No, maybe because zoos like displaying live, uninjured animals in proper ethical situations?
Mixed species exhibit ideas
- Thread starter LowlandGorilla4
- Start date
No, maybe because zoos like displaying live, uninjured animals in proper ethical situations?
Damn, sorry I asked.
Apologies for the harshness of my earlier post. Any of those mixes are really bad and would be complicated to pull off in the first place. Besides the constant tension and high likelihood for something getting killed, containment is an issue. Containing big cats and pachyderms are two very different scenarios. Additionally sufficiently stressed/motivated big cats have cleared barriers thought to be uncrossable. How do you keep the cats from accessing the holding areas of the rhinos/hippo? Any lion falling in a Hippo pool is good as dead. There's just too many ways for things to go wrong and too much complication in even considering attempting it.
I may have overreacted a bit too. Yes, I can see why these animals don't mix. Hippos in general seem best housed with their own kind.
My understanding is they're generally okay with species large enough to not be seen as prey (small songbirds). The AZA ACM for them lists a wide variety of species normally compatible with them, from jays to toucans, parrots, vultures, waterfowl, cracids, storks, and more.
Peach-faced Lovebird with Von Der Decken's Hornbill - boisterous enough to be safe or still too small to be risky? (There are a couple other species involved but generally they're kept without issue. This particular possibility I'm unsure of.)
I've seen Red-billed Hornbills mixed with Taveta Weavers and Superb Starlings, so I'd assume size-wise you're good with the lovebirds. Though I for one am skeptical of any hornbill mixes and rather see hornbills in their own exhibits.
I've never seen that specific mix but Red-billed Hornbills are frequently mixed with other birds of similar size.
Would the following aviary mix work?
- Sunbittern
- Toco Toucan
- Andean Cock-Of-The-Rock
- Blue-and-Grey Tanager
- Golden Lion Tamarin
- White-Faced Saki
- Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle
- Red-Capped Cardinal
- Silver-Beaked Tanager
- Red-Footed Tortoise
- Green Iguana
- Green Aracari
- Blue-Crowned Motmot
- Turquoise Tanager
- Blue-Crowned Motmot
- Silver-Beaked Tanager
- Crested Oropendola
- Venezuelan Troupial
- Saffron Finch
What would be a good gender ratio of each species, and which species should be removed/not breed?
- Sunbittern
- Toco Toucan
- Andean Cock-Of-The-Rock
- Blue-and-Grey Tanager
- Golden Lion Tamarin
- White-Faced Saki
- Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle
- Red-Capped Cardinal
- Silver-Beaked Tanager
- Red-Footed Tortoise
- Green Iguana
- Green Aracari
- Blue-Crowned Motmot
- Turquoise Tanager
- Blue-Crowned Motmot
- Silver-Beaked Tanager
- Crested Oropendola
- Venezuelan Troupial
- Saffron Finch
What would be a good gender ratio of each species, and which species should be removed/not breed?
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The toucans and possibly the troupials will harass and prey on the tanagers. Monkeys may harass some of the birds depending on exhibit size and how the mix works.
The exhibit would probably be around 210 sq. meters, and 12 meters tall.
yes if all of the same sex or known pairs
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
Given the option, most birds will breed true to type. If you have enough birds of each species for everyone to have an appropriate mate, they should be ok - key words there being "should be," as there is always room for exceptions. I worked with an exhibit that had a pair of green-wing, a pair of blue-and-yellow, and a scarlet. When one of the blue-and-yellows died and wasn't replaced, the surviving bird paired up with the scarlet, and before we knew it we had a Catalina.
Could Hooded vultures and Northern ground-hornbills be kept in the same netted canopy exhibit?
Should be fine as long as it's spacious.
It's certainly not impossible, but it will depend a bit on the temperament of the individual hornbills. I'd expect far more problems however when the vultures are pinioned. In an aviary they at least have the chance to avoid the hornbills.
Vultures really shouldn’t be flight restricted in the 21st century. Neither should Ground Hornbills imho