Zoo Barcelona Zoològic de Barcelona News

Visited Barcelona Zoo last week....

Lots of work going on to re-model the central 'savanna' area and also the orang exhibit.

New enclosure at bottom of mountain for Drill - although labelled on map as Mandrill? - was this intended for Mandrill originally? Despite hotwire, the drills have managed to strip the central tree of foliage...I watched as a young mail, literally took the last bunch of leaves from the tree.

This enclosure is in the area once occupied by Spanish ibex - have they all now gone?

The Monserrat mountain area all looked quite scruffy and desolate actually - lots of empty enclosures and blocked off paths.

The other 'new' enclosure was for Pere David's and Fallow deer but this just looked a bit amateur with intrusive fencing, no shelter and appeared far too small for the number of animals held.

There are also some odd hoofstock enclosures at the end of the zoo (past the leopard/ jaguar cages) that only have window viewing (although Nilgai could not be viewed as the single window was broken and boarded up.

Also visited the aquarium for the first time - pretty disappointing in comparison to, for example, Valencia or Lisbon...not sure why, but I was expecting more.
 
The current drill's enclosure is designed for member of the Cercopithecidae family in general. First was occupied by mandrills as its enclosure was removed to build the new orangutan exhibit. Then the zoo decided to only keep drills are are more endangered and less common in Europe (now are at Badoca zoo in Portugal). So, then the drills were moved from their old enclosure to the new one.

The Spanish ibexs are gone. I don't know were they were moved.

There are a lot of "temporary" enclosures in the zoo to keep the animals affected by the construction of the new exhibits.
 
Recent births have included 1.1 Black Faced Impala (to separate mothers) and another Gorilla born in May (the 2nd this year)

A male Sumatran Tiger arrived from Edinburgh

The Orangutans have also moved to their new enclosure

Noticies i dossiers de Premsa
 
Since about two days ago, the Orangutans can access to the two outdoor enclosures. I've just uploaded at the BCN Zoo gallery some pictures of the new exhibit.

The next new exhibit to be inaugurated this year will be the one for the giraffes.
 
Hi,

At the beginnig of the May I will be visiting Barcelona Zoo for the first time and would like to ask some questions. Does anybody know the exact date of completion of the new savanna complex or the date of opening ceremony ?
Are the Black-faced impalas visible during the building works ? And my last question - is the last Greater spot-nosed guenon still alive and where I can find it ?
I would really appreciate any response.

Jakub
 
Nobody knows the exact date of the completion of the savanna complex. It should be finished before the end of the current year, but at this time all the works are stopped, probably due political and financial reasons (as always…). Probably on May the progress is still the same than now as I have not seen any advance in the last two months.
Don’t worry about the black-faced impalas, they are visible and are very easy to see and photograph. The Greater spot-nosed guenon is still alive and it shares exhibit with the De Brazza’s monkeys in the former Drill’s enclosure (next to the exit of the reptile’s house). If it’s not there, check on the former white-collared mangabey’s exhibit, between the orangutans and gorillas. I don’t remember which one because I don’t usually pay attention to the primates on my visits to the zoo. When it was on the small primates gallery it was only visible on alternate days, but I don’t know if this still applies on the outdoor exhibit.
 
There are 2 spectacled owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata) chicks and radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) are now in exhibition
 
Good News-it was overdue to stop keeping dolphins at this zoo, and I'm sure, more zoos will follow in the future.
 
According to the spanish press the dolphins from Barcelona zoo will be transferred to Oceanografic Valencia,which has fine installations for them.There are still many dolphinariums in Spain. As a matter of fact in Tarragona which is only an hour from Barcelona by train, there are 2 swim with the dolphins attractions, so Cataluyna is certainly not captive dolphin free.
 
carlos55 said:
According to the spanish press the dolphins from Barcelona zoo will be transferred to Oceanografic Valencia,which has fine installations for them.There are still many dolphinariums in Spain. As a matter of fact in Tarragona which is only an hour from Barcelona by train, there are 2 swim with the dolphins attractions, so Cataluyna is certainly not captive dolphin free.
Click to expand...

That is indeed very good news! Someone told me that O-Valencia was also getting rid of their dolphins, so I'm very relieved that was false, as Valencia does have a very nice dolphin facility. I never cheer when the anti-zoo animal rights extremists get their way. We have dolphins at my local zoo (Indianapolis) and the populace here loves them!
 
The white-naped mangabey have a new enclosure

mng.jpg
 
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