Xcaret Park Getting ready to visit

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zoo_enthusiast

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hello

I am planning to visit Xcaret in late December and am mainly interested in photographing species that are rare or not kept in the US zoos. I know Xcaret used to have resplendent quetzal, Yucatán brocket deer, Yucatán howlers, and grison fairly recently, but does anyone know what's the situation with those species today and how likely would it be for me to see them? I saw somewhere that grison was on rotation with raccoons - is this still the case, and if so what it the rotation schedule? Any other must see species there? I will greatly appreciate any hints.
 
Biards tapir looks great and also the Aquarium is very good. Another species not seen very often in captivity is the manatee.
 
Thanks! Tapir and manatee are definitely "must sees", but they won't be first for me - I've seen and photographed manatees in Cincinnati, Columbus, Sea World Orlando, Lowry Park, and Dallas World Aquarium (and also saw them at Sea World San Diego and Miami Seaquarium, but that was before I started photographing) and Baird's tapirs in San Diego and LA
 
I'll qualify this by saying its been years now since my last of two visits to Xcaret; but in general, the photography there was very good. There was the odd exception - the Grison was in a pit type of enclosure - actually a decent enclosure and the animal was very active, but I was looking down on it and the photography wasn't good. Other things will make up for it. Jaguars were excellent, and there is native wildlife in abundance too.

(It was back in the film days for me, and have nothing scanned to share I'm sorry).
 
Thank you. I hope that the grison is still there - I would be happy to see it even if looking from the top:)
 
2 groups of yucatan brocket are there and easy to find. Quetzal are in the new aviary but may be off exhibit for breeding. Howler monkeys are free ranging group. To find them Follow their vocals which sound like a roar. Grison still rotated with raccoons. the new aviary is very good.
 
Hi carlos55, thanks a lot for the info! Do you happen to know the rotation schedule for grison? I'll be only able to go there once, so I would really like to pick a day when grisons are out...
 
Also don't forget to spend some time in th Butterfly-hall, the largest and best I've ever seen ( and I already have seen a good number ) !
 
I have visited Xcaret 2 days ago. Saw and photographed a pair of Yucatán brocket deer (first for me), spider monkeys, some white-tailed deer, a Baird's tapir, some raccoons (they were formerly rotating with grison, but it appears that the place no longer has the latter), collared peccaries, a puma, a black jaguar, plenty of flamingos, scarlet and military macaws, and amazon parrots.
The new multi-level aviary is amazing - I believe it's the largest (and the tallest) I've ever seen (I think even bigger than San Diego free flight aviaries). It has a smaller section for hummingbirds (I saw none unfortunately), glass-fronted enclosure for quetzals (I only saw one female), separate enclosures for golden eagle and king vulture). The main aviary has plenty of birds - pelicans, whistling ducks, curassows, ocellated turkeys, macaws, parrots, jays, etc.
 
Unfortunately did not have time to do the aquarium section on this visit. Saw some manatees, but there appears to be no underwater viewing - I could only watch them from above.
 
Thanks zoo_enthusiant for informing us. At the "Parrot-breeding farm no woodpeckers and or toucans / aracaries ?
You also don't mention the butterflies, didn't you go inthere because I found it one of the best enclosures on my visit 3 years ago.
The new aviary, where is it located in the park and how large are the glass-fronted enclosures for the quetzals and howmany of these enclosures are there for quetzals ?
 
I thought the single Baird's tapir was due to be sent on breeding loan?

I believe this is very much a multi regionals/country program!!!
 
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vogelcommando said:
Thanks zoo_enthusiant for informing us. At the "Parrot-breeding farm no woodpeckers and or toucans / aracaries ?
You also don't mention the butterflies, didn't you go inthere because I found it one of the best enclosures on my visit 3 years ago.
The new aviary, where is it located in the park and how large are the glass-fronted enclosures for the quetzals and howmany of these enclosures are there for quetzals ?
Click to expand...

We did go to butterfly house - it was great, but I haven't been to too many of these so cannot really compare...
The new aviary is located right next to butterfly exhibit. There was only 1 on-exhibit enclosure for quetzal but there could be more off show. I think the size of the enclosure was good - not huge but comparable to good indoor single-species aviaries in US bird houses
I am not sure if parrot-breeding farm is publicly accessible - did not even see that on the map. On my first visit to xcaret many years ago I recall a parrot and bird area or something of this sort, but I thought this was gone when the new aviary opened recently
 
By the way, I took photos of all the bird species signs in the main aviary, so if anybody is interested I can post the species list. Unfortunately I forgot to do the same in the smaller hummingbird aviary...
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
I thought the single Baird's tapir was due to be sent on breeding loan?

I believe this is very much a multi regionals/country program!!!
Click to expand...
Well, fortunately for me the tapir was still there on Monday and fairly active - I had a good photo session :)
 
Zoomat from Chiapas sent a female tapir to Xcaret on breeding loan to mate with their male tapir Poloc, but they did not get along, so the female returned to Zoomat. Also Zoomat is sending their surplus quetzal to Xcaret, so there are likely now more quetzal off exhibit. The Xcaret aviary won first prize for best new exhibit from the mexican association of zoos and aquariums,
 
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I would say the aviary definitely deserves the prize. It's surely one of the best, if not The best, I've ever seen. Hopefully they will put the male quetzal on exhibit next time I visit (next year?)
 
zoo_enthusiast said:
By the way, I took photos of all the bird species signs in the main aviary, so if anybody is interested I can post the species list. Unfortunately I forgot to do the same in the smaller hummingbird aviary...
Click to expand...

Here at least one person who is intrested in a species-list :) !
 
vogelcommando said:
Here at least one person who is intrested in a species-list :) !
Click to expand...
One is enough:) I am in the airport now flying home - I will post the list when I get to the US. Just a word of caution - I did not see many of the species listed on the signs, so cannot vouch for their accuracy
 
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