Island holding Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus). In the past this island held cranes, and possibly also monkeys and binturongs at one point. The hippopotamus sculptures refer to the former holding of hippos nearby. The Olmense Zoo used to have hippos.
Island holding Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus). In the past this island held cranes, and possibly also monkeys and binturongs at one point. The hippopotamus sculptures refer to the former holding of hippos nearby. The Olmense Zoo used to have hippos.
Well, the island itself isn't too bad. But the thing with the hippo sculptures looks kind of weird. One of the foxes loved the climb on the hippo head in the moat, by the way.
Maybe this could be interpreted as a symbolization of the consequences of global warming? Or a reminiscence of European pleistocene fauna?
Or maybe I'm just overthinking it and they should just remove either plastic hippos or artic foxes...
Yeah, it is weird. I can sort of understand why a zoo keeps it's history in mind - and the hippos who lived at the Olmense Zoo were sort of famous locally anyway. But plastic hippos just remain weird, especially with foxes now on the island. The arctic foxes used to live in a crappy space behind the scenes, so they are probably better off on the island.
Thank you very much for posting these many photos of this zoo, with interesting commentaries as well, Kevin. It is much appreciated.
I have frequently been near this place, and never got around to visiting. Seeing these various pictures - and this one takes the biscuit - convince me that return visits to Antwerp, or into the Netherlands, will be preferable to ticking off Olmense.
I like visiting the Olmense Zoo and they have an interesting collection, and while it has some nice enclosures, it isn't amongst the best zoos. I would probably say that Antwerp or a Dutch Zoo would be better choice for someone coming from quite far away (like the UK), although in the case of Antwerp, I would wait until late spring/Summer of next year, because of all the construction and renovation going on there at the moment.
