For the last several years Zoo Antwerpen has kept two adolescent Asian elephant bulls in their Asian elephant exhibit, which is pretty old-fashioned and not great.
While I certainly agree that the elephant exhibit needs to be renovated and expanded, this seems like a good use for it in the meantime in conjunction the Planckendael facilities.
@DelacoursLangur There isn't really any room to expand the elephant exhibit at Antwerp, neither outdoors nor indoors.
Outdoors there isn't any room for expansion without sacrificing another megafauna exhibit (such as the giraffe paddock). They cannot use the nearby pound, lawn and planted areas because the whole zoo has been designated a protected heritage site, including the general look of the gardens, so they cannot change gardens into animal exhibits without it having a major visual impact (and for elephants it definitely would).
Inside the Egyptian Temple there really isn't any space to expand the elephant facilities, at least not without sacrificing the giraffes and without major construction work that would likely not be allowed under heritage protections. They simply don't have the space to construct a large modern elephant house either.
While I agree with you that the current usage to house a few adolescent bulls is good, I think elephant holding in the mid to long term does not have a future at Zoo Antwerpen. As I have argued before I believe that they will have to give up on it at some point, and I think the space should be repurposed to house, say, African hoofstock like antelopes, or maybe something from Northern African to fit in with the Egyptian temple.
@KevinB Agreed, phase out is probably the best route to take. Especially considering the nearby sister-zoo Planckendael has such a stellar exhibit for elephants anyways. One of the most interesting facilities to research IMO. Much like Artis they are both historic and small, trying to blend together a complex combination of architectural preservation and exhibit modernization, all within a very limited space with no room to expand.
Black rhinos make sense as a replacement, a spectacle crowd pleaser that offers something different than the two african hoofstock exhibits. But also makes sense from a conservation point of view, they dont mix well with savannah exhibits so most zoos keep whites instead, despite blacks being much more in need of a backup population.
@DelacoursLangur Antwerp is already white rhinos later this year or next year. They will live in the former bovine house and their outdoor exhibits will be the areas where the buffalos and zebras used to live (and where a playground set the last couple of years). The Hartmann mountain zebras will get access to the rhinoceros paddock(s) as well.
So I doubt that they will be getting black rhinos anytime in the future, although that would have been an even more interesting choice from different perspectives.
Personally I think larger antelope like oryx or addax might work for the elephant site. Then again I have a thing for animals like that.
@Jarne Facilities to keep adolescent Asian elephant bulls when they are too old to be with their herds but too you to breed are needed in the breeding program, but in my opinion the facility in Antwerp just will not be considered suitable for that purpose much longer.
Given the disconnect between an Egyptian temple and the Asian elephants I also think that the area should eventually become part of the savanna area. Although, admittedly, Egypt is also a ways away from Africa's savannas.
As far as I know, the hippo's and scimitar-horned oryxes were the closest the temple has ever come to Egypt. The hippo's moved out very fast and the oryxes have been gone for years.
@Jarne They kept Arabian oryxes where the zebra separation paddock now is until 2005. I did a bit of research and Arabian oryx were once native to the Sinai region of Egypt. I would really like to see that species return to be honest, and they would fit quite nicely, even if they didn't mix them with the savanna animals.
