Artis Royal Zoo Artis Zoo News

dean said:
I think you have mistaken my meaning KB I meant the old elephant enclosure was bland, I used to visit the zoo at least once a year between 1982 and 1999, more than I have visited any other zoo other than my local colchester one. I loved it, especially the old aquarium with it's amphib collection, and the reptile house, all of which got me into keeping species myself. As well as the out door orang. space, also the then new gorilla enclosure, which was a great improvement on the old indoor only house. I also loved the large aviary by the cafe near the entrance. I wasn't so struck with the then old brown bear grotto. My last visit was shortly after the extension for zebra and wilderbeast had opened near the big new restaurant. Of course a lot will have happened in the last 18 or so years, as you say larger enclosures mean less space for other exhibits.
Does the new pachyderm house still house parrots or has that idea been abandoned?
Click to expand...

The new pachyderm house hasn't been built yet, there is still the parking lot there....

I am glad that this new enclosure is finally finished so they can focus on renovating the aquarium and hopefully soon afterwards start working on the last 2 weak points: the small mammal house and the lions....
 
lintworm said:
The new pachyderm house hasn't been built yet, there is still the parking lot there....

I am glad that this new enclosure is finally finished so they can focus on renovating the aquarium and hopefully soon afterwards start working on the last 2 weak points: the small mammal house and the lions....
Click to expand...
The new Pachyderm House is as per my explanation above not a reality till date. It is even not yet beyond skeletal planning on how and when and where to proceed with this venture. It will certainly be restricted by financial considerations and other present building works in progress.
 
I went to Artis for the very first time in the second-to-last-day of my first ever trip to Amsterdam with my folks and sister. Here are some of the things that I noticed:
. Day old jaguar cubs are being reared behind the scenes with their mother. Didn't see the father outside on exhibit.
. Was impressed with the reptile house. Although I imagine that far more species were kept off display, there was a nice mix of common pets, and zoo species. This may just be me because the reptile houses that I've been in seem to have this; alot of the exhibits for animal species in the reptile house at Artis are far larger than anywhere else I seen for these species.
. All three Asian elephants were out on exhibit in the new paddock. The calf was learning how to drink.
. The Chilean flamingos were fenced off from their lake due to what looked liked an algae bloom.
. One of the chimpanzees was "fishing" using a long stick for walnuts scattered around the chimp enclosure due to the trees. At one point my father threw a walnut within fishing distance and the chimp took it.
. One of the Califonia sea lion exhibits has the sea lions with African penguins and juvenile great white pelicans. I assume that the sea lions in this enclosure were females/young animals.
. One of the grevy's zebras was separated from the other animals in the savannah.
. Saw mandrills and red pandas in the old bear exhibits.
. Saw some of the new wolf puppies.
. Saw the new days-old baby red-cheeked gibbon who was tucked by its mom.
. Was amazed about the aquarium building. Amazing to me that a building as old as that is still being used for animals; and some exhibits there are actually pretty good too. I was amazed by the polar bear display that they had explaining the zoos history with the species. Had no idea Artis is the EEP for polar bears. If there was more room I imagine that the people there would love to have them back in a new enclosure. I was also amazed by how the zoo's history is on display in the aquarium building. Old maps, master plans, postcards, books, exhibit signs of species no longer kept, and lots more. I've never seen a zoo take so much pride to actually show it's full history to the public.
Overall, I enjoyed Artis greatly, and was very surprised by what I had seen. Everyone in my family enjoyed it as well, especially since we had just finished a tour of the Anne Frank House earlier in the morning and was in need of something to lift our spirits.
 
I am glad you enjoyed it, did you also visit the excellent Micropia?

Loxodonta Cobra said:
alot of the exhibits for animal species in the reptile house at Artis are far larger than anywhere else I seen for these species.
Click to expand...

This might be a difference between US and Europe, as by European standards the reptile enclosures are not that special, but compared to pictures from the US they are indeed larger...

Loxodonta Cobra said:
I assume that the sea lions in this enclosure were females/young animals.
Click to expand...

There were only females until recently a young bull was introduced....
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Zoo news:
The Diana monkeys have been introduced in the Gorillahouse and may now be seen more frequently by visitors.

Also, eider ducks have been introduced to the sea lion pool (previously black-footed penguin were introduced too).
Click to expand...
I don't think I noticed this at the time. Are the eiders and Penguins in the pool after Sealions moved on? Or is there an attempt to keep Pinnipeds and birds together?
 
FBBird said:
I don't think I noticed this at the time. Are the eiders and Penguins in the pool after Sealions moved on? Or is there an attempt to keep Pinnipeds and birds together?
Click to expand...
From a more recent post, looks as though they're in together. I thought Sealions ate penguins given the opportunity. Historically it happened @ London Zoo.
 
FBBird said:
From a more recent post, looks as though they're in together. I thought Sealions ate penguins given the opportunity. Historically it happened @ London Zoo.
Click to expand...

They were in yesterday, though the eiders in particular did not seem to enjoy it ;)
 
FBBird said:
Are the eiders and Penguins in the pool after Sealions moved on? Or is there an attempt to keep Pinnipeds and birds together?
Click to expand...

I visited Artis yesterday and the combination of sea lions, penguins and eiders seemed to work quite well.

Unfortunately, I missed out on the Diana monkeys. I read some time ago that the species came as a replacement for the white-throated monkeys, but I didn't think about it when I was at the zoo.

I'm not that enthousiastic about the new elephant enclosure. Sure, it's better and larger en it has more variation compared to the former enclosure, but more of less every positive change of the enclosure would have been an improvement.

The Small Mammal House is still my favorite place in Artis, but on-going loss of species without replacement makes me a bit sad. No caviomorphs anymore, one of the main groups kept until quite recently. Around the turn of the century Brazilian agouti, Brazilian cavy, degu and chinchilla were kept, as well as mountain paca and acouchy for some time. Brazilian agouti, lowland paca and rock cavy were kept in the last couple of years. The last agouti seems to have died or moved. I was excited with Artis "birthday present" in 2011 seeing tamanduas on a visit to the zoo on my birthday, but unfortunately they didn't lasted that long. Golden lion-tamarin is gone since a couple of years and I didn't see any red-bellied tamarins yesterday. A positive note: Artis has plans for a new enclosure for the spider monkeys (at the location of the former wallaby enclosure next to the SMH?).
 
Last edited:
littleRedPanda said:
I was a bit confused by the signs in the Wolf enclosure when I visited this week. Are there only two bitches remaining due to the death of the Alpha male and all the others being moved on?
Click to expand...

The Alpha female died, not the Alpha male. The Alpha male and three young males moved. The remaining females have to work out a new hierarchy, that's the idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top