Mixed species exhibit ideas

On the topic of Nile hippos, can they be safely mixed with African waterfowl like African pygmy geese, Nile geese and South African pochard, or maybe even large waders such as flamingos or cranes?
 
TheChukaulorian said:
On the topic of Nile hippos, can they be safely mixed with African waterfowl like African pygmy geese, Nile geese and South African pochard, or maybe even large waders such as flamingos or cranes?
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Yes they probably can! In Beauval they are mixed with geese, ducks, pelicans, spoonbills, ibises, vultures, hamerkops and storks. No cranes or flamingos unfortunately.
 
1Squirrel monkey said:
Yes they probably can! In Beauval they are mixed with geese, ducks, pelicans, spoonbills, ibises, vultures, hamerkops and storks. No cranes or flamingos unfortunately.
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Beauval has an amazing hippo exhibit and indeed it is an enormous aviary with hippos in it. I hope one day to visit it. You can easily check it on their website.
 
Jarne said:
It al depends on what people find the most important. Boras is very good when it comes to welfare, but the collection is not comparable to many other great zoos. On the other hand, a park like Pairi Daiza may have many flaws when it comes to welfare (they are not the only on this list though), but a great collection and theming. For regular visitors those last two are for sure regarded as more important on average, and even here I do find that some people are willing to look past the welfare problems for these two. The same would go for parts of Leipzig actually, though not as bad as Pairi Daiza's problems Gondwanaland has several rather small enclosures and Pongoland has several problems ranging from a lack of privacy indoor to a lack of privacy between animals (All have one big indoor exhibit, especially the orangs need multiple ones to avoid each other). It does however look amazing and for some reason this masks a lot of problems, even for some die-hard zoofans.
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Could you tell me why Pairi Daiza has some welfare problems? I have not visited it yet, but I have it on the top of my list. But I am really curious as I like to always look to everything in critical thinking.
 
OkapiJohn said:
Could you tell me why Pairi Daiza has some welfare problems? I have not visited it yet, but I have it on the top of my list. But I am really curious as I like to always look to everything in critical thinking.
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Pairi is probably the closest thing we have in Europe to an American-style zoo in the sense that it is heavily themed throughout the place and organised into fairly strict geographical zones.

Just to be clear, I have nothing against the principle of geographical arrangement, but where Pairi falls short is its enclosure quality. When a zoo is small and developing, smaller exhibits are commonplace and more acceptable in my opinion because of their situation. However, Pairi is owned by a billionaire and hence has a massive cash flow for new exhibits. The sad thing is that this money appears to be spent on the extravagant theming rather than the enclosures for the animals and their welfare. This is particularly apparent in the top half of the zoo, where massive Asian temples are placed right next to inadequate exhibits for white tigers and Javan leopards. This is the main issue with Pairi, though some people take issue with it purely on the basis that it is a money making machine rather than a zoo where conservation etc. is a priority.

Hopefully I’ve explained that well.
 
amur leopard said:
Pairi is probably the closest thing we have in Europe to an American-style zoo in the sense that it is heavily themed throughout the place and organised into fairly strict geographical zones.

Just to be clear, I have nothing against the principle of geographical arrangement, but where Pairi falls short is its enclosure quality. When a zoo is small and developing, smaller exhibits are commonplace and more acceptable in my opinion because of their situation. However, Pairi is owned by a billionaire and hence has a massive cash flow for new exhibits. The sad thing is that this money appears to be spent on the extravagant theming rather than the enclosures for the animals and their welfare. This is particularly apparent in the top half of the zoo, where massive Asian temples are placed right next to inadequate exhibits for white tigers and Javan leopards. This is the main issue with Pairi, though some people take issue with it purely on the basis that it is a money making machine rather than a zoo where conservation etc. is a priority.

Hopefully I’ve explained that well.
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Thanks! I definitively would say that it is a balance. You want a good zoo for your animals, but you also need to make it work to be a money machine (Either to give away millions to conservation or to make you rich - you pick up the one you like and according to your values and priorities). This is because a zoo can only generate money (to invest in conservation e.g) if it appeals to the visitors. I just had a discussion with a friend that has visited over 200 zoos around the world and currently manages a collection and we ended up concluding that; the formula for a zoo to have success and have money relies on the experience that the visitors receive: which in the 21st century needs to be educational, immersive, and fun (In a business perspective, I am not talking about conservation here). Visitors do not visit zoos because they preserve wildlife, people visit zoos because they are fun, educational, and offer unique experiences. With these 3 pillars, you can have your park full all year round and invest that money in conservation (of course it depends on the mindset of the owner).
Of course, this does not strictly apply to city zoos because they have enough population density/tourists close by and all year round to have enough attendance and money, but if you run a zoo in the middle of nowhere the only way to appeal to visitors is by offering an educational, immersive and fun experience. For these non-city zoos having accommodation like an if they were a Themed park resort is also crucial.

Of course, animal welfare does not have to be compromised because of theming, visitor immersion, or visitors' amusement. I believe you can have both, I am just trying to justify the rivers of money spent in Theming or amusements, etc that, you know, create the whole experience that makes people want to spend money on. For many of us here, just the animals are more than enough, but for the masses, it requires a bit more. It was always like that since the beginnings of the zoos. If I was a zoo owner I would invest in theming and immersive environments but I would never put animal welfare in second place. But that is me, and not everyone has the same point of view.
 
Neil chace said:
Some waterfowl species could work, probably tufted deer as well.
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I very much doubt waterfowl would work - at Bristol some years ago their female Red Panda at the time was once discovered eating a wild Mallard she had caught herself. It depends on the individual I am sure but in the wild Red Pandas are known to catch birds and ground squirrels on occasion.
 
Zoovolunteer said:
I very much doubt waterfowl would work - at Bristol some years ago their female Red Panda at the time was once discovered eating a wild Mallard she had caught herself. It depends on the individual I am sure but in the wild Red Pandas are known to catch birds and ground squirrels on occasion.
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I thought I heard that they were mixed with mandarin ducks somewhere. I'd also expect red-breasted geese to work.
 
TheChukaulorian said:
What species are compatible with Red pandas? I only know of pheasants and muntjac so far.
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The Dutch Zoos: In Diergaarde Blijdorp (a.k.a Rotterdam Zoo) they are combined with Michie's tufted deer. In Zooparc Overloon, they share their enclosure with Asian small-clawed otters. In Avifauna (Alphen aan de Rijn), they live together with red-crowned cranes and mandarin ducks. In Gaia Zoo (Kerkrade) they are combined with Wooper swans, Reeves’ muntjacs and barnacle geese. Ouwehands Dierenpark (Rhenen) hold them with Reeves’ muntjacs as well.
 
TheChukaulorian said:
On the topic of Nile hippos, can they be safely mixed with African waterfowl like African pygmy geese, Nile geese and South African pochard, or maybe even large waders such as flamingos or cranes?
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Hippos have been successfully mixed with tufted ducks, hardhead ducks, pink-backed pelicans, white-breasted cormorants, domestic chickens, and cape porcupines.
 
Now would you guys think that a mix between Large Flying Foxes (Pteropus vampyrus) and Philippine mouse-deer (Tragulus nigricans) would possibly work out in the most feasible way possible in a captive setting. I am only saying this once, just because I wanted to make sure if the following mix could be at least feasible enough for me to work with for a future project of mine. And finally thank you all very much for your help if any of you do know.

~ @Austin the Sengi
 
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