Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp Zoo News 2025

Haliaeetus said:
The female Indian Rhino KARUNA will be transferred soon to a Peruvian zoo.
Diergaarde Blijdorp - Rotterdam Zoo on Instagram: " Binnenkort vertrekt Indische neushoorn Karuna naar Peru voor het populatiemanagement programma. In Lima zal ze samen met een mannetje (hopelijk) gaan zorgen voor nageslacht. Een mooie intercontinentale samenwerking om de toekomst van deze diersoort veilig te stellen. Om haar voor te bereiden op het transport, is er naast Taman Indah een transportkist geplaatst. Na het vertrek van Karuna mogen wij namelijk Narayani verwelkomen. Deze 37-jarige Indische neushoorn is afkomstig uit @eindhovenzoo."
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Her depature has been delayed, which also means that Narayani will arrive at a later date.

Source:
Instagram of Diergaarde Blijdorp (10/02/2025)
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
the number of big animals being transferred out is quite astounding (gorilla, Indian rhino) and the zest of the collection slimming to beyond the bare minimum! He is quite content to have us believe .... a giant new elephant exhibit for which a good quarter of the zoo is sacrificed ...
Gone are the Asian Aviary, the Mongolian Steppe, the Amazonica butterfly garden is defunctional and there seems to be no letting off on the imploding Riviera Hall (that used to hold one of the most impressive herp and amphibian and bird collection in a Nutshell.
It is painful to watch....the decline.
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I think this is exactly why I didn't visit Blijdorp last year. I could go with "we can't house every big animal because the enclosures would be too small for animal wellfare reasons", but the gorilla enclosure was... fine! I get the focal species in an area trend, but in Blijdorp, the areas seem to get really empty in general. Quirky or interesting smaller species are moving away as well and that's a bummer.
The things that made Blijdorp special, such as the Asian Aviary, Amazonica and Oceanium are declining, and that's the real sad part indeed.

Also: I don't keep up with all the building plans as much as I'm most interested in observing animal behaviour, but I'm getting the feeling Blijdorp launches all these plans and none of them gets executed...
 
Yunha said:
I think this is exactly why I didn't visit Blijdorp last year. I could go with "we can't house every big animal because the enclosures would be too small for animal wellfare reasons", but the gorilla enclosure was... fine! I get the focal species in an area trend, but in Blijdorp, the areas seem to get really empty in general. Quirky or interesting smaller species are moving away as well and that's a bummer.
The things that made Blijdorp special, such as the Asian Aviary, Amazonica and Oceanium are declining, and that's the real sad part indeed.

Also: I don't keep up with all the building plans as much as I'm most interested in observing animal behaviour, but I'm getting the feeling Blijdorp launches all these plans and none of them gets executed...
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The reasons behind this I can only speculate about (as I have no access to their Annual Reports --- which should be publicly available). When the former director, a true zoo man, left (Damen) ... for a while they had an ad interim before the current director took over the helm (Zevenbergen).

Right at the start of his reign in 2017 there had been a loudish complaint from the directorchair that Blijdorp was financially not in good waters ... it turned into a right public media circus. Now, we are 8 years on and have eaten up 2 Masterplans, poured scorn over various animal exclosures publicly (fishing cats ... it is my perception that the exhibit is not right for the animals.... I feel it from my belly gut... - his literal wordings -).

As you observed quite a few visitor favorites have essentially gone, whole exhibits ripped out, an iconic building falling to bits and another half demolished and now standing idle for lack of money ....!

I put my money a) bad financial management by the current management ..., b) the failure to follow through on proposed building projects and c) the failure to attract more funding for the zoo both from the City, Province and for the Riviera Hall from cultural heritage funds .... I feel something has got to give and it is not the departure of the last 3 gorillas .... (I am sure).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
(fishing cats ... it is my perception that the exhibit is not right for the animals.... I feel it from my belly gut... - his literal wordings -).
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This is a really odd thing to share if you're the director. If anyone can DO something about it, it's you! :)

In this light: looopings.nl shared a message in which the Animal Wellfare Officer in Blijdorp says he thinks the current group of gorilla's is unhappy. Research shows the group is more inactive and has gained weight.
Source: Diergaarde Blijdorp denkt dat gorilla's niet gelukkig zijn: 'Inactief en zwaarder geworden' - Looopings

It seems this is from an interview in AD, looopings took this quote about the gorillas out from a broader piece you can find here. But it's behind a paywall, which is a shame because there's more to the article than just the statement the gorilla's are probably unhappy.

The AWO states they can't introduce a new silverback to this group because it will probably kill the young male in Blijdorp. For the same reason, the two females and the young male cannot move elsewhere right now. In the article it states castrating the young male is not an option for its wellfare, nor is seperating him from the group. He's too young to go to a bachelor-group (which can has its own problems) and the AWO raises the broader question of ethics when it comes to surplus animals.
Quote from the AD article: ,,Omwille van het welzijn van de dieren zou het beter zijn om soms de keuze te maken om een gezond dier te doden. Naast het feit dat we dit liever niet doen, ligt het natuurlijk ook gevoelig. Zeker bij charismatische zoogdieren als zeeleeuwen of gorilla’s. Terwijl we het geen probleem vinden om een vlieg dood te slaan. Dat noem ik een dubbele moraal, als je het mij persoonlijk vraagt.’’

The second half (!) of the AD article goes into research on animal wellfare and what elements of new research may be implemented in zoos.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
I put my money a) bad financial management by the current management ..., b) the failure to follow through on proposed building projects and c) the failure to attract more funding for the zoo both from the City, Province and for the Riviera Hall from cultural heritage funds .... I feel something has got to give and it is not the departure of the last 3 gorillas .... (I am sure).
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Something definitely seems off on the finance side of things. Maybe its time for a field trip to Artis for the Blijdorp director to hear how Artis got funding for the Aquarium renovation.
 
1Squirrel monkey said:
If I may I ask, what elements?
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I think I summerize the main thought of the article is: we need to view animal happiness from the animal's perspective, instead of from the human viewpoint. The AWO shows some different perspectives on what we can and should do to make animals happy. It discusses some elements where there are ethical dilemma's about animal wellfare, like surplus animals, stimulating predatory animals without live prey, and how habitats should be constructed. I realise my quote might look like Blijdorp is saying: we need to do x, y and z to make the animals happier based on research a, b, and c. It's a bit less concrete than that, however they do give some examples of things they think might work.

It's a shame the article is behind a paywall. If anyone knows of a way I can share it with you guys without breaking ZooChat rules or bringing trouble upon ZooChat and it's moderators, please let me know.

A concrete example is giving about simulating hunting for otters without using live prey. Blijdorp is apparantly working on a mechanic system that makes (dead) fish offered as food, move around the enclosure realisticly to stimulate hunting behaviours the animal would also have in the wild.

There's also a bit more common examples where animal wellfare is improved, like the heated rock recently installed with the Asian lions

A less concrete example given is a discussion about how many space an elephant needs to feel happy.
Quote from the article: "Bijvoorbeeld de olifanten, die in het wild gemiddeld wel 10 kilometer per dag lopen. ,,Er zijn studies gedaan bij olifanten en daaruit blijkt dat ze in een dierentuin even lange afstanden afleggen. Ik ben ervan overtuigd dat het bij veel meer diersoorten ook zo is. Dus dan is de vraag: wat maakt het dat wij ruimte vanuit onze menselijke perceptie zo belangrijk vinden?’’
(Elephants walk around 10kms per day in the wild. Studies amongst elephant populations have shown they walk just as much in zoos. I am convinced it's like that with many more animal species. The question is then: what makes it so that space is so important from the human perspective.)

Anyway, what I wanted to do with my last post is nuance the article title from looopings, because the article there left me with the impression: Blijdorp knows it's gorilla's are unhappy and does nothing about that. Instead, a part of the AD article discusses the problems faced in zoos where the current situation might be "OK" on physical wellfare: an animal is fed and dry and warm, but much is unknown about their mental health and if they are happy or not, or perhaps bored. A big problem is there's only little research done on animal happiness, because we're not sure how to research that.
The AWO says: "Ik ben er echt van overtuigd dat wij als dierentuinen een bijdrage leveren aan natuurbescherming. Maar dan moeten we het onderste uit de kan halen om die dieren een goed welzijn te bieden. Dan bedoel ik echt kwaliteit van leven en een positieve mentale staat."
( I am convinced that zoos are part of nature conservation. But we should make a great effort to make sure those animals have quality of life, not only physically but also mentally)

So perhaps my last post didn't quite summarize the article very well :oops: I'm always struggling a bit between giving too little information and talking to much :D

[Side note: good books I've read on researching animal wellfare are: "Zijn we slim genoeg om te weten hoe slim dieren zijn" by Frans de Waal, showing how researchers often forget to adapt an experiment to the way animals perceive the world, and "An immense world" by Ed Young, who reports on succesfull research showing us how animals experience the world. The latter one is a real eye opener. ;) )
 
 
 
Sad hyena news from Blijdorp. Elderly male "Karoi" was euthanised because of illness coming with old age. Also younger "Kanzai" was euthanised because of a vertebral deformity causing him pain and causing him to have difficulty walking.

Remaining at Blijdorp is adult female "Kaidi" and her daughter "Khenzi"
 
Zooflits shares today that Vrienden van Blijdorp plans to support the mending of the Amazonica roof!
Not only will the building be fixed, but there will be an update on which species will be kept there - the South American theme will make place for an African theme with pygmy hippo as the focal species.

Miljoenen euro’s gereserveerd voor renovatie vlinderkoepel Amazonica in Blijdorp - ZooFlits

However, the same article states a renovation of the elephant enclosure and a new enclosure for the Francois' leaf monkeys starting first, building is planned for the end of 2025.

Lots of ambitious plans, money seems to be no issue according to the Vrienden, I'm very curious what's going to happen in the next year!
 
Yunha said:
Zooflits shares today that Vrienden van Blijdorp plans to support the mending of the Amazonica roof!
Not only will the building be fixed, but there will be an update on which species will be kept there - the South American theme will make place for an African theme with pygmy hippo as the focal species.

Miljoenen euro’s gereserveerd voor renovatie vlinderkoepel Amazonica in Blijdorp - ZooFlits

However, the same article states a renovation of the elephant enclosure and a new enclosure for the Francois' leaf monkeys starting first, building is planned for the end of 2025.

Lots of ambitious plans, money seems to be no issue according to the Vrienden, I'm very curious what's going to happen in the next year!
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Mmmm, I do hope so on the money front, so honestly .... Fingers crossed! My sources as well as public communiqués from the zoo management gave the impression of a lack of financial resources.
 
Feline news: a fishing cat (kitten :) ) was born about three weeks ago. Blijdorp Zoo shares this news on their instagram. According to their response on a comment, the kitten is female.

I'd consider this an interesting birth, as the parents Abu Abu and Esmee were only coupled at the end of january. And when looking for a good source for this news item (I saw something come by shared by Hart van Nederland at first) I saw the news message from Zoo Flits from february 5th sharing the opinions on this enclosure by the Blijdorp director (which we discussed here before, but I didn't realise it to be this recent).

Either way: a healthy kitten was born :)
 
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