Bioparque Los Ocarros, Villavicencio, Colombia

giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus)

Fantastic, just fantastic to see a (colour) pic of these most charismatic and cherished animals, most people on here i'm quite sure would be glad to see them in their local collection, just love them!
Much appreciation for the pics G.E.

Quite simply the best photo of this species I've EVER seen. Thank you very much. Tell us more about this animal; how was it kept. was it on its own, how long has it lived in this collection?

Many, many thanks once more.

Yes, just great. Were there any other unusual (rare in zoos) south american animals there?

Thanks for posting Giant Eland that is a great photo of an awesome beast. I didn't realise there were any in captivity.

I found this video. The zoo looks pretty good with native species only I think. Giant armadillo is seen (briefly) at 0.56 and 3.52

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v449zgcpV74]Bioparque Los Ocarros - Villavicencio Meta Colombia - YouTube[/ame]

thanks for the video link Pygathrix, it looks like a really nice place.

All the photos of the giant armadillo are excellent, Giant Eland

there's also this video which shows the giant armadillo and various other animals (and has narration in Spanish)
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lGqYHULjVA&feature=relmfu]BIOPARQUE LOS OCARROS - YouTube[/ame]


and this one:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CKcIo464gc&feature=related]Magazin CES 2007 Bioparque los Ocarros. 2 de 3 - YouTube[/ame]

IanRRobinson said:

Quite simply the best photo of this species I've EVER seen. Thank you very much. Tell us more about this animal; how was it kept. was it on its own, how long has it lived in this collection?

Many, many thanks once more.

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Why thank you very much. It was overcast and late in the day, so it was a little darker than I usually hope for my photos. They kept 3 of them. 2 males and 1 female. One of the males had been injured in a car accident. The keeper was nice enough to entice/drag two of the Armadillos into their outdoor exhibit, because when we got there they were in their sleeping quarters. I arrived late in the day which is luckily when they are fed, so they were just waking up anyways. Reminded me of watching the Pangolin feed at the San Diego Zoo. There were 2 separate sleeping quarters, which a one of my pictures was taken in. They had a nice sized outdoor exhibit which mostly consisted of mud and dirt and rocks. Not sure how old they were, but all were fully adult.

Arizona Docent said:

Yes, just great. Were there any other unusual (rare in zoos) south american animals there?

Click to expand...

Thanks again. I can give you the list of the other mammals I photographed while there: White-tailed Deer, Red Brocket Deer, neotropical river otter, jaguar, puma, margay, greater grison, variegated spider monkey, woolly monkey, black agouti, lowland paca, and southern tamandua. Most of these (besides the deer) were behind glass in good sized exhibits. I think they also had Brazilian Tapir, not totally sure.

Giant Eland said:

I think they also had Brazilian Tapir, not totally sure.

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There are Brazilian tapirs in that first video.