Mixed species exhibit ideas

I've heard that mountain zebras can be problematic in terms of shared exhibits. I think at least Hannover switched to plains zebras because of that.
Some examples I can think of: - Dortmund has plains zebras with roan antelopes and common eland, all three have bred I think
- Gelsenkirchen has plains zebras with ostrich, marabou, sable antelope, springbok, eland and greater kudu, though the springboks are a bachelor group
- Münster has/had them with springbok, blue wildebeest, defassa waterbuck and ostriches. No springboks anymore I think but they used to breed there

...and you could continue for quite a while. I think plains zebras can live with many kinds of antelopes as long as the aforementioned precautions are taken
 
One of my local zoos, Marwell, has grevy's, plains and mountain zebra. The mountain zebra are kept in a paddock on their own whilst the others are mixed with other species. Grevy's with white rhino and scimitar-horned oryx, plains with giraffe, roan antelope and blesbok.

I don't know if there are any particular reasons for the mountain zebra not being mixed.
 
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Haliaeetus said:
In Beauval there's a 2 ha plain with Grévy's Zebras, Sable Antelopes, Blue Wildebeests, Ostriches, White Rhinos and Reticulated Giraffes.
There used to be a breeding herd of Springboks for many years.
All the ungulate species breed successfully.
These animals have separate night quarters and isolation paddocks.
So I can conclude that mixed-species exhibits with Grévy's Zebras can work.
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I did not say mixes with Grevy's Zebra can't work. All I said is that they tend to be more aggressive so mixes with them are more difficult than mixes with the other Zebra species. I also noted that size of the exhibit matters. Bigger exhibits tend to lend themselves better to a wider variety of mixes. While that mix may have worked in the five acre setting you proposed, I would highly doubt the mix would work with half of that space, even if it was enough space for most of the species. It also helps that both Rhinos and Giraffes tend to be even-tempered species which are too big for a Grevy's Zebra to injur. Wildebeest, Ostrich, and Sable are all on the large side as well. There's also a lot about temperaments of individual animals that can make or break a mix, which may have led to that specific mix working at that one zoo. I know absolutely nothing about the zoo you mentioned though so can't say for certain what factors affected their mix and allowed it to succeed.
 
Could cheetahs be mix successfully with Nubian ibex, eland, oryx, Barbary sheep, sables, or kudu? They're large and probably aggressive species, and the ibex and Barbary sheep specifically could have elevated rocky spaces to get away from the cheetahs.
 
iluvwhales said:
Could cheetahs be mix successfully with Nubian ibex, eland, oryx, Barbary sheep, sables, or kudu? They're large and probably aggressive species, and the ibex and Barbary sheep specifically could have elevated rocky spaces to get away from the cheetahs.
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Yes, but all of this at the expense if the cheetahs' welfare
 
iluvwhales said:
Could cheetahs be mix successfully with Nubian ibex, eland, oryx, Barbary sheep, sables, or kudu? They're large and probably aggressive species, and the ibex and Barbary sheep specifically could have elevated rocky spaces to get away from the cheetahs.
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None of the species would be able to breed in this exhibit.
 
Yea IMO, mixing any sort of predator and prey is a lousy idea. The only thing I can see working is cheetahs and white rhinos, provided that the cheetahs have their own exhibit as well as the main yard they share with the rhinos. The other African mega herbivores would be too aggressive
 
Thanks for the information, everyone. I am aware of cheetahs being mixed with rhinos. Would it be unsafe for even rhinos to breed in spaces mixed with cheetahs?

According to zoorope.hu, zoos in Yokohama and Oita, Japan mix cheetahs with zebras and eland with spaces to separate the cheetahs for hoofstock breeding. As @Strix said, it would be safer and easier not to have said hoofstock breed in cheetah spaces (a bachelor group, for example).
 
Secretarybird and ground hornbill - hypothetically should work in a good sized exhibit? I know both species are routinely mixed with other large ground birds such as storks, cranes, kori bustard, vultures, etc, but don't see whether that specific mix has actually been tried. Seems like it ought to work given enough space.
 
Great Argus said:
Secretarybird and ground hornbill - hypothetically should work in a good sized exhibit? I know both species are routinely mixed with other large ground birds such as storks, cranes, kori bustard, vultures, etc, but don't see whether that specific mix has actually been tried. Seems like it ought to work given enough space.
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I know Rotterdam's walkthrough vulture aviary had the two species in when it first opened, but the hornbills were later removed because they were overly curious towards the visitors. Prague has also mixed the two in open paddocks.
 
Great Argus said:
Secretarybird and ground hornbill - hypothetically should work in a good sized exhibit? I know both species are routinely mixed with other large ground birds such as storks, cranes, kori bustard, vultures, etc, but don't see whether that specific mix has actually been tried. Seems like it ought to work given enough space.
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Dallas currently has this mix behind-the-scenes in the old Bush habitat on the monorail, along with marabou storks, lappet-faced vultures, helmeted guineafowl, gerenuk, and bongo.
 
Neil chace said:
It actually depends on three more factors:
- what Zebra species is it? Grevy's tend to be more aggressive and harder to mix than Mountain or Plains.
- what antelope species? Some species are a lot more fragile than others, and some are also fairly aggressive.
- how much space? This can often make or break these kinds of mixes.
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From what I've heard recently, Mountain are actually the most difficult to cohabitate. Then Grevy and then plains. With all three, visual barriers are key. In Artis, they are able to cohabitate grevy with several other species on a relatively small area. But they have these stone planters in the exhibit that create visual barriers between animals.
 
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tigris115 said:
I'm having Grant's with blue wildebeest and tommies. The zebras have their own isolation and night quarters
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Small gazelles are actually one of the worst species to combine with zebras. Not impossible, but far more difficult than larger antelopes that can defend themselves. Especially if your goal is to breed them, I'd never keep them together with zebras.

DesertRhino150 said:
I know Rotterdam's walkthrough vulture aviary had the two species in when it first opened, but the hornbills were later removed because they were overly curious towards the visitors. Prague has also mixed the two in open paddocks.
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As far as I know, hornbills and secretary birds were never in that aviary at the same time (and not even present in the zoo at the same time in the past 2 decades). Initially, they kept hornbills and cranes in there. The hornbills were removed soon after due to problems with the vultures, the cranes were removed much later before the secretary birds came in.
 
Jarne said:
From what I've heard recently, Mountain are actually the most difficult to cohabitate. Then Grevy and then plains. With all three, visual barriers are key. In Artis, they are able to cohabitate grevy with several other species on a relatively small area. But they have these stone planters in the exhibit that create visual barriers between animals.
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At least in the AZA, I know Mountain zebras are considered the better option for mixed exhibits, and grevys are considered not as good for mixed exhibits. Perhaps there's a hoofstock expert (@Kudu21) on here who could confirm.
 
Yea I just put the tommies into a big enclosure with the giraffe and impala (and kudu when that mod gets updated). The zebra herd has their own exhibit.

Also, the tommy barn is separate from the impala/kudu barn
 
GiratinaIsGod said:
Would it be possible to mix chiliean flamingos with andean condors ?
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Doesn't sound like a good idea, at the minimum. Any eggs from the flamingos would be eaten by the condors most likely, and the potential for altercations and injury to the flamingos is pretty high with that mix. The AZA ACM recommends against housing condors with any other species.
 
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