1984-2009:
Here is a new section on the history of the Egyptian temple. I've been busy last time but I decided to finish this probably penultimate section today. First I want to correct some things from my previous post or make additions.
Tapirs: Park maps from 1966 to 1978 show that tapirs lived in the Egyptian temple, and no longer in the Hippo building. A 1980 map shows that tapirs were again living in the Hippo building and no longer in the Egyptian temple.
The only species present in Antwerp Zoo at that time was the South American tapir. These were regularly let into the elephant enclosure but it seems they also had their own enclosure on the left side of the temple. In 1973 there were 1.1 South American tapirs in the collection. In 1978 there were still 1.1.
I discovered that the South American tapirs continued to live in the Egyptian temple until the 1984 to 1988 renovation.
Giraffes: As already mentioned before, Zoo Antwerpen used to be known for its breeding successes with giraffes, and this period is no exeption. At the time, the back of the Egyptian Temple, where giraffes still live today, was divided into 2 enclosures, of which the right one served for the okapis. Here is the information I could find:
In 1946 giraffe Babinne was born.
In the spring of 1949, 3 giraffes arrived in the port of Antwerp, destined for Antwerp Zoo. The 3 giraffes came from the Belgian Congo. Besides the giraffes, many other animals arrived for Antwerp Zoo, including a monitor lizard, a dibatag antelope and a pair of maned wolves from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
On 28 April 1953 giraffe Gloria was born.
On March 7, 1955, reticulated giraffe Babin gave birth to a son named Ira.
On July 27, 1959, giraffe Clea gave birth to a son named Mil. The father is giraffe Climax.
In 1965, Gloria herself, born in 1953, gave birth to a daughter named Soraphe. Soraphe was born on August 3, 1965. But also Clea, who still gave birth to a male in 1959 again has a son named Seventeen. Seventeen was born on August 4, 1965. Although Gloria was depicted as a reticulated giraffe at birth, she is now called a masai giraffe like Clea, however, they look neither like a reticulated giraffe nor a masai giraffe.
I discovered that on June 14, 1949, 3 (2.1) giraffes arrived in the port of Antwerp: Climax (1.0), Chadi (1.0) and Clea (0.1).
Building:
I ended at 1983 in the previous part to start this part with the biggest and longest renovation the Egyptian Temple experienced, the one from 1984 to 1988, no less than 4 years.
Something important I forgot to mention was that the Egyptian Temple became a protected monument in 1983, as did many other buildings of the Antwerp Zoo.
The Egyptian Temple went through many small-scale renovations, repaints or additions in its history, but now the temple is being done very thoroughly, under the supervision of the Monuments Trust.
At that time, several animals lived in the building, namely 0.3 Asian elephants, giraffes, tapirs (probably South American tapirs), antelopes (elands and saigas) and Northern white rhino Chloë.
Chloë would eventually not see the renovated building as she died on August 7, 1985.
The biggest problems were animal urine and seeping rainwater. To solve the last one, the Antwerp Zoo chose to build a new roof bed in 1986. The walls were also sanitized for rising damp, which meant that even the plaster had to be removed. Only the facade was spared and so these are still the original paintings, although these also received a new coat of paint. Much of the original painting of the entire temple was even restored and made more resistant. There was also a new type of heating system that was not disturbing to people and was not dangerous to animals. The ground anchoring of the fences on the inside was also crumbling, so the stables were also renovated. The appearance of the stables remained largely the same, although a slightly sloped floor and tiles were added. The fences of the large giraffe stable at the back of the building were replaced with strong glass.
On April 29, 1988, the building was inaugurated by the Belgian Prince Philip (now King Philip), Flemish Minister of Culture Patrick Dewael, Antwerp Mayor Bob Cools, President of the Flemish Parliament Leo Tindemans, Representative of the people Ward Beysen, KMDA Director Fred Daman and many other important people. Among other things, there were speeches and guided tours.
After the renovation, there were only 4 animal species left to admire in the building: Asian elephants, giraffes, Arabian oryxes and ostriches. The ostriches were kept on the left side, on the place where white rhino Chloë lived. The Arabian oryxes were kept between the giraffes (end of building) and ostriches, as well as on the left side.
In 1999 the elephant enclosure was totally renovated. The enclosure was almost doubled in size and extended towards the Cormorant Pond. Instead of a dry moat, fences were now used. There was a much larger pool and also a lookout point for visitors. This was required by the new standards in 1999. The enclosure was called Hathi-Mahal, or Elephant Palace. Although this enclosure is still there, it is no longer called Hathi-Mahal by the Zoo.
Animals:
Asian elephants: A total of 0.7 Asian elephants were present in Zoo Antwerp during this period, and 1.2 were even born, more on this later. Before the total renovation of the enclosure, 3 elephants were kept: Dumbo, Dora and Duvel, all since 1976. Duvel died on June 7, 1996, Dora left on June 30, 1998 for Zoo Barben, where she still lives, and Dumbo left on November 17, 1998 temporarily for the Rotterdam Zoo. On 31 August 1999, Dumbo returned to the Antwerp Zoo, where she was joined by 0.4 other elephants named Bombay, Daisy, Dina and Jana, all from Berlin Circus Union. This new enclosure finally ended the long habit of visitors feeding the elephants from their hands. Bombay and Jana already left on July 4, 2003 to Zoo Amiens Métropole. Bombay died there on February 17, 2005. Jana is still alive and has been living back in Belgium since December 6, 2017, this time however in Pairi Daiza. Daisy and Dina left for Zoo Maubege on April 17, 2006. Dina died on July 31, 2019, but Daisy is still alive. These 2 left because Zoo Antwerp receveid a new breeding group from Port Lympne Wild Animal Park on May 2, 2006 , of which the already present Dumbo became the matriarch. On March 17 and July 1, 1996, 2 elephants were born with Dumbo as mother and the famous Siam from Zoo de Vincennes as father. Dumbo went to Zoo de Vincennes for 2 years (from May 12, 1993 to May 12, 1995) for this purpose. However, the elephants were a stillbirth. It wasn't until May 17, 2009 that it finally happened, for the first time a living elephant was born in Belgium, named Kai Mook. Mother was the now deceased (Khaing) Phyo Phyo and father was Alexander. Because of Alexander's stay at Zoo Antwerpen, the elephants were also kept in indoor enclosures on the other side off the temple. Kai Mook received massive media attention and Antwerp Zoo received the highest number of visitors in its entire history that year, namely 1,335,000 visitors. There is no point in going into more detail here, as the impact of her birth will require at least an entire post.
Giraffes: One species that benefited greatly from the renovation were the giraffes. Not only did they get a glass window to their indoor enclosure instead of bars, but the fence outside was torn down and the enclosures at the back of the building were merged. The fence was replaced with a moat. The main species kept after the 1984-1988 renovation was the Kordofangiraffe, of which a breeding group was kept. In 2008, the Kordofangiraffe breeding group was moved to sister park Planckendael. Since then, giraffes have been kept which were not suitable for breeding, e.g. because they are a cross between two giraffe (sub)species. The first new giraffes were 0.2 (mother and daughter) giraffes from Belfast Zoo.
Arabian oryxes: In 1972 the Arabian oryx became extinct in the wild, after breeding successes Arabian oryxes could come from the United States to 3 European zoos in 1979, Antwerp Zoo was 1 of these 3, together with Tierpark Berlin and Zürich Zoo. In 1989 new specimens arrived in Antwerp Zoo. That same year, an Arabian oryx was born for the first time in Antwerp Zoo, after which several births followed, until the last animals went to Montpellier Zoo in 2005. Just like the ostrich enclosure next door, this enclosure also had a glass fence. Antwerp Zoo helped in a big way to save this almost extinct species. I don't know what happened to the enclosure after the Arabian oryxes left, but the indoor enclosures were used for elephants. I can only remember giraffes and zebras on the location of the oryx enclosure, if you know what happened to the (outdoor) enclosure, please post it.
Ostriches: An enclosure for ostriches, completely enclosed by glass, came in the place where the rhino enclosures were first. It is possible that South African ostriches lived there for a while, as there were 1.2 specimens present in 1978. The ostriches left in 1996.
Lowland anoas: After the ostriches left in 1996, anoas came to live in the enclosure in 2006. In 2011, the anoa moved to the building across the street, the Rhino Building, which had not housed any rhinos since 2001. After the leave of the anoas in the Egyptian Temple, Dusky pademelons came to live in their enclosure in the Egyptian Temple.
Judging from the background, it is interesting that the Greater slow loris first lived in the Reptile Building before they moved to the Nocturama.
, because the search bar doesn't show the right photos.
). This film/documentary was about the flora, fauna and population of Congo (then Belgian Congo). Mr. and Mrs. Cordier took advantage of their stay in the Belgian Congo to send Congo peafowls to the Antwerp Zoo. Mr. Cordier already had experience in catching Congo peacocks, as in 1947 he collected 6.1 Congo peacocks for the New York Zoological Society in Belgian Congo, the first Congo peafowls outside Africa.