My best photos from Antwerp Zoo:
African rock pigeon is one of the inhabitants of the African Aviary with African buffalos inside. The idea of combining buffalos and birds in a walkthrough aviary is quite original and a great exhibit!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A not often seen species and one of the few Australian native placental mammals, the Australian water rat :)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]This attractive fish, the banded leporinus, is always present in Amazonian-themed community aquariums in every zoo :-)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]There is a small room with large indoor glass-fronted enclosures for various small African mammals and birds. One of them is an enclosure for Barbary striped grass mice
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]In the same room than the mouse, one of the treasures of this zoo: the fabulous Black and rufous elephant shrew!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Black-cheeked lovebirds are also inhabitants of the same room
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I was happy to substitute my photo of a taxidermy specimen of blotched picarel in a museum, by a photo of an alive one :-)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A rather serious blue-headed macaw
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]My favourite mousebird species is the blue-naped mousebird :-)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Relatively rare in captivity, the bluemouth is an interesting fish. Before that I've only saw it once, already fished in a seafood factory, and with a red-orange colour so I didn't recognize this grey individual at first (it's unsigned at the aquarium)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A bongo, dedicated to Advicot's mom
Here in Antwerp zoo they're much more photgenic than in other zoos due to plain background and no visual barriers :)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Only six zoos in Europe keep Branderhorst's snapping turtles
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I have a soft spot for sandgrouses. Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse is the less rare one in captivity, and the only species I've seen in zoos
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]There are some outdoor marsh aviaries with waders and a hoopoe. Here a common redshank. Notice avocet's foot behind
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Common spider crab walking slowly over the tank floor
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A very quiet Cuban iguana resting in a fake log
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A magnific fish, salmon-sized, the dorado. Dorado means golden in Spanish.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Maybe the most celebrated animal of Antwerp zoo is Amahoro, the only Eastern Gorilla in captivity in the world outside native range (there is a center with captive mountain gorillas in the Congo). She is adopted by a group of Western Gorillas, the only gorilla species seen in the rest of the world's zoos. The gorilla enclosure is enormous and intrincate and hence find Amahoro can be tricky. Finally after lot of turns and investigation on the multiple pannel views, rooms and corners of their hugue labyrinthic enclosure, I've found and recognized a gorilla that looks like "different". Sadly she was resting in the floor, in a not nice position for photos, but looked like nothing in the world would be able to move her from her resting spot. At least now I can say I saw an alive Eastern gorilla in my life :)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Few waders are so attractive as the Egyptian plover, famous for be the "cleaning service" for crocodiles
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]My most wished species of gecko was the electric blue gecko. I was very happy to finally found it here!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]One of my favourite shark species, the epaulette shark. This critter is famous for being able to "walk" , even out of water for explore intertidal pools! Evolution in action
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Maybe the nicest of the European birds, the European bee-eater (more African than European actually, but there are plenty of bee-eater species in Africa and only this one in Europe). These birds are common where I live, but they're shy, always flying very high in the sky, sometimes resting at telephonic wires, never enough close for make a decent photo. So this captive flock allowed me fill this gap
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Rivalizing in beauty amongst European birds is the European goldfinch
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]About what would be talking these two European spiny lobsters?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Fabulous colours of the golden-breasted starling
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A grecian shoemaker resting inside the emerging cabinet. Sadly it didn't opened the wings
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A green aracari in one of the many excellent indoor aviaries
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A couple of teenage green woodhoopoe, probably brothers. Adults have the bill red
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]One more of the rare treasures that this zoo holds: grey slender loris! Apparently they keep two subspecies - grandis and nordicus - each one in an enclosure.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]My first an only time in life, for seeing an Himalayan tahr. The enclosure design make it difficult to spot. I passed several times by the place until finally I saw it peek-a-booing behind a rock. Patiently I waited until it moved and I was able to take a pic of entire body. I would have prefaired a big male with mane, like the CollectA figure, but less is nothing and it was a very exciting lifer for me.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]This is the animal that excited me most in the whole zoo: the jungle bush quail. This spectacular little landfowl is very rarely kept in captivity and is a new genus for me from a group that I like a lot, the pheasants and partridges. Also it's special because, like the black-nosed butterflyfish, it was a kinda missed opportunity. I've seen the species at Plzen zoo, but they're extremely nervous birds (kept off-show and hence not used to public), that run endless quickly from side of side of the most far possible place of the small wire cage were they was kept, making the photography impossible. Now I had the opportunity to get a photo of this so wished species. The individuals at Antwerp are kept in public place and hence are used to public. I also have a much better camera now than I had when I visited Plzen. So I can make enough decent photos from a far distance, while in Plzen I must be closer than 1 meter from the animal for obtaining something recognizable. So I waited in front of the enclosure until the quail stopped briefly in a point where the luxuriant vegetation don't hide it. And voilà! Now I have my most wished species if Antwerp zoo in my camera!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Lake Bermin tilapia, cichlids are maybe the animals that excite me less in the world, but a new species is a new species anyway
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Laughing dove in the Buffalo aviary
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Just out of the pupa, a
Rothschildia lebeau rest in the emerging cabinet of the butterfly house
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]You can call me crazy (honetly I am
), but until my visit to Antwerp zoo just two years ago I did't had any minimally presentable photo o a lion. Just the ugliest imaginable photo possible of an Asiatic lion blurry head sleeping from extremely far in an horrible background at London zoo. Being a banal species, I often skipped the lion enclosures during my zoo visits. Or if not, they were sleeping, partially hidden, or there is a crowd of people in front of the enclosure (and I hate crowds). So finally I was able to get some decent photos of lions here, for substitute that old London zoo one.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Maybe my sharpest and nicest in composition and background of all the photos that I took in Antwerp zoo: the beautiful and unique Madagascar partridge. I also got a very good photo of the female, but here I will present the male.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Camouflaged Malagasy ground boa
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Mom and kid mantled colobus, one of the most beautiful monkeys in the world
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Mediterranean morays have the ability to fit in a hole smaller than themselves
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Mediterranean rainbow wrasse is one of these fishes that looks out of place in European waters and one could imagina it in an Indopacific reef more easily!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Lonely military macaw
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I wonder why a frog receive the common name of "mountain chicken". Maybe it tastes like chicken?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A friendly chubby North American porcupine
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Northern helmeted curassow shares enclosure with grey parrots if I remember well.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Mother and kid owl-faced monkeys
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Maybe the most endangered of all the animals held by Antwerp zoo, in the verge of extinction sadly : ( Nubian flapshelled turtle, in one of the only two European zoos that keep this species
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Painted bunting, one of the most colorful North American birds. Sadly, the colours of this one are not so vivid, maybe an issue of the diet...
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Paper kite butterfly at backlight. Nice effect.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]One of my favourite day geckos: the peacock day gecko!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The elegant and beautiful pied avocet, with love for RtasVadumee
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]These are signed as
Cichla monoculus but they turned to be
Cichla piquiti[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The beautiful pattern of a rainbow boa
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Other of my very best photos of the place. Very close portait of a red and yellow barbet eating a cricket. The bird was so tame that allowed me to be very close while he was eating
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I love duikers, they're not often exhibited. Combining duikers with okapis is an idea that I've seen in various zoos and seems popular. In fact, I don't remember a duiker exhibit that are not shared with okapis. But the red duiker eluded me in other zoo visits, such as Köln. Looking at every corner of the okapi exhibit I was totally unable to see the less sight of a duiker in it. But finally in Antwerpen I had luck. The exhibit looks like made intentionally for not see the duikers but despite that I saw one. It have a separated part of bare soil where okapis are just in front of the public, and a much bigger and grassy part that is totally hidden behind a tall and dense hegde. In this part is where duikers live. I had to struggle my camera into the hedge for be able to locate and photograph one duiker, that was in the opposite side.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]May I present you the most abundant bird on Earth (still is?), the red-billed quelea. Not so abundant in captivity!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Looks like these red-cowled cardinals had a discussion and now they don't want talk to each other
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Few things are so exciting for me as a caecilian!!!! Rio Cauca caecilian is the only one kept relatibely widely in captivity, due to aquatic habits that make it more visible. Terrestrial species that live underground are never kept in zoos, because they never would be seen.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I love this photo visually. Couple of rock eagle owls.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I would prefair that this rosy starling looked more rosy and less white, but in a strong sunlight colours were a bit faded
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Much more interesting than a boring hippo, zebra or tiger. Sea vases!!! With a sea anemone in between :)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I never saw before a lizard yawning. Senegal mabuya
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]One more for turtle lovers, south-east Asian box turtle. A common but nice species.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Spectacular Spectacled owl, also one of my nicest photos of the place!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A takin calf. Takins share the exhibit of Himalayan tahrs. This calf is the same size than an adult tahr.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Another of the stars of the zoo: the Viellot's black weaver! They are very few, living mixed in a flock of much more numerous village weavers, a much more common species.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]A yellow mongoose with... a wound in the neck? Maybe it fighted with other mongoose?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I've seen yellow-fronted canaries only at the now closed London Butterfly House and in pet shops. I had no chance of take a photo in either case. But here I was able to do :)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And by last, a pecking yellow-necked spurfowl. It's the most common of the francolins in captivity, but still nice :)
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