Looking forward to visit it again too. Many renovations taking place in there.
Species formerly kept in Brazil
I think the place you're talking about would be the one that held a massive playground, isn't it? If so, then yes, the camels were kept there, but they have also been kept elsewhere. Gastão probably did not have any offspring, due to the lack of success since his and Zico's (his brother) birth. Zico died in the same year he was born (1976).I have to say, the humour in this video is SO BADtypical unfunny political brazilian humour shows from the 80's/90's.
Talking about what matters now, the video shows nice historical views of the zoo. Is this camel exhibit the present amphiteather near the elephants?
About "Gastão", I didn't know he was a kordofan. Nice to know. Did he leave any offspring?
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Yes, I mentioned exactly this place. What a shame "Gastão" never had any offspring... By the way, have they already mentioned whar giraffes they will bring to live in the river safari?
As I've said, I've heard somewhere they were negotiating the giraffes with the South African government, so I'd expect those coming to Rio de Janeiro.
How would I not forget the spotted and brown hyenas? The spotted ones have been kept in Rio de Janeiro and probably in São Paulo (if they have actually been kept there, I'd say the zoo was the only place to keep those, once they'd probably be too dangerous to live at the safari park). At least a single brown hyena has been kept in São Paulo as well
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Oh, yes, I remember you saying. It's one of the prettiest subspecies in my opinion, along with the masai ones.
Do you have an idea of where their exhibit was located in Rio?
I found a video on Youtube, which is an excerpt from the movie Tarzan and the Great River, from 1967. This excerpt shows part of the Rio de Janeiro Zoo, including the hyenas. I believe their exhibit was in the area where you could see the felids and canids, close to the elephant and former camel exhibits. Here's the link:
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Two of the animals shown in the video are white-tailed wildebeest. I believe they have only been kept at the Rio de Janeiro zoo and probably at the Chácara do Souto (a small zoo run by a rich man in the city of Rio de Janeiro back when the country was still a monarchy. The place was open long before the opening of the Vila Isabel zoo).
Great scenes! I had no idea that Rio's zoo appeared in a movie scene like this. Really nice to see. It seems that the hyenas were indeed located in those canid/felid exhibits. The lion exhibit that appears is one of the present (recently renovated) big primates exhibit, right?
Had no idea about this. Great to know. Was D. João VI already living in Brazil when this small zoo started working?
Yes, the big cats lived in that area before the great apes did. The Chácara do Souto worked during Pedro II's rule, in the 1850's/1860's, so both D. João VI and D. Pedro I were long gone.
Leopards will be next in our discussion. They have been kept at the Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Sapucaia do Sul/Porto Alegre zoos, as well as the Parque Dois Irmãos (the Recife city zoo). They've probably been kept at the now closed Vila Isabel zoo and the Teresina Zoobotanical Park. I believe they were also kept at other institutions, as well as some theme park zoos (the Beto Carrero World zoo is included) and traveling circuses. To be honest, they've been kept in a fair amount of places.
Do you know wich species were kept in each one? I know Rio and São Paulo kept the african ones ( a black one in SP, for what I know).
Didn't know Dois irmãos and Sapucaia kept them too. Also, if you're mentioning the parque zoobotânico de Teresina, it is not closed.
By the way, I remember hearing a few years ago that BH zoo kept a female leopard called "Uzania" back in the 90's, but I don't know if we can trust this information, cause it wasn't a person from the crew who told me. Gonna search about it. Anyway, each one of the 7 big circular moat exhibits in BH held a different species of feline when they were built in the 80's, so it can be true indeed.
I thought the Rio de Janeiro zoo kept Indian leopards, but I think you're right. I sadly do not know the subspecies of the other leopards, but I'd say they were either from the African or Indian subspecies. When I meant "now closed", I was only talking about the Vila Isabel zoo.
Ah, yes, I had understood you mentioned both Vila Isabel and Teresina as closed institutions.
About the leopards, I only presumed the ones in Rio were african. I actually had never seen pictures of them in there before one of those videos you shared, so I'm not completely sure. Also, do you know if snow leopards were kept anywhere else besides São Paulo?
A female leopard was killed by a female jaguar at Rio zoo in 2010. Just found it out while researching about this species at the institution:
Fêmea de leopardo é morta por onça em zoológico do Rio - TV UOL
Fêmea de leopardo é morta por onça em zoológico do Rio - TV UOL
While searching for leopards in Rio, I coincidentally found news about a leopard seal being kept at the Niterói zoo. It was probably released in the wild some time later as says the article, but I believe no other zoos in the country have ever kept an individual of this species.
G1 > Edição Rio de Janeiro - NOTÍCIAS - Zôo salva foca-leopardo batizada de Bebel
G1 > Edição Rio de Janeiro - NOTÍCIAS - Zôo salva foca-leopardo batizada de Bebel
The two snow leopards kept in São Paulo were the only ones that have ever been kept in Brazil. I've already heard/read about these two news. If leopard seals were kept at a zoo other than the one in Niterói, I'd say the Rio de Janeiro zoo kept those back in its golden age.
Oh yeah, if I'm not wrong, they were once kept in the former rhino exhibit, right? The one that lately kept the tapirs. Someone told me that, but I don't remember who. I think they were also kept in the sea lion enclosure, near the former aquarium, right?
Is the former rhino exhibit you're talking about the one that housed Cacareco? If so, you're right. They for sure have been kept at the fur seal enclosure as well.
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