A vulture couple in Amersfoort zoo has laid an egg. A few weeks ago, two pairs of vultures started to build nests. In one of these nests an egg has now been found now.
The breeding season for the vultures in the City of Antiquity has arrived. In DierenPark Amersfoort eight griffon vultures live. Of these birds, two couples have made nests. Last year a vulture couple also laid an egg, but it broke because of conflict among the birds. ”The nests were too close to each other then; now the vultures fortunately have chosen to build nests farther apart, so they do not get in each other’s way,” says biologist Raymond van der Meer.
Father and mother take turns at breeding the egg, they will also take care of the chick together. Vultures breed on average eight weeks before the chick hatches from the egg. After about four months the youngsters will be able to fly away from the nest.
Three years ago was the last time when a griffon vulture was raised in Amersfoort zoo. ” The young vultures participate in a reintroduction program, this means that the animals will be freed in the Balkans.In this way, the zoo supports the wild population,” said the biologist of DierenPark Amersfoort.
This short video shows adult Natterer’s bats swarming around the entrance to a hidden roost in a cavity behind the lower end of the brace. Young bats can be seen emerging, maybe even taking their first flights. It was filmed on 14 July 2012 in England using a Sony HDR-SR10E which has O lux with night shot. You don’t need Super night shot which doesn’t work for filming emerging bats in the dark. I also used two separate Infra Red light sources – preferably ones which can diffuse the light.
I used two IRLamp6 from Bat Conservation & Management in the States which are excellent but they are very expensive. This set up has not disturbed these bats as filming took place in total darkness. Check the country’s legal status for bats as some have very strict laws on bat disturbance and a license might be required.
On the Amersfoort Mountain there is a special building: The Belgian Monument. This monument is special in several respects. The building dates from 1919. It is the largest memorial in the Netherlands. It is a gift from Belgians to thank for the reception of refugees during the First World War. Now it appears that it is also special for another reason: bats hibernate here. …
In January 2013 Bureau Waardenburg examined the use of the monument. In total we counted at least 65 hibernating bats: 32 Daubenton’s bats, 29 Natterer’s bats, a common long-eared bat and three unidentifiable animals. So many bats had not previously been counted in a winter residence in Amersfoort. The observations of the Natterer’s bats are particularly special: this species was only recently seen for the first time ever in Amersfoort and its whereabouts were not yet known.
September 2012. With 2011 acknowledged as the worst year for elephants since the international ivory trade ban of 1989, it should come as no great surprise that there has been considerable interest and a raft of articles in the media featuring dead elephants in recent months: here.
Amersfoort zoo in the Netherlands reports that they expect a griffon vulture baby to hatch from its egg, about 25 March.
A webcam showing the vulture parents at the nest, and, hopefully, the baby after about 25 March, is here.
The Amersfoort zoo vultures are injured birds which would not be able to survive in the wild.
June 2012. In the face of what has become a precipitous slide toward extinction across the Asian continent, the vultures of Cambodia have persisted, giving conservationists hope that these important scavengers can come back from the brink, according to authors from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Royal Government of Cambodia, and other groups in a new study: here.
This is a video made in Amersfoort zoo in the Netherlands. It is about weighing the female Indian rhinoceros Saar of this zoo, to find out whether she was pregnant.
Female rhino born in Uganda, first in 30 years: here.
Rare Northern White Rhino Dies of Old Age–and Then There Were 7… Here.
A new study shows that zoos aren’t just a fun place for kids to visit; they are also a teaching opportunity. Interviewing more than 3,000 children between 7 and 14, the largest study of its kind found that just over half of the kids (53 percent) showed improvement in at least one of three areas: conservation-related knowledge, concern for endangered species, or desire to participate in conservation efforts: here.
South Africa has lost at least 193 rhinos during the first six months of 2011 with Kruger National Park continuing to be hardest hit. The world famous safari destination has already lost 126 rhinos to poaching this year in addition to 146 killed there in 2010: here.
July 2011. Marnus Steyl, a South African lion breeder and safari operator has emerged as a key supplier of millions of rands worth of rhino horn to a ruthless South-East Asian wildlife trafficking syndicate. Steyl allegedly stood to make at least 16 million rand in just a few weeks by supplying 50 sets of rhino horn to a Laotian company fronting for the syndicate: here.
