Diergaarde Blijdorp

My Mum and I visited this Dutch zoo on Tuesday. We had come to the Netherlands this month because Dad had a two-day conference in Rotterdam. Diergaarde Blijdorp, also called Rotterdam zoo, first opened in 1857 and is one of the oldest zoos in the country; they celebrated their 160th anniversary last year. The zoo coordinates the International breeding program for the red panda, and also the European Endangered species Program (EEP) for the Asian elephant. The herd of elephants at Dublin zoo actually came originally from Rotterdam. In fact, there are several connections between Dublin and Rotterdam. For example, Rotterdam is where Dublin originally got the okapi from in 2013.

In 2001, the zoo opened the Oceanium, an aquarium housing a number of marine animals, including puffins and penguins. One notable incident occurred at the zoo in 2007, when the zoo’s silverback gorilla, Bokito, escaped from his enclosure, injuring a visitor.

Highlights from our visit include Mboshi, a male okapi calf born in October of 2017. It was the first time I had seen an okapi this young. Their enclosure was somewhat different from that in Dublin. For instance, the outdoor enclosure has a large net, as there were species of African birds mixed in the enclosure, such as the superb starling. We also saw a black rhinoceros calf, a female, and her mother. Another highlight was the polar bears, with one of them in a large underwater-viewing pool and jumping up and down splashing in front of visitors. There are three bears in the area: a female named Olinka, and her two cubs, Todz and Sizzel, born in late 2014 and now both fully-grown. One animal that we saw for the first time was the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). We saw two of them, in two seperate enclosures, and both were sleeping. One of the hyenas was much easier to see than the other. I was also trying to get photos of a pygmy hippo. We first saw the two hippos asleep, but later, they were more active and I got photos of one of them swimming around in the pool.

Link to their website.