GaiaZOO Kerkrade GaiaPark Kerkrade Zoo

Recently for the first time a Barbary macaque was born at GaiaZoo.

GaiaZOO

According to a post in a Facebook fan group, the Eurasian eagle-owls recently moved into the new aviary on the site of the old ticket office building.
 
25-year-old gorilla female Tamidol died on August 12. She had not been fit for some time and did not recover despite several treatments from the vet. Last week, she no longer wanted to eat and could hardly walk. It was therefore decided to euthanise her. Examination revealed that she had multiple abscesses in her liver and brain that were progressively multiplying.

An attempt is now being made to place her young born in April this year with another female in the group, as he is still dependent on a mother.

Source: Facebook GaiaZOO
 
Below I am discussing some updates and comments from my visit to GaiaZoo last Wednesday (August 21st, 2024). I have already posted photos of the recent exhibit updates in the gallery. Animal photos will however be posted at a later date.
  • The new Limburg aviary looks decent, but personally I liked the more forested feel of the former black stork/raven/eagle owl aviary next to the wolves a bit more.
  • I did not see anything indicating anything about what will happen to the wolf/raccoon/invasive bird species area and no information about the development of this area was present at the park. I did however notice from the Taiga aviary hide that the sun conures in the parakeet aviary are still present.
  • A recent newsletter from GaiaZoo mentions a new release of European hamsters to the wild. I find it a bit sad that no attention to the zoo's participation in the conservation of this native and critically endangered species is present anywhere in the zoo. They may no longer display the species publicly, which admittedly is difficult, but they should I think at least pay some attention to it.
  • I finally saw the smooth snake, I also saw one of the European minks.
  • The lions were given on ostrich egg, I saw a lioness licking from it, quite an interesting sight.
  • The bush dog pups are now on exhibit with their parents, they were actively running around and swimming at the time of my visit.
  • The new outdoor exhibit for black-and-gold howler monkeys and pied tamarins seems to be finished, their future indoor exhibit is structurally done but still need to be furnished with climbing structures and enrichment. I am a bit disappointed that they did not make the publicly viewable indoor exhibit larger and higher, although luckily there seems to be quite a bit more indoor and outdoor off-show space.
  • The new taxidermy and skeleton display case next to the bush dog house unfortunately has really bad reflection, a problem the other two display cases (next the Pampa Lodge and in the Taiga aviary) at GaiaZoo sadly also have.
  • The renovated mountain bongo outdoor paddock, which has been extended with the former red river hog paddock, seems to be finished. However the animals cannot yet move in as the new bongo and pygmy hippopotamus house is still under construction. That construction however is currently active and seems to advancing well towards its final phase. The pygmy hippos are also still in an off-show holding facility, but the renovation of their outdoor exhibit with a rather nice new terrace area and a new outer wall where the useless underwater viewing area used to be seems to be mostly finished.
  • The windows of one of the smaller indoor gorilla exhibits were entirely covered up because of the baby gorilla fostering attempt following the death of Tamidol.
  • I actually liked the savanna aviary quite a bit more with a now smaller flamingo group. The other bird species seemed to be less pushed to the side and a bit more showy now, and I also appreciated that the aviary also looked grassier and a shrubby zone on the visitor side seems to have developed quite a bit since my previous visit. And they still have a nice breeding group of flamingos.
 
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I forgot to mention in my previous post that in the three terrariums that used to contain the leafcutter ant colony in the terrarium building in the Rainforest section, currently three types of feeder insects are displayed: sun beetles, desert locusts and Dubia roaches.
 
KevinB said:
Below I am discussing some updates and comments from my visit to GaiaZoo last Wednesday (August 21st, 2024). I have already posted photos of the recent exhibit updates in the gallery. Animal photos will however be posted at a later date.
  • The new Limburg aviary looks decent, but personally I liked the more forested feel of the former black stork/raven/eagle owl aviary next to the wolves a bit more.
  • I did not see anything indicating anything about what will happen to the wolf/raccoon/invasive bird species area and no information about the development of this area was present at the park. I did however notice from the Taiga aviary hide that the sun conures in the parakeet aviary are still present.
  • A recent newsletter from GaiaZoo mentions a new release of European hamsters to the wild. I find it a bit sad that no attention to the zoo's participation in the conservation of this native and critically endangered species is present anywhere in the zoo. They may no longer display the species publicly, which admittedly is difficult, but they should I think at least pay some attention to it.
  • I finally saw the smooth snake, I also saw one of the European minks.
  • The lions were given on ostrich egg, I saw a lioness licking from it, quite an interesting sight.
  • The bush dog pups are now on exhibit with their parents, they were actively running around and swimming at the time of my visit.
  • The new outdoor exhibit for black-and-gold howler monkeys and pied tamarins seems to be finished, their future indoor exhibit is structurally done but still need to be furnished with climbing structures and enrichment. I am a bit disappointed that they did not make the publicly viewable indoor exhibit larger and higher, although luckily there seems to be quite a bit more indoor and outdoor off-show space.
  • The new taxidermy and skeleton display case next to the bush dog house unfortunately has really bad reflection, a problem the other two display cases (next the Pampa Lodge and in the Taiga aviary) at GaiaZoo sadly also have.
  • The renovated mountain bongo outdoor paddock, which has been extended with the former red river hog paddock, seems to be finished. However the animals cannot yet move in as the new bongo and pygmy hippopotamus house is still under construction. That construction however is currently active and seems to advancing well towards its final phase. The pygmy hippos are also still in an off-show holding facility, but the renovation of their outdoor exhibit with a rather nice new terrace area and a new outer wall where the useless underwater viewing area used to be seems to be mostly finished.
  • The windows of one of the smaller indoor gorilla exhibits were entirely covered up because of the baby gorilla fostering attempt following the death of Tamidol.
  • I actually liked the savanna aviary quite a bit more with a now smaller flamingo group. The other bird species seemed to be less pushed to the side and a bit more showy now, and I also appreciated that the aviary also looked grassier and a shrubby zone on the visitor side seems to have developed quite a bit since my previous visit. And they still have a nice breeding group of flamingos.
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What exactly changed in the Savana/flamingo aviary ?
 
GiratinaIsGod said:
What exactly changed in the Savana/flamingo aviary ?
Click to expand...

I think I actually explained it in my message, but I will repeat the most important points here.

They moved out a large portion of their flamingo group and the vegetation has grown in more. And the other species besides the flamingos seemed to be showing themselves better.
 
 
Multiple births recently at GaiaZOO:

Bush dogs were born for the second time this year. Two pups were born earlier this year. This time, there are four. For now, they remain in their nest box.

After six years, young capybaras were also born again. Last year, a new male came to the zoo. And three young have now been born.

A young was also born to the white-faced sakis.

Source: GaiaZOO
 
KevinB said:
In 2025 GaiaZoo will receive yellow-footed rock wallabies, who will be housed in an exhibit near the entrance, with rocks from a quarry in Malmedy, Belgium.

Other developments will be a new coffee house in the farm area, named 'Hortensia' and an expansion of the playground with a new terrace.

GaiaZoo Kerkrade wordt eerste dierentuin in Nederland met zeldzame rotswallaby’s
Nieuwe ontwikkelingen in GaiaZOO: geelvoet-rotswallaby en meer in 2025 - RTV Parkstad
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It looks really nice, but the entrance falls under the Taiga theme, right? Are they ditching it or is it more of a generic zone?
 
SivatheriumGuy said:
It looks really nice, but the entrance falls under the Taiga theme, right? Are they ditching it or is it more of a generic zone?
Click to expand...

The entrance is not really part of any of the themed zones, but it is the closest to the Taiga zone both geographically and in terms of style.

Perhaps this is part of a general turn towards endangered species and breeding programs GaiaZoo seems to have been taking lately?

The Taiga zone has housed some Australian birds before, and has always housed several species that aren't exactly from Taiga habitats. Perhaps they need to find a new name for this zone.
 
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