Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp News 2020

Asian elephant Bangka is pregnant! It'll be her third calf, the father is Timber (now residing in Emmen). She's expected to give birth around march or april 2021. For more (Dutch) info on her family history (Bangka is the daughter of our well-known old timer Irma) and a sneak peak at what kind of changes will be made to the elephant enclosure this decade -> Olifantje op komst in Blijdorp
 
Some of the offspring of 2020: (NOTE: this does not include every birth, just some births that i don't think have been shared here yet)

19 scarlet ibisses, 2 king penguins, 1 gentoo penguin, These penguin births are less then previous years as their chillers were not working properly for some time this year + some birds moved out, 1 hyacinth macaw, 1 toco toucan, 1 atlantic puffin, 3 common murres , 3 common eiders 4 black-legged kittiwakes , 4 cownose rays, 3 pancake tortoises, 1 spider tortoise, 2 Roti Island snake-necked turtles

Blijdorp also got 11 new mountain chickens (5 adults, onshow, 6 young ones, bts) last old individual died earlier this year, they arrived from Thoiry (france)

they received 7 more egyptian tortoises (3 already in collection), these are all individuals from london zoo and some will most likely go to other zoos.
 
I cannot say I will be jumping up and down on the proposed elephant redevelopment. It pains me to see that major parts of a zoo are given over to managing just one species.s and neglecting their species conservation role for lesser and LBJ animals

Even Rotterdam Zoo should realise you cannot offer the space they deem them to need. It would be best if zoos stay within realistic means and not become boring A-B-C big megavertebrate collections. Equally, sacrifising more endangered taxa for more common ones (viz gorillas over rhinos … even).

Well, the days of an animal collection minded zoo director seem to have gone. And Rotterdam Zoo seems to be the latest casualty in that respect. All of their more recent redevelopments have been underwhelming (see the lemur walk thru with ring-tailed lemurs).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
I cannot say I will be jumping up and down on the proposed elephant redevelopment. It pains me to see that major parts of a zoo are given over to managing just one species.s and neglecting their species conservation role for lesser and LBJ animals

Even Rotterdam Zoo should realise you cannot offer the space they deem them to need. It would be best if zoos stay within realistic means and not become boring A-B-C big megavertebrate collections. Equally, sacrifising more endangered taxa for more common ones (viz gorillas over rhinos … even).

Well, the days of an animal collection minded zoo director seem to have gone. And Rotterdam Zoo seems to be the latest casualty in that respect. All of their more recent redevelopments have been underwhelming (see the lemur walk thru with ring-tailed lemurs).
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The main 'casualty' of the proposed expansion is the (domestic) bactrian camel paddock so I fail to see how this impacts the zoo's capacity to maintain smaller species.
 
I'm afraid that Blijdop Zoo, like many others, has grown less impressive over several visits. On my first visit, I was very impressed by the Tropical Hall with several unusual bird species, as well as other animals, such as the chambered nautilus. I also liked the Martinhuis with various small mammals. The extension, including the aquarium, is quite good, but, as Kifaru Bwana says, Blijdorp is gradually losing its individuality and becoming an ABC zoo.
 
Dassie rat said:
I'm afraid that Blijdop Zoo, like many others, has grown less impressive over several visits. On my first visit, I was very impressed by the Tropical Hall with several unusual bird species, as well as other animals, such as the chambered nautilus. I also liked the Martinhuis with various small mammals. The extension, including the aquarium, is quite good, but, as Kifaru Bwana says, Blijdorp is gradually losing its individuality and becoming an ABC zoo.
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Eh, from checking Zootierliste half the interesting species at Blijdorp for me are fish, so it seems to be pretty speciose. Although I was warned that photography in the aquarium is hard due to poor lighting.
 
MennoPebesma said:
Don't forget the Indian rhino enclosure. I find that the most unfortunate.
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Well... I understand that aesthetically speaking the outdoor enclosure is somewhat nice, but the inside part is way too small and there's a reason that the old female has developed chronic foot ailments. And besides, its not like we're losing all of our rhinos. We are keeping the more endangered species.

Don't get me wrong: I do get what you mean about losing the smaller species. I also like those the most and I recognise the trend. There's a reason I like the okapi enclosure and the area around Rumah Asia the most. And I'm also not very confident the zoo will actually make the necesary investments to allow the new elephant enclosure to be shared with more species.
RatioTile said:
Eh, from checking Zootierliste half the interesting species at Blijdorp for me are fish, so it seems to be pretty speciose. Although I was warned that photography in the aquarium is hard due to poor lighting.
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I'm genuinely extremely curious what species stand out to you, would love to hear.

Also @kifaru: what do you mean with "LBJ"? Not femiliar with that term
 
Blijdorpenaar said:
Well... I understand that aesthetically speaking the outdoor enclosure is somewhat nice, but the inside part is way too small and there's a reason that the old female has developed chronic foot ailments. And besides, its not like we're losing all of our rhinos. We are keeping the more endangered species.
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For me it was not about the enclosure, it was more about the species itself.

Weren't there also plans for the black rhinos to leave the zoo? Thought I had heard that once, although I haven't heard about it lately.
 
Blijdorpenaar said:
Also @kifaru: what do you mean with "LBJ"? Not femiliar with that term
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I believe it stands for 'Little Brown Jobs' which comes from bird spotters meaning, I think, small brown birds which are hard for most people to identify or distinguish from each other and by extension, maybe smaller animals which the average zoo visitor isn't bothered about as opposed to charismatic mega-fauna, so-called ABC animals.
 
RatioTile said:
Eh, from checking Zootierliste half the interesting species at Blijdorp for me are fish, so it seems to be pretty speciose. Although I was warned that photography in the aquarium is hard due to poor lighting.
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The fish collection is pretty interesting, but in my experience the lighting is only half the battle - heavy distortions from curved glass, and where the tank floor is a good distance from the lowest point of the glass make it very hard to take photographs of some benthic species.
 
Honestly I think Blijdorp currently has quite a lot (perhaps too many?) pachyderm species (two rhinos, pygmy hippo, tapir and elephants) and losing one is not that big a deal if the newly available space can be used to upgrade the remaining ones.

However, there's a part of me that would have liked the elephants to go, but given the situation that's not going to happen anytime soon. In that case choosing to give up one of the two rhinos might be a wise choice.
 
I share the opinion that IN GENERAL, Blijdorp has indeed sort out smaller animal species (especially birds and reptiles, but also, as mentioned by others, small mammals) in favor of mega-fauna-species/ABC animals. The most painful hit was imo the transformation of the famous and beloved Riviera Hall with full of animal treasures into a ... what ever you want to call that building now.
However: To be fair, I must say that in terms of animal welfare this development had MOSTLY a positive impact. And even with the planed extension of the elephant exhibit, Blijdorp is still far away of becoming an ABC zoo.
While I can understand that the elephant herd at Rotterdam need more space, I have to ask myself if the intended area for the extension is the best solution. IF I have understand the future map correctly, then there is a small passage scheduled from the current rhino exhibit to the current kamel exhibit. Whitout knowing the details I have mixed feelings about this. Why not extend the elephant exhibit over the current rhino exhibit AND the current red panda/former takin to white lipped deer area (the entire corner)? And leave the bactrian camel area as it is OR transform it to a wetland exhibit for indian rhinos (and connecting it with the wetland bird exhibit to a huge free flight area - as Antwerp did with african birds and cape buffalos)?
Yes, this won't be cheap. But the scheduled extension of the elephant exhibit won't be either.
 
zoomaniac said:
While I can understand that the elephant herd at Rotterdam need more space, I have to ask myself if the intended area for the extension is the best solution. IF I have understand the future map correctly, then there is a small passage scheduled from the current rhino exhibit to the current kamel exhibit. Whitout knowing the details I have mixed feelings about this. Why not extend the elephant exhibit over the current rhino exhibit AND the current red panda/former takin to white lipped deer area (the entire corner)? And leave the bactrian camel area as it is OR transform it to a wetland exhibit for indian rhinos (and connecting it with the wetland bird exhibit to a huge free flight area - as Antwerp did with african birds and cape buffalos)?
Yes, this won't be cheap. But the scheduled extension of the elephant exhibit won't be either.
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That would require a bold vision and the management of Blijdorp isn't exactly known for that in recent years, they rather seem to focus on a few key species these days...
 
Shirokuma said:
The main 'casualty' of the proposed expansion is the (domestic) bactrian camel paddock so I fail to see how this impacts the zoo's capacity to maintain smaller species.
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That is a half truth as they are looking to soak up the Indian rhino area too. Let us not forget the Mongolian plain lost its main animal as critically endangered onagers were deemed too boring for a general public. Furthermore, the Pallas cat exhibit then sits rather foul as interpretation of Mongolian steppe.

All newer plans and designs proposed are weakening the wonderful habitat / biome message the zoo exuded. It is fast becoming a PR marketing play tool for new commercialised management with little if any link nor expert knowledge of curatorial animal collection management. More convenient like populism.

Mind you: Rotterdam Blijdorp had been my alltime favorite zoo in NL and I am an Amsterdam Artis regular! I am seriously considering now nay will stop my memberships in it for some and more of the above reasons.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
That is a half truth as they are looking to soak up the Indian rhino area too.
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Given the zoo has, as discussed, also black rhinos and, as discussed, the Indian rhino enclosure is far from ideal, I don’t have a problem with that.

And I still don’t accept your argument that the elephant expansion is the wrong direction for the zoo to take. There may be issues with the collection but it’s wrong to suggest that if the elephant development didn’t go ahead there would suddenly be a renewed focus on smaller and less usual species.

By all means argue for a different focus but please don’t suggest a zoo cannot or should not do both.
 
The zoo does wish to continue with the black rhino's, though they originally (read: pre-pandemic) wanted to give them a new enclosure somewhere in the coming decade. They can't stay on their current spot anyway with the Rivièrahal being in desperate need of a restauration so it would only make sense to move them out while they're at it. Don't hold your breath for that to happen though.

When I saw the plans to expand the elephant enclosure, I also had my doubts. But having gone to a presentation about it, I do understand the desperate need to house more male elephants with the shifting sex ratio and the expected influx of elephants from other city zoos that will decide against keeping the species in upcoming years. The management is very aware that zoos are being watched more closely than ever before and therefore really wants to hammer home the message of ex-situ conservation. They are proud of their history with asian elephants and red panda's and that's why they are deciding to emphesize that.

And well... I like me some biomes, but the ''Malay Forest Edge'', ''Asian Swamp'', ''Chinese Garden'' and Taman Indah have always been more or less the same in terms of geography. If anything the Mongolia section is a bit of an awkward field of grass with four domesticated animals in the middle of that entire section.

Another thing some of the non-regular visitors might not know: there are 20+ national monuments situated in the zoo. By the time the government labeled Van Ravensteyns 1940's buildings as such, luckily the Asia part of the zoo was already heavily altered and thats why the zoo can get away with some very modern and heavily themed enclosures there. The big mountain/rock in the northeastern corner however is a monument on its own, and do not underestimate just how strict the rules are surrounding monuments here. There is a reason the flamingo aviary still hasnt been built after five years. Basically, everything 1940 is frozen in time in terms of development. Be it pathways, ponds, enclosures, stables or lines of sight. Hell, that line of rocks in the giraffe enclosure? It was originally intended to keep the giraffes to one side of the field, but it also exactly follows one of the original visitors paths.

Like I said, Im not a blind supporter of the current trends. But being a bit more of an insider, I do understand the reasoning behind most of the decisions that are being made.
 
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