The new enclosures are due to open summer 2012.
Not sure on which species will/have disappeared permanently - I'll list some of my thoughts/best guesses here:
- The spectacled bears will leave and not come back, Basel has been phasing out bears
- The otters will leave and not come back. There are short-clawed otters in the Indian rhino/muntjac/otter mixed exhibit, so I don't think they'll bring the others back.
- All three species of ape (chimp, gorilla, orang utan) are moving out (orangs already gone, the other two still around), but all three will come back
- Not sure what is going to happen with monkey species. The vervet monkey outside Etosha have gone, and the ringtail lemurs are going to live there. Whether this is permanent or only until the building work is done I don't know. I suspect the lemurs will move back and a more geographically suitable (Gamgoas/ Etosha) species of monkey will go back, but I don't know this for sure. The woolly monkey have gone to an English zoo, where they hopefully will also be mated (does anyone know where?? Apparently they've gone somewhere there are already over a dozen woollies?), but will come back. The crab eating macaques are moving to the Sautergarten, the other side of the "mountain" where the snowleopards are - I think this is a semi-permanent measure, they won't be back in the monkey/ape house, or that area. Otherwise, all the same species (spider monkeys, squirrell monkeys, various tamarins) are listed for the new building, so I'm guessing they'll stay around. Not sure what is going to happen with the red titi monkeys - they've only just had offspring, so all this is unfortunate timing really...
- So really, I think we'll lose the spectacled bears, otters, maybe titis - but not sure.
But please not that I have not spoken to anyone from the zoo, so this is all my speculation. I'm not at the zoo as often as I used to be anymore either, so maybe I'm not quite as in touch as I could be - so whilst some of this (about apes and monkeys) is from news I've found on the website, the bears/otters are not from any official source!
Some other general stuff I noticed when I went to the zoo today:
It's definitely spring time - loads of nest building, courting, egg laying going on with the storks (white stork) that live around the zoo - fantastic to watch!
Love seems to be in the air generally - for the okapi (who I saw together for the first time today!), the bison, the toucans in the bird house..
There was also a sunbittern nesting in the bird house.
Other things in the bird house: There is now only one silver-throated tanager, the other is gone (dead?). Although personally I don't think the other was a silver-throated, so maybe just sent away again? There is also a new tanager species - signposted as black-backed, but I really don't think that's what they are (1.1 I think).
The white-eyes are still excellent as always!
The pekin robins are now in the "Freiflughalle" or walkthrough, whatever you want to call it.
According to a sign there are young both with the long-tailed grass finches and the Gouldian finches, but I didn't see these. The Gouldians are all moulting, they look a bit rough!
There are still two young Nile crocodiles in with the adults (1.2) - they're now not constantly in the inaccessable-to-adults bit, so maybe they're slowly a bit too big to be eaten for lunch.
The children's zoo has lots of young animals - pygmy goats, Pfauenziege (a Swiss goat breed), minipigs, sheep, and two zebus (one born yesterday).
One of the gorillas was sitting outside on his/her own (they now have access to the orang utan tiny outside enclosure), away from the others, staring at a wall... I can't tell them apart, but I fear it may have been Goma - maybe missing Kati?
I also saw a heron and a pelican having a bit of a spat - it was hilarious!! I think the heron bit of rather more than he could chew...