ZOO Antwerpen Zoo Antwerpen news 2021

Earlier this week Zoo Antwerpen communicated on Facebook that during the summer holidays of July and August, when schools are out, membercard holders will also have to make reservations again at all times, including on week days.

Starting tomorrow, July 1st, face masks will no longer be mandatory outdoors in the zoo, unless social distancing cannot be maintained at all times, and will only be mandatory inside the buildings.

ZOO Antwerpen
 
GreatApeFan7 said:
Not sure if this is the correct thread to ask, but I’ve always been curious about how Amahoro, Antwerp’s eastern lowland gorilla, ended up there. Does anyone know her story?
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She was wild-caught and was found by customs at Kigali airport, Rwanda, as an infant being illegally transported, in 1992. It is believed she was born in 1989 or 1990. In 1994 she was transferred to Antwerp Zoo, where at the time a small breeding group of her subspecies still lived.
 
KevinB said:
She was wild-caught and was found by customs at Kigali airport, Rwanda, as an infant being illegally transported, in 1992. It is believed she was born in 1989 or 1990. In 1994 she was transferred to Antwerp Zoo, where at the time a small breeding group of her subspecies still lived.
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Thank you! I had deleted my comment because I hadn’t realized it was also asked at the start of this thread ;)
 
Photos placed in a fan group on Facebook suggests that the three lion cubs born earlier this year have now started going outside in the new outdoor separation cage that was placed a few months ago.
 
As I've mentioned in the gallery (Fire-fronted serin, Serinus pusillus - ZooChat), since very recently Antwerp is home to Fire-fronted serins, the only zoo in Europe to have them currently. Unfortunately though (and I realize now that I probably should have posted this here earlier so that more people had the chance to see them), it seems like as soon as they came, they're gone again, because the bird I saw is already back off-show. The same, unfortunately, goes for the Spangled cotinga that was new since this year.

I also don't think anyone has posted that recently a group of 3 Elegant crested tinamou was added to the parrot aviaries.

Red-browed firetail seems to have disappeared from Antwerp though, presumably the final individual(s) died some time this year or last year, which must have gone under the radar. Of course it's possible that they're still around off-show, but given that it seems like all other waxbills from the old dark hall now share an exhibit it's weird that these would be omitted.
 
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KevinB said:
Yes, she lives with a breeding group of Western lowland gorillas (1 silverback, 2 females, a toddler and an infant). She seems to get along well with them, I have seen images of her playing with the toddler and/or the infant. But I've also several times seen her sitting some distance away from the others. That said, fusion-fission is nothing unusual in great apes.
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When talking about Amahoro she does interact with Vizazi and Thandie, however there is a minimum of contact with Matadi and the rest. She often secludes herself ever since the death of Kiki she interacts way less with the group. She is a very interesting gorilla.
 
Perseus6 said:
To my knowledge they just use contraceptive pills last time I chatted with keepers.
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I forgot that generally human contraceptive pills can be used with great apes.

Perseus6 said:
When talking about Amahoro she does interact with Vizazi and Thandie, however there is a minimum of contact with Matadi and the rest. She often secludes herself ever since the death of Kiki she interacts way less with the group. She is a very interesting gorilla.
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I'm not someone who often lingers at the ape exhibits for a huge amount of time, but aside from the two youngsters I've never seen Amahoro near any of the other Western lowland gorillas. But she seems to get along well with the youngsters, and she is living in a social group with the possibility to interact. So I think that's the best they can do for her.


zoofanbelgium said:
A woman who says she has "an affair" (her own words) with chimpanzee Chita, hs received a letter from the zoo to ask her not to make contact with him anymore. The chimp is focussed on people since he was raised as a pet and therefore doens't fit in the group with a lot of conflicts towards him. Sadly, she doens't understand what she is doing wrong.

Abonnee van Antwerpse Zoo krijgt contactverbod met chimpansee: “Ik zie Chita graag, en hij mij”
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Apparently she's not the only one seeking contact with the apes, but her behavior seems to have been perhaps the most egregious. The clips I've seen of her talking about and interacting with the ape were really not normal and something you really don't want in a zoo. I hope the warning will work, for her and others, so no further steps will have to be taken. The letter also seems to have come after several spoken warnings that went ignored, so they decided to sent a written warning. I understand the actions of the zoo, and there wasn't much else they could do - they are actually still giving her a chance to behave rather than just banning her. But the zoo is being portrayed quite negatively in the media, whether that is because of purported harshness or because of media reporting. So this case still leaves a bit of a foul taste for me.
 
Yeah the whole Amahoro case is a little double In my opinion i might be good to try and start a breeding program for Eastern lowland gorillas all be it in sito in rescue centers because the population is declining rapidly (66% in latest reports only the African Grey parrot doing worse in the report with 99% decline) However I'm not opposed to her staying in Antwerp. I just wanted to let you know the situation used to be better before Matadi got introduced with Kiki dying.

But yeah the case with the chimps is a tragic one and ridiculously portrait in the media. Chita is a chimp who interacts with anyone he can not just the regulars in the zoo and the argument that other people are allowed is ridiculous there are signs that state it's forbidden and keepers often ask people to stop interacting. I think the zoo should have reacted better being honest that the chimps they have with a lot of them having tragic backgrounds are difficult and that the keepers often have to stay the night because they can't calm the group down enough. However if they would do so they kind of open themself up to criticism with them intending to breed with the group even though Tambuzi will 100% commit infanticide. Or if they even were more honest with Chita getting beat up for interacting with people. But yeah I've often talked to people like that trying to explain why it's a bad thing to do. People who genuinely don't know I don't blame but more often or not after explaining they either don't care or just do the same thing the next time you see them even on the same day. So i was happy they finally banned someone for it.
But yeah remember the media likes to sensationalized the issue.
 
Perseus6 said:
Yeah the whole Amahoro case is a little double In my opinion i might be good to try and start a breeding program for Eastern lowland gorillas all be it in sito in rescue centers because the population is declining rapidly (66% in latest reports only the African Grey parrot doing worse in the report with 99% decline) However I'm not opposed to her staying in Antwerp. I just wanted to let you know the situation used to be better before Matadi got introduced with Kiki dying.
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Although I was a member of the zoo at the time Matadi arrived and Kiki died, I wasn't really keep up to date with the apes at the time. That really only changed for me when the new ape exhibits at Antwerp were built.

Which report exactly are you referencing here, with regards to the population declines?
 
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the keepers often have to stay the night because they can't calm the group down enough.
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Are you sure about that? Ik never have heard this before. What could they do it night else then waiting till the group calms down?
 
zoofanbelgium said:
Are you sure about that? Ik never have heard this before. What could they do it night else then waiting till the group calms down?
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Yes I'm sure, the chimps are kept in smaller groups at night as is fine with the whole fision fusion structure in the group. But if the chimps aren't calm enough they might hurt each other or even kill one another so keepers need to stand by trying to calm them or ready to interfere with the hose or fire extinguishers. Since there aren't enough indoor enclosures to split the entire group with the whole regulation of animals in Flanders needing to be locked inside at night. Chimps are very difficult to keep especially if there are a lot of males in the group.
 
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