Manatees in Denmark

Pawel_PL

Active Member
Hi danish (not only) friends! A few days ago I became very interested in manatees and I took notice that in Denmark there are good exhibits for them. Can anybody tell me something about these tanks? I especially want to know how big they are (area, volume, depth), how many animals they house (and sex) and when they were built. Thanks in advance :)
 
Well, I will try my best to give you a brief summary of manatees in Denmark. I am pretty sure that all of this information is correct but there may be a few mistakes in there.

History of manatees in Denmark
The first manatees ever to be kept in Denmark arrived in the newly built Oceanium exhibit in Odense ZOO in 2001. The species is West Indian manatee and the first individual to arrive was the female "Henriette", born in Nürnberg. In 2002 a further 2.2 manatees were imported from Guyana Zoo to Odense ZOO to join the female in the new exhibit bringing the number up to 2.3 manatees.

In 2003 the next manatee exhibit opened in the new South America Dome in Randers Tropical Zoo. The individuals moving in here were the female "Gaffa" (one of the imported females from Odense ZOO) and the male "Bertus", the last manatee to have lived in ARTIS Amsterdam, the Netherlands, were he was also born. These two manatees still live in Randers but have so far only managed to reproduce one stillborn young.

After a few years one of the male manatees in Odense ZOO sadly passed away, leaving 1.2 adult manatees, 1.1 from Guyana and 0.1 from Nürnberg. Over the following 10 years Odense ZOO has seen 3.3 healthy newborn manatees of which 1.2 have already been sent on to participate in the EEP (a male to Nürnberg and a female to Beauval in 2009 and a female to Genoa in 2013).

In case you are confused the total numbers for the two zoos in Denmark are

Odense ZOO: 3.3
Randers Tropical Zoo: 1.1

About the exhibits I will see what I can find sometime during this week :)
 
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Odense ZOO

The manatee exhibit in Odense ZOO is located inside as part of the "Oceanium: A Journey Through South America" which opened in 2001. The pool itself is shaped like the mouth of a river flowing out from the Amazon, consisting of a deep end and shallow canals running between two islands. The water volume is 600.000 litres and the 3.3 manatees share their habitat with around 10 species of fish including arapaimas, pacus, red-tailed catfish and various cichlids. Visitors can view the manatees both over and under water as well as see the daily feeding and training sessions.

odensemanatee01.jpg

The deep end of the pool

odensemanatee02.jpg

Some of the shallower canals

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The underwater viewing for the shallow area

odensemanatee04.jpg

The underwater viewing to the deep end op the pool
 
Randers Tropical Zoo

The manatee exhibit in Randers Tropical Zoo is located inside the huge South America Dome, a giant tropical house. It is approximately half the size of the exhibit in Odense (300.000 litres) and shaped more like a basic tank at around 2,5 meters depth. Also here the 1.1 manatees share their exhibit with arapaimas, pacus, red-tailed catfish, silver arowanas.

randersmanatee01.jpg

The main underwater viewing area

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A view into the manatee pool

randersmanatee03.jpg

A view of the manatee pool from above

randersmanatee04.jpg

The manatee pool as seen from above and underwater
 
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those are amazing manatees exhibits. Especially the one at Odense. Fantastic.
 
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