Zürich Zoo Zurich Zoo News

Hi again

Yes, afaik the mousedeer will get a new exhibit in the elephant house. Unfortunately no free flying birds or flying foxes, because of the huge doors for elephants to their outdoor exhibit (Doors should be open weather permitting, so that elephants can chose if they want to be inside or outside). No idea what will happen with the birds and the prevost squirrels living at the old elephant house at the moment.

Ref. Time zone: Okay, so it's time for the news then. Turn on your TV!:)

Ref. Expensive Australian Zoos: I have visited Taronga a decade or so ago, but have never been at Melbourne. Today, I would decide for the later. You get more different kind of animals for less dollars.
 
How about this for a viewing experience at the new elephant house.


 
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Looks rather like they have taken a leaf from Leipzig's book :)
 
uszoo said:
- That is stunning. I wish I could be there, once in a lifetime experience.
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As Dave stated, double it up with a trip to Leipzig and it could be a twice in a lifetime experience, more collections in my opinion should measure this feature into any future elephant exhibits, quite a showstopper!
 
@threeple61:
There is a small exhibit with wooden barriers for a Lesser Chevrotain (Kancil), a small aviary for Bali starlings and Roulrouls viewable thru a few windows in an articial log visitors can walk thru and terrarias/tanks for scorpions, hissing roaches (do they occur in Thailand too???!!) and a bird eating spider (species not listed on sign) placed in the same log as well as a tank for turtles (Geoemyda spengleri) close by.
 
If you look for more photos the outdoor seems absolutely much more than average....
 
Zurich Zoo opens new home for elephants

Zurich Zoo opens new home for elephants - The Local

On Saturday, the zoo is opening its Kaeng Krachan elephant park to visitors, hailing what it calls a “new era” in care for its six pachyderms.

The 11,000-square-metre park features six times the space of the previous enclosure and six water basins for the elephants to swim in.

Visitors can get an aquarium view of them under the water in one of the basins, which has a glass wall.

“Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Rome the Coliseum — Zurich now has its elephant park,” Martin Naville, chairman of the zoo, told news media on Wednesday at an open house event to present the 57-million-franc ($63.5-million) facility.

The new space is designed to give the elephants conditions more closely resembling their natural environment, zoo director Alex Rübel said.

They have places to socialize where keepers are not allowed to go, with covered and open areas with different vegetation.

The park takes its name from the Kaeng Krachan national elephant park in Thailand, where the Zurich Zoo supports a project to protect Asian elephants.

The zoo said on its website that the elephants have been in the new park since mid-March and have plenty of time to acclimatize to their new conditions.

The herd is about to get bigger with the addition of a male elephant while one of the females, Indi, is expecting a third calf, the zoo said.

The cost of the elephant park was financed through foundation grants, legacies and sums donated by 5,500 individuals.
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I wonder what an elephant feels (emotionally) when it experiences the weightlessness of being fully submerged in water. Especially, I guess, if it is a zoo elephant which has never had that experience before.
 
Probably the same when an elephant moves from an full contact welfare to a protected or no contact welfare...Full Freedom !:
 
Shirokuma said:
Are the elephants still kept under full contact in the new enclosure?
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No, fortunately, the Zoo stopped this Nonsens in the new enclosure-so all elephants, including the females, can enjoy now a completly new life of their own.:):):)and , of course, the keepers are safe now.;););)
 
Its quite scary just after the calf is born, how the cows 'roar' and kneel and push it around- evidently they were extremely gentle with their heads, but I thought it was going to be crushed. You can see how this post-birth excitement can sometimes spill over leading to aggression(or is it more over protectiveness?) and loss of a calf.
 
I just heard recently that elephants push or kick their babies to clear out the lungs, just as human babies are spanked at birth.
 
I just clicked on the articles and see they have underwater viewing! That is awesome. Of course you are only likely to see it in warm weather and I have wanted to visit Zurich in winter for a chance of snow with snow leopards, so I am torn. (And yes I do know Zurich gets much less snow than other parts of Switzerland).
 
Arizona Docent said:
I just clicked on the articles and see they have underwater viewing! That is awesome. Of course you are only likely to see it in warm weather and I have wanted to visit Zurich in winter for a chance of snow with snow leopards, so I am torn. (And yes I do know Zurich gets much less snow than other parts of Switzerland).
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The underwater viewing is located in the indoor portion of the new exhibit complex, in an enormous building nearly the same size as the outdoor exhibit spaces. Given that it may be more likely to see the elephants using the pool in the winter when they will spend much of their time indoors. The only other underwater viewing of elephants I am aware of (Zoo Leipzig) is also located inside their indoor elephant holding/exhibit building.
 
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