Mixed species exhibit including tanagers and poison arrow frogs

This week in the Zoo-Biology-Group forum someone asked whether tanagers can be kept with poison arrow frogs.
Nuremberg zoo in Germany does keep them together in their newly opened (2011) Manatee House.

You can see the manatees in the center of the photo swimming in this arm of the pool; the animals are half hidden behind the water's reflection and the vegetation in the foreground. Frogs and birds and other animals share the above-water space with the visitors.

Water surface and land area amass to about 700 square meters (7500 square feet).

copyright Dr. Helmut Mägdefrau

A pair of Red-legged honeycreepers (Cyanerpes cyaneus)

A Turquoise tanager (Tangara mexicana) at the feeding station.

A honeycreeper and a turquoise tanager sharing space at the feeding station.

copyright Dr Helmut Mägdefrau

 Meanwhile in the underbrush:  a golden poison dart frog  (Phyllobates terribilis)

An Anthony's Poison Arrow Frog  (Epipedobates anthonyi) is sitting on the visitor path.

I could hear the frogs during my visits and their calls created a tropical and exotic flair. So even if you can't see these animals they help to enhance the experience for the visitors.

Of course they are a real hit when the show up.

I remember a bunch of visitors hovering around the frog with fascination and concern: Will somebody step on it? - So far I haven't heard that this has happened.

You might have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see the golden poison dart frog at the lower right half of the photos.

The birds breed, and so do the frogs. In the photo above you can see tadpoles swimming in the water bowl on the far left, and an adult frog sits about mid center. Click on the image to enlarge. 

There is one more frog species and a couple more bird species sharing the Manatee House.

copyright Dr Helmut Mägdefrau

The Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas), stands alone as the only frog species in the Manatee-House that is not part of the poison dart frog family (Dendrobatidae). I didn't hear or see it, probably because it is nocturnal; I have Dr. Helmut Mägdefrau to thank for the cool photo above.

As for the other birds, there is the Croaking Ground Dove (Columbina cruziana), of which I couldn't get a photo but I could hear at times, and a pair of  Ringed Teals (Callonetta leucophrys).

On the mammal side:

copyright Dr Helmut Mägdefrau

Two bat species have their home in the Manatee-House. Above a Pallas's long-tongued bat (Glossophaga soricina) eating nectar, something most visitors won't see, but you do see them hanging on the ceiling near the entrance as shown in the photo below.

Photo above: Visitors are standing in the entrance amongst a tangle of vines (real vines, but dead) and are pointing out the bats to each other.

The white-faced sakis (Pithecia pithecia) can go all over the Manatee House but they prefer one corner near the leaf cutter ants' nests.

Visitors can come very close to the monkeys, like in the photo above, where they are not further than 5 feet away. I had one jump over my head about 2 feet away.

There are other animal species and of course, there are manatees  (Trichechus manatus). I was part of the design team and I plan on following up this blog entry with some of the other features and species of the Manatee-House and especially with photos that show the underwater viewing.

Manatee - Mixed species exhibit at The Dallas World Aquarium

During my visit to The Dallas World Aquarium in Texas I saw manatees mixed with large arapaimas in the Orinoco Rainforest tank. It was impressive to see these large but otherwise very different animals so close together.

 Click on the photo for larger version.

 Here is a video clip



The aquarium guide listed the manatee as "Antillean manatee" a term that was new to me since I had heard it only referred to as the West Indian Manatee Trichechus manatus.

They also had three catfish species in the tank
South American Red Tailed Catfish Phractocephalus hemioliopterus
Reticulated Shovelnose catfish  Pseudoplatystoma reticlatum
The aquarium guide listed the third as "Fork-snouted" catfish. I couldn't find any further information about it and made the assumption they are referring to the  Ripsaw catfish Oxydoras niger
as shown in the photo below.

Another species in the tank is the "Brown stingray" - at least that's what it said in the aquarium guide. But after looking closer at the photo in their guide book and then at the photo below I decided it is an Ocellate river stingray Potamotrygon motoro. Though I must add that this not my field of expertise.

The stingray is partially covered by the visitor's head

While I tried to find an answer to my stingray question I stumbled over an interesting aquarium website:   http://www.aquarticles.com/
with an introduction on how to keep freshwater stingrays
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Webber_David_Freshwater_Stingrays.html



I also saw a few black-banded leporinus Leporinus fasciatus 

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

And finally, the Arrau turtle Podocnemis expansa is sharing the pool with the manatees.

 From above the manatee pool looked like this:

In both photos above you can see a manatee to the left of the island.
The island is home to Saki monkeys and Emperor tamarins.

Many birds are "flying freely from the island in the River exhibit to the top of the seven-story structure" - to quote the guide.
I just want to list a few here:

Southern yellow grosbeak

Green oropendola

Crested orpendola

Andean cocks-of-the-rock Rupicola peruvianus

Pompadour cotinga

Capuchin bird

and various toucan species.

I also saw  several species of waterfowl  in the pool. The guide lists:
Ringed teal, Rosy-billed pochard  and White-faced whistling duck
Black-necked swan
Orinoco goose

Here a shot from the underwater window with two ducks bobbing in the water

The photo below shows a huge waterfall. I was once told by a marine mammal curator that his manatees were stressed when introduced to a new exhibit due to a life support return pipe that was placed one meter above the pool surface (3 feet) and emptied with a lot of noise.
At The Dallas World Aquarium the animals not only have the water of a return pipe gushing into the pool, as you can see in one of the above water photos, but also a tall waterfall. Neither of the two animals seems to be particularly stressed and they were calmly swimming circles through the pool. But again, I'm a designer and this is not my field of expertise.

notice the tall aerial roots hanging behind and alongside the waterfall

And lastly, another video from the underwater viewing area


For all photos and videos above copyright 2010 wild-design unless otherwise noted