American songbirds (cardinals, tanagers, honeycreepers) would be easier to get and to keep, and would be a decent alternative.
 
Paul.Haerle said:
Interesting to see, whether Pairi Daiza will manage to get some hummingbirds and try to breed them.
Like Pairi Daiza practiced it already, I‘d guess they try to import them, but I doubt, that’s successful, because of their petiteness.
The second way would be getting some from private breeders, but so far I know Pairi Daiza doesn’t have that good connections, and even if, they‘d need something for a change (mostly hummingbirds) and so far I know they have nothing for a change.
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Well, i scrolled Zootierliste and found out that Sant Alessio con Vialone, an Italian ornithological park has some hummingbirds species. I don't know if they breed there but if Pairi Daiza gets some of them there, the Italy/Belgium journey would be quite short.
 
Raptorblack226 said:
Well, i scrolled Zootierliste and found out that Sant Alessio con Vialone, an Italian ornithological park has some hummingbirds species. I don't know if they breed there but if Pairi Daiza gets some of them there, the Italy/Belgium journey would be quite short.
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Oh, right.
They do to breed several species, but according to ZTL they never gave a specimen to another zoo.
Maybe they would give some away to professional breeders, but Pairi Daiza doesn‘t have practice with hummingbird breeding.
 
According to De Standaard, a Flemish newspaper, The MR (political party in Wallonia, where PD is located) wants Pairi Daiza to get an exemption to the VAT tax increase from 6 to 12 percent. "Because Pairi Daiza is more education than a theme park." Meanwhile not a word about the Zoo of Antwerp, Planckendael or the Zonnegloed, which all are way more deserving an exemption. There is no way that this isn't lobbying right?

Edit: forgot the source: https://www.standaard.be/politiek/b...-over-uitzonderingen-barst-los/108950945.html
 
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