Der Zoologische Garten最新文献

Jean Delacour (1890–1985) was an outstanding Franco-American ornithologist and aviculturist in the 20^th century. He was most famous for his faunistic expeditions, his ornithological research and his speciose living bird collections in Villers-Bretonneux and Clères, with some 3000 individuals in the time between the World Wars. A short biographical sketch is given and the relevance of Delacour's work for today's aviculturists is requested.

Gulls are one of the most familiar and successful groups of birds, usually found in shorelines and other aquatic habitats across the world. They are rather large birds, usually grey or white, and numbering around 54 species. They have always been of limited interest for private aviculturalists, but in the last century they were still widely kept in zoological gardens in Europe and North America. The popularity of gulls as zoo birds has declined in recent years. In this article, the authors discuss the history of gulls in zoos as well as experiences and observations on their diet, management, breeding and the presence of hybrids in captivity.

The outbreak of World War I ended a prospering period of modernization and enlargement during which Schönbrunn Zoo had succeeded in becoming one of the most beautiful zoos in the world. Many experienced animal keepers were drafted into the army and, despite all efforts to maintain normality; the difficulties of supply which were soon to follow led to the gradual decline of the zoo. The number of animals was reduced from almost 3500 to about only 400 by 1921 and subsequently the animal houses were closed to the public for several years. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the autumn of 1918 there were long discussions as to what should happen to the whole area of Schönbrunn, what included the fate of the menagerie. Finally almost three years later the Ministry of Economy of the new Republic of Austria took over the Schönbrunn Zoo as part of the „Schlosshauptmannschaft Schönbrunn“. Nevertheless, during this period without any real perspectives, the foundation was laid for the reconstruction of the zoo.

Between 01.06. and 04.09.2014 a breeding group (one breeding male, four adult females, five juvenile males) of Rothschild's Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) was observed in the ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen. An activity budget of six selected specimens (the breeding male, three adult females, two juvenile males) considering percentage of time spent for feeding (animals were fed with foliage, branches and alfalfa hay ad libitum), ruminating, locomotion, inter- and intrasexual interactions, performance of stereotypes and vigilance behavior was created. In addition, the activity budget of a cow before and after the birth of her calf was compared. The activity budgets of the selected specimens varied considerably due to their age and sex, but on average animals spent most time with feeding (48%; 78% of this time specimens fed on browse), followed by rumination (24%), locomotion (10%), vigilance (9%), and interactions (6%). Stereotypes were shown only by the cows (pacing in three, tongue playing in two cows). After the birth of her calf, the mother significantly increased her feeding time and locomotory activity, but the time she spent with vigilance behaviors decreased. There was also the tendency to reduce oral stereotypes after birth.

The Greater Rhea is a bird with a high reproductive potential because of its high degree of adaptation to rural environments. It is a polygamous bird found in the south-central region of Brazil. This study aimed to verify the quantity and weight of eggs produced by 60 adult Rhea americana from a farm and to correlate them with the temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall in a Brazilian region at 25° S. One thousand and four eggs from a commercial farm were analyzed during the breeding season of the animals over four years. The egg laying frequencies and average weight of eggs were divided into interval class of ten according to the Sturges ratio. In addition, the data were fitted to a Weibull distribution. Overall, analysis of the years found a 113.7 day reproductive season for Rhea americana, and egg laying took place on 72.6% of days when the minimum average temperature reached 14.8 and the maximum average 20.8 °C. It was concluded that the environmental variables had influenced reproduction; the best conditions for egg laying in this species occurred at a temperature of 17.1 °C, relative humidity of 79.8%, and rainfall of less than 11.3 mm per day. Lower temperatures resulted in better reproductive performance, while higher rainfall and temperatures resulted in decreased egg laying and egg weight.