Dierenpark Emmen (Closed) Emmen Zoo news

I must say, the hoffmans sloths I've seen in the wild and in Skansen have a reddish face and white hairs around the face. Their face also seems more "pig" like, with a little bit more protuding snout.

The animals at Emmen (I've seen them yesterday) really look like "normal" Linneaus. But according to pictures on the internet, there seem to be other coloured Hoffmanns as well, so now i'm not as sure any more... There also seems to be no real classification anywhere of what the exact differences between the two species are. Does anyone know a definite answer to that?
 
Apparantly they'll get a brand-spanking new exhibit in a botanical section of the OLD part of the zoo. Yes that would be the part that is bound to be demolished in about 5 years.

The reason why they choose not to invest the money in the new part of the zoo is beyond me, but let's not question the decission-making of the zoo board (again, and again, and again...).
 
jwer said:
Apparantly they'll get a brand-spanking new exhibit in a botanical section of the OLD part of the zoo. Yes that would be the part that is bound to be demolished in about 5 years.

The reason why they choose not to invest the money in the new part of the zoo is beyond me, but let's not question the decission-making of the zoo board (again, and again, and again...).
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I would guess that with the steeply declining attendance at the "old" zoo, and the fact that even if the money can be obtained it will be 4-5 years before the new zoo could possibly open, Emmen is essentially desperate to add something new to attract people in the interim period. The brief view of the plan on the video indicates a pretty simple arrangement of fences, a minimal viewing pavilion and some planting--probably not hugely expensive.
 
reduakari said:
I would guess that with the steeply declining attendance at the "old" zoo, and the fact that even if the money can be obtained it will be 4-5 years before the new zoo could possibly open, Emmen is essentially desperate to add something new to attract people in the interim period. The brief view of the plan on the video indicates a pretty simple arrangement of fences, a minimal viewing pavilion and some planting--probably not hugely expensive.
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Since there is no split in attendance fee (you pay one amount for both locations) I see no reason whatsover why this enclosure couldn't be build in the "new" part of the zoo. If you are going to invest, why not in the new part. Even if it isn't much money and it'll take 5 years, I still rather see it spend on the new part... (maybe it'll be because the enclosure will be "in the way" of the new development, but still...)
 
jwer said:
Since there is no split in attendance fee (you pay one amount for both locations) I see no reason whatsover why this enclosure couldn't be build in the "new" part of the zoo. If you are going to invest, why not in the new part. Even if it isn't much money and it'll take 5 years, I still rather see it spend on the new part... (maybe it'll be because the enclosure will be "in the way" of the new development, but still...)
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From what I've seen of the "new zoo" site plan, this sort of lion exhibit would not fit and would have to be torn down to accomodate the planned developments anyway. Conceptually, a lion exhibit added to the current African zone of the old zoo makes more sense than to put it in the new zoo with its South American focus. I also believe that the "old" zoo site currently attracts many more visitors than the new, as there are far more animals to see there and it is more conveniently accessed. I think a low-cost lion exhibit, taking advantage of the mature vegetation of the park and the staff who are already there caring for tigers, leopards etc. is actually a very good solution to Emmen's problem of needing to keep attendance up during a long transitional period (assuming of course the grand plan can ever be funded).
 
It's conveniently dead smack in the middle of the asia section of the zoo...

And besides, they'll have to take it down again in 5 years time, so the write-off will be huge. I can hardly imagine it would weigh up to the increase in visitor attendance. Why not create a low cost exhibit in the new part and spruce it up while you're building the new zoo? I don't know, maybe it'll prove out to be brilliant but I can hardly imagine it would make them a ton of money. It rather sounds like a desperate attempt to increase visitors :(
 
jwer said:
It's conveniently dead smack in the middle of the asia section of the zoo...



It rather sounds like a desperate attempt to increase visitors :(
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That is exactly what it is. But they don't have many other options, and I for one hope it works for them.
 
Jwer, "Smack in the middle of the Asia section"? Directly following CHILEAN flamingoes? Ever taken into consideration what geographic region those greenhouses represent? Emmen has always been sloppy with the subspecies of Panthera-species, Siberian tigers next to tropical species and the Asian panthers in the African section are nicely balanced with African lions in the Asian section, and they will be hardly a spear throw from the hamydras babboons. On the species level it's all quite right.
 
Theodore said:
Jwer, "Smack in the middle of the Asia section"? Directly following CHILEAN flamingoes? Ever taken into consideration what geographic region those greenhouses represent? Emmen has always been sloppy with the subspecies of Panthera-species, Siberian tigers next to tropical species and the Asian panthers in the African section are nicely balanced with African lions in the Asian section, and they will be hardly a spear throw from the hamydras babboons. On the species level it's all quite right.
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Allthough admittedly the chilean flamingo's are out of place, there's an asian hut that will soon look out over the african lions. The other neighbours are the asian small-clawed otters, the birds in Oasia (by far the closest greenhouse) are all asian, the official "asian house" is next to the tigers and main reason why i said it; the zoo map indicates this part of the zoo as purple, meaning Asia.

Allthough admittedly the zoo was "sloppy" with the subspecies of panthers, i don't really mind that it has put them in the Africa section because Africa is famous for their leopards and the normal zoo-public would associate them with Africa, which is not incorrect.

The normal Zoo public will, however, associate lions with Africa and can hardly not notice that they are out of order in that part of the Zoo. The only reason they are there is because they need the attendance to rise and that is the only place left for the zoo to put them.

In my mind, geographically it's right out of order there and there's not much arguement against that. If you don't agree then i guess we'll have to just agree to disagree.

Wether or not it's the smart thing to do, is a whole different discussion.

It's one where i'm starting to change my opinion in...
 
What about the bats? To me it rather suggests islands of the Indian ocean.

The "normal zoo public" either does not care at all, or is already aware from Bible study, visits to zoos with Indian lions, paleontological articles and so on, that lions were not and are not restricted to Africa. You really think that people who never minded the Chilean flamingoes will be bothered by the wrong SUBspecies?

Panthers are part of both the African and Asian fauna, so are lions, if you don't have a problem with an Asian subspecies in a setting suggesting it is is African, why do you have a problem with the reverse because it concerns lions? SIBERIAN tigers fit in well with gibbons and elephants, don't they?

Look, they would have to do something rather spectacular to show they were still alive and kicking after all the news about financial misery, that corner was ripe for development, its attraction value was close to zero. The lion is not a special attraction for the zoo-expert, but to the normal zoo public it will be and it is one which will get the news in the papers, it's a rather easily available classic zoo species, probably the most easily of the spectacular species (in the eyes of the normal zoo public) of which Emmen has not yet a close equivalent and the one best fitting in the collection.

Yes, it is the smart thing to do in the current circumstances. A strong sign of life had to be given to the market. Camels would not have had that news value, polar bears, though Asian, would have been more complicated.
 
Mind you, about the whole "Asia" thing, i disagree. "The Lion King" doesn't fit in Asia, an Asian panther in Africa does. For me it's about the fact that the lion is "THE" symbol of Africa. If you don't agree with it then i'm fully able to accept that you (or others) are not. It's a personal feeling.

Wether or not the investment is smart is open to debate. I was very against it, and now I still think it's not the best course of action. Perhaps i'll try and give some arguement about it at another time, now i really need some sleep.
 
"Gir" beats "Hollywood". Panthera leo is a species found in Asia. That is a FACT.

The lion as "Symbol of Africa" is pretty much your opinion, the giraffe and the zebra have both a much stronger iconic value indicating "Africa", as does the African elephant, for instance.
 
"Wether or not the investment is smart is open to debate. I was very against it, and now I still think it's not the best course of action. Perhaps i'll try and give some arguement about it at another time, now i really need some sleep.''

Sorry, but aren't we past that stage? It's not the fact it's smart or not, they simply don't have the chocie. If they didn't limit the losses by trying to raise the attendance they would not have gotten any money at all, and they would have gone bankrupt. And it's going to be located in the centre part, where the highest attendance is to be expected until the new park opens. I do agree the previous management should have done something like this years ago, before the decision to move the zoo had been made, but that's hindsight. The new management has the unthankful job to clear the mess their predecessors left behinbd.

And I don't quite get the criticism on the geographic lay-out of emmen. Keep in mind this developed during past decades, and they did a continental lay-out and not an exact geographical one ( for a zoo the size of emmen not a very bad choice). The chilean flamingo's have actually always been kept out of the geographical lay-out ( easy because it was located at the edge), recently the new maps have added them to asia, which I believe is an error made by someone, but what nobody wants to make a fuz about.

The leopard exhibit has been designed in the past ( during the eighties) to house leopards which were mainly hybrids. During the nineties the focus shifted to genetic purity, and the fact arose that asiatic leopards where the easiest to obtain. And wouldn't it have been a little bit ridiculous to build a completely new exhibit, while nobody would have noticed that these were asiatic leopards instead of african? And the african greenhouse was once connected to the african section, but got separated after the male elephant's enclosure was build next to it.

And what does it matter after all, that a temporary exhibit doesn't fit into the geographic lay-out when the zoo will move after five years, and if the move will be cancelled, that the exhinbit can be modified to fit in asiatic lions? And the average visitor will not notice it anyway. 99% of the visitors link lions to africa, but I doubt if they will even notice that it's out of place, cause I doubt they will even realise it's build NEXT to the asiatic section.
 
Emmen's Twitter announces an elephant birth today at 11:50!

The message states that they had no idea the mother was pregnant, but sofar no more info. I'll keep you updated as more news comes in :)

Edit: ANOTHER male, mother is the experienced Htoo Yin Aye. Current male on duty is still Radza.
 
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Too bad it's another male. Funny is that this was the second time an elephant gave birth in the outdoor exhibit in emmen.

Sad news however, last friday bull moose kenwood died. He had been suffering from diarrhea for a couple of days, and had been treated for it. Section will hopefully reveal if this was the reason for his death or not. The zoo will search for a new bull moose.
 
What! another male?! of 25 births there have only been 4 females! Astonishing it is.
 
Believe me, the caretakers in emmen are pulling out their hair, they really want females. If they know how to influence the gender of the newborns, they will do it. And off course, they have investigated what could be the cause. Onliest problem, when you try something to see if it is of influence, you have to wait for 22 months to see if it works;)
 
dragon(ele)nerd said:
Just out of curiosity, what sort of methods are they trying?
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Yes, good question, what kind of methods? I guess the scientific methods developed for answering this question. Maybe some specific yoga exercise for the elephants will result in more daughters, maybe.
 
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