snowleopard

Africa Rocks - African Penguin/Leopard Shark Exhibit

July 9th, 2017.
  • Like
Reactions: German Zoo World
@JigerofLemuria It's intended to resemble the natural pairing of African Penguins and bamboo sharks. I'm curious as to why they didn't just get bamboo sharks, though. To the best of my knowledge aren't really a rarity by any stretch, and they would fit geographically in Africa Rocks.
 
My guess is that bamboo sharks are more bottom dwellers and smaller compared to leopard sharks.
 
There are no bamboo sharks anywhere near the range of the African penguin. However, southern Africa has a lot of very interesting shark species, including the spotted gully shark, a close relative of the leopard shark with a similar behavior. Several southern African shark species are kept in captivity and some could be mixed with African penguins, but most are essentially warm temperate species that really wouldn't stand much of a chance in a sun-exposed exhibit in southern California (at least if the water is uncooled). In fact, I'd also be a bit worried about the leopard's on warm days if the water is uncooled. Sure this species is quite hardy, but it really doesn't do well once we're entering warm tropical water temperatures and that could easily happen in SD. There are aquariums that keep them in warm tropical tanks, but that generally results in shorter lives.

New York Aquarium has mixed African penguin and leopard shark, too.
 

Media information

Category
San Diego Zoo
Added by
snowleopard
Date added
View count
3,156
Comment count
4
Rating
0.00 star(s) 0 ratings

Image metadata

Device
Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 340 HS
Aperture
ƒ/3.6
Focal length
4.5 mm
Exposure time
1/1000 second(s)
ISO
200
Flash
Off, did not fire
Filename
IMG_2808.JPG
File size
5.3 MB
Date taken
Sun, 09 July 2017 4:15 AM
Dimensions
4608px x 3456px

Share this media

Back
Top