River Wonders River Safari details revealed

Chlidonias directed me over here to ask questions about the "Flooded Forest" exhibit, of which there is a spectacular artist impression that Zooish put in the gallery (http://www.zoochat.com/1550/artist-impression-amazon-flooded-forest-261995/).

I see on an earlier post here that the manatees are currently at the Singapore Zoo? Does anybody know how many of them will be living in this exhibit?

Has anybody ever displayed arapaima and manatees together in a tank like this? Is there any concern that they might not get along?
 
Has anybody ever displayed arapaima and manatees together in a tank like this? Is there any concern that they might not get along?
Click to expand...

Dallas World Aquarium has been doing this for over a decade.
 
at the zoo the manatees are living with penguins, pelicans and sealions, so I don't think they'll mind the arapaima
 
DavidBrown said:
Has anybody ever displayed arapaima and manatees together in a tank like this? Is there any concern that they might not get along?
Click to expand...

Faunia in Madrid have a similar set up which includes lots of other Amazonian fish; there don't seem to be any problems.
 
Chlidonias said:
at the zoo the manatees are living with penguins, pelicans and sealions, so I don't think they'll mind the arapaima
Click to expand...

What really would set my heart racing is arapaima actually breeding in a classical aquarium environment .. (I know they are common place in quite a number of S.E. Asian outdoor exhibits).
 
I've heard that another rare giant will join the River Safari's collection - the Goliath Frog.

Can't confirm it yet, but if true, I do hope they've worked out better husbandry for the species.
 
that would awesome from the point of view of "this nerdy Zoochatter for one wants to see them", but really I hope they don't get goliath frogs. As far as I'm aware they've never been kept successfully (as in long-term, and especially with regards to breeding).
 
I've just been doing some browsing on goliath frogs and apparently there's a smaller species Conraua alleni which is sold in the pet trade as "goliath frog" (or less misleadingly, Allen's goliath frog) which is in the same genus but seemingly much easier to keep alive than the "true" goliath frog (Conraua goliath). Perhaps this is the one the River Safari may get. The length seems to be between 15cm and 20cm.

Conraua crassipes also seems to be available in the trade.
 
Have they announced an opening date yet? We're more than halfway through 2012 and as far as I can tell they have not nominated a date. Is it possibly getting to the point where the opening may be in 2013, not 2012?
 
@CGSwans: Not yet, though they still maintain that they will open by "end 2012". I think one important piece of the puzzle needs to fall in place first - the pandas' arrival date. This will hopefully be confirmed by the end of this month following a final inspection of the panda enclosure by the Chinese authorities. With the pandas' arrival date set, I believe all else will fall in place and we should get at least the month of opening.
 
River Safari's official corporate video:


Do note that the live images were filmed using existing enclosures or holding areas and not the River Safari's actual exhibits. The computer-generated images may not be entirely accurate either, as I understand the amount of theming was reduced to keep the project within budget.
 
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Either way, it looks stunning. I can't wait for it to open. Thank you, Zooish, for all of your continued updates.
 
that video was really well done, in the respect that it made me wish it was open already and I could go see it!!! The computer-animated aquarium section made it look pretty impressive viewing as well.
 
@AnaheimZoo: You're most welcome.

@Chlidonias: I wish I could see it NOW! But the park really looks far from finished. It will be a mad rush to complete it and test out all the ride and life support systems by end of this year.

At least I can confirm that the Ganges section will indeed look more or less like what was shown in the video - the temple ruins towers had already been erected when I passed the site last week.
 
Finally! Awesome Zooish, thanks.

Now just need confirmation that Marine Life Park will be open by February. Then it's time to start looking for cheap tickets. :D
 
I need confirmation of the Arctic area at the zoo being open before I can book my tickets!!

@CGSwans, at least you've got Air Asia still flying from Melbourne - they pulled out of New Zealand earlier this year :(
 
Marine Life Park will open by year's end as well. Frozen Tundra exhibit at the Zoo doesn't have a projected opening date yet except "early 2013"...

@Chlidonias: there's still Jetstar which is a bit more expensive than AirAsia.
 
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