Yesterday a Pygmy hippo was born at GaiaZOO 
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.GaiaZOO Kerkrade GaiaPark Kerkrade Zoo
- Thread starter Orycteropus
- Start date
Yesterday a Pygmy hippo was born at GaiaZOO
Calf has been sexed : it's a male
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Abebi arrived on Tuesday.
Sam was relocated to Santo Inacio, Portugal sometime ago now after Thabo was badly injured. Unfortunately the wound wouldn't heal and was being aggrevated when they were mixed so it was decided to separate them permanently.. More details on Gaia's website
Sam was relocated to Santo Inacio, Portugal sometime ago now after Thabo was badly injured. Unfortunately the wound wouldn't heal and was being aggrevated when they were mixed so it was decided to separate them permanently.. More details on Gaia's website
Today, the Barbary monkeys have arrived and will go on public display in their new enclosure on Friday.
2 Red river hog-piglets were born .
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At GaiaZoo an Hartmann mountain zebra male has been born :
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Blesbok born at Gaia Zoo .
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Last week a second white rhino arrived from Le Boissiere du Dore :
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I visited Gaiazoo and I though I'd share some thoughts.
First of all, it is absolutely fantastic. I know it's a bit off the radar for many Zoochatters but it's truly worth visiting. Gaia has everything one can ask a zoo to have: great animals, wonderful exhibits, clear layout, good education and a strong conservation focus. The zoo had/has a strong mammalian focus, but the birds are catching up with the stunning new Taiga Aviary. Cold-blooded creatures are quite scarce, but the new Tapir Terrarium (which has frogs, anacondas, ants and a bird eating spider) is hopefully a sign that it may change. Gaiazoo manages to be appealing without the overwhelming use of mock-rock, but with clever fencing and lush vegetation. There's a lot of attention for European and even native fauna, especially as they are building a new Limburg House which will be home to several critters that live or lived in the area. Besides the regular ABC species Gaia keeps a good selection of more obscure and unknown animals, and almost everyhing is housed very well.
I know Gaiazoo is not perfect and it never will be, but it instantly became one of my favourite zoos. It is hard to say Gaia is something truly unique, like Burgers' or Apenheul, but I've yet to visit another "regular" zoo that is as consistently good as Gaia is. Just add some more cold-blooded critters to get the collection solid and Gaia could become a great example for zoos throughout the Netherlands and maybe even the rest of Europe.
And if I pretend Wildlands never happened I've now seen all major Dutch zoos.
First of all, it is absolutely fantastic. I know it's a bit off the radar for many Zoochatters but it's truly worth visiting. Gaia has everything one can ask a zoo to have: great animals, wonderful exhibits, clear layout, good education and a strong conservation focus. The zoo had/has a strong mammalian focus, but the birds are catching up with the stunning new Taiga Aviary. Cold-blooded creatures are quite scarce, but the new Tapir Terrarium (which has frogs, anacondas, ants and a bird eating spider) is hopefully a sign that it may change. Gaiazoo manages to be appealing without the overwhelming use of mock-rock, but with clever fencing and lush vegetation. There's a lot of attention for European and even native fauna, especially as they are building a new Limburg House which will be home to several critters that live or lived in the area. Besides the regular ABC species Gaia keeps a good selection of more obscure and unknown animals, and almost everyhing is housed very well.
I know Gaiazoo is not perfect and it never will be, but it instantly became one of my favourite zoos. It is hard to say Gaia is something truly unique, like Burgers' or Apenheul, but I've yet to visit another "regular" zoo that is as consistently good as Gaia is. Just add some more cold-blooded critters to get the collection solid and Gaia could become a great example for zoos throughout the Netherlands and maybe even the rest of Europe.
And if I pretend Wildlands never happened I've now seen all major Dutch zoos.
PicanBird
Well-Known Member
I visited Gaiazoo and I though I'd share some thoughts.
First of all, it is absolutely fantastic. I know it's a bit off the radar for many Zoochatters but it's truly worth visiting. Gaia has everything one can ask a zoo to have: great animals, wonderful exhibits, clear layout, good education and a strong conservation focus. The zoo had/has a strong mammalian focus, but the birds are catching up with the stunning new Taiga Aviary. Cold-blooded creatures are quite scarce, but the new Tapir Terrarium (which has frogs, anacondas, ants and a bird eating spider) is hopefully a sign that it may change. Gaiazoo manages to be appealing without the overwhelming use of mock-rock, but with clever fencing and lush vegetation. There's a lot of attention for European and even native fauna, especially as they are building a new Limburg House which will be home to several critters that live or lived in the area. Besides the regular ABC species Gaia keeps a good selection of more obscure and unknown animals, and almost everyhing is housed very well.
I know Gaiazoo is not perfect and it never will be, but it instantly became one of my favourite zoos. It is hard to say Gaia is something truly unique, like Burgers' or Apenheul, but I've yet to visit another "regular" zoo that is as consistently good as Gaia is. Just add some more cold-blooded critters to get the collection solid and Gaia could become a great example for zoos throughout the Netherlands and maybe even the rest of Europe.
And if I pretend Wildlands never happened I've now seen all major Dutch zoos.
I had my doubts on Gaia but reading this gives me some good reasons to visit this park! Thank you for sharing.What's the avarage visitation time for a ZooChatter you'd say?
You really should, it's one of the best zoos in the country. We took our time, took lots of pictures and visited from 11 am to 4 pm. You could easily see everything in less time without a hurry, and I guess you could combine it Aachen or Mondo Verde. We had wildlife-y plans for the morning so we didn't.
I do not go too often, but it is really nicely laid out zoo.
I agree with the views shared in this topic about GaiaZoo very much: it is a great modern zoo with a nice collection in nice enclosures. Generally it is a rather naturalistic zoo. Definitely one of my favourites too. If you are in the area and have the time you should go there, I'd say.
As far as the new developments go:
Earlier this week GaiaZoo shared this vlog about the ongoing construction of the Limburg House, a building that is to house rare and endangered species native to (or once native to) the Limburg region, including the European hamster, fire salamander, European crayfish and garden dormouse. The project also includes the remodeling of the Eurasian otter enclosure.
In a newsletter mailing they shared that the Limburg House is set to open October 10th.
As far as the new developments go:
Earlier this week GaiaZoo shared this vlog about the ongoing construction of the Limburg House, a building that is to house rare and endangered species native to (or once native to) the Limburg region, including the European hamster, fire salamander, European crayfish and garden dormouse. The project also includes the remodeling of the Eurasian otter enclosure.
In a newsletter mailing they shared that the Limburg House is set to open October 10th.
According to recent press releases, some fairly large developments are set to take place at GaiaZoo in 2019 with some rather major projects planned.
The African wild dog pack is set to move to the former cheetah exhibit, which was vacated in September 2018 with the euthanasia of the two elderly males due to kidney failure and declining health.
The current location of the African wild dog exhibit is set to be redevelopped into a 3.000 m² aviary (and presumably an adjacent holding house also) to house a whopping large group of 400 (!) greater flamingos (the largest colony in Europe, apparently, and one of the largest in captivity anywhere in the world) planned to be transferred from Weltvogelpark Walsrode.
In between the new flamingo aviary and the rhinoceros paddock the current viewing area is set to be replaced by a new "Savanna Lodge", a structure with viewing areas, terraces and a restaurant.
GaiaZoo also intends to merge the two savanna paddocks currently existing (one housing Southern white rhinos, Hartmann mountain zebras and helmeted guineafowl, the other housing Baringo giraffes, blesbok, greater kudu, South African ostrich and springbok) into one larger savanna exhibit. This development, according to the article on GaiaZoo's website, also included to renovation of the walkways in this area.
In the discussion at the Laafsekikkers someone mentioned that apparently GaiaZoo has confirmed in responses on their Facebook page the zebras will be moving to another zoo as they are difficult to combine with the other savanna animals and might cause trouble.
Finally they are also developing some additional playground areas.
There's no clear time-line for any of these projects given, all I could find was the mentioning of the month of May in the article at De Limburger. Presumably at least some, if not most of these projects would be planned to be done by the time the summer season comes around.
So yes, they do keep on building and developing over there at GaiaZoo. I'm looking forward especially to the flamingo colony myself.
Sources (All in Dutch though):
Grootste flamingokolonie van Europa naar GaiaZOO - GaiaZOO
Bevolking GaiaZoo groeit flink met komst 400 flamingo’s
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
Laafsekikkers.be • Aanmelden
Grootste Flamingo kolonie van Europa verhuist naar GaiaZOO
The African wild dog pack is set to move to the former cheetah exhibit, which was vacated in September 2018 with the euthanasia of the two elderly males due to kidney failure and declining health.
The current location of the African wild dog exhibit is set to be redevelopped into a 3.000 m² aviary (and presumably an adjacent holding house also) to house a whopping large group of 400 (!) greater flamingos (the largest colony in Europe, apparently, and one of the largest in captivity anywhere in the world) planned to be transferred from Weltvogelpark Walsrode.
In between the new flamingo aviary and the rhinoceros paddock the current viewing area is set to be replaced by a new "Savanna Lodge", a structure with viewing areas, terraces and a restaurant.
GaiaZoo also intends to merge the two savanna paddocks currently existing (one housing Southern white rhinos, Hartmann mountain zebras and helmeted guineafowl, the other housing Baringo giraffes, blesbok, greater kudu, South African ostrich and springbok) into one larger savanna exhibit. This development, according to the article on GaiaZoo's website, also included to renovation of the walkways in this area.
In the discussion at the Laafsekikkers someone mentioned that apparently GaiaZoo has confirmed in responses on their Facebook page the zebras will be moving to another zoo as they are difficult to combine with the other savanna animals and might cause trouble.
Finally they are also developing some additional playground areas.
There's no clear time-line for any of these projects given, all I could find was the mentioning of the month of May in the article at De Limburger. Presumably at least some, if not most of these projects would be planned to be done by the time the summer season comes around.
So yes, they do keep on building and developing over there at GaiaZoo. I'm looking forward especially to the flamingo colony myself.
Sources (All in Dutch though):
Grootste flamingokolonie van Europa naar GaiaZOO - GaiaZOO
Bevolking GaiaZoo groeit flink met komst 400 flamingo’s
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
GaiaZOO
Laafsekikkers.be • Aanmelden
Grootste Flamingo kolonie van Europa verhuist naar GaiaZOO
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